IS MATTHEW WOLL TRUE TO LABOR
IS MATTHEW WOLL TRUE TO LABOR? MATTHEW WOLL is probably the most influential figure in the American Federation of Labor today in spite of the fact that the organization of which he is President,...
...Woll's Presidency of the International Sportsmanship Brotherhood has also troubled us immensely...
...We have thought the matter over very carefully and we have concluded that we could serve the labor movement best if we place before you some of the questions that have been troubling us...
...We are confident that you will oblige them and settle the many doubtful points which puzzle them...
...Harry died as the result of an operation on the brain...
...We had a Mayor once and a good mayor he was too, as capitalist mayors go...
...No, we are mistaken, it was his trousers...
...Harry made a "hit" ami henceforth his place in "society" was assured...
...8. Is it true that you tried to defeat the Passaic textile strikers even after they had agreed to affiliate with the American Federation of Labor...
...overdue...
...This party was given to "Saner Burrs" which proved to be a white doakey whssn Harry had found, rented or stoim...
...A policeman is only a duxes dressed in blue clothes and brass buttons, with no right or power to arrest without a warrant which all his fellow citizen* do not possess " And he also said: "Crimes and vices are evils to the community, bat it should never be forgotten by a free people that they have far more to fear from the growth of -the vice of arbitrary power in government than from all the other vices and crimes combined...
...A thousand years hence a scientist borrowing in the rains of American "civilization" of this period may come across some relic related to Harry and may then trace the story of "society" m the fragments of a few newspapers that will remain...
...Fish gave s) dinner to the "Emperor Fleero" and when (hat worthy appeared who should it be but...
...Certainly 4bey give Woll power but what disturbs us most is where he is leading us with tfctt power...
...Did they Include reading and writing...
...Woll has also been Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Workers' Educational Bureau and as such lias controlled its destinies...
...3. Is it true that you have never lifted a finger to prevent the National Civic Federation from killing old age pension legislation which has been favored by the A. F. of L. since 1907...
...It will help him to understand the age of Cooiidge and Hoover and the mentality of a people who feed, house, clothe and enrich Harry and his fellow lizards...
...MATTHEW WOLL is probably the most influential figure in the American Federation of Labor today in spite of the fact that the organization of which he is President, the International Photo Engravers Union, is at present entided to only 83 oat of 29,385 votes at the A. F. of L. convention...
...They held their own courts...
...Ton say that your strong-arm citizens dressed in blue clothes and brass buttons have taken some sort of intelligence tests...
...That should make him peculiarly fitted to handle legal work for the A. F. of L., but on the other hand, despite close association jrith the labor movement, he has not outlived his legal training...
...They had their own ponce nsVlsIs, They were represented in the Assembly...
...We have begun to wonder which is his real job...
...When the last "suspect" has been efficiently and intefligentry boa tut up in the back-room of the furthest police station, will you have some of your men go out and take la the real folks back of this shooting...
...Strange that they found only a couple of electric light bulbs and a telephone book...
...And isn't ft true that nobody at headquarters has enough on anyone in connection with the ease to mate a jury bring in a verdict T We're just asking In ear dumb manner...
...We hope that what we hear is not true...
...Which brings us back again to the old subject of the Bothstein correspondence...
...This aristocratic code had came down from the days of the old landed aristocrats who ruled in the Hudson Valley from the colonial period into the early forties...
...R*s so customary tor you to have your sssas m ts>e trans f*kfe at She papers these days that we are asm yaa wont object if *» latsaBsti follow cM Warn newspaper preeeenat aad write yen sstlliis little note on •a* own front page...
...We could not see why he had to bother with such an organization...
...So Harry continued to play bis role and a garden party eawsed another sensation...
...We count on your cooperation...
...Now comes sad news from Baltimore...
...Go right ahead with your swell pohUetly, but do remember what the late Mayor Gayaor said about the functions of your department...
...Woll has forced out all unorthodox groups and reduced the W. E. B. to a book publishing enterprise...
...Is it true that the general trend of your views and actions have made the National Civic Federation practically the guide of the American Federation of Labor and thus contributed to the impotence of American trade unionism...
...These are our questions: 2. Is it true that the National Civic Federation, of which you are Acting President, it really an employers' organisation...
...A word to you directly, Brother Woll: You can judge that we are deeply perturbed by your development...
...Some of It Is rood hi ear nplassn and Ions...
...Of coarse the memory of our citizenry is notoriously short-lived...
...We know that the thousands of trade unionists "who read The New Leader would like to be set right about the facts in the case...
...He was a monument to a phase of American "civilization...
...It seems that Harry had married a nice wad of cash, went to Palis to live, and was once presented to the Kaiser In Berlin...
