Evening star., 1951-10-09
Internal Revenue
Continued From First Page }

him at $500 a month as attorney
and swore that he received a S10.-
900 fee as counsel for Mr.. Brod-
sky on insurance matters and in
divorce case.
Explains Law Practice.
3. Strongly rejected suggestions
that his law practice consisted
largely Of persons involved in taa
difficulties and said they included
probable, real estate. divorce and
other matters. He acknowledged
however. that he did not appear as
attorney of record in any court
cases while he was serving as COL
lector since he thought this was
not good policy.
4. Testified he accepted the ap-
pointment as ST. Louis collector at
the request of the late Robert E
Hannegan, and with the under
standing that he could continue
his laV practice. He said he was
making $1,000 to $4,000 from his
law practice when he was ap-
pointed to the $500 collector s
post in 1914.
Representative Keane. Republi-
can. of New Jersey sharply re-
minded Mr.. Finnegan that If his
testimony about the $4,000 fee
was correct that Mr.. Brodsky
would have to have testified
falsely"
At another point Chairman
King said he had become con-
|vinced internal revenue collectors
should not be allowed to conduct
law practices while in Govern
ment service. He asked Mr.. Fin
negan for his opinion on this
question, and the witness said he
thought it was a personal decision
Francis r. Smith Testifies.
Earlier, Francis r. Smith. in
ternal revenue collector in Phila-
delphia, testified he was visited in
l949 by a New York insurance
agent and brother of Mr.. Finne-
gan. but that he never was able
to determine exactly what they
wanted.
Mr.. Smith, a former member
of the House Of Representatives.
was mentioned in earlier testi-
mony in connection with an al
legged insurance scheme involving
tax delinquents which Chairman
King said showed indications of
having begun to spread across
the Nation"
In the earlier testimony, Hugh
Finnegan, 48-year-old Long Is
land IN. " resident and brother
of the former collector. had said
he visited Mr.. Smith and the tax
collector at Boston in order to
introduce the New York insurance
agent, Daniel Friedman.
Mr.. Smith said today he granted
an interview to Hugh Finnegan as
"a courtesy" to request made by
telephone by James Finnegan.
Shown Firms Brochure. s.
With Mr.. Friedman doing most
Of the talking at the meeting, Mr..
Smith said. he was asked to look
over a brochure outlining activi-
ties of the agents insurance firm,
the Estates Research Bureau. At
subsequent meetings. the witness
said, he told Mr.. Finnegan and
Mr.. Friedman he was not inter-
ested in any activities of the
bureau and was not interested in
purchasing any insurance.
The witness added that he
never asked either James or Hugh
Finnegan the nature of their as
sociation with Estates Research
because I just wasn't interested" )"
Asked what the purpose of the
visit to his Office was, Mr.. Smith
said he never was told exactly
what was wanted of him.
II didn't know if he (Mr. Fried
man was intending to sell me any
insurance. whether he wanted me
to get into any sort of association
with him or whether he wanted
some sort of testimonial" Mr.
Smith said.
Attitude Not Encouraging.
In answer to questions. he said
no mention was ever made to him
about his access to tax files or
about any references of possible
clients to Estates Research. Chair
man King then asked:
Did you get the impression at
any time that Mr.. Friedman was