The Wilmington morning star., 1940-09-23

those OIL tllS dAIA0@ 0@SN AANJ
always harmonic with its posi-
tion,-The Editor.
CHICAGO, Sept. 22.-The office
of county prosecutor is the most
important fort in the defense of any
community against organized
crime or racketeering. The county
prosecutor can withhold cases from
grand iuries or present weak cases
which produce no indictments, and
when it is absolutely necessary for
the sake of appearances to indict a
crook he a throw the case to the
gang by mishandling the trial in
such a manner as to result IN &C
ouittal or reversal of a verdict OF
guilty on appeal.
This little lecture is by way of in
PRODUCTION to the candidacy OF the
Hon. Oscar F. Nelson, judge OF
the supreme court, for the office
of States attorney or county pros
ecutor of Cook county, which in
cludes all of Chicago and many OF
the politically obscene little civic
honky.tonks along the outskirts.
Professional Unioneer
Judge Nelson is a professional
Nunioneer, a mercenary servant OF
the working stiff, who has made a
career and a fortune out of his de-
votion to labor with a capital l..
He is the republican nominee, but
it is my belief that Ed Kelly, the
boss of the democratic gang, will
support him in an underhand way
in the hope of removing Torn Court
ney, the democratic incumbent,
who. is no Tom Dewey, to be sure,
but Is a most unbiddable and un-
practicable problem case
Courtney Is a product Of the most
primitive type of precinct politics,
but he has an ornery streak, and
he has snapped at Mr.. Kelly, who
is his political elder and patron.
Considering the fact that the Re-
publican party is only 'poi-onous
parasite on the corrupt democratic
organization in Chicago and Cook
county, the latter being, in turn, a
horribly swollen tick o: the l~istless
and emaciated body of the whole
civic unit, Mr.. Kelly could support
Judge Nelson without loss of pres
tige among his gang. The republi-
can organization is no less evil
than Kelly's and lives in a notori.
Gus state, with the dominant fac
ton accepting favors fr o the
democrats and r%efraining from OBJ
s%treperous conduct.
Started as Clerk
The Hon. Oscar F. Nelson began
his unioneering with selfish but
honest zeal SO years ago as a post
al clerk, working a 12-hour night
trick in an insanitary building, with
one night off each month, for 5000
a year.
He helped organize the first un-
ion of postal clerks, served for a
time without pay as local president
and in 1910 sacrificed his job by
exposing in the press the wretched
conditions of the service. He was
fired for doing that. This job was
paying him $1,000 a year, but Mel
son soon was elected national pres
ident, legislative agent and editor
of the national union of the clerks
at the same salary.
So, to do him justice. it will be
admitted that Judge Nelson, in his
early days, fought and took risks
for the cause of labor.
Changes
Times have changed, and Judge
Nelson with them. In recent years
he has found himself much in the
company of underworld labor rack
e%teers, including Al Capone and
George Scalise, and, although he
insists that his appearance with
Capone on a famous occasion was
unintentional and Insignificant, he
is either being naive himself or
asking us to be naive.
He appeared in the Office of the
late Edward Brundage, a republi-
can leader of the time, in company
with two other unioneers, n of
them a graduate from the speak
easy business, and conferred with
Mr.. Brundage in the presence of
Al Capone and a republican state
senator named Dan Serritella, who
is an o~ut-and-out underworld poll
tician. Brundage said Nelson, Ca
pone. Serritella and the two others
called to ask him, as political pa
iron of Federal Judge James H.
Wilkerson, to intercede with the
judge on behalf of Capone, who
was due to be sentenced next day
for income-tax fraud.
He said the labor skates prom
ised to withdraw labor's opposition
to the elevation of Judge Wilker-
son to the court of appeals If he
would go easy on Capone. Capone
got II years, and organized labor
fought Wilkerson until his name
was withdrawn at his own request,
Nelson says Brundage lied, but
he asks us to believe that he and
his fellow unioneers called on
Brundage on political business and,
finding Capone present with Ser
ritella, sat there half an hour dis
cussing intimate p a r ty matters
without asking Capone to with.
draw. He admits sitting in with
the champion criminal of the times
at a political conference.
Judge Nelson comedies that he