The Wilmington morning star., 1947-01-24
As Pegler Sees 1t
Nv WEsTBROOK PEGLER
Downright BY King Features Syndicate, Inc.

Copyright BY King Featuren Syndicate, Incl
NEW YORK, Although both defendants
were acquitted, the trials of Joe Fay and
Ben Pross, professional union racketeers, m
the United States District Court, in Newark,
have provided a dramatic answer to those VINO
insist that the so~-called labor movement should
be allowed to cure its own Ills. lheSe TWO
gangsters have been notorious for years and
their depredations have been publlclzed IN
some detail before.
In their trials, however, Fay, on a charge
of lodging income tax on his graft, and ProSs,
on a charge of using his power OF the liquor in
dustry to provide whiskey for the black mar
ket, the Treasury plainly showed that they
used their union authority to shake down in
dustry in the name of the workers and that
the workers in their unions were mere tools.
Fay said he used part Of the graft to pay
members of his union to intimidate and beat
up members of another union and to undercut
the wage scale of the others. He spent thou
sands of dollars for tickets to prizeeights and
for wild parties for lesser union bosses OF his
own jurisdiction and this was called labor re-
%latiors."
An employer who had hired professional
sluggers. as Fay said he did. to sn sh a picket
line and beat down the wage-sca!e, would have
been indictable on a number Of counts. But
let the employer hire a boss of a group OF
unions, holding credentials from the American
Federation OF Labor and high office in one OF
its component nternationals. to do the same
thing and he is in the clear The union racke-
teer himself, in this case Joe Fay. is per-
forming the honorable duties of his position,
He is driving interlopers of. a job over which
he claims jurisdiction for his subjects. and
collecting a price for labor peace" He is a
professional strike-breaker operating in the
manner Of all the old corporations which
years ago shipped %sluggers to, struck plants.
but he is within the law and moreover the
high mana gers of unioaism. while they de-
plore his actions. still insist that any legal
restraints on him would be a blow at the
rights OF labor.
The rank and file workers OF Fay's union
would have nothing to say about all this. OBJ
viously only a foolhardy rebel and martyr
would challenge the actions OF a man who
frankly admits in court that he rallied slug
gers and paid them to beat up other union
men so that the employers could save money
on a lower wage scale.
Pross' principal union is local / of theWine,
Liquor and Distillery Workers Union. AS a
matter of policy and to his own advantage.
he has raised some wages and improved work
ing conditions in an industry that is still badly
infested with old-time bootleggers. He also has
claimed dictatorial authority in as many as
II other local unions in the New York area.
Notwithstanding his criminal record and his,
lack OF genuine credentials as a worker or
elected leader of labor. the American FEEDER
alton O. Labor has let him alone out of a
fastidious regard for union autonomy" and
he also enjoys the moral protection OF that
propaganda which holds that any law which
would compel him to recognize his subjects
as human beings and citizens would violate
the rights of labor"
In his b~lacknarket case, which typified the
IN otr-, - IL:
1t was shown that Pross compelled Schenley.
the distillery corporation. to allocate 10. 500
cases OF whiskey to distributors whom he Sc
lected, at a time when whiskey was being RAJ
TONED. This was his price to Schenley of peace.
full labor relations. They complied and all but
a trlfllng amount of liquor was traced bv the
treasury to the black market in Southern
STATES where American soldiers in their train.
ing camps, in l943, paid as much as $25 a
bottle for whiskey. By the case. the markup,
In excess OF OPA prices, ranged between 81
and SIT.
members OF Pross' union are not allowed TO
possess copies of their unions constitution ,
document which places all the power in the
hahos OF Pross and a few others. They are
po"erless 10 protest against anything he may
do.
In 1898, a New York corporation was form.
ed called Spor Realty Inc, whose officers of
record at the time are strangers to the present
discussion. Their names do not occur in anv
OF the known activities of Pross and the union.
but Pross does appear on the papers as the
commissioner OF deeds in June, 1912, Spor
Realty bought a dwelling in Great Neck, IL.
winch was assessed at $23. 676. Agents of the
treasury who prepared the black market case
against Pross said other officials of the union
told them this house was known among them
as their Little White House"
The black market case occurred the next
year IN the summer of 1919.
In March. 1a45. Spor Realty. Inc, sold the
house. At that time Pross was the only one
who had power to sign checks for the corpora
ton.
In October. 1945. Pross was tried and ac-
quilted in Newark.
In April. 1916. Pross bought a luxurious sum-
ner estate on the shore of Lake Mahopac. at
Carmel N. Y, for $26, 500, ard Immediately
elaborate and expensive improvements were
.lmade GA both the house and the satate. includc