[H. Rept. No. 1162, 80th Cong., 1st sess.]

INTERIM REPORT

[Pursuant to H. Res. 111]

REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE JAMES C. PETRILLO, THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF MUSICIANS, ET AL.

Dr. Joseph B. Maddy, of the University of Michigan and president of the National Music Camp, Interlochen, Mich., testified on February 18, 1947, before the Committee on Education and Labor at legislative hearings on amendments to the National Labor Relations Act (R. 742). He complained to the Committee on Education and Labor concerning the exercise by Mr. Petrillo, as president of the American Federation of Musicians, of dictatorial powers which had seriously restricted the activities of the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Mich., and accused Mr. Petrillo of extorting tribute from the manufacturers of phonograph records made in the United States, of banning the broadcasting by school children and otherwise curtailing the educational activities of the boys and girls of the United States, and of restricting the activities of the radio stations of America for the past 5 years.

On March 15, 1947, Earl Carroll, of Beverly Hills, Calif., and the Earl Carroll Theater-Restaurant of Hollywood, Calif., also testified before the committee (R. 3776) at its legislative hearings and called attention to the fact that he was required by Local 47 of the American Federation of Musicians to maintain an orchestra larger than he needed for the operation of said theater-restaurant and that the officers. of this Los Angeles local had arbitrarily demanded that the orchestra. at the Earl Carroll Theater-Restaurant should be given a 20-percent increase in pay and increased in size from 12 to 15 men.

Thereafter, upon the return of Mr. Carroll to Los Angeles, he was subjected to verbal threats and two strikes of short duration. He appealed to the Honorable Fred A. Hartley, Jr., chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor, for an investigation to determine whether the officers and members of the Los Angeles Musicians Union, Local 47, were guilty of efforts to intimidate and punish him for having appeared before a committee of the Congress of the United States. From the facts presented by Mr. Carroll to Mr. Hartley, it. appeared that there was a possibility that some of the officers and members of the Los Angeles Musicians Union, Local 47, might be guilty of contempt of the Congress if they had in fact coerced, intimidated, and punished a witness for testifying before a legislative committee of the Congress.

Pursuant to House Resolution 111 of the Eightieth Congress, first. session, Hon. Fred A. Hartley, Jr., chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor of the House of Representatives, appointed on April 23, 1947, a subcommittee of three members to conduct a thorough

study and investigation of the above charges and of any other racketeering practices which may have been engaged in by the American Federation of Musicians and James C. Petrillo, president of that organization. The following representatives were designated to serve on this subcommittee: Messrs. Carroll D. Kearns, of Pennsyl vania (chairman); Richard M. Nixon, of California; and Graham A. Barden, of North Carolina. In the absence of Mr. Barden from the hearings in Washington, D. C., on July 7, Mr. O. C. Fisher, of Texas, was appointed by Mr. Hartley to act in Mr. Barden's place.

Public hearings were held in room 229, United States Post Office Building and Courthouse, Los Angeles, Calif., on June 17, 18, and 19, 1947; in the caucus room of the House Office Building, Washington, D. C., on July 7 and 8, 1947; and in room 324, United States Post Office Building and Courthouse, Los Angeles, Calif., on August 4 and 5, 1947.

THE EARL CARROLL COMPLAINT

Hon. Fred A. Hartley, Jr., chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor, was gravely concerned when he received a report from Earl Carroll in June 1947 that Los Angeles Local 47 of the American Federation of Musicians had endeavored to punish and intimidate Mr. Carroll for testifying before the committee on March 15, 1947. An earlier witness, George P. McNear, president of the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad, testified before the Committee on Education and Labor on February 18, 1947, and was murdered on March 10, 1947. There may have been no connection between the testimony of Mr. McNear before our committee and his murder 3 weeks later in Peoria, Ill. On the other hand, it is significant that one of these threats, addressed to Hon. Carroll D. Kearns, the chairman of your subcommittee, was written immediately thereafter on the stationery of a Peoria Hotel and directed his attention to what had happened to Mr. McNear.

Under these circumstances, it would have been tantamount to countenancing acts of reprisal against a witness for having had the courage to present his complaint to the Congress had Mr. Hartley ignored Mr. Carroll's appeal. Therefore, Mr. Hartley immediately directed Mr. Kearns, the chairman of the subcommittee previously appointed to investigate the activities of James C. Petrillo and the American Federation of Muscians, and Irving G. McCann, the general counsel of the Committee on Education and Labor, to proceed to Los Angeles and investigate Mr. Carroll's complaint.

