The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-04-14
BY WEsTBRoOK PEGLER

NEW mountaineering the resignation o.
Lowell Mellett, one of his selfless assistants
with passion for anonymity, who left tt
become a political columnist for the Wash
ington Star, President Roosevelt could not re
sist the temptation to take another cut at the
American free press, the best and faires
journalism in all the world.
I am very much impressed by what yor
tell me concerning the readiness Of the Wash
ington Star, and perhaps other newspapers
to publish points Of view contrary to theil
own" Mr.. Roosevelt wrote.
There was no reason for the President te
|be Every much impressed by this readiness
at this late date unless he was thinking Of
the communist faseist and other new dea
publica tons. In that case he should have
been not merely impressed but astounded anc
incredulous. This, however, was only Mr.
Roosevelt's way Of insinuating that papers
which have published facts and discussions
unpleasant to his administration have denied
his own corps of political epitheticians 3
chance to answer facts with facts and argu
ments with arguments. Such is not the case
as he well knows.
The one new deal colunnist who could mos
effectively do this if 1t could be done at all
and if she were less of a journalistic side
show attraction, is Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt
She does six columns a week which run ir
many papers opposed to the new deal. The
old excuse that she is non-political and non
controversial, and thus inhibited, vanished long
ago when she proposed such fascist novelties
as the limitation of salaries but not of I'M
earned incomes, such as the income from
the inherited Roosevelt and Morgenthau fam.
lily fortunes, and the CONSUMPTION for labor Of
every man and woman so that the national
government could tell every one of us what
g. 80 PTyl
truth is that Mrs. Roosevelt is journalist
only in the most nominal sense of the word
and by virtue of the election returns OF 1892
But there are many other new deal colunn.
nists of average ability who might try to
give the answers if they knew them. Their
trouble is that they have no answers. For
there is no possible refutation of the historical
fact that mob-insurrection under John L. Lew.
is and Phillip Murray, of the CLIO, was en-
couraged and protected by Mr.. Roosevelt OF
that he is now using the war crisis and the
military draft in an attempt to drive the 4Fs
and millions of other citizens into the power
of such ruthless men by offering them a
choice between military service and unwilling
pies of many questions which no new deal
columnist can answer and to which they have
offered only such irrelevant and abusive re
torts as labor batter and "tory.''
Another reason why the new deal point Of
view is poorly presented, however, is that in.
telliRent and talented writers will not advo-
cate its hypocrisy and its connivance with
the anti-Annerican communists. The result is
that for columnists to present his case, Mr..
Roosevelt is reduced to the services Of mis-
anthropic mediocrities of the newspaper bust
ness who are bitter in the knowledge that
they can never hope to write well enough to
distinguish themselves on their merits and so
must resort to abuse wisecracks and lies.
Three Of the most vulgar and inept OF the
new deal blather- sixties even use false names.
The most liberal and fair newspapers in the
country are found among the standard dali
les, many Of them in the smaller cities. which
are opposed to the new deal as a fascist or
communist program and for other particular
reasons, plainly stated and argued. This is
not to say that all the papers Of the opposition
are entirely hospitable to contrary views.
However, most of them are, while none OF
the cover-to-cover new deal papers ever gives
the opposition a chance to express ITSELF
This bigotry is characteristic OF the COM
1aunist worker Of Marshall Fields strange
experiments in revolutionary continental
blaekguardism and, without exception. OF the
weeklies turned out by the union political boss
Is of the new deal household, including the
communists and the common racketeers OF
the criminal underworld.
Mr.. Mellett, now to enjoy the Washington
Stars readinass to publish points OF view con
trAry to its own, should be the last to expect
such Iberality. It was no part OF his past
new deal politico'editorial policy