The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1949-07-14
Westbrook PegIer's Fire PaIes Under
Questioning By House Labor Group

Washington (LPA)-A paunchy,
mild-voiced Wes brook Pegler
came, talked, but conquered no one
in nearly five holrs Of testimony
before a subcommittee of the
House Labor Committee last week.
The hearing was to be thriller
"a Great Expose Of Racketeer-
ing and Corruption by Organized
Labor"-but it turned out to be a
rehash Of the fire and birthstone
columns which Pegler has been
running all these years.
Pegler had promised to bring a
"great treasury of information"
about how the labor movement was
infested, in every nook and corner,
with crooks, dictators, goons and
|other assorted low characters.
He came with a suitcase jammed
like a wastebasket with Pegler
columns, union constitutions, con-
vention proceedings, clippings and
other tag ends and fished out some
of them to read from time to time.
None of it was new.
Members of the subcommittee
didn't look like men listening to a
red-hot Western, but more like men
bored by an ancient flicker film.
Some expressed frank disap-
pointment. Chairman Andr W
Jacobs Cd, Ind.) reminded Pegler
that the subpoena had called for
names, dates, places and other de-
tails, as well as actual witnesses
to union abuses.
Peglers answer was that he
couldn't give names of informants
without their permission. They
might meet reprisals, he said.
After the columnist had kept
reading from union constitutions
for a while to show ''lack of demo-
cracy," Jacobs declared "we have
all those, we got them from the
unions"
When Jacobs persisted in asking
for names and dates, Pegler said
he had all that in his files in New
York, and he'd let a committee in
vestigator take a peek at the files
after he had gone over them
first. Jacobs said, however, he may
ask a Congressional subpoena to
seize all of Pegler's pertinent
files.
When Pegler began running out
of cases of union malefactors.
Jacobs declared: 81 hand you a list
of several hundred international
unions and ask you to name those
where the evils you speak about
exist"
Pegler lodged that by declaring
that "only about a dozen unions
control nearly the whole member
ship of unions; the rest, he i'm
piled, didn't count.
Pegler backtracked a bit under
ques oning by Congressman
Thomas Burke Cd, Ohio) who is
of the Auto Workers and
leader in Ohio. Burke pointed out
that Pegler had been slugging
dictatorship" in internationals,
but had also torn into information
al for not stepping in to clean up
bad situations in local unions.
isn't that inconsistent" he asked.
The columnists' answer was:
We'll, I've changed my sights on
hat"
"Well, in what percentage of
lnions do these evils exist" Burke
asked.
Pegler gave a long, involved I
answer which sidestepped the in
luiry.
"My estimate is that less than
me per cent are involved" Burke
illed in.
Congressman Leonard Irving
D, Mo-, a local leader in the AFL
Building Laborers, got Pegler on
he run several times.
Zone of the criticisms l often
Iear of your writings is that you
ndict all labor leaders and all
nion members because of the
ransgressions of a few" Irving,
aid.
"Well, Pm sorry that's the i'm !
ression," Pegler answered. "Pll '
AXE occasion to correct it."
That's the first time Pegler has
yer admitted that he isn't smear
1g the whole labor movement and '
he first time he has promised to {
lake any qualifications. I
One by-play was an exchange
etween Jacobs and Pegler over s