The Wilmington morning star., 1946-06-07
Fair Enough
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
Copyright By King Features SYNDICATE +

'ooP9AAen' ny ming features syndicate, Inc
NEW YORK, Sir Walter Citrine, a Bri-
ush unloneer, has offered some observations
on the American union movement the details
of which l will politely ignore TO come Quickly
to my point that he is q fine one to be tell
ing Americans anything about this subject IN
view of certain past events.
Sir Walter was the one who was the guest
OF honor that time at the Waldorf when Will
liam Green, the president of the American
Federation of Labor, threw a tea party to in.
troduce him to the dignitaries of Green's set
and who showed up among the chivalry but
rum-dum Joe Fay, the vice-president of the
operating engineers, who later was convicted,
after a long struggle, of extortion of the enor-
nous Delaware aqueduct job and was no.
torlous even then as one Of the most cor.
rupt and rapacious parasites On the body Of
American labor.
This was not long after Fay, a drunken thug
and a thorough disgrace to the union move
ment, had mauled Dave Dubinsky of the
Ladies' Garment Workers Union, at the an
nual convention of the A. F. of l.. in New Or
leans as a protest against the introduction by
Dubinsky Of a resolution to exclude racketeers
from union office which Fay regarded as a
direct, personal criticism, as it certainly was.
Dubinsky also was invited and he was so mad
to find this hoodlum there and socially recog-
nized by a man whit had a moral duty to
repudiate him that Dave bounced out Of the
party and drowned his sorrow in enormous
buckets of borscht.
If Citrine didn't learn then that the AT. of
LIS executive body recognizes rascals of proven
perfidy. all involving betrayal OF the union
movement. he must be, in my opinion, too
dumb to be listened 20. Ard if he did learn
about this cynical attitude, which permitted
George Browne, as president of the Theatri-
nal arl M1u;o DJorLa-,S ,,n;,~ - - - H.
executive council as a vice-president, when he
was known to be a common underworld gang
ster, and still thinks we need no remedial
laws in our country, then that very obduracy
completely disposes of him.
For another incident bearing on Citrine's
qualifications as an authority on American I'M
ionism and a gently admonitory counsellor to
the American people, 1 refer to the time that
the AT. of L. selected as an appropriate man
to represent it as a f~raternal delegate to the
British Trade Union Congress in London a Chi
cago gangster named Tommy Maloy, who was
George Brownies predecessor and later was
liquidated by persons unknown with the con-
ventional sawed-off shot gun. On that occa-
sion, Brother Maloy was accompanied by nine
Of his favorite social and professional col
leagues ir the official set of the A. F. of L.. in
Chicago. and Sir Walter remarked that he
must be q labor leader of considerable conse-
quence in America 70 require such a retinue
Of secretaries.
Can Sir Walter be so ignorant of matters
that he should be unaware that another year
the AT. of L. selected as a e~raternal delegate
an old-time-dynamiter with a criminal record
and still another time sent over Joseph v.
Moreschi, the president of the Hold Carriers
and Common Laborers' Union, whose official
roster for 80 years included many of the most
picturesque and impudent rogues in the Grim.
inal history of the United States?
The record of the Hod-Carriers shows that
when this honor came to Joe in 1881 the mob
who ran the racket appropriated $40, 900 for
his trip lin order that our international shall
take a dignified and fitting part although a
less pretentious emissary could have made the
round trip on considerably less than one tenth,
and in addition, shook down the poor WORKING
stiffs Cor a Substantial check lest he run
short. And Citrine might have heard, were he
alert and not over-credulous, that the late Mr..
Roosevelt. himself, no less, showed a certain
opinion Of both British and American labor
when ne chose as a representative American
unioneer to call on the British the honorable
Joe radWay, general counsel to the A. F. of L.
and numerous big individual unions including
the filthy Browne-Bioff thing. which was shown
to be nothing but an operation of the old Ca
pone gang.
Citrine's theme is that unions should not be
placed urder legal restrictions and thought
I detected a suggestion that they might re-
fuse to obey the laws ir such case. l am
afraid | agree with him there considering the
announcement by Jimmy Petrlllo,o OF the must
clans. that he intends to ignore and violate a
law which Congress recently adopted with in
font to restrain him in the confident belief
that the Supreme Court viii hold it unconstitu-
t;on.1 THE present character of that court is
s,,ch that some friend of Jimmy's may have
h,,tton-holed certain of the honorable ambu.
,onoeNchasers and received informal assurance
=. odv,nce that the verdict would 60 his wav
n ~ ~ mast performances he has a right to
~ that he is at least 100 to 1 to win anv
way.
,an is out of character advocating abdication
Nv the American government of the right and
aower to restrain criminals merely because
thev might be annoyed. That hasn't been ~
English way down to row but, emembsr;na
what happened in Michigan when the Hon
Justice Frank Murphy was governor and n.y..
/. recently in Butte, Mont, I must admit thu -
has been ours.
i has seemed to me that, by the ,z.x,
character and background Of some Of ths 80