Evening star., 1939-08-17

III w !, wv ssS&a 09& -
about was q $50 David Lawrence.
900 loan from John L. Lewis and
his organization which was on the
books of the Democratic National
Committee when he became treas
urer in April, 1887. Further re-
search into the 1886 records has
disclosed to Mr.. Quayle that the
contributions, which were not in
the form of loans and which con-
sequently are not recoverable by
the workers organization, amounted
to the half million dollar figure.
The incident becomes important
in view of the efforts made by Sem
ator Tydings of Maryland, Demo-
crat, in the closing days of the last
session of Congress to have a pro-
vision attached to pending legisla-
ton so that political loans and con-
tributions could not be made with
out the knowledge and specific con-
sent of the workers themselves.
Another Hatch Law.
The proposal was made by the
Maryland Senator with the hope
that at the next session Congress
would have the same measure be-
fore it for action. The British
labor laws require strict regulation
of the financial activities of labor
unions in political campaigns. Amer
lean election laws sharply prohibit
corporations, or any group OF cor
porationS such as would be embraced
in the average trade association,
from making money contributions
to political campaigns. Another
Hatch law governing the methods
= of obtaining money from working
men, originally for dues, only to
have huge sums contributed to po-
litical campaigns by union eXecu-
tives without submitting the mat
ter to the workers, is likely to get
serious consideration in the next
Congress.
The time may have become ripe
for this legislation because of the
c. I. O.'s extraordinary relationship
to the 1886 campaign. Thus it is
disclosed that the so-called Labor
Non-Partisan League, which cam
paigned for Mr.. Roosevelt. was
financed to the extent of $4,000
by the c. I. o. unions. The A. F.
of L. has since denounced the league
as tool of the c. I. o.
When labor unions form and
finance political organizations, the
Congress, of course, can extend its
power of regulation to such unions
as 1t does to corporations So far
as disclosure of financial contri-
buttons, there is no question but
that the c. l. o. unions have made
complete and full revelation of their
activities. The point at issue is
not related merely to compulsory
disclosure, because this is already
required by existing law. The con-
troversy will center rather on
whether workers who pay their dues
for one purpose can have those
funds used for another objective.
Contributions in the Open.
There is no legal reason why
workers should not contribute as
much of their pay as they wish to
campaign funds, but should labor
unions, as such, be permitted to do
the soliciting, especially when
similar privilege is denied employ
ers whose businesses are incorpo-
rated? Corporation executives may
give freely as individuals out of
their own pockets, but their cor
poration machinery cannot be used
to levy an assessment on stock
holders.
Campaign managers would rejoice
II there were some amendment to
the existing law which would per-
NIT corporations to solicit funds for
political campaigns from their stock
holders. Some of the big corpora
tons with hundreds of thousands
OF stockholders would be meat for
the political managers, even if the
assessment were only SO cents
head.
If the labor unions, therefore,
fight legislation forbidding them
from using union dues for political
purposes or prohibiting the men,
bershlp rolls Of the organization
from being utilized for solicitation
Of campaign funds, then it would
not be surprising to see an effort
made in Congress to lift the present
ban on the solicitation or contri-
button of campaign funds by cor
porations.
C. /. o. Asks Privileges.
theoretically, the giving of large
~ sums by any individual or organi-
zation is supposed to beget a pos
sible use of undue influence. Cor
porations which made big campaign
gifts used to be accused of seek
ing special favors. Instead of con-
demning this practice and declar-
ing that two wrongs do not make
q single right, the C. I. o. leader