The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-03-12
LABOR LEADERS
OF N. Y. FORM A
TRUST COMPANY
AT. of [. Leader Chun1S
With Open Shoppers
Especial to The Daily worker1

kSPSCial TO J ne bhily WoVNSt(
NEW YORK, March 10 - Governor
Al Smith and Mayor J. J. Walker Of
New York head a group Of rs federal,
state and city officials Included In an
advisory committee Of more than 200
stockholders in the Federation Bank
of New York, controlled by metropol-
itan trade unions, to assist in trans
forming the bank into trust COM
pany. Other members of the commit
tee are President William Green Of
the A. r. Of l., Mortimer L. sehiff,
banker; Senator Royal S. Copeland,
Thomas Meighan, John Mccormack,
Charles Chaplin, AdoIph zuker, Ger
ard Swope Of General Electric Co.,
Charles D. HiIIes, Franklin D. Roose-
welt, Hugo Mayer, director of the La
Dor Bank Of Germany, and Luis N.
Mcrones, Secretary Of Labor in Mex
leo.
The state department OF banking
has approved the banks plan for adj
ding trust functions. The Federation
Bank & Trust Co., as it is. to be
known, will start with resources of
S17,O0O,O0O, according to President
Peter ]. Brady.
A Dangerous Venture.
This latest venture in the field of
DISQUALIFICATION shows the dangers
of this tactic to the working class
most effectively. If allowed to per-
meate the whole American labor
movement it will destroy its fighting
capacity and bind the workers to the
chariot of American Imperialism in
fashion most difficult to break. This
is evident from consideration in the
first place, of what a trust company
is, and in the second place, from the
interests represented by the officials
named.
A Capitalist Institution.
A trust company has for its object
the investment of funds, not the re-
ceipt of banking deposits to be paid
out on call. When the Federation
Bank is transformed into such a con-
Germ, the money Of the unions and
union members will be used to pur-
chase real estate bonds, corporation
stock, and income securities of one
kind or other. In a short time the
company will find itFgsf in the predi-
cament of the railwa, agineers' trust
company which invel / its funds in
coal mines and then Nnce it was in
business for as much profit as pos
sible, just like an ordinary capitalist,
refused to allow the Information of
it's miners because that would entail
additional expense and lessen the en-
gineers' control of the mines. Very
soon it is inevitable the union trust
company would be in the position of
fighting the very working class it is
supposed to represent.
In the second place, there are the
individuals who are guiding the insti-
tuition. Naturally they will direct its
policies to coincide with their econ
omic interests. From this standpoint
we have the instructive spectacle of
VIM. Green, president of the Amer
lean Federation of Labor, lining up
with Gerard Swope, Of the bitterly
AhIA-uA4Oh hGuGIdl ElGCIllC GOupduy.
Mortimer Schiff, one of the great Wall
Street bankers, will help Hugo Mayer,
director of the Labor Bank of Ger
many, tell the New York workers how
to exploit their own fellow-workers
more effectually. Luis d. Morones,
the Gompers of Mexico, and the will
ing agent of every effort to dilute the
militancy of Mexican labor, will talk
over the matter of policy with Frank
lin D. Roosevelt, former republican
secretary of the navy. and an avowed
American imperialist at Mexico's ex-
pense.
Sense Of the Humorous.
1t seems that the organizers must
have some sense of the humorous,
for they have put on the advisory
committee Charles Chaplin, the mo-
ton picture comedian, and John Mac
Cormack, the Irish tenor. Altogether
the whole proposition would be a roar
ing farce and a wonderful illustration
of what not to do for the workers If
it were not for the fact that It threat
ems to involve the whole New York
City labor movement In long-con-
tinued program Of DISQUALIFICATION
Of the most dangerous type.
NJ " - VHTI