Evening star., 1928-12-13
BY GLEN LANE,

DA AbAbAfA h3'A4Ff4'
CHICAGO Dccambar 13.-Chicago
faces a serious task in ridding itself OF
the racketccrs, who. virtually undis-
turbed for years, have fastened them
SCI ~es leechlike on dozens Of industries.
John A. Swanson has been elected
States attorney on platform which
promises to run 'thc business racke-
teers" out of the city.
F5T a long time in Chicago there
rs been but one f0Tce--the En-
p,oyers' Association-which has made
any consistent effort 70 stem the tide
of racheteering overrunning the city's
industries
Racketcers have organized more
than 100 lines Of endcavor, including
all sort of small merchants. the cle2n-
ing and dycing industry. "bathtub
cleaners union" and doctors and
dentists union"
Through strikes and threats of vio-
lence the Employers Association eStl-
mates, S10.000000 of business has been
driven from Chicago by rack2teerS.
Many of the so-called unions en-
gagged in racketeering were raprEatad
bv high labor officials. and te4&>sd
mot unions at all" 1t was fac.
submitted on all sides that "legiti-
mate" unions did not deserve to be
stigmatizcd by charges affecting
criminal operations in the labor field.
Fee of Racketecring.
The Employers Association, foe of
rsoketeering, is made up OF ? number
of leading business men stirred to
action by the growing power of the
N h1IS1nNSC O. 4.
Hostetter is executive secretary, and
Walker G. Walker. former govern
ment operative and an erstwllile
assistant States attorney. is counsel
for the association and in charge of
much of the actual fight on the busi-
ness roustabouts.
Mr.. Walkers Federal experiences,
coupled with his legal knowledge,
makes him q formidable foe of the
racketeers. Because of the fearless
fashion in which he has gone after
respect for his abilities. an attitude
that has enabled him to nip several
budding rackets.
United States District Attorney john
son has rendered yeoman service to the
Employers Association, taking Federal
action in every case in which an inter-
state violation could be developed.
Sixty men are under indictment in the
Federal courts now for ''racketeerlng,
one group being made up of offenders
in candy jobbing racket, the others
accused of sitting competition in the
glazing business in Chicago.
Former District Attorney Grove at
one time said he would aid the En-
plovers' Association in its war on
racketeers. Mr. Walker was made an
assistant States attorney and began to
make things hum. Several racketeering
groups were indicted. but Grove let
Walker go because he must, he said,
cut down expenses.
If Swanson makes Walker an assist
ant States attorney. and indications
ere that he will, the racketeers will
face rough going.
1SS Examples of Racket.
Walker said that in the years he has
been making war on the racketeers he
has come across 168 examples OF
"racketeering Seventeen of these, he
said. he has been able to put out OF
business. Nineteen are at present in
active. .Fifty-tllree of the rackets are
"border-line cases !" their activities hav-
ing a cloak of semi-legitimacy. But
T9 are still going full blast, and on
these, with Swanson's aid Mr.. Walker
tlOOoS 10 OPEN a DIIoh d6tdSh-
Since January /. 1928, according TO
Walker. there have been exactly 100
racket bon1bings in Chicago hun
dred "uineapples" hurled at business
men who have refused to be ''racketed'
"a Chicago verb. meaning in its transit
tive sense to demand donations ;
"dles" or cash under what name you
will, through threat of bombing or
cunning.
An Employers Association report OF
October 2. 1928, says:
'The racket as it now operates against
business in Chicago Is made UP Of three
elements-the lInscfupulous union lead
er. the trickster business man, the
crooked politician.
They are in a strong alliance with
politics protecting the crin1es Remove
any one of the three and the racket
structure would collapse. At least one
of these will have to be removed soon
or Chicago business is in for some new
and violent experiences in the way OF
'racketeering.
If the association is right. Chicago
has done much to bring about col
lapse, as most Of the gang-tainteo
politicians were eased out of office al
the Spring primary and the Autumn
election.
The report brands the racket as 1.-THE
most insidious and dangerous form OF
crime operating in Chicago today" and
goes on to explain how the racketeers
operate.
Form Workers Union.
The racketeers, usually plug-uglie'
with criminal records, line up mum
Der of merchants in the same business
persuading them to form an associa'
hot -
be eliminated and the business stabi-
lized
If the business permits. and most Of
them do, allied hoodlums busy them
selves at the same time, forming the
workers into a union" With skeleton
organizations among the employers anc
workers. the racketeers go into high
speed.
other merchants are visited bv hood.
lums who make "the sales talk" Il
their "sales talk is resisted, guns arc
brandished and bombs are threatened
The merchant usually harkens to 9TH,
sales talk" for he has read newspaper
accounts Of racket Sluggings, bombings
burnings, window smashing. the use o.
coal oil on foodstuffs, of the secretion
of dynamite in wearing apparel sem
to cleaning plants, of chemicals tina
wrecked whole patches of laundry. O
stench bomhs tnat nave driVen aWal
business, os tires slashed in garages. o
churches, Schoolhouses. even cemetery
that have felt the sabotage Of angerec
racketeeTs.
Dues and special assessments ar
levied and the racketeers rake in tn
cash
Meanwhile. the formation of tn
Allied Union has been progressing rap
idly The worker is usually glad Il
join. Higher wages are promised ant
the promise is believed, especially whel
the organizing racketeer tosses back hi
coat and displays a pistol, and tappinI
it suggestively, says, ANY employer tha
won't go alongll find himself the targe
for a flock of slugs." Sc the union i
organized. and dues szld assessment
.ul.1.