In the World of Labor
In the World of Labor Commerford Trjial Exposes Ugly Labor Racketeering - Labor Official, High in Tammany Circlet, Shook Down Employers and Played Ball With NonUnion Firms,...
...Tammany politics, non-union corporations and "gifts" are the high spots in the trial of the "labor" leader...
...we should spend mors and more lot proper schools...
...Two locals of the 11 ml Carriers made payments of $500 each early in 1929 to Commerford to become affiliated with the Building Trades Council, according to testimony...
...Tha report points out thst a struggle impends as to whether the shorter work week shall be at the old hourly rate or at the old weekly rate—whether the boss or the worker shall bear the cost of the change, in other words...
...Of course, the' report might hsvo added that so long as some workers work 12 hours a dsy and seven dsys a week, as in a few industries and on soma government jobs, while millions are jobless, that desirable market Is destroyed anyway...
...The opponents of the regime, that is, all the Democrata, Socialists, Trade Unions and revolutionaries who have made strong opposition to the dictatorship, are to remain in prison...
...For example, the secretary of one contracting firm aware that, his,concern had jjaid $5,000 to Commerford, who is also vice-president of the N. Y. State .Federation of Labor, to break up a strike of its union workers...
...To the extent that this purchasing power would bo diminished, demsnd for manufactured products would decrease end s desirable market, for which production facilities have been expanded, would bo lost...
...The matter of election promises is trifling, for whoever believes them...
...Their protest against a salary-cut, however, rests on no such acts of mercy, bu oa more fundamental grounds The importance of education is so generally recognized—in conversation—that it is time it be given a trial...
...tion to employ non-union workers...
...Besides, our tax rate—which so alarms the bankers—Is now the lowest In any civilized country...
...Must we...
...No Need to Reduce There is no need to reduce teachers' salaries...
...but ipwas said that teachers' salaries would be cut only as a last resm, and it is astonishing (for a Tammany administration) how soon after election all other resorts were closed I More tignificant is the frank revelation of money-control of government...
...failed to report was $18,225...
...In the World of Labor Commerford Trjial Exposes Ugly Labor Racketeering - Labor Official, High in Tammany Circlet, Shook Down Employers and Played Ball With NonUnion Firms, Testimony Shows...
...Education, even a banker should have sense to see, is a force toward orderly progress...
...He proved to'be Arthur A. Johnson, general contractor, of Long Island City, and chairman of the labor committee of the General Contractors' Association...
...but beyond this the teachers, brought by their work in close contact with the children of the city, have made voluntary cuts in their salaries to relieve the conditions they see every day...
...For candy and chewing gun- we pay twice what we give for the schools...
...Education Is the lever that must left tho world...
...But its importance lies in the fact that it was only through State regulation that New York City was made to pay its teachers (who were then reqjired to have two year's training after hlghschool) more than its street cleaners, wl o without any tralni g whatsoever could be relied upon to make a clean sweep for Tammany...
...In three years that generation of children will be victims of a false economy that concentrates adequate education where It concentrates wealth...
...We can build a bridge the year after next...
...By a New York Teacher What Price Education...
...THE trial of Patrick J. Commerford, Tammany labor leader facing charges of income tax fraud, is producing some nasty revelations that may have its repercussions affecting other leaders of his type...
...Perhaps the bankers are afraid of this...
...The payment made by the company which operated on an open shop basis, was made after dickering with William Delaney, representing an engineers' union, the witness testified, but Commerford, he said, had told him that whatever figure Delaney and Charles Johnson of the dock workers' union agreed upon would be satisfactory to him...
...The report warns of the danger of cutting wage totals...
...Less th in 5% of the national income (in New York, 8goes for education...
...We spend five times as much for passenger automobiles ss for the training of our children...
...Yet it costs $300 a year to keep a man in jail, and $100 to keep a child in school...
...that he reported $7,800 in 1930 although it had been at least 119,736, and reported $10,844 in 1931 instead of $26,000...
...Of all the privileges and rights of democracy, the schools slone offer promise to the, workon, to tho children In whose day capitalism must go Into chaos or orderly change...
...Commerford admitted that he had visited Edward A. White of the latter firm and asked him to give a job to Sidney Hunn, a friend, .The latter obtained jobs for White's firm and White decided to "take care" of Commerford...
...The Executive of the International Federation of Trade Unions strongly condemns and holds up to public contempt this parody of an amnesty which only benefits offenders against common law and allows , liberty of opinion to be "crushed still further...
...Perhaps that's why, with their own children In private schools, they wish to cut still lower the amount used for education...
...You and I (perhaps) have a little money in the bank...
...He admitted under crossexamination that he and Commerford had drawn up an agreement to permit members of the associa...
...Relief by Teachers Another matter, strictly Irrelevant to the question of teachers' salaries, but this brought forward by the teachers themselves, Is the matter of "unemployment" relief...
...PROTESTS FASCIST "MERCY...
...One of the interesting sidelights of the trial was a character witness who testified for Commerford...
...At the recent meeting in Berlin the Executive of the International Federation of Trade Unions made a stern protest against the socalled "amnesty" in Italy...
...Almo ' as much is spent, in the United States, for tobacco as for education...
...Many teachers—like many others —are supporting friends or relatives in distress...
...And the great proportion of youth among the ignorant malcontents who move vaguely from distress to gangdom on the one hand and equally reckless communism on the other...
...True education would teach us a better, a happier, a juster, way of life...