...We hope that he will come across this one...
...Perhaps his surplus energy has flowed into wrong channels...
...He appears in jublic just as much as the head of this organization as he does as spokesman for the American Federation of Labor...
...Is it true that your wife has been in the real estate business in Chicago and that that fact influenced your action in exempting the Institute for Research in Land Economics and Public Utilities "-from censure by the A. F. of L. on the ground of academic freedom, ir/iiie at the same time Brookwood Labor College was condemned with* out a hearing...
...7. Is is true that you have favored the establishment stf m state constabulary, although organised labor has opposed this Institution ms one of the most dangerous of strike-breaking weapons...
...4. Is it true that you have been working with the National Civic Federation to establish the company unions alongside of the trade unions on the basis of mutual recognition...
...I, Nor do we object to your pinching these |M*on liquor sellers...
...WoU has risen to the top through sheer ability and tireless energy...
...You have ability...
...9. Is it true that you acted as an informer to the police on the Communist leaders of the fur strike of 1926 instead of attempting to correct the violations of trade union integrity through trade union channels...
...Samuel Gompers recognized bis high qualities...
...On the contrary, they have helped to make^t a success, the one by administrative advice, the other by purchasing policies...
...If we do not hear from you by then...
...Judging from what we know about some policemen we dent Imagine that thosadeste were very difficult...
...To be sure The Eve|*sur Telegram pretty much forced your Pa«d in that respect...
...A poor man is always under suspicion according to police ethics...
...His name was frequently in the headlines of the daily papers...
...VERY often the scientists in exploring ancient ruins come across some object that throws much light on some ancient civilization...
...Much wealth which "American freemen" heaped into the laps of the wasters was consumed...
...The clouds gathered as the lizards sulked...
...The lizards may yawn, they may also yearn for Harry...
...And some st* It la Just plain circus staff...
...So Harry began to play and to amuse the members of "society...
...It may be a monument, or an inscription on a wall, or a few tools picked up in a grave...
...We wonder how assay of these so-called -Mnpocte" shot yaa has* beam herdhur Mm hi pretty sfctlous vfcsition of si who are out of luck...
...Certainly he is not a sporting man himself...
...Your answer to the first question should, therefore, be received at The New Leader office by January 14, 1929...
...we shall try to answer the first question in the next issue as well as we can...
...1920, 1921 and 1922, when the workers' education movement was taking on national proportions, Woll watched it as Chairman of the Committee on Education...
...When one of psar inspectors gives oat a statement that a pan with a police record is "public prop**7" that'* going pretty strong...
...He lias since been Chairman of the A. F. of L, permanent Committee on Education...
...Those engaged in a "trade" were.not eligible to membership in the charmed circle of the,,wasters...
...We know that it would be too much for us to ask you to reply to all the queries at once...
...For about twenty years he has been buried from pahr lie view but the announcement of his passing recalls another era in which he was some personage...
...5. Is it true that you have never done anything which might displease the National Civic Federation, but that on the contrary, yoii have always done those things which have been satisfactory to the Aational Civic Federation...
...We have always wondered how he has been able to find the time to take care of his many activities...
...Sail"!.1 ll^T".: the fourth of last November...
...Farmers then In a period of "deflation" disposed of wheat at a loss to gamblers In the market...
...On another occasion Mrs...
...He has regained legally-minded and it is a question whether the problems of the labor Movement can be solved by lawyers...
...into labor papers using the ILNS dip-sheet We have noticed that pBSS material has BeenlugHTy colored to support the administration of the A. F, jof L. and attack progressive tendencies in the labor movement...
...They ruled vast acres and many ¦objects...
...And some sf ft is settlor up some mighty dangerous precedents, which we are all hound to re|- We dost mind the fact that they were F"h»ot to are you at Wanamaker*s and that *»1 that noise about "a great executive makihsr hare sacrifices" was so much publicity |l|ihi —ope...
...6. Is it true that you have used the Sportsmanship Brother* hood, of which you are President, to further the employers' welfare offensive, contrary to the principles of the American Federation of Labor...
...Is that to be kept a secret from all of us forever...
...In short, he has probably done more than any other individual to lay down the policies of the American Federation of Labor...
...Wofi has been Secretary oi the Committee on International Labor Relations since then and, therefore, has been largely responsible for the isolation of the American Federation of Labor from the labor movement of the world...
...We know that Gompers looked upon Wofl as his successor...
...Woll has also founded and is now the President of the Union Labor Life Insurance Company...
...Harry's star declined when it was rumored that he was contemplating a merry prank...
...There may be other questions we should like to put to you later...
