National Affairs: Finnegan's Wake

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While he was collector of Internal Revenue in St. Louis, James P. Finnegan, a Truman crony of long standing, showed a real knack for picking up money on the side. A federal grand jury recognized that talent last October, indicted Finnegan for accepting bribes from taxpayers and taking fees to represent clients before Government agencies. This week brought to light a new fact in the wake of Finnegan's exposure. The St. Louis Globe-Democrat disclosed that the Zenith Radio Corp. paid him $50,000, while he was still St. Louis collector, to get scarce film with which to test Zenith's Phonevision sets. Until Finnegan went to work for Zenith, the movie companies had been most reluctant to cooperate with Zenith. But they were so anxious to cooperate with Finnegan that they did not even charge rent for the film.