On the Carpet

Two things had long annoyed Harry Truman about his weekly press conferences. One was that, with as many as 250 reporters jammed into his office, it was sometimes hard for him to tell whether a New York Times or Daily Worker man was asking a question, and the President thought he ought to know. Another annoyance was the reporters' habit, in unlimbering their fountain pens, of splattering ink on the President's prized, deep-piled green rug. Several months ago, someone emptied a whole penful of ink smack on the rug's presidential seal.

Last week, Harry Truman pulled the rug out from under the newsmen--and thereby broke an old news conference tradition. He announced that, starting this week, the conference will no longer be held in his office. It will be held in a conference room, which seats 200, on the fourth floor of the old State Department Building. There the President will meet the press, as in the past, every Thursday on alternate mornings and afternoons. Before asking a question, a reporter will have to stand, give his name and employer.

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