The New York herald., 1921-05-26
Continued from First Page.


vast industries of the United States out
side of the building trades. Their activi-
ties should receive the same kind OF at
tention that the Secret Service gives to
counterfeiters or that the expert safe
crackers receive at the hands of the
police"
Mr.. Untermyer characterized the
Building Trades Employers Association
as the breeding nest" for local coEoira-
tions operating In violation OF the Law.
What a pity" he said. this cancer
Vpon the building trade cannot be treated
like an ordinary gambling den or liquor
still and be raided and broken up by the
police -
With the approval OF the committee
Mr.. Untermyer proposes to address
communications to the Attorney-General
Of the United States. the Federal Trade
Commission and the Attorney-Genera OF
the State. with lists of>the combinations
already investigated and recommended
tions that investigators be put on their
trails to report on their activities. par
tlcularly with respect to those that have
promised the committee they would dis
band. Some of these. Mr.. Untermyer
said. have acted in good faith, while
others have only pretended to disband.
Mr.. Untermyer is also willing to pre-
pare a communication to Gov Miller
advising a special session of the Legisla-
ture to enact such remedial legislation
as may be deemed necessary.
Personal Word of Warning.
Concluding Mr.. UntermS~r adds:
"May be permitted persSs.-.i word
of warning? I am no alarmsst and
have unbounded confidence in the sound
ness Of our institutions. but my great
fear is that the country either does not
sufficiently realize or has become call
lous to the perils that lurk In the social
unrest that is being accentuated by the
greed and piracy of these combinations
that infest the land from end to end.
"They are all powerful. 1t is stiil
possible to reach the little fellows, but
the biggest and most dangerous of them
apparently are already above and be-
yond the law as it now stands"
Herman Petrl OF 1913 East Twenty
ninth street, former president of the
Atlantic Coast District Association OF
Tile and Mantel Contractors, was the
chief witness yesterday. In his ca
pacity as head Of the Atlantic coast or
Eanization. Mr.. Petri was vice-presi-
dent director and member of the ca
ecutive committee of the National Tile
and Mantel Contractors Association OF
America, the parent organization that
embraces more than $50 members
Proves Unwilling Witness.
The scope of this organization.
through its affiliation with the Brick
layers. Masons and Plasterers Interna-
tional Union of America, extends to
every village. hamlet and crossroads In
the United States where tile work Is
done, and even into Canada and Cuba.
Mr.. Petri was an unwilling witness.
Time and again he refused to admit
the existence of a copper riveted con-
tract between the national tile and man.
tel organization AMI the bricklayers by
which IL was shown that much OF the
strength of the employers organization
came from the workers union. He de-
scribed copy OF the contract shown
him as a tentative arrangement" but
admitted. reluctantly, that 1t had been
entered into In April, 1918. and was
effective until April, 1928.
The system of coercion was rigorous
and effective. II presented the some
what unusual feature of union of
workmen prescribing conditions under
which their employing contractors should
undertake jobs and sending copies OF
those conditions out for the Q. Is. of the
employers An llluEtTaLloU WAS III
circular issued in 1919 by the Masons.
Bricklayers and Plasterers international
Union which provided that all tile work
must come under the Jurisdiction of the
National Tile and Mantel Contractors
Association: that no tile layer should
work for other than bona fide tile
contractor. that contractors for labor
only should not be recognized, but that
they should In all cases include mate
rial and that the workmen were op-
posed to the peddling of contracts and
insisted on contracts being awarded
to an original bidder.
The committees investigators dis
covered the rough typewrtten draft OF
this circular attached TO a letter from
William Dobson. secretary Of the brick
layers organization, addressed to Petri
and asking his approval They could
find no copy of Petris reply to tho
brickIayers' union and this was stated
TO be the case in connection with other
letters shown to have been written or
received by Petri. II caused Mr.. Inter
myer 10 ask II IL was not a fact that
the witnesses files had been rihed and
letters received and despatched destroyed