The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-11-19
TRUE ';l BILLS
 ARE SOUGHT. IN TAX ROW.
Attorney General Declines To Name Publication
 Chosen For Test
PLANS TO APPEAL
 IF ACTION FAILS
First Grand Jury Action Expected To Be Known
 In Few Days

WASHINGTON, NOV. 1o.- Presentation of evi d e n c e against six or seven newspa- pers in widely separated parts of the country in connection with recent publication of in. come tax lists has been started by the department of justice Attorney General Stone an nounced Tuesday night. He declined to name the papers involved, or the cities in which they are located.
 The fact that Mrs. Mabel Walker Willebrandt, assistant attorney general who probably will have charge Of these cases, left Tuesday for Chicago and Kan sas City was regarded as significant. It was also considered probable that some of the papers against which ac- ton is sought are located in the east and on the Pacific coast. The attorney general Said six or seven papers had been selected, after long consideration of all clements involved. Typical cases which will cover all points in question were desired for the purpose of testing the law in the courts.
 Plans To Appeal
 Stone said the government would ap- peal to the supreme court if convictions were not obtained in the cases the de- partment is instituting. He said the first grand jury action may be known :- n fo,~x doxS Az ha diotrtNf offorOnvc receive instructions sent from here other indictments may follow. he said.
 Beginning of suits against newspapers paves the way for final settlement of the controversy which ragged for days over the publication of returns in news papers throughout the country, and dis closed that officials in neither the treasury nor the department of justice were sure Of the meaning of the law. Despite q warming issued by Solicitor General Beck that newspapers were publishing the returns on their own responsibility, the publication continued and the number of newspapers carry ing them increased rather than de creased.
 The whole matter was thrown up to Attorney General Stone, who was out of the city at the time. On his return here, he issued a statement after study of the question in which he made no definite decision, but declared that there appeared to him to be no authority in the law for publication of the returns, and announced that suits would be in- stituted by the department of justice so that the question could be decided by the courts.
 The proceedings announced Tuesday against several newspapers are the outgrowth of study made by experts ill the department.
 Forbidden By Law
 The controversy over the law was started after the treasury had thrown open the lists of tax payments through out the country, and newspapers began to publish them. k statement from the treasury few hours later called at tention to section of the present law which forbids publication of income tax returns. This section was not re- pealed in the new law, and the dispute centered around that point first, but Stone made nc mention of this in his subsequent statement.
 NNSAOA WAth IuC ODCLIHk Ol returns, internal revenue collector Blair sent out regulations to collectors Tuesday, which request them to open tht returns for only three days week and for only three hours on those days, and making restrictions upon the method of making the lists public. The reason given was the amount of time needed by the collectors offices for at tending to their regular duties.
 Experience has demonstrated, Blair said, that there are many who desire to see the lists for no obvious reason. It is therefore necessary that careful supervision of the publicity section of the revenue act be made in order that the work of posting payments to the lists, preparing bills, notices and de- mands for tax warrants of distraint may not be delayed"
 He called attention again to section 3167, cited by the treasury before, pro hibiting the publication of any part of 5n income tax return."