The Wilmington morning star., 1944-07-07
Fair Enough

FQlr Enough
Editors Note-The Star and the News accept no
responsibility for the personal views Of Mr.. Pegler
and often disagree with them as much many OF
his readers. His articles the good purpose OF
making people think.
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
NEW YORK.-One night in September, 1885,
Huey Long was shot in the belly in his own
state capitol in Baton Rouge. A young sur
geon. who was instantly torn to tatters by
80 slugs from the guns Of Hueys bodyguards
was convicted by Longs biographers and emo
tional public opinion Of firing the shot that
killed the Kingfisn No formal, honest effort
ever was made to determine whether Long
was assassinated by Dr. Carl Weiss or by
his own bodyguards, whether by accident or
with treacherous intent. DR.. Weiss might have
been murdered by conspirators in Huey's own
circle of gunner with intent to place the
blame on a dead man.
1t is unlikely that public opinion ever will
be reversed because the cohorts of the King
fish, most of them rascals, many of them
later went to prison, had control of the ma
chinery Of investigation and they not only
prevented intelligent study of the facts but
created permanent confusion.
Like DR.. Weiss, Rear Admiral H. E. Kimme
and Maj Gen. Walter Short, the American
commanders in Hawaii when the Japanese at
tackled Pearl Harbor, have been placed under
a cloud of presumed guilt, although neither
officer ever has been tried or even served
with any formal accusation. The only charges
ever brought against them were contained in
the formal, unjudicial ''conclusions' of the
Roberts committee, named by President
Roosevelt sNon after the attack to provide
a basis for sound decisions" These officers
were accused and convicted in the same few
words by a quasi-official group of five men
who in this capacity, were in the position of
just so many scandal-mongers.
kangaroo court Neither the Admiral nor the
General was given the same opportunity to
protect his name and the public interest and
to establish the truth of a great, historical
disaster, that is given to widowed bum ac-
cused of jack-Tollng in an ordinary American
police court Both officers were assured that
they were not ION trial. in the Roberts in
quiry. Indeed, in the legal sense, they were
not, for the committee had no right to try
them. And, because they were not ION trial.
they were denied their right to trial counsel
and their right to cross examine witnesses.
Nevertheless, in its closing paragraphs, the
Roberts report flouting much of its own earli-
er text, did convict these men of ''dsrelection
of duty
This committee was President Roosevelt S
own creature and beholden to him, although
Mr.. Roosevelt, also, has personal stake in
the case under investigation. Some phases of
his own conduct were open to question and,
possibly to condemnation. But by reason of
his position, ne stood above the jurisdiction
OF the Roberts committee while Kimmel and
Short were exposed to inquiry, blame and dis
grace.
Few of the American people to whom the
Roberts report actually was addressed, have
the patience or the discriminating, studious
analytical ability to parse document so long
and tedious and detect its inconsistencies. Few
of them realize that the Roberts inquiry was
rush-act, prejudicial even to sober justice,
and that its report was calculated to pre-
judge Kimmel and Short and eliminate P~esi-
dent Roosevelt.
In the fight over the Roosevelt court-pack-
ing plan few Americans studied the bill and
the debates with sufficient intelligence and
care to learn that it would have affected all
the federal courts. Thus to this day, the
common belief is that this was scheme af-
fecting the Supreme court only Similarly,
probably not more than one citizen In thou
sand has studied tae Roberts report. The re-
suit is that these Americans whom the new
deal refers to common" men and the
Masses have been indicted" or "convlcted'
of horrible betrayal of duty and trust. The
AHO~i oAASJ
are as innocent as Mr.. Roosevelt, himself
The committee consisted of Justice Owen
j. Roberts of the U. S. Supreme court Ad-
mirals Standby and Reeves and Generals Nc
Narney and Mccoy All are men of high
standing and too intelligent not to have known
that in reporting Kimmel and Short guilty OF
"dereliction of duty they were creating a
substantial presumption of serious guilt
against men WHO had not even been served
with charges. Much less tried.
They knew that their conclusion of ''dere-
liction'' had no more weight in the scales OF
Justice than so much common gossip. Presl-
dent Roosevelt, for all the vague, but vast
aggregate powers imputed to him by At
| torney General Francis Biddle, had no more
right to bypass the courts martial established
by law to determine such issues than he has
to appoint ''committee'' of corner loafe~s
to 'provide a basis for sound decisions" as
to whether private citizen is guilty of coun-
| terfeiting, fraud or treason, preliminary to
formal charges and trial.
| The committees reasons for lending them
selves to this irregular proceeding may have
been patriotic. The nation has been shaken
and. for the critical time being there was