Hearings were held in the United States Post Office Building and Courthouse in Los Angeles, Calif., on June 17, 18, and 19 and on August 4 and 5, 1947. The primary objective of the inquiry was to determine whether or not Los Angeles Local 47 of the American Federation of Musicians had been guilty of an effort to intimidate and coerce Earl Carroll for testifying on March 15, 1947, before the Committee on Education and Labor at its legislative hearings in Washington, D. C.

From the affirmative testimony of Earl Carroll and Harry Long, and the reluctant admissions, loss of memory, and evasive answers by officers and members of the union, it was established that an effort had been made to punish and intimidate Earl Carroll and to coerce the Earl Carroll Theater-Restaurant because of Mr. Carroll's appearance before the committee in Washington, D. C.

It was admitted by the union that when any station on the networkand unfortunately, they didn't spell out and/or stations-could not take a network program when it arrived due to being blocked out by a local commitment of some kind, that they had the privilege and the right to transcribe that program and release it at some other time, if it was done in the station.

You have to bear in mind, gentlemen, and this is the basis of our protest and our objections, which we have repeatedly explained: When a musician appears on a transcontinental network program, he is paid at a transcontinental network rate which contemplates the release of that program over the entire United States, so that when any charges are asserted or any claims are made for additional compensation for a portion of that, it is simply a demand-and I regard it as a ruthless and illegal demand-for being paid twice for the same service, where no additional effort is involved, nor is any additional service rendered.

At the present time there are 4 hours difference in time between the Atlantic coast and the Pacific coast, as you know, so consequently we have a different programing schedule on the Pacific coast than they have in New York, and frequently, having to serve the listeners on the Pacific coast appropriate programs at an appropriate hour of the day and to serve the original advertisers who purchase the Don Lee network facilities, frequently when network programs come to us on the Don Lee, our lines are tied up on a regional program, and we have to make a transcription here at Los Angeles of this network program, and when the lines on the coast are clear, we feed that transcription to the coast at one time, completing the saturation of the United States contemplated by the payment of the transcontinental rates to the musicians. Is that point clear?

Mr. KEARNS. Yes, sir.

Mr. WEISS. Now, the current point-on Monday morning I had a wire from Mr. Robert Swezey, who is the vice president and general manager of the Mutual Broadcasting System, saying that he had had a conversation with Mr. Clair Meder, who is the right-hand man of Mr. Petrillo, in which Mr. Meder demanded an assessment of $12,000 for the Don Lee's privilege of transcribing a program at this point and releasing it to the Don Lee network, notwithstanding the fact they paid the transcontinental rates for the release, because we couldn't release that program entitled "Songs of the Stranger" to our network over this peculiar situation: The program, which is released in the afternoon in New York City, comes to us at 12:30 at noon.

We don't even have the right to ask these stations who comprise the network to clear, because that hour is one sacred to the stations for public-service programs that they release during the noon hour. So that under those circumstances we automatically have to transcribe it and release it at a time when our commitments with our affiliates would permit us to do so, against the very idiotic position, I maintain, taken by the musicians' union, who admit that Station A, B, and C, perhaps would, if they heard that program, have the right to delay it and transcribe it and delay it without penalty, but if we wanted to do that with one transcription here, releasing it to them at a time when they would get it, we would have to be penalized in terms such as the $12,000 demanded by Mr. Meder on Monday morning on the program entitled "Songs of the Stranger."

increase employment and to protect the jobs of those who belong to his union. The dictatorial power granted by the constitution of the American Federation of Musicians to its president was in effect prior to the time when Mr. Petrillo was elected to this office.

CONFERENCES WITH MR. PETRILLO

After the appearance of Mr. Petrillo before the subcommittee on July 7 and 8, Mr. Kearns endeavored to secure a settlement of many problems through personal negotiations with Mr. Petrillo, the school administrators, the music educators, the representatives of the armed services, the presidents and counsel of the networks, and officers of the FM broadcasters. It was his thought that by this means it might be possible to eliminate some of the monopolistic practices of the American Federation of Musicians without the delay incident to the enactment of legislation by the Congress. In undertaking this task he was also motivated by a sincere desire to protect the legitimate right of professional musicians to earn a living in their vocation, by eliminating the unfair competition of juveniles, amateurs, and service bands.

