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The indictment of Representative Adam Clayton Powell Jr., a peripatetic Democrat, for income tax fraud, has been quietly received in Washington. Liberal circles rejoiced mildly over his discomfiture, for the very eyes which discern virtue supreme in Senator Wayne Morse’s desertion of the Republican Party perceive rank treason in the Reverend Mr. Powell’s adherence to the Eisenhower candidacy in 1956. The sense of pleasure might have been matched on Capitol Hill—Mr. Powell has failed to endear himself even to the most determinedly pro-Negro of his colleagues—had not many congressmen felt unease over this accusation of financial irregularities.

The press corps, which in its mind and heart acquits or convicts without giving the courts their priority in such matters, laughed rather vindictively. Rumors that Herbert Brownell, when he was Attorney General, had undertaken to restrain the arm of the law if it reached out too exuberantly toward Mr. Powell have been rife for some time. If United States Attorney Paul W. Williams dragged his feet inordinately—as the grand jury waited and fumed— he was only doing as Mr. Brownell had bidden, or so said the usually informed sources. Mr. Brownell has gone on to bigger and presumably better things. But the bag he had left his successors holding was full of dirty linen whose washing would benefit no one. Concomitantly there was a rumor that Mr. Williams had written the indictment so badly that it would not be sustained on appeal.

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Peter Minot

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The indictment of Representative Adam Clayton Powell Jr., a peripatetic Democrat, for income tax fraud, has been quietly received in Washington. Liberal circles rejoiced mildly over his discomfiture, for the very eyes which discern virtue supreme in Senator Wayne Morse’s desertion of the Republican Party perceive rank treason in the Reverend Mr. Powell’s adherence to the Eisenhower candidacy in 1956. The sense of pleasure might have been matched on Capitol Hill—Mr. Powell has failed to endear himself even to the most determinedly pro-Negro of his colleagues—had not many congressmen felt unease over this accusation of financial irregularities.

The press corps, which in its mind and heart acquits or convicts without giving the courts their priority in such matters, laughed rather vindictively. Rumors that Herbert Brownell, when he was Attorney General, had undertaken to restrain the arm of the law if it reached out too exuberantly toward Mr. Powell have been rife for some time. If United States Attorney Paul W. Williams dragged his feet inordinately—as the grand jury waited and fumed— he was only doing as Mr. Brownell had bidden, or so said the usually informed sources. Mr. Brownell has gone on to bigger and presumably better things. But the bag he had left his successors holding was full of dirty linen whose washing would benefit no one. Concomitantly there was a rumor that Mr. Williams had written the indictment so badly that it would not be sustained on appeal.