Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-11-15

ssS f1shAhh' the eavtest
punishment of any man in America
while supporting the basic prin-
ciples of American democracy.
No crueler job of character as.
sassination has been done in Amer.
lea than was done on Ed Kelly. He
kept silent under fire, on the advice
OF his friends, and stuck to his guns,
helping the Chicago democracy roll
up the Cook County majority which
kept Illinois in the Roosevelt coll
umn on election day.
No man can answer for another's
character, but if Ed Kelly is the
corrupt boss represented by cam
paign mythology, then Roosevelt is
a Chinaman and Willkie is an
Eskimo. This column proposes to
merely offer some circumstantial
evidence to offset the dirt 50 Law
ishly thrown at Mayor Kelly and
the city of Chicago in an EFFORT to
win votes for the G. o. P. this year.
Cardinal Mundelein's Testimonial.
In the Mayors apartment on
Lake Shore drive there is q signed
photograph from the late Cardinal
Mundelein to his friend. The in
scription refers to Mayor Kelly as
"a good, Christian man" I do not
think that George Cardinal Num-
delein could have called a bad citi.
zen his friend" and / do not be-
leve that this great Catholic leader
would have termed a corrupt boss
a good, Christian man."
In Chicago, I met no one who
knows Kelly or who had any deal
ings with the Mayor who did not
regard him as an able, honest ad-
mlnistrator, as man who was per-
forming ably the very difficult task
OF operating a city of nearly 1000
900 people Of every race, creed, Ian
guage and color.
You can tell q good deal about
a man from his home and family.
On that alone Kelly rates 100 per
cent.
During his campaign for Roose-
vets reelection, Ed Kelly made
only one issue: The old-fashioned
Americanism. He refused to play
racial or religious issues, and he de-
plored the appeals made to any
Nazl sentiment by certain Demo-
| Gratis seeking to discredit Willkie.
Again and again I heard him tell
meetings of his workers and of
Democratic workers to vote as their
conscience dictated, to remember
that the ballot was secret and
simply to do their duty as citizens.
Saw No Foul Play.
During the last 10 days Of the
campaign, I was with Mayor Kelly
almost continuously. watching him
and his organization in action at a
time and under circumstances when
there was no chance for window
dressing. I saw nothing that was
of1-color, that had the flavor of COR
ruption or the air of strong-arm
tactics. 1t became increasingly clear
that the famous Kelly-Nash ma
chine was in Office because it served
the human needs of the vast ma
Jority OF Chicago citizens, that the
people were with 1t and that 1t was
the agent of the people.
The election was clean. The elec-
tlon machinery was in the control
OF County Judge Jarecki, a rival
OF kelly'S. and q tour of the poll-
ing places on election day revealed
no disorders. The inefnciency of
Chicago's registration system de-
prived about $4,000 voters of the
franchise, but there was no evi.
dence that this operated to the
advantage Of either party.
Kelly is q great organizer. He
has talents of the order of a Jim
Hlli or an Andrew Carnegie. Had
ne gone into industry or business
ne would have made a great for
tune. AS 1t is, he is a poor bow of
Irlsh-German blood, who was born
behind the stockyards and made
his way to the top. He is a typical
American Success story" done in
vote getting instead Of money max
ing.
In a later column I shall discuss
the Kelly-Nash machine as an Or
ganization. but now I propose to
call one more character witness for
MAYOR Edward j. Kelly Of Chicago
Gen. Hugh Johnson. I'd like
Hugh Johnson, who was and is on
the opposite side of the fence. TO
state whether he considers Ed Kelly
100 be a bad American, Q bad
Mayor, corrupt politician or a bad
man.
Released By Consolidated News Features.
Incl