The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-01-23

by which S150,000 was taken
s. Union.
, Acting as the "brains" in
working out the details of the
scheme, the leader of tn e
American socialist party put over
"deaP' in shares owned by the
Cloak and Dressmakers' Union
shares Of the International Union
Bank, formerly union institution
and now owned by private capital
ists-in which deal the sum of
$150,000 was left in the pockets of
the group Hillquit headed.
The facts of this unprecedented
swindle, involving shares of the In
ternational Union Bank, came to
light accidentally at trial before
Judge Alfred H. Townley.
Made Loan.
When the International bank was
! founded, the cloak and dressmaker
Joint Board bought bank shares.
When the big cloak strike started in
the summer of 1926, the then left
wing afoint Board, fiistAng itself IN
need of funds, made loan from the
International Union bank and turned
over its shares as security. The
loan was also guaranteed by the
buildings which the union owned.
The union, of course, planned to pay
off the loan after the strike.
However, the decision of the yell
low Forward clique to wreck the
union and the pogrom against the
rank and file started by Morris Sig :
man, president of the International
Ladies Garment Workers Unionm
made it extremely difficult for thea
Joint Board to pay its debt to thef.,
International bank. oi43
For Fat Rows y59.c
The International Union Bank
thereupon confiscated the shares of
the Joint Board and also laid claim
to the union buildings. The right
wing clique prepared to sell the !
buildings in order to provide salaries.
for its starving fat boys, but it.
found the Joint Board ready to fight.
to retain the buildings that had, been
acquired through the sacrifices Of
thousands of cloak and dressmaRefs.
The Joint Board, through IL Il" !"
lawyer, Louis D. Boudin, took the
case to court, declaring that's the
debt to the International UhibnL
Bank had been paid by the shares
which the bank had confiscated and
that the bank had no claim on the I
buildings. 1910
In the final hearing of the case
Boudin appeared for the Joint Board
/ (now the Needle Trades Workers.
Industrial Union), while the right
wing Schlesinger gang was repre-
sented by Morris Hillquit.
At the trial Boudin grilled Hill
quits confidential aid, Frederick
Omhay, for several hours, Boudin
wanted to find out what had hap
pened to the shares. After much
lodging and squirmi.g on the part
of Omhay, he was forced to admit
that of the 1,275 shares of the Joint
/ Board, 375 had been sold to group
headed by Hillquit at 5000 a share
What was the actual value of the
shares? Why were they sold to
Morris Hillquit and to "others"?
| What became of the other 900
shares?
At this point Hillquit began feel
ing decidedly uncomfortable. Om-s
hay had evidently blabbed too much
/ already. Hillquit here requested
Judge Townley that he be permitted
to make statement. Boudin at
once objected, declaring that Hill
quit could make a statement only
under oath. Hillquit was unable to
back down and had to agree. He
took the witness stand and then
''thc fun" began.
! Boudin began asking embarrassing
questions which Hillquit found it
impossible to squirm out of. He was
compelled to admit the following:
4 AT the time he made the deal az.
bought the shares they were worth
much more than 5000 a share; in
fact, even mu,h more than $500
share. For the shares that were in
possession Of the International
Union Bank there had come an offer
from outsiders Of 1910 share!