To effectuate these ends Mr. Kearns met with Mr. Petrillo and band leaders of the armed services at 2 p. m. on July 22, 1947, in the committee's hearing room at Washington, D. C.; at 4 p. m. the same day he and Mr. Petrillo met with the School Administrators Association of America and the Music Educators National Conference. At these meetings Mr. Kearns endeavored to secure for the service bands the right to make recordings for educational purposes for use in schools, colleges, and music library collections and to secure an agreement on a code of ethics which would protect the commercial rights of the members of the American Federation of Musicians and at the same time insure the freedom of juvenile and amateur musicians to participate without compensation over the radio and at public functions when they were not displacing professional musicians nor depriving them of a livelihood.

Subsequently Mr. Kearns met with Mr. Petrillo in Chicago on July 30, 1947, and discussed with him the current problems pertaining to the future of AM broadcasting, recordings, television, and FM broadcasting. On October 1, 1947, Mr. Kearns met with the officers and executive board of the FM broadcasters at Mr. Petrillo's office. At this time they discussed the possibility of duplication of AM programs over FM. Mr. Petrillo would not agree thereto but did on October 2 authorize live music to be broadcast over the 34 FM network stations known as the Continental Network. The same evening Mr. Kearns met with the presidents of the four major broadcasting companies, their vice presidents, and attorneys, to discuss the problems of the AM broadcasters. Following this meeting Mr. Kearns met for 2 hours with Mr. Petrillo in an effort to prevail upon him to permit the networks and all stations throughout the country to duplicate AM live-music programs over FM. Mr. Petrillo agreed to give the matter his consideration. On October 17 he informed Mr. Kearns he would take the matter up with his executive board the following morning when they convened in Chicago.

On October 19 Mr. Petrillo announced that he had decided to ban recordings after the present contract with the recording companies expired on December 31, 1947.

On November 6, 1947, Mr. Trammell, of the National Broadcasting Co., and Mr. Woods, of the American Broadcasting Co., met with Mr. Petrillo in an effort to secure an amicable settlement of the various problems confronting the broadcasters and the American Federation of Musicians. They reported to Mr. Kearns that Mr. Petrillo expressed a desire at that time to make a contract with them

for the whole works, in which he included the renewals of the present AM contract, containing the duplication of AM programs over FM and also television.

Subsequently Mr. Petrillo advised these gentlemen that he could do nothing further until he met with his executive board in Chicago on December 8 and 9, 1947, at which time he invited the presidents of the networks to meet with his board in Chicago.

Mr. Kearns had planned to meet with the presidents of the networks and their counsel and with the representatives of certain recording companies during the week of December 8 but decided to postpone these conferences until after the Chicago meeting of the executive board of the American Federation of Musicians.

This, in brief, is a summary of the efforts made by your subcommittee to secure a solution of these and other problems by negotiations. Your subcommittee must admit that the results have been far from satisfactory.

CONCESSIONS BY MR. PETRILLO

James Caesar Petrillo, president of the American Federation of Musicians, has, since July 8, 1947, when he appeared as a witness before the Kearns subcommittee, made the following concessions:

1. He has executed an agreement or code of ethics with the American Association of School Administration of the United States and the Music Educators National Conference of the United States to permit high-school bands, orchestras, and ensembles to broadcast over network or privately owned stations, either on AM or FM frequency. A copy of this agreement is on file with the committee.

2. He has entered into an agreement with the armed services, namely, United States Army, United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Forces, to permit said service bands representing the armed forces to make recordings to be used strictly for educational purposes and in the homes of students or children participating as organized groups in authorized schools or colleges. These recordings will be available for colleges, public schools, parochial schools, and library collections throughout the Nation. A copy of this agreement is on file with the committee.

3. Has permitted live music to be broadcast over frequency modulation stations, which was previously prohibited, but he continues to refuse or prevents duplication of live music programs over AM and FM stations. He has permitted live music to be broadcast from designated places, in a few limited instances, over the FM network known as the Continental Network, which includes 35 stations Negotiations for the broadcast over this network may be made at the place of origin of the program, and the prevailing wage scale at that place is recognized.

4. He has restored the licenses of two bookers who filed complaints with this committee that they had been deprived of the right to work and earn a livelihood through the arbitrary cancellation of their licenses by Mr. Petrillo.