| Show Round Merry By DREW PEARSON and ROBERT ALLEN Trade Mark lIrk WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Those Those on the inside at the justice department say that the president took a great personal interest in the recent imprisonment imprisonment imprison imprison- ment of Ignazio Lupo the Wolf YoU grizzled Italian r racketeer who for years had operated Black Hand gangs and terrorized Italian bakers in Brooklyn Roosevelt justice officials say takes more in interest interest interest in- in terest in questions of executive clemency than previous presidents and does n not t necessarily take the recommendation of the attorney gen gem eral Frequently he sends back more questions about the criminal In the case of Lupo the V Vb Wolf lf someone dug up in the files of the justice department the fact that he was the first man in America to receive a conditional commutation of sen sen- tence This was granted by President Harding on the recommendation of Attorney General Daugherty Lupo had been sentenced to thirty years for counterfeiting But after ten years in Atlanta he wanted to take a business trip back to Italy presumably to bank his crime fortune If h he had gone back on parole immigration authorities authorities authorities author author- would have have readmitted him so Harding Harding Hard Hard- ing gave him a conditional commutation of sen sen- tence The condition was that he refrain from further further further fur fur- ther crime and it was specified that the lithe president president president dent himself shall be the sole judge of whether this pledge were violated Millionaire 1 Criminal Lupo came back to this country and grew wealthy in in the bakery racket He is reputed to have made A New York detective sent to Italy to get evidence on his gang was murdered Yet New York police could not or did not get et the goods on Lupo Finally the conditional commutation was discovered and a brief report sent to the dent He took it to bed with him one ni night ht together with a lot of other reports and worked until 1 a. a m. m Next morning the justice department got back its memo with a lot of penciled notes on the margin in the presidents president's handwriting They showed that Roosevelt knew far more about the case than was contained in the memo He asked for additional information and wanted it that day After frantic preparation the justice department sent back a fuller memo and a few hours later a secret warrant was issued for or- or Lupos Lupo's arrest Shortly afterward Lupo was on his way to tw twenty nty more years in Atlanta Note Note Note-Lupo Lupo will have ample time to regret one e in the favor which Harding did him It was the specification that the lithe president shall be the sole judge of whether Lupo refrained from crime Treasury Watchdog Com Ex-Com Ex Comptroller General McCarl's boast of saving avi g millions by government consolidation is up up p for a secret test right now and the chances are his own order will block it Treasury and resettlement administration of officials officials officials of- of want to place resettlement bookkeeping in the treasury thereby saving the taxpayer several million dollars annually by eliminating duplicate accounting systems and staffs But the But the proposal runs directly counter to toan toan toan an order issued a year ago by McCarl himself requiring every government agency to maintain its own accounting staff With this one ruling alone the watchdog of the treasury has probably probably ably cost the taxpayer around a year for needless red tape For instance in keeping the th records of the work-relief work program of 1935 three sets of books had to be maintained First every agency that got any of the money had to keep a separate set of records Then the treasury which paid out the money had to keep an individual account And finally McCarl I kept a file Resettlement Administrator Tugwell and Secretary Henry propose to eliminate elim dim eliminate mate one of these costly steps by having the treasury do the RAs RA's bookkeeping The plan has White House approval The question now is whether the general accounting office will okay it Big Mistake 1 Sir Ronald Lindsay six-foot-seven six British ambassador was discussing the youth movement with Charles Taussig Roosevelt brain truster and chairman of the advisory committee committe on the national youth uth administration Sir Ronald remarked that King Edward was nominal head of the British youth organization but added that this did not mean he took an active part in it You see see the kin king heads every important nonpolitical organization over there the ambassador ambassador ambassador am am- explained Its lilts a sort of guarantee that no politics is to be mixed up in it But if President Roosevelt headed the youth movement here he would be accused immediately immediate immediate- ly of rallying the youth of the country for the Democratic party suggested Taussig hats hat's one problem were we're up against Yes said Sir Ronald with a twinkle in his eye there are certain advantages in having havinga a king You really made a great mistake back there in 1776 I t. t 1936 1136 by United Future feature Inc Ine j jt t |
