The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-12-23

m eloquent public attack on the Republican party for the ousting of MT. Palomba. Mir. DeCicco made no secret of the fact that he believed frankly that MT. Pa4emba was being retired simply because his ancestors happened to Do of Italian blood. It hardly seems that this, also, should have been for. gotten by the newspapers which fought against MT. Perriello in his honest bid for the mayoralty nomination.
 To refresh their memory fur. thers and to bring the matter closer to date, mention might be made of an address given by Mir. Perriello before the Bunker fiill Mems League only . few weeks ago. He pleaded on that occa. sion for Che elimination of prej- udice against those not of May. flower stock, and asked that those lon the hills" try to be sympathetic with the problems se Che men and women "dOwn
 in the valleys" That hardly needed explanation, especially
 since the mayor made those re. marks In . section which cast the heaviest vote against him in the Republican primary. Yet only The Democrat at that time eaw fit 0 carry the full text oe the mayors address and to clte their importance.
 If still more reminders are needed to show that the question of prejudice is not one that has only been talked about In whis pers," the editors to whom the mayors frank statement of fact came as c "bomhShell" have only to look back at the recent primary and election. campaigns, There were many speakers and writers who had no hesltancy in declar. ing that the mayor had been r"- jected because he had the "wroli " racial and religious background for the Republican leadership. To cite one example. the president of the Irish Republican club Is. sued . series of statements con- demning the failure to nominate Mayor Perriello and charging the c. o. P. leaders with being moti- vated principally byNclanisliness.
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 Certainly ,it is . pity, as far as Che community is concerned that two publications which are Self.announced protectors of the publlc interest are only now req. ilzlng that prejudices against certain races and religions In our community can be talked about openly. Now that Che light has reached them, we may sit back and await developments whose wonder is beyond telling.
 The American Republican sug. gest that one Of the first steps toward the elimination Of racial and religious prejudice in local politics should Do the disbanding Of ell racial political clubs. This view does not take into considera- ton the fact that most of these organizations were formed in self. defense, that members of racial groups had to band together If they were to have any voice at all in city or party affairs.
 In refusing to give MT. Perriello the nomination, the Republican organization did not even bother to name c primary candidate Of It's own. Those who voted the Organization" way were voting a blank ticket; the town coinmit- tees campaign was not on be. half of some candidate, but rath- or only against Perriello."
 The town chairman of the Republican party went so far as to send letters to those on the Republican primary list attack iag MT. Pesriello and predicting that, if nominated, he faced certain defeat. This left the obvious inference that Che par- ty organization would not % out Of its way to aid Mir. Per- FielIo should he win the primary contest. The organization won the primary and gave the nom- nation tO Q hand picked choice, Charles C. Foster, who subsc- quentIy lost in the election.
 Tho battle lines in the Re. publican primary were clearly drawn. It required no special power of insight to sec that the Issue was largely one of whether er not . candidate of foreign extraction should be designated as Che Republican standard bearer.
 The situation was @ plain that on the night of the primary At tngney Michael Galullo. leader of the Perriello group. assailed a weli-known Republican district leader for his alleged racial and religious bias. The scene was the city courtroom in the city hall, as the ballots were being counted. MT. 0alullo. in tones that must have been almost audible on Leav- enworth street. accused the gel- tleman in question of being mar row. and biased"
 The contention of The Amer