...He was the son of bankrupt old German and Dutch ancestors but he hsd good looks, wan agreeably Impudent, and was not overstocked with brains...
...That was Just the other day...
...Take the International Labor News Service (ILNS), for example...
...reTPresidcnt of the International Labor Press Woll is able to control die news Whk goes...
...Well Graver, yon sen* are raising hell around ear fair etty...
...3t is true that Woll is a lawyer by education, practically the only labor leader in America with such a distinction...
...Another affair was voted 1 equally novel when Harry appeared In evening drees with his pants turned | up...
...Miners burrowed In the earth to keep the nsards warm...
...voice in guiding the policies of the American Federation of Labor...
...You are dilligent...
...But are you not on the wrong track ? Recently all sorts of information about you has come to us...
...Trade unionists have allowed their thinking to be determined by what came out of the A. F. of L. conventions and what came out was decided by WofL Now we are beginning to hav*,doubts as to whether Woll has been leadNobody can accuse Woll of laziness...
...The eminent lady 'took Harry in charge and his winning ways made htm acceptable to "society...
...Most important of all, he nts stood guard oyer the all-important Committee on Resolutions since 1923, at first as Secretary and since 1927 as Chairman...
...Coming to New York in 1887, Harry charmed Mrs...
...And we know what he tried to do to Brookwood, the most successful of the institutions still affiliated with the W. E, B., because it refused to takeJdictation from him...
...The same thing is true of modern civilization...
...So passed one who gave yeoman service to oar gentle "clawses," service that Is still remembered by ancient hulks who survive him In New York "society...
...Too rot away with it and it dbhj't do any particular harm...
...That, is an enormous responsibility for one man to shoulder—feeding trade unionists with news «hkh is fit for their consumption...
...That's no concern of ours...
...We do not even know that he has any athletic hobby...
...Only the vulgar ever talk ; about pants...
...Hia name was Gaynor and he said...
...What have you got at police headquarters, a bunch of mystery-player* T When the shouting and the tumult over speakeasies die down and the old places open up In new quarters, will you give us the names of some of the big shots ia Tammany Hall who were mentioned in those Bothstein letters...
...The lizards voted M a "wonderful evening*" and Harry was cosv ceded to be Just too cute for anything...
...But there are some of as who can go back two or three months without suffering a mental breakdown...
...No doubt, as a food executive he has chosen assistants who carry on the actual work under his sapervision and do not mind having the credit go to him...
...And he has certainly been given the cAxfit...
...We wrote **n about it a couple «f weeks back...
...Its dashing Jewels aad Pari* gowns, and there was a constant flutter as to what would next Issue from the capacious brains of Harry...
...r Then, too, as Director of the Legal Bureau of the A. F. of L. Woll has an important...
...Woll's Many Activities It is not WoD*s knack at getting publicity tlxat gives us concern, it is rather the fact that he has within his hands so many important activities...
...One of his Intellectual treats was a dinner to "Prince dock of the royal family of Slam...
...Back in the eighties and nineties Mr...
...Aiding Unions Or the Bosses...
...We should like to enumerate them in as simple a form as possible and invite your answers...
...We have never quite understood how a labor leader could be a member of a bosses' organization, no less take a leading part in its activities...
...Only 100 percent parasites could qualify...
...Woll was Secretary of the Committee on Rffpept of the Executive Council until he became a member of the Executive Council when he was elected Vice President of the American Federation of Labor in 1919...
...The male lizards had little liking for him but were inclined to accept the view of Stuyveaant Fish who is reported to have said that Harry was an "amusing cuss" and that the female lizards "need him to play with...
...It would be fair, would it not, to expect you to answer them with some fullness at the rate of one a week ? We shall be pleased to give you all the space you need...
...He returned to Baltimore where he died last week...
...And particularly in this instance aa Arnold Rothatein was known to have made elaborate records of all his extra-legal transactions...
...We're not intimating that all this heated bos tie on the part of those cttUssa la brass liutluas sashes a fat* herring to draw across, the slimy Rotbateia trail...
...Is it true that you shaped the political policy of the AmerU can Federation of Labor during the last national election and organ' ised a "labor tariff league" with the expectation of political reward?, 12...
...He placed Woll on important convention committees of the A. F. of L. from the time he appeared as a delegate in 1916 for the first time...
...Ton know what makes as sore...
...There recently died in Baltimore a gentleman by the name of Harry Symes Lehr...
...However, it would be necessary that we receive your reply by Tuesday of the week of publication in order to meet the practical necessities of printing...
...It looks very mush aa though yaa spare heading in that direction with, your regular , Ana then one Basra thsssri ts*W shoot ffisW fsnssr stoAstoB sfhe sash ssssrdsred est...
