The Wilmington morning star., 1947-06-28
AsPeglerSeesH
Bv WESTBROOK PEGLER
Copyright, 1947, by King Features
Syndicate Incl

l E
sonal favor when my friend, Benny Pross,
that ineffable rogue who raised ~rascality to a
sublime level, indites one of his norallstlc
me ;sages to American labor. Just by citing
and quoting, in such cases, l am able to
make my point that the devil has a glib
tongue for Scripture in these arguments over
the obvious crimes and the theoretical viz
tues of American unionism. When such an old
mushmouth as William Green acknowledges
that unfortunately, there are a few undesir-
able characters in official positions in the
union movement, it takes energy and work to
set down the facts which prove that no other
occupation this side of burglary has so high
a proportion of thieves and thugs, and to
viii tie a nice point on the undeniable fact
that Green, far from throwing them out or
helping the public authorities throw them into
prison where they belong. often has taken
their side.
But when Pross produces one of his essays
as ne did again in the June Is number OF
the Beverage Retailer Weekly, published in
New York. he proves my case so nicely that
l don't rave 10 get out of my chair. I just
say to the jury, 'listen who's talking" l
don t know why my friend, Benny, is so good
to me
Anyway, please understand that I am not
scolding him. l owe MIN for many an essay
and it will be another sad day for me when
they catch him in some rev felony and take
away.
Benny, as some of my pupils may recall,
is executive director of Wine, Liquor and Dis
tillery Workers Union, Local No. l., and a
boss under various other titles, or many other
AT. of l.. unions Of sales-people, warehouse
workers, end handlers of drugs and cosmetics
and clerks. He has twice been convicted of
fraud in bankruptcy, which seems to be the
principal occupation of several members of
his charming family, one of whom, on the
H1Sf1ff side o1Sn ont a Ef for J11nnino n
gambling joint in New York. and he was tried
in the federal court in Newark on a charge
into the black market for our brave boys in
OF slulcing 10, 500 cases of over-quota whiskey
the training camps early in the war. He
Wiggled off the hook there but, after all, he
is a unioneer, and this trial. was held in the
political jurisdiction OF Frank Hague, and be-
fore Judge Thomas F.. Meaney, who was
Hague's eppointee and you may recall the
resi- of that story which broke after the out
ragcous a%cquittal of Joe Fay, another union
racl,eteer of the Hague adherence, last Win
ter. My research has been diligent and thor
ough. l have followed Benny Pross from the
time Of his arrival from Russia at the age
of IL and I an willing to defend him, free,
against any man who asserts that he ever
did an honest days work in his life.
Benny often composes, either by hand or
by counsel, high-sounding editorials about
freedom, tyranny, fascism, honor, unity and,
Of course, Franklin D. Roosevelt. He likes
gaia occasions such as Labor day and Me-
mortal day, which is an appropriate time to
lower his eyes and tone and pay the sort
OF tribute known as heartfelt to those fine,
1r~eedon-lovlng American Boys who gave their
last full measure of devotion on foreign fields
and such as that, but not until they had
turned their pants pockets inside out on hot
summer highs in Georgia, Mississippi and
Texas. getting up $25 a bottle for the black
m 0rkcf hno14 4ho{ ,,,ea% k~.;oL r.z-, n----,
New York allotment to their camps, even
though he wasn't convicted in the Hague jur-
lsdlctl9n before Hague's man, Meaney.
Benny Pross is a fine man, of the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor pattern, and when
he defends the character of the typical AT.
OF L. criminal parasite, the pot is calling the
kettle white.
"There is no doubt that a few elements of
organized labor have sometimes shown a, de-
plorahle lack of responsibility and an utter
disregard Tor anybody but themselves he
wrote, under the title of Guest Editorialist''
in this trade publication.
On June Is. T reckless selfishness has
naturally resulted in some public Impotence
(Benny bought a beautiful high suburban es-
tate at Lake Mahopac last year which
couldn't have stood him a dollar less than
$50, 200, all todd and is the greatest factor
for explaining the present hue and cry against
labor
Labor is a term used by all the Presses,
Bioffs and Fays as a synonym for them
selves and for some other specimens of the
lowest vern1in that our society has yet pro-
duced.
"a small minority Of the ~hue-and-cryers are
merely grinding their own axes of prejudice
and hate"
But if he means me he is unjust to West
BROOK Pegler. l love Benny Pross. Does the
terrier really hate the rat,
1.-THE vast majority of the remainder must
be made to understand, if they already do
not, that their Impotence caused by a few
unions. cannot fairly be leveled at all acts of
all unions.
''The ;rnpatience Of an aroused section of
the public, it is said, will easily be prevailed
upon to condemn all unions because Of a few.
II, for one, will never believe it. OF course