National Affairs: Tax Returns

In the governor's office at Springfield, Press agent William Flanagan handed out photostatic copies of Adlai Stevenson's income-tax returns for the last ten years. Reporters dug through them, found no startling news. Adlai Stevenson is (just barely) a millionaire. In 1951, his returns from investments totaled $46,040.94. Although the returns did not disclose the fact, Stevenson's biggest source of income is his 25% interest, which he inherited, in the Bloomington (Ill.) Daily Pantagraph. His ten-year income: $500,046. His ten-year federal income tax: $211,980.42.

Stevenson's baring of his tax returns neither proved nor disproved any campaign point; nobody thought he was in politics for money. The nominee and his aides hoped the act would generate a demand for Eisenhower's returns. This week Ike said he would make his tax file public.