The call of the North. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1923-1924, 1924-01-16
FORTY PRoTESTANTS ARE DISCHARGED
BY j. s. SHIPPING BOARD.
Catholic AK is Welded In Great Fury-.Admiral
- Benson Has Part.-Same Tactics Used as
When Joe Tumulty Packed Board With
Men Of Own Religion.
xxx

WASHINGTON, D. c., Jan. s.
Forty-six employees of the U. S. Ship
ping Board were separated from
their jobs last Monday and the Cath
Ollie ak was welded with great fury.
In the. number were five or six K.
C.'s, just enough in the big bunch of
Professionals to make it appear that
it wasn't just a religious decapita
ton. Of course, the few Catholics
let out will find a way to be rein
stated, as has been the case so many
times, when their parish priest gets
busy with the powers that be. It's
no secret that Catholic priests do
visit the, shipping board offices
every time there are any favorites
let out and they invariably find a
way to get them back in again. In
the bunch let out this week were
eight good Masons; they will have
hard time to secure reinstatement
for there is no secret that the ship
ping board is dominated and con-
trolled by Catholics and Jews, just
as it always has been from the start
in the days when one Joe Tumulty
ran things in the White House and
had his brother Felix Tumulty scout
ing around daily. in the shipping
board offices finding places for Joe
to fit Catholics into fat jobs.
Admiral Benson Might Know.
The wholesale decapitation came
this week as a result of the decision
to make q 100000 reduction in the
force and Department Chief D. A.
Burke just had to let them go in
punches. Just why the shipping
board always manages to let the ak
fall on the necks of so many Prot
estants and so few Catholics is one
of the questions that one must guess.
Of course the fact that Admiral Ben
son is a Catholic and the head of
the Knights of Columbus in Wash
ington might have an important bear
ing on the situation. Then there is
Mr.. O'Connor, nice Irish name, with
Catholic written all over it, that
greatly assists the others on the
board; of course we must not over
look Mr.. Lissner, who is a prominent
Jew member of the board. It is a
fact, however, that there is one Pres
byterian member of the board and
still another member is said to be a
Mason, but there never was a time
when two could outvote three.
What a bloody time this Catholic
ak has had in the shipping board
since the World War. The Tumulty
crowd in it's palmiest days had the
place packed with $4,000 employees
and now it is whitfield down to about
5000 of which number the writer is
assured is about rs to 80 per cent
Catholic. When a Catholic is let out,
as a blind, he manages to get back,
for his priest is on the job within
few Gays. He makes no secret
about it; he goes right down to the
shipping board and demands action
and gets it. But when a Protestant
finds himself on the outside he is
out of luck.
Rip Snoring Masons
There was a time when the Masons
of prominence in the shipping board
were rather chummy; in fact, they
organized the Anchor club, and do
you believe it those fellows got into
the habit of going out to lunch to-
gether? When Admiral Benson got
wind of it he said such a thing must
stop Immediately. The iron fist came
down hard and the Masons had to go
to lunch one at time and they were
lonely.
There was Commander J. G.
Journes, who is regarded as one of
the strongest Masons in the District
of Columbia. He was an ex-com-
mander in the navy department and
down in the shipping board he was
made CHIEF of the vessel distress Sec
ton. His activities down there in
calling a spade a spade got him in
bad with the Benson crowd and the
first thing he knew his head had
dropped into the basket. It's still
there.
Former Acting Controller L. M.
Stevens was another Mason to go
and Ed Linz was another member
of the Masonic club to be on the out
side looking in. These fellows knew
too much of the inside workings and
now they have gotten better jobs
on the outside working where only
merit courts. They can 60 to lunch
with all the Masons in Washington
if they went to and no one to chop