...Angelo Virga and Luciano Abruzzo, business agents for Locals 706 and 763 of the Hod Carriers' Union, were the witnesses who told of the $500 payments...
...Are the bankers, are those Who are reaping the profits of undernourished bodies, to starve the minds of the children as well...
...Over 80% of the federal expenses goes, one way c r another, for war and armament...
...About half the snnual expenditures of all peoples in the United States cornea from salaried employe* and wage earners making $2,000 a year and loss...
...relief by ttschers Is no proper means...
...When these figures are reversed, then we shall be giving education a real trial...
...School and Jail The Department of Justice reports that of the total number of prisoners received from the courts by the jails of the land, 11.6% were Illiterate, 71.2% had attended elementary school only, 11% had attended hlghschool,jind 3.1% had attended college...
...Swanson testified to having given a package containing the money to a stranger who met him in front of the old Tweed Court House in City Hall Park...
...Ills charges alleged intimate relations with some corporations, some of them non-union...
...Under cross-examination Commerford declared that the payments of $75 a week he had received from a non-union concern represented a "gift...
...They testified that in February of 1929 they had applied for membership in the council for their respective locals...
...The so-called amnesty promulgated by the government of Mussolini deceives no one...
...Of these but 114 were opersting on the 6-day week...
...Ia these critical times, we should not cut educational expenses...
...New York Should Increase, Not Cut—Its Appropriations for Schools—Bankers Dictate Behind Scene...
...He testified that he had received .-1-¦-¦—the money and turned it over to Commerford...
...26 had used the short week heforo the crisis...
...The bankers who govern us should ponder this...
...Tha Situation is Intolerable, and tho system that permits it should die...
...but we cannot tell a child: "Three years from now we hope to give you more schools, less crowded classes...
...business agent of Local 749 of the Bricklayers...
...Johnson testified that Commerford has an excellent reputation for truth and honesty...
...And the great number of dell quent children (over 60,000 last year in Chicago alone, Chicago where politics has kept the school system chaotic) is further alarming...
...Also involved In the present fifdit of the teschers at Albany is the question of State control, State protection, of teachers' salaries...
...5 Day M Progress Slow (FP).—The 5-day week is making progress slowly, according to a survey made by the National Industrial Conference Board among 1,603 factories...
...Of the 80 remaining elss than half are certain they want to continue the plan although another quarter of them may do so...
...He advised them to pay the money...
...They have contributed, almost 8 million dollars to the official fund, and untold sums in personal relief, for lunches of children who come, breakfastless and penniless to school, and for other help against tha appalling distress...
...This depends on the largely theoretical notion that education is neither a federal nor a municipal, but a state, function...
...An employe of the company testified that he had served as a dummy through whose hands the money passed from the company to Commerford...
...Union Sets Up Sowing Circle To Make Clothes for Jobless SANTA BARBARA, Calif.—The Santa Barbara Central Labor Council decided to organise a sewing circle to help msko up garments from the 40,000 yards of cloth furnished by the Red Cross to sld In supplying the children of the unemployed with clothing during the Winter...
...but also, a peaceful way to reach it But we mutt cut expenses) the harassed officials cry...
...and when our elected officials go to the bankers to borrow our money for our city the banker says, "You ean't have it unlet* you obey my order...
...this—including the savings of 35,000 teachers—the banker handles In a lump...
...Other testimony was to the effect that Commerford received a salary of $75 a week from the United Hoisting Company, which employs non-union workers, to prevent trouble with the union...
...Perhaps if we just cut out graftBut let us talk of possible things...
...Walter Swanson, construction superintendent of the Greenmal Construction Company, and David Malzman, its president, told of having made a payment at Commerford's suggestion of $2,500 to end a strike...
...A plan for consolidation of the city departments—one proposed by Al Smith Is now being shelved by Tammany—might effect all the saving the bankers demand, in the city budget The Mastlck Commission has suggested tax reforms, without touching real estate, without the heartless—Hoover les tsx—readjusting the income tax in the higher levels, and making our taxes In other ways as fair as our system permits—that would yield, under present distress conditions, an additional 203 million dollars in New York State...
...Medaiie traced various alleged sums received from a number of corporations against which strikes had been ordered or threatened and declared that besides an ample anion salary from the Hoisting Engineers, Commerford had an income from four other sources...
...teachers well paid, of proper training and good spiri...
...Prosecutor Medaiie charged that Cotnmerford's net income in 1929 which he...
...the resolution passed on the subject is as follows: "The Executive of the International Federation of Trade Unions warns the workers of the world against the sinister farce which has just been played in Italy, to the great prejudice of freedom of opinion and of speech...
...Calling Off Strikes P. Francis Canavan, member of the firm of Gahagan, Canavan, Inc., contractors, told of having made a payment of $7,000 to have striking dock workers and engineers return to construction work on jobs on Staten Island and Coney Island...
...The Tammany leader denied that he had rendered any 'service to the corporation for the "gift" or had given aid for the $25 a week he had received from the White Hoisting Company...
...LF.T.U...
...Yet the teachers, facing the emergency, art responding fullhear tedly...
...Payments were "made to Commerford through Hunn to Commerford's wife, according to Hunn...
...Many Sources of Income Six weeks passed and no action was taken by the council executive and both men carried the problem to Joseph Pugliese...
...Every step in the move of the municipal government to reduce salaries was dictated—as headlines of all the city'a papers proclaimed—by a small group of bankers...
...J'EACHERS' salary cuts have become tangled with several other matters, some trivial, some grave...
Vol. 14 • December 1932 • No. 25
