The Wilmington morning star., 1940-10-07
Fair Enough

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are uaose ot tire suI1oE sa
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viii It's pos.aon-Tns EdIor-
NEW YORK. Oct e-WeA ERE
ne are, back On topic A.
have discussed before TIE ca
reer az z labor skate CT Usrceoag
vn;oneer Of Oscar z. Nelson. z
iudze Of the superior court Ct CHI
caso. wao served ss vice president
Of .he Chicago Federation Of Labor
for 25 years and now has tie gall TO
run for The Office Ct county prose
cutor or states attorney. which, Of
course. has : DO with the punish
ment IF labor racksteers among
cther crooks.
l have found Judge Nelson's
word unreliable because ne told
ne his Law firm. never received
much more than $1,000 a year
from the fat janitors' union in the
u years during which he admitted
that the firm represented this Or
s~snization, but later admitted, IN
der pressure Of the evidence. that
$50, 600 d year was nearer TO the
truth ard that one year the legal
rakeoff was SD, 600. He says he IS
not a member of the firm now
adays, being God Save Anerica!l
on the bench If a rather important
court, but just hte same he occu-
pies an office in the firms suite,
in which l interviewed him. AS 70
the number Of years that he and. DC
the firm has represented this
group Of laboring men, I have TO
entertain some doubt, for sOnle
members or ex-mernbers say rhis
relationship has existed Il years,
not IL. A little in%accuracy ike
that wouldn't be remarkable In a
man whose regard for figures Is
so casual that $40, ooo-plus is prac-
ticaly the same as $50, 900 OF
s42, 900.
Be Patient
I have TO ask you TO be patent
here because l am working up to
the enormous size Of the ia Ike
which this altruistic pal Of Labor
with an upper case L has receIved
from this union, alone, but amoLg
others.
The Judge says the unions rlem-
bership is between 1900 and 400.
The union itself has long claimed
1000 or 1900, and individuals who
want TO know more about the mon
ey, and may exaggerate, say there
have been times when the mem
bership has been up to 5000. The
union used to have a standard
take, or lug, for legal service Of So
per year per member-an arrange
ment which has now been modi-
fled, but in what manner l do not
know.
What l want to do is speculate
IN those beautiful box-car figures.
Let us start with the Judges
own figures and work up. At So
a year per head for a membership
Of 1850 members, which is splitting
the difference between 1900 and
4400 for a period of II years, la
boris legal pal would have siphoned
off the earnings of the flat janit,rs
of Chicago, for whom his noble
heart beats with brave and selfless
loyalty, the not-to-be-sniffed-at sum
of SALT, 600. If we add two years
more to the term the lug comes
to S487, 200, or damned near nalf a
million bucks, and we aren't sure
that we are anywhere near the
right total yet.
Figures
Because, figuring that the Judge
and the firm yer paidoff on 1880
members, which is splitting the
difference between 1000 and 750U,
and using the same SO per head as
u supercharger, we find a figure
Of 1896, 900 for u years and 1912, 900
for IA years.
And now, if we believe that there
yer 5000 head-paying fees :or IL
years, we boost the total to 1884,
900, and, adding two years more,
we give the judge 81, 008, 900 for his
trouble and h%eartaches.
Now, as I say, the figures aren't
solid, but we have a pretty good
concrete base in his own admis
sions which ] would be willing to
accept if. in addition to the lie
about the $4,000 a year, Judge
Nelson hadn't also lied about his
relationship with the building serv-
ice union, whose president, Gorge
Scalise, the White-slaver and un-
derworld racketer, has recently
been convicted by Tom Dewey.
The Judge told me--and he has
since reiterated to others--that he
never represented this racket, bu,
dug up an official publication Is
sued by the Gorillas in 1893 in
which he greeted Scalise and re
fcrred to his many years of ser-1ce
hE counsel for the Building Service
International. There Is no doubt
about that. 1t Is there under his
name n picture.
Well. any way you slice it, there
Is good thick money to compensate
a labor skate for running off at
the mouth at political meetings
about his undying devotion to La
Dor with a capital l.. III,
Home Of Lindbergh OFF
Brittany const ToL.-