The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-02-13
By wEsTBROOK PEGBLER

NEW YORK - Thanks to the alertnesS OF
brother Daniel Tobin, the devoted friend ana
greatest admirer of brother Daniel Iopln, pres
icent of the Transfers union, we are made
aware of some unsupported implications of the
new tax law wherein it requires unions to lie
income tax returns. The PUBIC
could not have realized that this provision con-
stitutes blow at the unioneers' expense &C.
counts but brother Tobin, being on the inside,
does. Probably not even those who inspired
this blow at the social life Of the criminal scum
in Miami in winter full appreciated the ef-
feet which brother Tobin has foreseen in his
little monthly publication. The international
Teamster in which he is the leading editorial
list and moralist, and often his own eulogist.
'You will have to adjust yourselves to new
legislation very soon relative to the position OF
your union'' says kindly warning in the
current issue. ''You will have to make an
counting OF the expenditures of your local
union what salaries you receive, the man.
ner in which you carry on your elections and
many other things. So prepare yourselves now
by correcting anything that may be wrong
with the affairs Of your union. For instance
if you go to Washington on trip for your
union and you charge $50 day or expenses,
the government may require you to show
where you spend the $50. The days Of the pen
ny-ante chiselers in labor and business are
coming to an end.''
Brother Tobin's statement that the govern
ment will check on the manner of conducting
elections is mystifying for there is nothing to
that effect in the tax law and, up to now,
under the labor relations act, some hilarious
election frauds have gone unrebuked. But his
word of caution about the expense accounts
is valid and would seem to have been suggest
ed by brother Joseph PadwaV, the teamsters'
general counsel, who knows how to read fine
print and detect unseen threats to racketeers
of whom not few of the most revolving have
been among his clientele.
Rather Oddly although the unions present
ed manv objections to the international re-
turn, none of them fought for the secrecy of
the loaded expense account Possibly the rea-
son was that none of the brothers wished to
call attention to this graft or even acknow-
ledge it's existence Instead, they argued that,
with a membership of only eleven millions,
largely compulsory and unwilling, and with
an annual income of only one thousand mil
lion dollars, they we're puny and vulnerable
in their contests with the bloated proprietors
of corner drug-stores and family trucking con-
Germs Moreover, they insisted, it was too much
trouble to make returns, although many OF
their individual members and millions OF othe.
citizens have to make them.
Now that the proposal has passed, however,
brother Tobin deemed it his duty to warn the
racketeering brothers in the locals to prepare
yourselves HOW NY Co1ICSII1lS any 'iAi"S 'AA"'
may be wrong"
Hitherto, as the Department of Justice and
other agencies have found out it has been
common practice among the high rollers IN
the house of labor to cash large checks against
their local treasures at horse and dog tracks
and resort hotels where they relaxed from
their heavy deliberations in the interest OF
the humble stiff back home. They were able
to help themselves to as much as they wanted
out of their treasures, call themselves into
session at Atlantic City and charge 1t to the
expense of protecting labor's gains with my
own limited access to such contldentlal al
fairs 7 have seen photostats OF checks for as
much as So, 600 for these purposes, sums which
now will be regarded as income above and
hevond the rea sonable costs of such travel
and subsistence, not including liquor and COM
nanionship. And the federal tax men, being
hold to very modest government allowances
themselves, will scrutinize such charges with
the eve of experience as well as suspicion.
Brother Tobin is to be thanked, to be sure
for tipping off the brothers in the locals OF all
| the big job-trusts but he brings sad news
nevertheless to these colleagues in the lower
bra ckets Unwittngly, Congress has struck an
excr,1ciating blow at the nobility OF the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor, now required to car
nv little black books and jot down so much
for lunch, so much for ta2kis, not too much for
tins and nothing whatever for wine, wagers or
the society of pretty ladies of the night clubs