Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-08-11
Letters to The Star
Wants Facts About Mr.. Hillman
And His Political Activities

And His Political Activities
To the Editor Of The Star:
have been much interested-I may
even say entertained-by Columnist
Mellett's efforts at gliding the New Deal
lilies In the practice Of his art he
has developed quite passion for the
facts-provided they are favorable.
Some Of his facts are duds. and some
have been exploded.
There was the sad case Of Henry
Wallace and the little pigs. Eyewitness
correspondents Of The Star have chal-
lenged Mr.. Melletts version. More could
be said on this subject, but we will let
1t pass.
Then our columnist was greatly con-
cerned that we should get the right
slant on Mr.. Hillman, the young Lithu-
anian immigrant who made good as an
American and who is characterized by
geptlemanly qualities, good manners and
wearing the best of clothes In his plea
for factualty however, Mr.. Mellett got
off to bad start by referring to himself
as being also an Immigrant" albeit a
few generations removed, the first of his
family having come over during the
Revolutionary War. (He should carry
poetic license If he expects to get by
with that use Of the word)
In giving us his facts he neglects to
satisfy a normal curiosity as to how
Lithuanian came by the name of Hill
man. But he does say: II can't claim
any credit for being an American.
Sidney Hillman can. 1t was his own
idea, not the idea of a great-great-
grandparent." In this bit OF gliding Is
there not specious implication? Most
OF our Americans by choice" very OBJ
viously came here for their own good
rather than from aJtruistic motives.
Does this give their citizenship any
superior virtue? If the implication is
sound, perhaps our founding fathers
made mistake in limiting the presi-
dency to native-born citizens who
couldn't help being Americans. How
ever, they did not place this limitation
on would-be president
The charge that Mr.. Hillman is a
Communist and that his CLIO Com
OOIllndGeQ
by Communists Mr.. Mellett brands as
ridiculous" and he adds: THE truth
Is that Hillman has no use for Com.
munism' In support he gives 10 quo
tations from the Daily Worker, ranging
from August 10, 1910, to February %.
194l-from three and a half to four
years ago-showing strong Communist
opposition to Hillman's course during
that period, One wonders why he did
not include recent quotation with this
ancient history. Can 1t be that a recent
quotation was not obtainable because
Mr.. Hillman's recent and present course
is in line with the Communist party
line? Let us have the facts.
The really important question is not
whether Hillman is Communist. but
whether he is playing the Communist
game. His support of CONGRESSMAN
Marcantonio is revealing An editorial
IN The Star OF August makes some
pertinent observations in pointing out
that Mr.. Marcantonio has been following
the Communist party line and has been
and still is being applauded by the Daily
Worker, and that in the recent primary
election he was the candidate OF that
paper and of the American Labor party,
which is deeply tinged with Com
munism,' and, more Importantly" that
ne was also the candidate of the COM
mittee headed by Mr.. Hillman.
The Stars commendable policy of
giving space to various points of view
in public affairs probably accounts for
the presence of Mr.. Melett's column in
its pages. But is his factual batting
average high enough to rate for him a
place on big-league team that prides
itself on its fairness, truth, accuracy
and all that sort of thing?
JAMES NJ PICKENS.