The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-12-15

| sented to do so. lie acted in that APP
plication as he had in the one made by
the Grand Jury OF which Raymond f.
Almirall is the foreman. In that case
members of the Grand Jury certified
there was an 'overshadowing crime" in
the office of the District Attorney. They
went further and let it be plainly un-
derstood that they did not want Swami
or any one of his assistants as their
| legal adviser Thus the whole matter
was taken out OF Swara's nAnas 5iho:
then he or his assistants hare fren par-
mitted to appear before tiiS A-SniiSs,
Grand Jury, for under the law he Is
| their legal adviser, along with the pre-
siding justice of the court. Grand
juries have the right to consult with
any judge of the court, but they have
been satisfied to take the instructions of
Justice Barlow S. Weeks. before whom
they were sworn i'm. But they did not
want Swami as their counsel.
After newspaper. the World. had
laid mass Of evidence concerning
wronSdoing in the building trades before
Swami it waited for action on his part.
He did nothing. Weeks went by and
nothing was stirring so far as it af-
fected the building trades and the mem
bers of organized labor that were certain
TO be brought into the scandal.
Swami was prodded from time to
time to take action in the matter that
had been submitted to him, and finally
he said he had read the material handed
to him and decided that 1T was a mat
ter for the United States District At
torney. This, however. was denied by
that official who announced that he
was not making any investigation.
The Information on which Swami was
asked to act came out through the work
of Nathan Hlrsch, then chairman of the
Mayors committee on rent profiteering
Mr.. Hirsch had barely started his in.
quiry TO determine what, in addition to
scarcity of mortgage money, was hold
ing back building operations before he
received reliable information That an or
ganization known as the Association OF
Dealers in Masons' Building Materials
had firm grip on all materials used in
building construction and probably was
holding prices at an inflated level
Mr.. Hirsch dug deeper into the mate
rial in hand and finally called on Mr.
Untermyer. to whom he gave his infor-
nation. At that time Mr.. UntermyeI
was in Ill health, but he consented to
open negotiations into the inquiry. In
July OF last year Mr.. Untermyer called
and examined two complaining witnesses
and Wright D. Goss. head Of the Empire
Brick and Supply Company. the largest
organization OF It's kind in the city, and
Secretary Treat Of the Dealers associa-
ton. Both Treat and Goss made dam
aging admissions. The associations
price list and bylaws were introduced In
evidence. Mr.. Untermyer told Mr.
Hirsch that he had established clear
case of criminal conspiracy and advised
that the testimony be sent to Judge
Swami as District Attorney.
A few days after this. the health OF
Untermyer being unimproved. his physi-
clan ordered him to California. where he
remained several months. In the mean
time the evidence as adduced upon the
hearings was turned over to Swann's Of
flee. 1t showed that the local dealers
in building materials were combined
through the association that two black
balls kept a dealer out of the organiza-
ton, that no dealer could buy of a MEM
Der unless he Joined, and that any men,
Der selling to non-member was fined
or ousted. The compliments told how
they were unable to Join and how It was