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Newspaper Page Text
W'AWWSif? 'jfflWWtfSW ?yij,JW4iKmm and the electrical workers' unions. If the Chicago labor men and man ufacturers and contractors now un der indictments are heavily fined or go to jail, the big national trust will have a clear field forthe sale of its goods in Chicago. AnaMt will mean added profits running into hundreds of thousands ,of dollars. On the $300, 000,000 of building construction in this city the demand is enormous nofc for electrical supplies and is grow ing. The complaint in the indictment reads "a large number of corpora tions have carried on manufacture, sale and installation of electric jpanel boards, switchboards, rheostats, met--al enclosing cases and other electric; appliances and supplies, ,and except as they have been prevented from do ing so by the unlawful acts of the de fendants, have sold large quantities of the said electric apparatus, in Chi cago, and have shipped such ?le'ctric apparatus from states other than the state of Illinois into thecity of Chi The big national electrical trust is then named as a complainant against the "unlawful restraints of trade" and the "monopolies" of Chicago. This is the list of complaining witnesses which for some reason has not been printed in any Chicago newspaper: General .Electric Co.. Sprague Elec tric Works, Schenectady, N, Y.; Westinghouse Electric Mfg. Co., Pittsburgh.; 'Culler Hammer Co., Mii--waukee and New York.; Walker Co., Philadelphia; Prank Adams Electric Co St Louis; Crouse-Hinds Co., Syr acuse, N. Y.; H. Krautz Mfg. Co., Brooklyn, N. Y. There are a few "pikers" in this list who are not really a part of the national trust monopoly. But these companies admittedly have grabbed the electrical market of the United States, except a few corners where patent rights or political or labor con ditions are a factor.r Understand, the indictment against Mike Boyje., Erank. Landmark, Ray: Clearj"and theother eIectric?Iwork ers' unfon 'does NOT charge graft The charge is 'conspiracy to hinder, restrain and prevent the installation of any electrical appliances of cor porations" and firms located in states other tha'n Illinois." It reads fur ther: "Officers and agents of Local 134 of electrical workers were to influ ence and cause the electrical work ersXo refuse to and not to install elec trical appliances manufactured in states other than Illinoisv and particularly the defendants, officers and agents of said local union were to prevent by force and violence in stallation by persons other than 'members of Local 134 of the elec trical appliances manufactured in Illinois." The labor crowd misses the glad hand from part of the public because of the records of some of the indicted labor officials. Mike Boyle went along a few years on a .salary of $50 a week and as chief of the electrical workers and out of the $50 a week made himself , the owner in clear title to a $350,000 apartment building at Prairie av. and , Garfield blvd. And Simon O'Donnell, building trades head, has gone along with the riearst papers, issued a trades union edition yearly that brought in $60,000 of advertising at one crack, and has tried to force through a universal compulsory arbitration agreement on all building trades unions. v- If all the indicted labor officials could come through with a clean rec ord the rank and file of the unions would be free to sail in and make a terrific attack on the federal govern ment policy of prosecuting a small electrical trust inside the Chicago city limits toward the profit of a big na tional electrical trust. The General Electric Co. of Sche nectady and the Westinghouse Co. of Pittsburgh know as much about Woodrow Wilson's "new freedom" as a hog knows about Sunday.y J , .., firfroiwait'WriaaaiMi