The Wilmington morning star., 1944-10-26

..an.;h;Iitv for the personal views Of Mr.. Pogler
and eften disagree with them - na "as many .,
his readers. His sfslces seS'e wv sSO~ SeAPvse u
making people think.
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
downright 1914, by King Features Syndicate)
NEW YORK.-Sotne' readers of these dis
patches have asked why I recently exposed
the participation of the late Warren Delano,
the Presidents grandfather, in the infamous
opium smuggling trade, one OF the sources OF
the Roosevelt family fortune.
Is man responsible for the conduct of his
grandfather before he was born?
OF course not.
But Mr.. Roosevelt, himself, tweaked the an
swer when he said in his speech on foreign
policy last Saturday night that our country
had honorably rejected sordid advantage
which could have been had by selling out
the hearts blood of the Chinese people,"
That is exactly what his grandfather did
and Franklin D. Roosevelt and his wife have
lived all their Lives in extravagant luxury and
snobbery on vile and guilty gains whose source
they could not but have known.
Through all the years of the new deal we
have been pelted with scathing biographies of
greedy empire builders and industrial pioneers
and histories of the fortunes which they passed
on to their descendants. Not many of them
have been overlooked and never yet has a
voice been raised from the Roosevelt political
adherence to say that the living heirs of those
tough old millionaires, however well-behaved,
patriotic and respectable, should, themselves,
be spared such publicity.
The case of President ana Mrs. Roosevelt
is different and peculiar. Since 1888, when they
became the patrons of that faceless and drool-
ing monstrosity so contemptuously identified
as the American common man, they have set
themselves up as belligerent and fiercely right
eous enemies Of those whom Theodore RooSe-
welt denounced as malafactors of great wealth.
Mr. Roosevelt says he is not one of those
vampires who would have lived on the hearts
blood of the Chinese people. Yet he and his
wife, their children and many other members
of the clan enjoyed to the utmost luxury and
riches derived from the degradation and
wretchedness Of the Chinese people by the
abominable commerce in which his GRANDPA
Their engaged on the China coast in the 1840s.
OF course this old buccaneer had other in
terests, but the historical material leaves alb
solutely no doubt that he was one of those I'M
speakable brutal white men who thwarted the
humane purpose OF the Chinese emperor to
abolish this curse.
In return for the opium forced on the Chi
nese people by British and American rascals
who brought the dope in from India in de-
fiance of Chinese law, the smugglers received
silk and other goods wrought by miserable
coolies, women and children as well as men,
under conditions much worse than those OF
Negro slavery in the South.
These wares then were shipped to Europe,
Britain and the United States for sale in ire
Specialize commerce at high profits. The help
less SI1hhnyoar Chinese addicfS had tn WOr<
at starvation wages to produce goods to buy
the poison to feed the craving on which old
Delano got rich and founded the family in
heritance.
But still, what is the idea Of bringing this up?
The idea is that to sincere friends of hui
mainly, the proceeds of this detestable enter
prise, SO repugnant to their protested princi-
Piles and ideals, would have been filthy and
untouchable money In childhood, of course,
power of remuneration. The regular, aristocrat-
ic, snobbish pattern of multiple homes, nurses,
governesses. grooms tutors, stables, boats,
staffs of servants, European travel and other
wise lavish life would have been routine. But
when they grew up Mr.. and Mrs. Roosevelt
continued to enjoy the benefits of these ill
gotten profits from 'the hearts blood of the
Chinese people, living at scale far beyond
his earning ability and educating their chill
dren in expensive snobbery out of the same
fortune. And down to this very hour the for
ture, still beyond million dollars, is intact.
True, Mr.. Roosevelt did donate as mod
est, if premature, national memorial to his
own greatness, the big house at Hyde Park,
but that transaction had the ear-marks of a
tax dodge or, in his own memorable phrase,
'clever little scheme having 'the color of
legality" By subtracting this white elephant
from his estate, he reduced the taxable value
of the estate which his heirs will receive and
thus reduces their inheritance tax but incl
dentally, raises the tax burden of his neigh
bors around Hyde Park. Most such properties
are worse than worthless and other owners of
mansions in the same region have ruthlessly
demolished them to save real estate taxes
now and inheritance taxes later
There is no record that the Roosevelts for
all their professed generosity and adherence
of greed and the well-fed condition OF the SYM
bolc clubnan, have ever given away nothing
Or denied themselves any luxury. What they
have they keep and their income pyramlded
by exploitation of the by-products OF his war
on want.
Meanwhile, their partisans have delighted in
eycoriations of Henry Ford and the du Fonts,
fc1 example whose great creations certainly
were helpful facilities when the United States
was caught in war; whereas no apologist could
possiblv discover in Delanos career as an
opium SLAYER any effect helpful to anyone but
his family circle.
To have been consistent in preaching and
practice. the President and his wife were NOR
a,lv obliged to divest themselves of every ben
af;+ 80 the opi,lu fortune as soon as their