Hell Raisers' Adieux

For two old Populist potentates who had done much to lead the poor and exploited into the affluent society, it was time to step down. Grizzled, rotund David Dubinsky, for 34 turbulent years president of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, and bluff, white-thatched James G. Fatten, fiery head of the National Farmers Union for the past quarter-century, both retired last week, turning over their flourishing organizations to less flamboyant men noted more for managerial than messianic talents.

Lung Alley. Dabbing tears from his eyes, Dubinsky, 74, had his resignation read before a meeting of his directors, who forthwith appointed a committee to persuade him to stay on. But he was not to be swayed. "I don't want to die in my boots," he insisted. "I don't want a free funeral."

For the 447,000 I.L.G.W.U. members, it was a funereal occasion nonetheless.

One of the last union stalwarts of New Deal days, Polish-born Dubinsky as a youth was banished to Siberia for calling a strike against his father's bakery, escaped, emigrated to the U.S., and joined the union at 19 as a buttonhole maker in Manhattan's "lung blocks" (so called because of their high TB incidence).

He became head of his local at 28, and as boss of the international union fought a war against a Communist takeover attempt that left it bankrupt.

In the depths of the Depression, "D.D.," as intimates call him, won a 35-hour week for the I.L.G.W.U., pioneered such fringe benefits as medical and retirement plans. Always deeply involved in politics, he formed New York's Liberal Party and ran it as autocratically as his union-as one aide put it, "like Puck playing patriarch."

Dubinsky used the strike sparingly, and under him the I.L.G.W.U. amassed a knippe-Yiddish for nest egg-worth $571 million, invested in everything from union buildings to a 1,000-acre vacation resort for members in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains; the I.L.G.W.U. has even lent the Rockefellers funds for a housing project in Puerto Rico. Dubinsky's hand-picked successor is the union's secretary-treasurer: quietly efficient Louis Stulberg, 64, a Polish-born ex-cutter, whose main job has been overseeing the union's business empire.

Oil & Potash. Dubinsky's blend of social conscience and business acumen is shared by Patton, 63, who announced his retirement at the N.F.U.'s annual convention in Denver. Patton, who wears a piratical black patch over his left eye (it was removed in a cancer operation), built the N.F.U. from a struggling organization of 80,681 dirt-poor, Dust Bowl farm families to its present eminence as one of the Big Three of U.S. agrarian lobbies, with a membership of 750,000-mostly small farmers-in 40 states. Under Patton, the son of a union leader, the N.F.U. has demanded ever higher federal price supports for agricultural products, making it the bitter rival of the conservative American Farm Bureau Federation (TIME cover, Sept. 3) and the middle-of-the-road National Grange.

"Our voice is listened to and respected in Washington," boasted Patton, who campaigned vigorously for Lyndon Johnson in 1964. He was a powerful advocate of the 1946 Employment Act, which underscores the right of all Americans to job opportunities, helped lobby Public Law 480-the Food for Peace plan-in 1954, and found the U.N.'s world food program.

Picked, with Patton's support, to replace him was N.F.U. Secretary-Treasurer Tony Dechant, 51, grandson of an Alsace-Lorraine German immi grant and, like Patton, a Kansas-born ex-farm boy. A hard-working administrator with a passion for detail, De-chant has been intimately involved in N.F.U.'s $42 million worth of enterprises, which include two life insurance companies with $24 million in assets, oil wells, a refinery, fertilizer plants, and half-interest in a $32 million potash mine.

Like Dubinsky, N.F.U.'s retiring leader will retain an influential voice in his organization's affairs. "I've been a hell raiser all my life," roared Patton, "and I intend to go on raising hell!"

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.