The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1943-11-12
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER

NEW YORK-Henry j. Kaiser has been re-
ceiving great acclaim as doel and a pro-
Queer, both of which he certainly is, and some
extra whoops for his understanding of people
and their worries, which, as much as any
other talent or trait has helped him to build
enormously and fast. Even knowing the back.
ground and character of Thomas Vincent de
Lorenzo, the masquerader who had wrought
such havoc in the Brewster aviation works,
Mr.. Kaiser nevertheless was able to sit down
with this man, understand him and find in him
hidden spark of conscience which might
have been exploited for great good had not
subcommittee of Congress at that inopportune
moment suddenly exposed de Lorenzo as a
spectacular imposter
We have so very few men of Mr. Kaiser S
kind and size that we should, for oul own good
know and make full use of those few-among
whom l would name William F. Carey, COM
missioner of sanitation in the La Guardia ad-
ministration in New York. Since about 1929,
when he stepped in from nowhere to run the
Misunderstanding prizefight for the Madison
Square Garden Corp. In Miami Beach after
the sudden death of Tex Richard many men
have known Bill Carey some of them mem
bers of Richards 600 milonaires and some
just members of the Garden mob, fighters
handlers, ticket men, the crews who rig and
tear down the ring and the bke-race track
and sports reporters. They know him as a
rugged, generous, honest roughneck from Hoo
SICK Falls, N Y, miner and large-scale con-
structlon man, who, quietly and out of human
kindness, installed many little benefits and
convenlences for the Garden mob before he
made move that had us puzzled at first, into
the city administration of an abusive and
tricky little radical, Fiorello La Guardia who
can get along with nobody but Bill Carey ex-
cept on his own terms-whch are uncondition-
al surrender of pride and all indepedent opn-
ion.
The department of sanitation formerly was
known as the street cleaning department and
while 1t would be careless, though inviting
mistake to say that it's work is the lowest in
the scale, it certainly is the least dignified and
Its members were, until Bill Carey came along
the most forlorn. There about $4,000 of
them, OF whom about 80 per cent were born
IN Italy and 80 per cent were of Italian
Immigrant stock. There are about 700 Ne
groes. Their pay ranges from $500 to $2100
year and some of the families have IL children
and the average household is, as Bill says
about four and one-hah people.
A few years ago, Bill bought through the
honor, welfare and relief fund Of his depart
ment the old Otto Kahn estate at Huntingdon
L. La fabulous palace, as summer vacation
resort for his $4,000 friends in the department
Being lawed out of that fastidious community
by coming ordnance Bill remarked that some
people think they hold an option on Gods
fresh air. He then turned to the Adirondacks
and bought 1900 acres on which he planted a
lot of old, abandoned elevated cars, remodel
ed into cabins for family units. he dumped
IS 600 trout into the lakes and called the place
Santa.
At the moment, Bill is under fire on tech
meal charge that he violated the city char
ter in some way in finishing up uncompleted
odds and ends of work when the WPA was
strapped and the labor was pulled off the job
in the mountains. Possibly he did, but there
was a lot of building material loose on the
ground and many half-done construction works
would have gone back into the wilderness if let
alone. But Of course, even though this were
irregular nothing will be done about it
Bill Carey is a we9ithy man 3.Ia1;o whose salary
cinated for more than 10 years on one loan.
that he made without security, to the people
who formerly were known as white wing wings; and
since the war he has plckeo up many ponds