The Wilmington morning star., 1946-06-11
Fair Enough
Bv wEsTBRooK PEGLER

American Federation of Labor, and the mu-
siclans' and Transfers union rackets and an
old friend, admirer and counsellor of George
Scalise and George Browne, two of the dirtiest
Vermln thus lar driven out of the mansion OF
labor, has been cut down to size and I modest
ly take credit for doing it. Time was when
this professional union skate could run his
roaring f%ourflusA against Congress and the
state legislatures and make them roll over
and play dead just because, as counsel for the
A. F. of L., he seemed to them to represent
millions of votes among the rank and file of
the unions. They didn't take the trouble to
examine his background, his associations or
his credentials, but l did and l found him in
profitable association with two gangs of crooks
Who were not leaders but foul betrayers of
labor. And one effect of these disclosures is
that any member of Congress or state official
whom he tries to threaten with punishment
at the polls or otherwise need not hesitate to
throw him out bodily.
With this preamble, let us consider some
remarks that PadWay made to the convention
OF the musicians union at st. Petersburg,
Fla, and other matters.
Discussing the E. law, recently enacted
by congress-, to curtail some of the taxing
powers of Jimmy Petrillo, the president of the
musicians thing, and the Case bill which
would make unions accept legal responsibility
for the fulfillment of their contracts, Padway
shot off his loud mouth for two hours.
what is democracy coming to-" he de-
manded, probably in that courthouse below
of his, and labor leaders are entitled to the
rights OF the Constitution of the United
States
Stand back, please. because, like that mis-
erly old nickel-bender, Harold Ickes, this
mugg was made for me. Santa Claus brought
him to me. He is mine.
To show you what Pathways idea of de-
mocracy is, let me cite first the fact that the
musicians union is an absolute dictatorship
by provision of its own constitution. l admit
having mentioned this before, but I want to
hit Padway in the teeth with the provision
which says that Petrillo may annul or set
aside the entire constitution or any portion
OF it and substitute laws of his own making.
except in financial matters, and that the pow
er to do this lis hereby made absolute"
And" the constitution continues, '4the
said power shall include cases where existing
laws are inadequate or provide no method of
dealing with a situation"
And, furthermore, he has the absolute power
to call strikes, by himself, with no consulta-
ton of the poor drummers, fiddlers and wind
TANNERS, most Of whom really do live from
hand-to-mouth for all of Petrillo's big noise
about their economic gains under his dicta-
torship, and treat them to a succession of
payless p%aydays. l point out to you the beauti-
full temptation to shake down band-leaders.
dance promoters, and all kinds of employers
of musicians that is created by this provision
Some time ago, l read that Padway had
said that his own ideas were not always ex-
pressed by the constitutions and conduct of
his clients and we will let the record show
that, however, actions speak for themselves
and here we find this mouth-piece baWling
about democracy" and the constitutional
rights OF clients who did not copy Adolf Hitler
but beat him to it by years.
Does anyone have to be told the meaning
OF these provisions of the constitution of this
bunch of gauleiters under a fuehrer before
whom this immigrant Padway has the effront.
cry to announce that ne would find some
way OF getting around the intent and will OF
the elected Congress of American senators
and representatives
1t permits Petrillo to declare that an emer.
gency exists and by virtue of the powers
vested in" him to do anything he wants to
do to anyone in the union and to millions
of others outside his union, including other
workers as well as employers by means of
the picket line and the secondary boycott. The
form that he uses in promulgating his DEGREES
is almost identical with the one Franklin D
Roosevelt often employed after he had created
emergencies il order to find himself COM
PEELED to extend his control. Inasmuch as. Pad
way is the unions counsel, and not for free.
ana a Roosevelt fan, We may surrnise that
he got up this formula for the little graduate
street Arab from Chicago, although possibly
not.
Do you remember our startlement when Hit
Ter set up his so-called peoples courts to try
defendants who knew they were on the spot
and therefore were extremely careful to say
or do nothing in violation of any of his laws.
and decreed that if no law existed to forbid
some conduct, then the court could make one?
When the Nazis wanted to get somebody who
was absolutely innocent of any crime. the3
could convict him of dunking and call that a
crime in his particular case. This makes it
hard to understand why Jake Rosenberg. OF
New York, the boss of Local 8O2. the biggest
of Petrillo's locals, and Padway, himself, can
permit themselves to have anything to do
with this facsimile of Hitlerism. If this is
their idea of democracy can these fellows
complain if, one day, some dictator grabs
total power in the nation, taking Petrillo as
his del and that union constitution for his
own, and decides that all the Rosenbergs and
PadWays, and anyone else he may dislike
snail be sent to concentration camps or the
gas-chamber under laws improvised "because
existing laws are inadequate or provide no
method OF dealing with a situation?"
And don't let Petrillo tell you he doesn't
use his absolute powers, because he does. One
almost incredible case was his decree that
lhe name of John L. Lewis, whom he hated,
mad to be deleted from the lines of a play in
Chicago, failing which he would pulp the
musicians who were essential tn +ha ehou,