Evening star., 1924-03-20
74 REVENUE MEN
0USTED FOR GRAFT
Senators Startled by ReveIa-
tions of Wholesale
DismissaIS.

The Senate committee investigating
the administration of the internal
revenue bureau was startled yester-
day by testimony to the effect that
T96 employees of the bureau had been
dismissed from the service on charges
of graft and collusion within the
last three years. These. figures were
given by Charles r. Nash, assistant
commissioner of internal revenue.
lie told the committee that seventy
Of the dismissed employees had been
employed in the District of Columbia
and the others in the field service.
Figures were submitted also by
David II. Blair, commissioner of in
ternal revenue, which showed that
44S employees of the bureau, employed
on tax cases. had beer dismissed for
alleged collusion with outsiders, l4S
had been prosecuted, and 537 cases
were pending.
1t was explained tn / figures given
by MIR. Blair and Mr.. Nash differed be-
cause MIR. Blair had coriiuei his ST ,e-
ment to tiA ses, viii the lat er h d
taken into conside. alton al divisions
OF the internal revenle bare.,r. inc,.u-
ing the prohibition ei,arti ent M1ny
of the erSonS dismissed. he aid, were
prohibition a -entS. Some were insiec-
tors and few wele deputy tax collec-
tors. He said there were defalcations
among the deputy collectors, some OF
whom were found to be collecting taxes
and destroying the returns.
Appointments on Merit.
The only other witness Gale yester-
cay was j. Frank Drake of Pittsburgh,
Tho explained that he had acted as
confidential man for Secretary Mellon
~ examining into qualifications of men
who were TO be appointed to the bu-
Elmer Dover
mer assistant secretary under Mr.. Mel
ION in the Treasury Department, was
injected into the proceedings by Sena-
tor King, democrat. Utah. Col. Drake
Said he had nothing to do with that
appointment.
Mr.. Blair, questioned later as to
the advisability of making the 1000
deputy collectors of his bureau sub
aect to civil service rules withheld
judgment, although admitting that
political pressure had been heavy on
him at times. Replying to Senator
King, he said that he had made his
appointments on merit strictly on
recommendation of the collectors in
the case of deputies, except in a few
cases in Washington where he had
yielded to Mr.. lovers desires.
In voluminous report submitted
by Commissioner Blair it was assert
Cd that the bureau had been operated
economically, efficiently. fairly and
honestly"
Senator King asked at one point if
the custom of former bureau en-
ployes of coming back to practice in
tax matters before the bureau and on
within the bureau did not amount to
the strength of supposed influence
a scandal" Mr.. Blair would not
not concede the point, but submitted
"A list of $4,000 names of those ad-
mltted to practice, also list of those
llSbarred for various reasons In
connection with former employees his
report said:
Most of this criticism is unjusti-
lied because there is nothing in law
Or regulations to prevent a former
employe from practicing before the
department merely because he has been
connected with the government serv-
Experience showed that such per-
sons had frequently been helpful to
the government" the report said,
Enlle instances where these individ-
uals had made improper use of
knowledge in particular tax cases
gained in the bureau were rare"
1t is unreasonable to assume" Mt.
Blair said, lin a service of over
20,000 employees there would not be
some instances of fraud, collusion or
other Illegal practices in spite of the
most careful selection of personnel"
Both the commissioner and Mr.
Drake recommended higher pay for
bureau employees, particularly key
!nen, to keep qualified personnel, and
better housing for the bureau, to
speed up its operations.