Evening star., 1944-05-21
A. P. Photo.

lawful "for any labor organization to
make contribution in connection with
any election at which presidential or
vice presidential electors or a Senator
or Representative in Congress are to be
voted for, or for any candidate, politi-
cal committee, or any other person to
accept or receive a contribution" 50
prohibited.
Another organization that is feeling
these legislative restrictions is the Dem
ocratic National Committee, a benef-
ciary in 1896 and 1910 Of organized la
bor's funds. Both organizations, sep
arately and jointly, are trying to find
ways to cash in on labor's voting
strength and financial resources yet stay
within the law.
Murrays statement that his commit
tee had an initial fund OF 100000
aroused the ire Of several Southern
Representatives. OF this sum, about
100000 has already been spent, accord
ing to c. Benham Baldwin, assistant
chairman and former farm security
administrator. No financial goal has
been set by the committee, although
Representative Martin Dies, chairman of
the House Un-American Investigating
Committee, asserted in a recent report
devoted to the PAC that Hillman had
used the figure 100000. Baldwin de-
rides this figure but will not say how
much will be sought.
Dies in hic rorrrr coil fhof NV
units of the CIO already have imposed
q compulsory assessment upon their
members for the support of the CIO
Political Action Committee" He con-
tinued:
"Inasmuch as Government coercion
compels hundreds of thousands Of work
ers to join the CIO, 1t is obvious that
there are many of these workers who
have no choice but to make their finan-
cial contribution to this Hillman-C Com
munist conspiracy. whether they ap-
prove or not"
Baldwin, full-time official and virtual
executive director Of the committee, as
serted that so far as he knew no CIO
union had made any political assess
ment for his committee. There may
have been one or two isolated instances
OF assessment by locals, he conceded,
and later on some of the locals might
assess their members for fights for or
against congressional candidates.
About 40 national unions contributed
the S700 000," he said. There were con-
tributions of 100000 each from the
general funds of the CIO, the ANAL
gamated Clothing Workers. the United
Automobile Workers, the United Steel
Workers and the United Radio and
Electrical Workers. Other contributions
ranged from $500 to $25, 900.
The procedure was as democratic as
anything could be. The CIO Executive
Board established the political commit
tee and the proposal and campaign
program were debated at length at the
Philadelphia convention last November.
Every union there voted to continue the
work. Some of the unions are talking
about asking for voluntary contribu-
tions for their MEMBERS some of the
locals will probably put on shows or
benefits. I won't say there won't be
assessments, but haven't heard of any.
Some unions have constitutional pro-
visions against special assessments ex-
cept under certain rigid conditions. You
know, special assessments are not very
popular with union members, and a
leader has to be fairly strong to make
them STICK
Representative Howard Smith, Dem
orcat of Virginia, aroused by the Murray
article, demanded that the Department