Evening star., 1952-04-13

agencies to cooperate with the
subcommittee Ito the end that a
fair, impartial and thorough in
vestigation may be made"
Mr.. Truman's double -barreled
action came after a personal ap-
peal to the White House on April
/ by Chairman Chelf of the House
Judiciary subcommittee. Mr.. Chelf
visited the President after his
investigators were unable to get
access to certain Justice Depart
ment files.
Sets Appropriate Limitations
Mr.. Truman issued an executive
order to open, under appropriate
limitations" the Treasury Depart
ment's tightly guarded income and
other tax returns "for any period
to and including 1851"
The limitations, under the Or
der, are that returns can be in
spected only when Mr.. Chelf sub
mits "a written statement of the
specific allegations and complaints
with respect to each taxpayer
whose return is sought, and the
nature of the credible evidence
upon which such allegations and
complaints are based"
Subcommittee officials indicated
last night they will move immedi-
ately to take advantage of the
White House directives. The first
step, one official said, will be to
seek access to Justice Department
files on IL specific cases. A request
for the files already is pending.
McGrath's Returns Sought.
In addition, the House group
has asked the President for the
income-tax returns of 20 persons
including j. Howard McGrath,
who was ousted April 3 as Attor-
ney General.
Representative Killings. Of Cali
fornia, a Republican member of
the subcommittee, said the Presi-
dents action was "a step in the
right direction" But he contended
iS "still permits Mr.. Truman to
dictate the scope of the inquiry" ;"
It means, he said, the investi-
gators will have to prove wrong
doing by a Justice Department
official before his tax returns can
be inspected" whereas "the pur-
pose of the committees request
was to study tax returns to obtain
leads for the investigation of
wrongdoing."
Pleased With Action.
Mr.. Chelf. however, said he was
"very pleased" with the action,
and pointedly added:
"The Presidents directive places
upon all Federal agencies. includ-
ing the Justice Department, the
responsibility to cooperate with
the subcommittee and am hope
full we shall not meet any further
difficulties.
AS far as the tax returns are
concerned, Mr.. Truman's order
presumably leaves with Mr.. Chel1
the decision as to how much he
should disclose to the Treasury
Department in the way "of spe-
cific allegations" and "the nature
of credible evidence"
Treasury Decision.
The White House also released q
Treasury Department decision
which said the inspection of tax
returns must take place in the
office of the Commissioner OF
Internal Revenue. It also re-
quires that information obtained
by the investigators be held in
confidence, with this proviso:
THAT any portion or portions
thereof relevant or pertinent to
the purpose Of the investigation
may be submitted by the COM
mittee to the House of Repre-
sentatives."
The White House action yester-
day was in sharp contrast to a
firm rejection by Mr.. Truman a
month ago of a subcommittee bid
to get voluminous data on how the
Justice Department handled cases
for prosecution. On March Z, the
President ordered all agencies to
ignore that request, and accused
the subcommittee of using a
"dragnet approach"