The Connecticut labor news., 1924-11-15
VAUGHAN LET CAT OUT OF BAG BEFORE
 BORAH COMMITTEE
vealed in Letter From
 kruttschnitt.

kruttschnitt.
 The story of how Kruttschnitt, chair man of the Southern Pacific, and c. H. Mu11iken of Pettibone- Mul1iken Co.,, railway supply firm, organized the American Economic Institute for the purpose of bambooz1ing the American people, is now a part of the official rec ord of the Borah committee appointed to investigate the Coolidge slush fund.
 Organized Labor on a number of occasions has callen attention to the activities of the institute" and has warned the public that it was propa- ganda agency financed by the railroads and the supply firms which exploit the railroads.
 Mul1iken and his associates never publicly denied the charges made, but nevertheless, the newspapers continued to give generous space to the Ire lease" issued by the institute.
 Never once did the newspapers which printed these stories tell their readers of the institutes relations with the railroads.
 When Samuel Vauclain, boss of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, was be- fore the Borah committee he confessed that lie had given $10000 to the insti- ute. He treated the matter as an in cident of no importance. Ten thousand dollars, more or ultimately paid by the public in fares and rates-did not cut much figure in Vauc1ain's life.
 When Borah asked him who had in terested him in the institute his mem ory became surprisingly bad, except on one point He recalled that Krutt- schnitt had o. k.'d the proposition.
 Borah suggested that Vauclain dig up the correspondence he had had on the subject and insert 1t in the record. He complied and now anyone inter ested may ascertain just how propa- ganda bureaus like the American Eco homie Institute. are financed.
 Kruttschnitt, in a letter to Vauc1ain dated April g, 1924, said: T attach prospectus of the American Economic Institute, an association of business men manufacturers and railroads de- signed to disseminate accurate infor- nation to eounteract the mass of mis- information in Congress" | "A number of railroads" continues Kruttschnitt, including the Southern Pacific, have advanced money to the promoters of this scheme and it is ex- pected that all roads will be approach ed. They are expected to respond.
 'The American Car & Foundry Company, the Lima Locomotive Works, and the American Locomotive Com pany have each subscribed $10,O00. The movement is to be nation wide"
 All these concerns make enormous profits out of the sale of equipment to the railroads.
 On the strength of this letter Vau- clain contributed $10,000.
 On August IS Mulliken, who signs himself president of the Economic In stitute, writes to Vauc1ain as follows: !:
 "We will be prepared to issue mem berships to the Economic Institute in few days. Your contribution was $10000 Will you nominate 10 mem bers of your organization to whom certificates may be issued?"
 Apparently Vauc1ain couldn't trust 10 of his employees to join and not spill the beans, so he wrote back the same day saying:
 "Let membership be in the name of A. L. Church, secretary, 800 Broad street, Philadelphia, Pa.'
 On the face of these letters alone $4O,0OO has been sunk in the Economic Institute.
 Actually hundreds of thousands must have been collected. All this money has been spent fighting railroad labor and the progressives during the cleo, tion.
 Mulliken has so "balled up' the Eco homie Institute that it is to close down immediately.
 Of course, it will be Succeeded by an other propaganda bureau under an- other name.
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