Evening star., 1953-01-13

KIN mucn concern, Tor he Is
above all family man. He hac
young children. He didn't want
to leave them unprovided.
He brought the local along to
be the largest in the union with
more than 5000 members. In
1888 Gov. Horner, a Democrat
appointed him head of the
Illinois Department of Labor.
Corruption Inviting.
The department included one
Of the most potentially corrupt
services in the Satisfactory
inspection. Some of the inspec-
tors were taking advantage OF
it. Others-they were all politi-
cal employes-were just going
through the motions because
they were lazy or ignorant of
what it was all about.
As Mr.. Durkin put it at the
time, "they seemed to be riding
around on street cars and taking
the names of factories from the
signs in front then turning the
list in as reports"
He fred the crooks and set up
training courses for the others
SO that they would know the
standards to be applied for the
health and safety of the workers.
The unemployment compen-
sation under the Federal Social
Security act went into effect
during his incumbency. Several
State labor departments got all
snarled up in handling the enor-
nous paper work that resulted.
But Mr.. Durkin's department
handled it without a hitch. He
installed the latest type of
punch card machines. He is en-
thusiastic about machine eff
cheney. He has them in his union
headquarters now. One only
has to press button to deter
mine whether any one of the
225 900 members has paid his
December dues.
Under a Republican.
When Dwight Green, a Repub-
lican, was elected governor, he
asked Mr.. Durkin to stay on
until he could find a man to re-
place him. He stayed for eight
months. At the end of that time
problem loaded with political
dynamite had arisen in the
Illinois coal fields. The Illinois
unemployment compensation law
was worded to prevent payments
to workers out on strike. When
coal miners applied for unem-
ployment compensation during
one of the holiday" periods,
they claimed they were not on
strike-that they were out of
work because there was too much
coal above ground. Mr.. Durkin
appointed an economist to in
veStigate. Before the expert re-
ported Gov. Green replaced Mr..
Durkin with a coal salesman.
The miners got the. unemploy-
ment compensation.
Mr.. Durkin returned to his
local. His situation there was
not too comfortable. He had
never been the czar. The late
Charlie Rau was the strong man
of SGT. The men in power were
glad to recommend him for a
position in the headquarters of
the international union in Wash
ington to get him out of the way.
The union is a merger of the
plumbers and steamfitters'
unions. That is how he happened
to be the first filter" to hold
national Office in the union. He
was made secretary treasurer.
He became general president in
1912.
The war started the great syn
thetic rubber industry, expanded
petroleum cracking and the
chemical industries and ended
with the birth of the greatest in
dustry of all, atomic energy. Most
of the plants are mostly pipes.
Men who could thread and weld
pipes were in great demand and
the union grew to more than
100000 members. The pay of
the journeymen has since risen
$3.50 to So an hour.
More Jobs After War.
The postwar turn to air con-
ditioning made more work for
the men who handle pipes.
Mr.. Durkin improved the ap-
premiership training of the
union. The operation was be-
coming far more serious than in
the. old days when the plumber
provided a standard gag for
vaudeville--he always forgot to
bring the right wrench and had
to return to the shop for it, all
at SO cents an hour. The filters
had to know something about
chemistry. If they turned a valve
that caused a wrong mixture the
plant would be blown to bits.
Mr.. Durkin has arranged with
employers for night school
courses for apprentices in these
industries in which they learn
important physical facts about
explosion of gases and distribu-
ton of preSsures.
He was ahead of most of the
construction industries in max
ing it possible for contractors
operating on a national scale,
such as the B. F. Shaw Co. which
is putting the pipes in the Savan-