Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1951-09-30
Corruption in the Citadel

The Bureau of Internal Revenue with all of
tire power that it exercises over the most intimate
financial affairs of the people, should be strong
holo OF integrity. To an extent that applies to
lew other agencies, this branch of the Govern
ment should be manned by people who are above
and beyond suspicion This is why the dis
closures of widespread corruption within the
bnFeau have come such a shock to most
people The adverse effect of the revelations
could hardly have been greater if, overnight. it
mad been revealed that the FBI was stated
by men with sticky palms
what has reduced the Bureau of Internal
revenue to this low estate? What has happened
TO the agency which, under the late Elmer Trey
won such wide acclaim as the arch-foe of gang
sierS and grafters, and which locked the prison
doors on such unsavory characters as AL Capone
and Waxey Gordon?
There can be little argument as to the
answer. The bureau has been corrupted by the
intrusion of a brand of politics which makes no
adequate distinction between political loyalty
s1d personal integrity. The posts of Collectors
OF Internal Revenue additionally have been
treated as political plums. But they have not
tradltlonany been handed out on purely polit-
icaI basis. Merit and personal character have
been regarded as essential qualifications
1t is impossible, however to avoid the infer
ence that merit and character have had scant
consideration in some recent appointments.
what other conclusion is possible in light of the
TACT that Internal Revenue officials in Boston,
st Louis, New York. Newark, San Francisco and
Los Angeles have been fired or have resigned
under pressure? One expects to find an occa-
sional bad apple in any barrel. But when there
is such extensive rottennesS as this it cannot
be explained away on any theory of chance
In the course of time Federal grand juries
no doubt will get to the bottom of the mess, and
the officials who have been guilty of actual law
violations presumably will be tried and, if con-
Victed sent to jail. 1t is signifcant-and
disturbing-fact, however, that most of the
suspensions and designations have been the
result, not of determined and energetic house
cleaning within the bureau, but as a consequence
OF disclosures by outside agencies, such as the
California Crime Commission and the King SUBJ
committee of the House 1t is entirely possible
that had it not been for this external prodding,
there would still have been no cleanup within
the bureau.
The new Revenue Commissioner John B.
Dunlap seems to be moving energetically to
get rid of the shady officials in the bureau. And
be says that the President has assured him of
100 per cent support" in keeping the bureau
"above reproach"
But something more is needed. It is not
truly question of keeping the bureau above
reproach, for the bureau has already been seri-
ously discredited. 1t is necessary of course, to
drive out the grafters and the incompetents
But If the bureau is ever to regain it's lost
standing, there must be some assurance that one
bevy of political hacks and chiselers is not going
to be replaced by another equally undesirable
group The Hoover Commission has said that
political appointments are zone of the chief
handicaps' of the bureau, and dismissed COL
lector has stated that politicians pressured him
into hiring incompetent agents. -,
If President Truman wants to revive public
confidence in this bureau, and it is a bureau
which must enjoy public confidence if it lis to
function, he ought to give unqualified assurance
that no one will be appointed to office in the
bureau simply because he has been a loyal
ward heeler or because he has been generous
in contributions to ward-heeler politicians.