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Show Department. This might help you understand why. The House administration ad-ministration committee found that one State Department housing hous-ing project in Bremen, Germany, provided 11 maid's rooms for 12 apartments to house 21 State Department De-partment bachelors. The building build-ing itself would cost $305,777 or $25,481 for each apartment. YOUR PRESENT TO MIKE The new Secretary of Interior. Douglas McKay, just discovered that we taxpayers gave Mike Straus, outgoing reclamation com missioner, a farewell gift. For the last six days of the former administration, ad-ministration, he was hired as a consultant at $100 per day. VACATION SCANDAL The trouble with the actions of the outgoing high officers in accepting accept-ing pay for vacations they said they didn't get is that its affect on the legitimate rights of federal fed-eral employees. Congress wanted to give all eligible federal employees em-ployees a two week vocation and some sick leave without loss of pay. In cases of emergency, where the time wasn't used, the law permitted the government to pay to make up for lost vacation time. NOT FOR DEAN AND OSCAR But Congress did not intend leave payments to apply to officials, of-ficials, like Acheson and Chapman. Chap-man. I find opinion about equally divided back here. Some think Dean and Oscar spent all their twne on vacation. Others thuik the country would have been better bet-ter off if they had. But in either case, I believe they managed to squeeze in a few days of relaxation relaxa-tion in their trips around the world and country at the taxpayer's tax-payer's expense. THE FORMULA In order for the taxpayer to be charged the bill for a two weeks' trip to Florida, the Truman appointee had to do something" official. If he did something official, he couldn't be on vacation. So, when it comes time to, leave, they collected col-lected back vacation pay. I don't think it will happen again. BEHIND THE HEADLINES Congressional investigations of Communist influence have been grabbing the headlines. But it is the more "routine" examinations of government operations that are raising eyebrows back here raising eyebrows and wrinkling noses. THE MAYOR'S VACATION J An example was the uncovering j of the whopping "in lieu of vaca-1 tion" payments made to depart-1 ing officers of the frmer administration. admin-istration. They totaled more than $700,000 and ranged up to $12,750 1 1 in some cases. Even Ex-Mayor O'Dwycr collected $5,000 of the taxpayers' money to compensate for vacations he said he didn't take. I think most Americana believe be-lieve O'Dwyer has been on a vacation va-cation ever since Truman appointed ap-pointed him Ambassador to Mexico Mex-ico a vacation, that is, from embarrassing questions about his tie-ups with gamblers and other racketeers as Mayor of New York. LIVING IN STATE Perhaps you at home wonder why Congress Con-gress seems to "pick on" the State |