Show THE DAILY WASHINGTON Merry Merry-Go- Round Merry Round MarkBy Mark Mart By 81 DREW PEARSON and ROBERT ALLEN V WASHINGTON Behind ASHINGTON-Behind Behind the scenes in the A. A F. F of L. L is being waged a brawling dog cat fight Unless settled without delay it may gravely impair the presidents president's reaching far plans for a revival of the heavy goods industry The Thc fierce fracas r cas revolves about the issue of who shall rule the federations federation's powerful building trades department A number of years ago the carpenters bricklayers bricklayers brick brick- layers and electricians staged ta a bitter jurisdictional jurisdictional jurisdictional quarrel with other construction unions and seceded from the federation Last spring on a united front fron l plea of President Bill Green they agreed to return to the A. A F. F of L. L fold They sent in their per capita dues and peace appeared assured Then suddenly word spread that the three unions backed by the teamsters and hod carriers were secretly planning to capture capture capture cap cap- ture control of the building trades department and throw out incumbent officeholders Proffered Dues Refused Mike McDonough veteran president of the department refused to accept the proffered dues and the fight started again with renewed fury Attempts at the recent San Franciso convention convention conven conven- tion to settle the controversy proved unavailing Green maneuvering desperately to bring about peace stalled off an open break by announcing that a special building trades convention would be called later kiter in Washington This ass assembly was supposed to meet last week but it failed to materialize materialize- McDonough and the dozen unions affiliated with his department refused to participate Furthermore Furthermore Furthermore Fur Fur- th they y have notified Green that if th the are taken back they will secede Both sides are threatening reprisals The bolt bolt- ers have announced their intention of raiding A. A F. F of L. L unions by seeking members from their ranks A. A F. F of L. L organizations have re replied replied replied re- re plied that hat in such event they will tie up un uc every construction job in the country with jurisdictional jurisdictional strikes The administration on th the verge of initiating a vast government-financed government building program L is Is watching the feud with much uneasiness If f t the e f feud d is not settled the labor board probably will step in and in-and and not for the benefit of labor Off Key KeyNo KeyNo KeyNo No administration in years has taken more pains in polishing up up its relations with the press than the Roosevelt regime And Arid in general it has been extremely successful But in the harmony harmony har bar mony of the new deal there has been one sour note It comes from the one lady member of the cabinet Miss Frances Perkins constantly is singing off key This is not new with ith the secretary of labor laboi As A a member of Roosevelt's cabinet in New NewYork NewYork York state she successfully shunned the press She hesitated to come to Washington for that reason At the beginning of the new deal Miss Perkins probably got a better press than any other member of the cabinet But it did not last long She was hostile dictatorial irregular with her press conferences and invariably late Hoodoo Miss Katherine F. F Lenroot has conquered her hoodoo For years years she was the able widely-esteemed widely assistant chief of the United States childrens children's bureau burea When the top post became vacant last spring through the voluntary retirement of Miss Grace Abbott social workers throughout the country urged Miss appointment Miss Lenroot was privately skeptical of her chance of being Heing chosen by the new deal regime Although herself a liberal and in full sympathy sympathy sympathy sym sym- pathy with the Roosevelt administration her father Irvine L. L Lenroot in his early years a lieutenant of the elder Bob La Follette later as a United States senator became an old guard Republican leader and a n close friend and adviser of Herbert Hoover The latter after his election appointed Lenroot Lenroot Lenroot Len Len- root to the court of customs appeals appeals' a post he still holds Im afraid fathers father's politics Miss Lenroot told friends wont help me any They may not have helped but they did not bar her path Already th the president has ap appointed appointed ap- ap pointed Miss Lenroot to the prized command of the bureau S Despite Wall Vall Streets Street's contention that the stock exchange control bill would seriously impair the issuance of new securities the month of October October Octo Octo- ber saw a brisk business The securities exchange exchange ex change commission approved offerings totaling of which more than were industrial and comm commercial issues Copyright 1931 United feature Syndicate Inc |