The Wilmington morning star., 1940-09-26

III kI0SS
may not always harmonic
with it's position.-The Editor. .
CHICAGO, Sept. 25.-I have new
er met a more authentic specimen
of the labor skate who fattens on
organized labor in the role of po-
litical patron than Oscar F. Nelson,
a judge of the superior court of
Cook county, who has the effron-
terry not only to sit in judgment of
the fate and fortunes Of other men
but to present himself as a candi-
date for the office of public prose-
cutor.
Ordinarily the public outside Chi
cago would have no interest in a
contest for the Office of states at
torney here for which the judge is
now a candidate. But in this case
the circumstances compel wider at
tention, for organized labor in Chi
cago has been deviled and bled by
racketeers of the criminal under
world as nowhere else in the coun-
try, and yet this judge, himself
identified with evil ~interlopers, is
campaigning as one w no would
drive out all the undesirables who
seek to fasten themselves upon Ia
Dor organizations"
I call attention to the fact that
write not on hearsay but on in
formation. I interviewed this judge
for almost two hours in an office
which he occupies in the suite OF
the law firm which still holds the
account of the flat janitors' union,
a subsidiary of the malodorous In.
ternational Union of Building Serv.
ice Employees.
Former Partner
He formerly vas a partner in
this firm, but claims that he has
ASSOCIATED himself for the duration
of his term on the bench. I hope
he is more truthful in that state
ment than in other declarations
which he made to me.
One statement I have already
disposed of, that his firm got only
a little more than $40, 900 a year,
from the janitors during the r.
year period, from 1928 to 1885,
when he represented these toilers
officially. The proposition that this
relatively small MO required
even that much legal service, in
Guiding service of its individual.
members, if the union and the
members were reasonably well-be'
haved, I need not discuss. 1t is
his proposition and I will leave il
lay where Nelson fang it.
But, confronted the next d a y
with the fact that this union regu-
larly collected ar assessment Of
So per member per quarter for lie.
gal services, Judge Nelson admit
ted that this had been so, that his
firm got part" of this kitty,
amounting, lat times" to $50, 00C
a year, and that one year the
firms. rakeoff was SAP, 600.
This judge has worked the unior
appeal for political advantage and
financial profit for many years,
He has been a vice president Of
the Chicago Federation OF Labor
for a quarter of a century and has
exploited his connections in poll.
tics.
In the same interview Judge Mel.
son denied to me that his secretary
had taken the minutes of the ex-
executive meeting in 1927, at which
a mob of New York and Chicago
hoodlums took over the presidency
OF the building service employees
by electing to that office George
Scalise-the white SLAYER and in.
veterate racketeer w h recently
was convicted of robbing the union
treasury. He admitted that the
minutes were taken by a young
woman employed by the law firm,
but said she was not his secretary
any more and was not his secEe-
tary at the time she took the min
utes. Yet twice in the course OF
our conversation, this person en-
tered the room where We were Sit
ting and performed secretarial
duties for him.
Quotes Greetings
Judge Nelson also denied that he
had served as counsel for the build
ing service union and said he knew
Scalise only slightly.
On Sept. Z the Chicago Tribune
quoted him as saying he never re-
ceived a single fee from Scalise's
union, which would suggest that
he never represented the organiza-
ton, and on Sept. 20, the Chicago
Daily News said he fatty denied
that he ever was connected with
the building service employees.
BY way of comment on the truth
of his statements l now quote from
a greeting from Judge Nelson pub
lished in the official ballyhoo jour
nal of the Scalise racketeers in its
first issue, Aug. /, 1888, when he
was on the bench.
II hasten to extend my greet
ings, congratulations and good
wishes to general President Sea-
lise, to his fellow officers of the
international union and to the new
Journal" Judge Nelson wrote.
And, again recalling his denial
that he eve was counsel for the
International, note this closing SEN
- hic oroo+~-