The Wilmington morning star., 1946-06-28
Fair Enough
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
Copyright, By King Features Syndicate, Inc;

tSOpyIASAt, by hluS rCdtuIeS syndicate Inc.S
NEW YORK. - Sal Hoffman. the president
OF the Upholsterers' Union of North America
announces from his national Headquarters in
Philadelphia that he has suspended the charter
of Local 661, of New York, controlled by Ben
Pross. a New York crook whose career in
unionism has been the subject of these dis
patches ictermittently for several years. Pross
was business manager, or boss, of this small
local, among many other but his principal
power is derived from his control, as business
manager, of Local No. l Of the Wine, Liquor
and Distillery Workers.
Mr.. Hoffman's New York local was formed
to accommodate window dressers working for
liquor stores and drifted into Pross's hands
several years ago. Mr.. Hoffman does not know
just how it happened and the local regional
office of the American Federation of Labor
is similarly vague in tracing Pross's activi-
ties.
Pross had identified himself as business
manager OF United Window Trimmers' and
Display1nen's Local $40 and as boss OF To-
cal 20, 754, composed of workers in the whole
sale drug trade, and local 20, 646, made up of
workers III the soap, chemical and cosmetic
trades. The dues vary but are generally So a
month and some of Pross's subjects have COM
planned that they never are told what is done
with their money and lave been so intimi-
dated that they are afraid even to demand
copies of their constitutions and the contracts
between the unions and the employers.
Mr.. Hoffman lifted the charter of the small
upholsterers' union because he found that the
officials were not complying with the
rules and regulations of the International. He
has demanded that Pross turn over all rec
ords and other property Of the local, which he
probably will not do, and says he intends to
eliminate NOT Op1v Pan ErOSS h11t all his re1a-
tives and in-laws, several OF whom have been
found in controlling positions in his unions.
AS long ago as 1912, the main office in
Philadelphia warned the New York local to
get rid Of all Presses and members of the
Pross gang but the case was neglected until
the recent discovery that Ben Pross had pros
pered SO we'll in unionlsm that he was able to
buy a country estate close to that of Ed
Flynn, the noted statesman of the new deal.
The general executive board meets in Phila-
delphia in July and will then plan the future
of the local with the interests of the member
in mind.
The lifting of this charter and the cancella-
ton OF a pistol permit held by Herbert Pross,
also known as Herman and Lyman, are two
recent developments in the career of the ProSs
family in unionism and the liquor trade. Others
probably will occur soon,
A representative of the AFT. Of L. recalls
that Ben Pross first became a union boss short
ly after the Wagner Act was passed. A group
of employees of a winery in Brooklyn came
in complaining that they worked for low pay
under filth conditions and wanted a union.
They were told to hold a meeting and they
did and Pross came out of it as business
manager and in control. Later the local was
absorbed into the national organization of the
Wine, Liquor and Distillery Workers, whose
headquarters are in Chicago, and he retained
omman although one George Oneto was titu-
lar president. and still is.
Oneto has relatives who employ members of
his own union and an officia. OF one OF the large
national liquor combines fatty says that Pross
once solicited bottling business for a company
owned by a relative of Oneto, whose workers
were Pross's subjects. His power IS such, be-
cause of his control OF the employees, that he
is able to dictate to the large dissillers how
they shall allot whiskey to distributors. When
he was tried on a federal indictment charging
him with sluicing whiskey into the black mark
ct, a few months ago, il was testified that
Pross compelled a big dlstiller to cut off a
supply which had been allotted to one COM
pany and divert it to another on the ground
that the first company had violated Its agree
ment with him.
The American Federation of Labor's atti-
tude toward Pross is one of helplessness, even
tnOuSn MS CHdTLeT Is well known ana one OF
it's important officials has personally remon-
strated with him for bullying rank and file
members who went to the headquarters of
their union to ask for information. He is re-
garded as a very energetic man and is given
credit for winning some advantages for. his Il
subjects but it IS recognized also that he flouts
most Of the principles Of the democracy
which the professionals hold so dear in their
speeches and state papers That he mas also
won substantial advantage FOR Ben Pross and
members of his remarkable family. whose
ORD, frequently marked with charges of fraud,
bankruptcy proceedings are an amazing rec
is apparent. too.
Presented with a chance to eliminate 2
crook, clean up a batch of unions for the bene-
lit OF the rank and file and the good name of
the national organization, the AT. of L again
as in many previous notorious cases, is putting
it up to the victims to overthrow the tyrant.
That rebels may be fired and blackbaled and
beaten up are probabilities established by
much past experiences but still the AT. OF L
stands aloof on the proposition that the ma
tional office has no more authority to inter-
fere than the government OF the nation has to
manage the affairs of, say Minnesota. or some
small town in Minnesota.
We learn via our Washington office that
'"There's a dire shortage of nants nressars
in Alaska That Simply won't do, for that