...Whalen, You're Not P. T. Barnum A Reminder of Our "Gilded Age" HONOBABLE GROVER WHALEN...
...William Astor*whoae income was chiefly obtained from the early land speculations of an ancestor...
...They set the fsshina ia dress, estates...
...The Bosses' Civic Federation What worries us most, however, is the fact that he is Acting President ct the National Civic Federation...
...Has the W. E. B. prospered, although it has practically been the Educational Department of the A, F. of L. ? On the contrary...
...How much energy he has thus caused to be drained oil from good trade union work, we do not know, but it is plain that the big insurance companies and big businessmen-have not opposed his enterprise...
...Perhaps there are extenuating circumstances that he has to tell us about...
...Now we hear all kinds of rumors about the Sportsmanship Brotherhood, which cause us to wonder what kind of a game he is playing...
...In tha meantime, we shall eagerly await your replies...
...Isn't one reason why you're in the job you're holding due to the fact that you were going to clean up the Bothstein case...
...ConsumpttVs girls sewing garments hi tenements paid -rent to the wasters...
...In nulls, shops aad factories workers were pouring dividends Into the pockets of the nsards, The original "stakes" gathered by the par* venues ia the Civil War graft period-were added to year by year by workers in industry while Harry devised means of spend tag the Incomes...
...They adopted the social code of the old landed aristocrats, including aversion to the "trader," but an exception was made of Harry Lehr...
...The ladles would take .no risks and ere long Harry glided out of the chawmed cucle, don't yu* know...
...2. Is it true that the National Civic Federation has opposed state old age pensions which the American Federation of Labor has favored since 1907 and that you have sabotaged favorable action on old age pension legislation by the A. F. of L...
...Our readers, especially those who are members of trade unions, are invited to state wheu . "our answers satisfy them...
...Well, time passed and Harry faded . from the picture although the lizards still received their alms from the i generous workers ol the nation...
...It Is pretty good policy for any police commissioner to remember...
...IPs •Man this "strong-arm" staff...
...One lial to go back to the days of the feudal nobility to find a class like this aristocratic gentry...
...A female lizard was to give a bathing salt dinner at the suggestion of Harry when It was rumored that he Intended something that would make the noble dames look ridiculous...
...We have always been under the impression that the National Civic Federation was an employers' organization...
...How long since gamblers have been locking up electric tight bulbs in great big safes...
...There were wonderful stories in the news, papers about Harry aad the mystic dress of the upper "dawses" with Its night Ufa, its gaiety...
...And while of course this speakeasy, "suspect'* staff makes rood reading, we are very curious to know what has become of this cause oelehre...
...Concernedly yours, THE EDITORS Or EBB NEW ZJEABEB...
...Police Headquarters, Sam York City...
...Now Jock proved to be a monkey, the property of Joseph^Letter, heir to the mlffioas accumulated by has daddy to Chicago real fsstsD asssBs^ts ssr^^Osk sOOst^ sSss* *b*4^9B*& sssbsbSQss*^^ Sassss9 ning, so there...
...In any case it is a mute record and a guide to some aspects of the civilization of the period...
...The upstart millionaires whose fathers crawled out of the swindles of the Civil War period had oodles of cash to spend...
...We don't notice that you're piling any Harry Sinclair* or big Wall Street gamblers into your shiny patrol-wagons...
...In those days a new rich spawned by the graft and the scandals following the Civil War constituted what they called "society...
...Than ciotiung reversed and with masks at- fached to the back of their heads...
...Harry with a cardboard crown aad aa appropriate costume...
...Now think that over...
...Here Is where Harry found opportunity and fame...
...And were these oops told that in cases of industrial disputes they were to remain neutral T Are we to see a repetition on a larger scale of gang violence on the part of the police that characterized recent strikes in the garment industry and succeeded fat kicking the exploited subway workers back to their rotten Jobs...
...We hope we can have your authoritative reply instead...
...When Nn give your Urea men carte bsaache to ¦at up any whom they "suspect," that's Nag the limit...
...Lehr was an eminent person...
...The old round of dinners, receptions and parties too often left the lounge lizards Jaded...
...j This affair was voted to be "astonish- j ingly novel" and Harry was certainly j ti darling...
...The chief aim in life of these worthies was to Invent means of spending some of the loot they enjoyed...
...they may tire of their existence, bat the workers on the farms and Industry never tire in their generosity to the lizards...
...We did see a picture of some of your hoys opening a safe in the murdered man's apartments...
...Now the wasters desired new ways of wasting, new ways of spending their useless lives...
...Surely you doat think the idea that his "perfect airbf will get aim off...
Vol. 7 • January 1928 • No. 56
