Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-05-09
By WESTBROOK PEGLER

By WESTBROOK PEGLER
0FFHAND, l can think of no
more silly and confusing fall
lacy or ours than that which
holds that the underdog neces-
sarily deserves the sympathy of
the good and that the top dog.
because he is the top dog. must
be a dirty dog.
fnstinctiveiy. I think of Tom
Mooney when he was Willing
the years away in San Quentin
and rather enjoying his special
privileges, his inner sense of SUI
periority over the other prison.
ers and his celebrity as an inter-
national cause.
Mooney undoubtedly was an
underdog in those days, but
what sort of dog was he? My
sympathy had run for him
merely because he was under
dog until he told me that he
thoroughly approved the Mos
COW trials and thought Leon
Trotsky was a traitor to the
revolution, and il followed. of
course. deserved TO die before a
firing squad
THIS man had had a formal
L trial in the American courts,
and his life had been spared out
of consideration for the beauti-
full. if sometimes clumsy and err
ratio, American concept of JUS
tlce.
The Communists had cried
perjury" against the witnesses
who condemned him. although
perjury TO Communist merely
is handy means TO gain an end.
And still this underdog. cry
ing for justice and vindication.
could sit in San Quentin Prison
and pass judgment and sentence
of death on men he never saw
who had been tried in their alb
Sence in a mock court on the
other side of the world.
His conduct after he got out,
toward the one person who for
all those years had Individually
worked most TO hberate him.
was further reason not TO sym
pathiZc with Tom Mooney.
britain. at this hour. is the
- underdog in the war for CIV
iliZation, but | dare say that IL,
next year or the year after.
Adolf Hitler goes under there
will be little sympathy for him
and the German people in the
United States.
l believe it was pity for the
underdog that confused the free
people in the fatal years after
Versailles and brought on this
war. The German treatment OF
the Poles and Czechs in this war
and their atrocities on the Jews
everywhere prove that Ner-
sailles was only faint sugges-
ton of what they would have
done to others at that time.
When Sam insult was the
underdog | was able TO control
my feelings, because he was an
arrogant. cruel tyrant when he
was on top, and. moreover. I
learned that during his trial.
when he was riding the l0-cent
bus to court and being kind TO
photographers. he was sham
ming under instructions from a
press agent.
Sympathy would have been
too much for such man. He
and Tom Mooney had more in
common than either man or the
public knew.
/ HAVE the same feeling about
L the unions today. If a union
is honestly conducted and treats
others fairly and respects their
rights. then il is entitled to the
same consideration that we give
an equally fair employer.
But the mere fact that a UNI
ion is engaged in fight with an
employer and is being licked
should not appeal 10 the Sympa-
thy of the American people. The
union may be crooked in its
dealings with its members. with
non-members and the employer
and feroclous in its treatment OF
workers in and out of its ranks.
The strike may be nothing but
a little civil war intended TO ter
rorize community and weak
local officials. and TO drive INTO
IFS membership American citi-
zeps who prefer 10 remain free.
In that case. whether it is the
top dog or the underdog / cheer
for the employer and will use
his product or service if / need
il.
Is this harsh reasoning? WHY
bring that up? | hold that our
sentimental nature has been i'm
posed on TO our detriment too
often.
Copyrighted by United Features synd.. Inc.
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