The Wilmington morning star., 1944-05-05
BY WEsTBROOK PEGLER


BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
NEW YORK.-Sometimes some Of these
professional uhioneers operating under gov
eminent license through the Wagner Act, do
things that just leave you Tapping your chin
speeches.. You don't want to believe that
any Individual has such powers or that con-
gress ever intended to confer such powers
even on the President of the United States,
but then you face the facts and just humble.
'can such things be?"
am contemplating recent action of Jim
my Petrillo, the president of the AFL must
clans union. Jimmy reared back and passed
law concerning symphony orchestras and
their musicians under an authority W n C h
makes President Roosevelt's aggregate wal
powers, as Mr. Biddle, the attorney general
calls them, seem puny and quasi-constituticn
al.
Let us not mind what the law does to the
symphony players. 1t just treats them as
paroled convicts, that is all. 1t is as long as
from here to the Battery and back to Union
Square, and because Jimmy is no grea t
whereaser himself, We know at once that
lawyer drew it up for him. That lawyer prob
ably would be old Joe Padway, his chief
counsel and chief counsel, too, of the entire
American Federation of Labor, highly pros
eral years has been telling congress what to
do and, year or SO ago. was sent over to
Britain to represent American labor in some
diplomatic nonsense with British labor.
This law of Jinlnys is an amendment OF
the bylaws, and the preamble says that a.
James c. Petrillo, duly-elected president and
so forth, pursuant to the powers conferred
on me- and 30 forth, do hereby declare that
an emergency exists and do hereby pro-
mulgate and issue the following executive or
der which I do hereby find and declare to
be necessary"
This is consistent with that which is known
as the democratic progress in the musicians
union and is fair sample of the democracy
Of brother Padway. No referendum was TAX
en-, even among the limited field of the men
who were affected by the amendment. No Of
ficials of any local unions were consulted. No
executive board was asked to consider the
amendment. Jimmy just reared back and
passed it as an executive order" which he
deemed to be necessary in an emergency.
But can he do like that within the fine
democratic household of the American FEEDER
alton of Labor?
He can do that and plenty more.
Where does he find those powers confer
red on me-?
He finds them in article / Of section l of
the bylaws, defining the duties of the presi-
dent, where it says he shall make decisions
in cases where, in his opinion, an emergency
exists which shall be binding on all members
and locals; and that he may annul and set
aside the entire constitution. bylaws, standing
resolutions and other laws and rules and SUBJ
stitute other provisions of his own making
The power to do all this is thereby made
absolute in the president" There is an ex-
ception in the handling of financial affairs,
but it will be seen that Jimmy can do any
thing he wants in this field, too, by simply
revoking all the rest Of the constitution, in
which case all the other officers lose their
Jobs and authorities. Or he can abolish the
machinery for the selection of delegates and
remove all the officers OF all the locals in
the country and take over their treasures,
if in his opinion, an emergency exists
This is the extreme example, so far as I
know. of absolute dictatorship in a union op-
Grating under the Wagner act. Other dictators,
such as John L. Lewis OF the miners, Joe
Curran Of the CLIO maritime union and old
Dan'l Tobin, of the teamsters, can achieve
equal results by manipulation but in no other
union is this total authority spelled out for
the president in the constitution. He doesn't
even have to go through the motions OF con-
sulting his partners in the executive board,
some of whom might some time get out Of
hand.
am one who has never been upset by
anything that Jimmy has done, whether
smothering radio stations or silencing t h g
jukes, but on the contrary have hoped that
he would go the limit one Of these days and
impose total silence on all professional pub
lie music including the mechanical pursu-
ant to the powers conferred on him. That
might show the people and Congress what the
Wagner act really means; for any other I'M
ion adopting the same absolutism, could be
run the same way and the public couldn't do
thing about it,
| This year a state need not hire press
agent to gain the front pages. All it"need
ia do is hold one of those "cruciaP' presi-
Dental preference primaries.
Radios Mind Reader Dunninger has turn.
ed that old saying IA penny for your
thoushts.' into some real money.
Those arrows on maps of the eastern front
have been shown aimed at Germany 30
long now even the du1abest Nazi SHOULD be
seeing the point