Milford chronicle., 1958-10-17

leaders also worry over apparent
Republican voter apathy so far this
fall.
Mr.. Williams entered politics at
the top. He had never held any pub
lie office, other than his local town
council, when he decided in 1916
that he wanted to be a United
States Senator. Prior to that, he'd
spent all his time in the feed busi-
ness, having entered that field
right from high school. He still
isn't sure whether it was resent
inent against the New Deal-Fair
Deal or what that prompted him to
run for the Senate-''it was just
something l suddenly wanted to do,
and / went about doing it."
Missing Tax Receipts
Mr.. Williams career as cru
sader for good government prob
ably began when a constituent COM
planned he was being billed for Fed
eral income taxes he had already
laid Suspecting some revenue ag-
mt was embeZzling tax receipts
Mr.. Williams got a General Ac-
counting Office agent to compile
list of Delaware tax delinquents.
To their mutual embarrassment,
he Senator's name showed up on
the list. However, his cancelled
checks proved his payments and
led to the arrest of the embezzler
The publicity he got on this mat
ter led not too much. later to tips
that the Commodity Credit Corp.
was sCme 900 million short in it's
accounts. He ran these tips down,
terrified them, announced his find
.ngs, and despite initial blasts from
he Agriculture Department ulti-
nately royed his points and forced
changes in C.C.C. accounting pEac-
ices.
Then came the even more sensa-
ional exposure of corruption in the
Internal Revenue Service-briber-
es, bought compromises, other
ypes of tax-fxing. His disclosures
ed to Congressional and Executive
)ranch Investigations that forced
out of office and into jails large
number of top tax officials.
The meticulous care with which
he operates is demonstrated by the
act that his original information
IA detailed inside exposition of the
sntire operation-came in mid
1949. and it wasn't until May, 1851,
that he. made his first Senate
speech on the subject. In between,
le, his wife, and his secretary
waded through Government re-
ports, corporation records, bank
records, state official documents,
md other source material to build
IN alright case. Characteristically
ne did all this on his regular Sen
ate budget, without any extra staff
or outside help.
The exposures snowballed, with
each furry of publicity bringing a
round of new tips from inside and
outside the Government. He show
I'd that the Internal Revenue Ser
vice had permitted taxpayers to
deduct as business expenses their
contributions to the Democratic
Party, that the tax laws permitted
business firms to charge off to
Uncle Sam bribes they had to pay
to officials of foreign governments,
that drought relief payments were
going to racehorse owners and
wealthy ranchers rather than just
to the livestock owners they were
supposed to help.
Nr. Williams has been equally
tough on Democrats and Republi-
cans. He was the first COP. SEN
ator to take the floor to attack
Presidential Assistant Sherman
Adams, stating he could see no diff
ference between vicuna coats and
oriental rugs under a Republican
Administration and mink coats and
freezers under a Democratic one.
mo party has a monopoly on
virtue" he says. I'VE were expos
ing Democrats in the 1948-52 peri
cd because they had been in power
so long"