The Wilmington morning star., 1942-12-28
FAIR ENOUGH
By wEsTBRooK PEGLEk


NEW York; have been reading .as'
} cnating book called report Of the executive
board Of the International Hod Carriers, Build.
:ng and Common Laborers' Union OF Ameri'
ca to the eighth convention, Municipal audi
toriun, st. Louis, Sept. IS, 1871.
This book traces the rise Of a racket dur
ing period Of 80 years during which all but
one Of the original national officers died and
were replaced by other selected blythe sur.
v;vors In this manner, Joseph V. Moreschl,
late Of Chicago where he was the colleague
ef Mike Carrozzo, an underworld character
and free-style crook, rose to the presidency Of
the union which he now occupies. MoreSchi
and the rest Of the mob held the st. Louis
convention only because they were forced to
do so by newspaper publicity and they ex-
p.ained that the reason why no conventions
he'd been held in the meantime was that the
membership, when polled, voted not to.
That explanation seemed hard to lick, al
though it meant that by voting against con-
ventions the suckers Of the membership turn
ee over their union and their millions IN
dues and fees to 4 gang who strong-armed
taeir way into office and authorized them
selves to take over locals and councils Of
whose treasures grew to tempting size.
Books like this one look dull and are likely
70 be scanned, not studied, ard that was how
my copy happened to be stuck away on a
shelf for more than a year.
Recently, however, decided to plod through
it. On close study, it reveals that the muscle
men Of the executive board adopted a poll-tax
i scheme to accompany the referendum on the
question whether a convention should be held.
The question was "shall an assessment Of 81
rer member be levied to meet the transporta-
ton expenses Of every local union, not more
than three delegates, il a convention is held?'
<o I;1
Up 81 each to buy Pullman drawing rooms and
rent hotel suites and supply drinks for lot
Of gorillas and their molls who always make
Iextravagant outings of such meetings, SO ma
turally they voted no. They saved their two
bucks apiece and the boss unioneers held
s,lect. private gatherings Of their own little
circle once a year, always at the expense of
me stiMs, Of course.
In 1927, they remembered that next year was
| to be the unions silver anniversary and au-
thorzed themselves "to make the necessary
arrangements for appropriate gathering
and sure enough, in the minutes of the 1926
meeting, held in Washington, says, this
being the day set for the celebration Of the
25th anniversary and the general president
end other officers being occupied with mat
ters pertaining thereto, the executive board
recessed for the day in order that the affair
might be properly taken care Of
No particulars were given rs to the manner
II which the affair was properly taken care
Of but there would seem to be a clue in an
other entry dated Feb. IS, 1881 which re-
ported that, honored by the selection Of the
Brother Moreschi as fraternal delegate to
the British Trade Union Congress in England,
and lin order that our international shall take
a dignified and fitting part in comparison with
others participating therein" the boys in the
back room appropriated $4,000 Of the suck
crs' money for his trip
Not only that, but at big brawl in Bos-
ton attended by local dignitaries, Brother
Moreschi was presented, in addition, with one
Of those Substantial checks to which the
saps are always contributing if they know
what is good for them, to pay the expenses
Of the same trip which could have been made,
and may have been made, on 1000 or 81, 500,
in elegant style.
/ l have found no accounting Of Brother
Moreschis expenses on the trip to Europe but
ne could have taken his family or some friends
along for the ride and the fun. That is COM
monty done. Tommy Maloy, Chicago gun
man who preceded George Browne as head
Of the Stage and Movie Workers Union, took
nine gorillas to London when he went and a
noted but naive English leader was impressed
with Maloy's Importance to the American
Federation Of Labor, when the hoodlum ex-
planned that his mob was his secretarial staff.
Progressively over a period Of seven years,
! Dominck D'Alessandro Of Quincy, Mass, the
president who preceded Moreschi, boosted his
own salary in jumps Of 1000 and $500 and
that of his pal, AL Persian, the general secre-
..ry, by $4,000 without reference to the men,
bership. And after D'Alessandro died, the mop
voted to buy a monument for his grave and
: charge 1t to the suckers on whom he had lived
Z SC well 50 many years. A later report states
that this was done but to this day the Saps
don't know how much they were nicked for
The mob has been having wonderful time
; these last few years, exorting literally mil.
: lions Of dollars from working stiffs on govern
raent was construction jobs and Moreschi il
more arrogant and dictatorial than ever. He
y confident that no government authority will
r terfere with his racket and he probably is
l right.