The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-01-04
Varied Devices
For Robbery of
Unions Funds,
By WILLIAM u. Fest Err.
Continued


To the foregoing methods of
thievery prevalent in the unions
could be added many more, such as
actual ENLIGHTENMENT of funds from
the treasury, which often takes
place, sometimes by false bookkeep-
ing, but more than once, especially
in Chicago, by safe-cracking and
fake holdups; selling of charters
(the Parquet Floor Layers Union
of New York was offered charter
in the United Brotherhood of Car
penters and Joiners for $4,000;
utilizing the unions for bootlegging
and gambling purposes (the Cooks
and Walters Unions of Chicago and
various other cities are now con-
trolled by bootleggers); contingent
funds John L. Lewis used up S10,-
900 through his contingent fund
during the past six months; load
ing up the union payroll with the
names of relatives and friends, etc.
By all these devious means the
misleaders of the workers enrich
themselves. Thus are produced such
weeds as Joseph D'Andrea of the
Tunnel Miners and Sewer Diggers'
Union of Chicago. D'Andrea was a
duke among the Italian building la
borers. AS early as 1911 he sported
two automobiles and two chauffeurs.
He sparkled with diamonds on his
income of $4,000 per year, gathered
through graft from the employers,
pilfered initiation fees of the work.
ers, percentage upon the work
ers' wages, and in other corrupt
ways. Like many of his pals in the
building trades unions, he carried
the union treasury in his pocket and
gave an account to nobody. His
word was law in the union. He was
shot and killed in 1914, just as he
was leaving the union hall. His
funeral blocked traffic in the Loop
district, four bands blared, eight
carriages carried the flowers, thou
sands marched. "Well done, thou
good and faithful servant" capt.
talism.
Misusing Union Funds.
The huge funds often possessed
by the unions have proved more
than tempting to many corrupt la
Dor officials, hence the development
of various means of misusing and
misappropriating ther'. Juggling
them around so that the interest on
them comes to the takers instead of
to the unions is a favorite method.
Thus VIM. Ryan, then secretary
treasurer of the. Illinois Miners and
later secretary-treasurer of the IN
ternational, instead of depositing
S250,000 of District II funds in the
authorized Springfield banks so that
the interest would accrue to the
union, lent this sum out to local
bankers Ito his own profit) for
speculative purposes. Eventually
Mr.. Ryan got $4,000 job from his
friends the coal operators.
Union funds invested in co-opera-
tives have often suffered mysterious
fates. In fact the whole American
cooperative. movement reeks with
stories of graft and incompetence.
The recent collapse of the string of
co-operatives among the Illinois
miners left behind it the usual
stencil. Let us take case in point
of cooperative mismanagement. In
1928 striking bakers in New York
assessed themselves 100000 to start
cooperative bakery. In three
months the money was gone. 1t was
reported that the bakery was bought
for $24,000, although it was not
worth $4,000. Only $1,000 worth of
goods were produced during its IL
weeks of operation. 1t was finally
sold for $4,000. Thus at least $780,
900 went up in smoke. But no one
who knows the American labor
movement was surprised. Such in
cidents are commonplace.
TIC Be Continued