Periodically someone rises in Congress and calls for a fight against fraud and waste in government. The idea is always great. but it gives the taxpayer cause to wonder why more pressure in ferreting out waste and corruption can’t be applied on a continuing basis. One ongoing program of fairly-recent vintage that apparently is paying off for the government is the General Accounting Office anti-fraud ”hotline” instituted in January, 1979, through the efforts of Sen. John R. Sasser. D-Tenn. and others. George Egan, head of the GAO anti-fraud task force, says more than 25.000 federal employees and private citizens have used the hotline to report thefts and graft of various kinds for official investigation. Though the $9.4 million recovered from telephoned tips may seem small compared with the over-all waste – fraud – abuse toll, it represents a 9-1 return against the cost of operating the hotline, Egan said. Most taxpayers probably would agree that’s a pretty good investment. Especially in view of Egan’s disclosure that the real payoff is that complaints sometimes alert federal officials to larger, more costly plots to defraud the government. About 300 reports have resulted in convictions or at least administrative action. Reported through the hotline have been various and sundry thefts including items as big as refrigerators; people receiving undeserved welfare payments; and a Veterans Administration physician seeing private patients on government time. The national toll-free hotline number, as printed in the Congressional Directory, is: 800-424-5454. Anonymity is respected. though callers may withhold their names. The line is open and operating.