The Wilmington morning star., 1947-02-06
As PeglerS Sees 1t
~ wEsTBROOK PEGLER
by King Features syndlca'e' III

Nv WESTBROOK PEGLEh
,convr;ybt. bv King Features Syndicate, 1nco
Tho acouitta1 of two of the foulest raScals
in the union racket Joe Fay and Ben Pross,
in Federal District court, in Newark, N. D.,
has aroused more, than passing hotce. III
deed, Tom Clark, the Attorney General IN
Washington. said he regarded the cohouct VI
the governments case in the Fay trial as a
"-damned outrage and ordered an lnvestl'
cation of the office of Edgar H.. Rossoach'
the U. S. attorney. who allowed a recent
member of Fay's own union, the operating
engineers, sto sit on the jury.
The farce or damned outrage in the
Fay case occurred nevertheless after a warn
ing signal had been flown in these ESSAYS
and after Mr.. Clark's personal attention had
been directed to the job in the course OF a
ride in his car from his office to his dentists
studio. In that conversation, Mr.. Clark ex-
pressed no misgivings concerning Judge
Thomas F.. Meaney, who presided over both
the Pross case and the damned outrage.
but ne did say he wasn't so confident O.
Rossbach who had given us a lot of
trouble" The trial was in progress at the
time.
Mr.. Clark was deeply preoccupied with the
John l.. Lewis case just then. But, busy as
he was, he should have moved to forestall
the damned outrage by sending to New
ark government COulSel III WllOIl iC q
strong confidence. However, it was very late
in the game for that because preparation tor
trial and investigation of the prospective
Jurors ar not tasks of an hour or a day.
Clark may have felt some embarrassment BE-
cause he personally had vouched for Ross
bach when his nomination was questioned.
but the feelings of a Cabinet officer IN such
a matter carry no legitimate weight with the
public.
Fay was acquitted of cheating on his IN
come tax on graft extorted from contractors
on enormous government JOBS. Althoush 'e
Treasury's evidence presented to Rossbach
was strong. presentation may indeed have
been such as to Justify the jury's verdict and
.Clark's- anger. d.
In an earlier prosecution on a charge OF
sluicing rationed whiskey into the black mar
ket around military training camps IN SCUM
ern states during the war, Pross had oeeh
acquitted even though he couldn't take 1he
stand lest his evil record as an lnvetefate
criminal be disclosed.
Another case is still pending in which Mr..
Clark now NAV be moved to vigorous, e.
ficient conduct lest another damned out
rage occur.
This involves tn indictments OF Joe
Moreschi, the international president OF the
Hod-Carriers and Common Laborers union
and eleven others. 1t is right before MT.
ClarkS eyes IN the FeCeIdl otl So"-t
Washington, D. c., and the delays and other
neculiarities thus far justify apprehension.
The expose began several years ago when
discovered that a gang of local Washington
union racketeers, who ran a night club as
q sideline. had been arrested by the treasury
for hiding a big store of liquor In a 1alse
room under a sidewalk to evade the govern
ments tax. They claimed the booze belonged
to the union and was being held Tor a glorious
souse party to celebrate the burning OF the
mortgage on the union headquarters. Ihere
was LIQUOR enough in this cache to plaster
not only the entire local membership out al,
the mooching free-loaders of the new deal
the cocktail clientele, male and female. OF the
Mavflower, Statler and Shoreham, a n q the
civil and military stats of the Russian en-
bassy.
7 hit it one lick and left town on other
business, The Washington Daily News TOOK II
up from there and came up with a grand
i,rv case. Indictments followed and a tena-
cious assistant u. S.. attorney named John
w. FINELY indicated, that he was determined
TO nut up a ma gnificent brawl for convictions
Larry Kelly. one of the local boss unloneerS,
vanished and presently was reported oy me
F.B.I. to have died aboard a merchant vessel
in Australia. l have my doubts. This moo
was racketeering on war construction Tor the
Navy just outside Washington and the rackets
I lncluQeQ not only SHdkeuoW-S co'
and allied diversions of horny-handed bache-
lors in frontier camps. About $5OO,00O was III
volved.
The indictments came down in March, 1914.
It is now February 1947, almost three years
later. And. at this time, we find Mr.. FINELY
engaged in prosecuting japanese war crlm1-
nails as assistant to Joseph B. keenan,, an
old new dealer, who happens to be counsel
for the defense in the Kelly-Moreschi case in
Washington.
This unions locals in many areas were
among the most spectacular shakedown rack
cts operated against American workmen dur
ing the war. They charged farmers and pick
and-shovel hands $50 for initiation and, on
many Jobs. the unhappy suckers were laid
of and new ones initiated as soon as the
initiation installments were paid.
Like Phil Murray, of the Clio. who COM
pared his paltrv headaches to the passion OF
Jesus Christ. Moreschi, long a union colleague
of brothelkeepers thugs and thieves. has a
pretty opinion of himself. In a denunciation
of proposed legal reforms he had the mag
nificent effrontery to say that the "s1lencinp
of leaders of a just cause does not destroy
that cause"
Nineteen hundred years ago" he said
'the leader of the greatest cause this Wcrld
has ever known was crucified."
John O'Rourke. the editor of the Washing.
, ton Daily News. frankly expects another rou-
tine Department of Justice washout.
The repetition of defeat in tn e Supreme
Court may have made Mr.. Clark apathetic.
: 1t may be that he can't win, but he Ger
tainly can't win without trying.
L -0-yr