The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1943-12-09
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER

NEW YORK.-You may think l exaggerate
the importance of Mrs Rooseve1t's meddling
in the union affairs of the newspaper people
as an honorary member of the guild, but those
who had to fight her underhended friends of
the communist element a Jew years ago will
not forget that she threw the prestige of the
presidency and her personal Influence. which
then was large, to the side of the bolos. They
were the dirtiest fighters inlag inable and YOU
would show up at guild meeting, which was
supposed to consist of neWspapern1er and wom-
en-, to discover lot of horn-rimmed, greasy
strangers whom nobody had ever seen around
any city room or on any assignment any
where. They were communist fingers who had
been qualified on the ground that they got
out little occasional sheets pnrporting to be
labor papers, some of them printed in for
eign languages, and regular American news
paper workers were supposed to treat them
as guests and brothers
The communists decided that for their own
purposes they would have 10 pull a guild
strike on the World-Telegram and this meant
that the real editorial workers: for whom the
union had been organized originally, had to
turn out to debate and watch their interests,
and especially to watch the vote, or they
would find themselves out of Jobs and even
compelled to walk a picket line in the COM
pany of a mob of furriers and buttonhole
The guild had started as ali editorial union
but the newspaper PEOPLE were inexperienced
and too trustful for their own good and the
first thing they knew the conmies had moved
them into the CLIO and enlarged the eligibility
so that the editorial workers were hopelessly
outnumbred in their own union and bound
to abide by the votes of other classes of
employees, many of them in lines calling for
no skill at ALL
Haywood Broun was red hot in his comrnu-
mist phase at that time and it was clear that
he was going over to the Evening Post. The
real reporters writers and copy-eaders of the
World-T Telegram, with the exception of few
red hots, wanted to 90 on with their jobs and
they easily saw through the plot to use them
against their will. Naturally, there was very
bitter feeling, which constantly inflamed
by the savage nastness of the official organ
of the guilds communist nanipulators, the
Guild Reporter.
Meanwhile, the Daily Worker was paying
coolie wages to the faithful bolos its
staff but there was never any talk of organiZ-
ing strike against the Worker, even when
movie reviewer was fired foI refusing to
change his professional opinion Of Gone With
the Wind to conform to the patty line. The
majority of the editorial newspaper people of
the World-Telegram realized that there was
plan afoot to make them go without pay
for weeks possibly months, and mess around
they got sore and fought the commies every
step of the way even though the reds would
drag meetings along until ali hours of the
morning and try to out-last them and spring
snap-vote after the opposition had gone
home.
Mrs. Roosevelt has not now, and never did
have any right to belong to the guild, be-
cause newspaper work is not her principal
occupation. Moreover on Joining she was
given special concession relieving her from
the obligations to strike or picket, which are
two OF the most painful obligations of union
membership. She horned in (and on the side
OF the reds at that and this naturally made
1t pretty hard for rea, American newspaper
people ana their wives to go for that gracious
LADY business, which is always offered as the
whole answer to any criticism OF any wrong
she does. We just felt that this was our own
a11ar and that she ought to mind her own
business and have told her so in print from
tne TO time. This is known as insulting the
First Lady of the Land
| Inc newspaper people finally licked the COM
munlsts on the strike thing but that doesn't
altef the fact that when thu fight was on
ana thlngs were looking very BAD the gracious
lady OF the White House was exerting the
| influence OF the presidential Office on the side
| OF lot OF shaking conspirators who didn't
give a damn how much the real editorial
worker suffered if they could put over their
plot and promote their own ambitions.
| NINT TI0N1C