The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-09-21
By wEsTBRooK PEGLER

his reader. His articles the good purpose Of
making people think
By WESTBROOK PEGLER
Copyright, 1914, King Features Syndicate, Inc.
sEATTLE.-At this point in the campaign
and in the midst of war against something
known to us by the conveniently hateful name
of facism or totalitarianism, we may inquire
what course we have been following here at
home.
Seattle is an appropriate place for such re-
Election because here, President Roosevelt Gre
ated dictatorship by means so subtle that
the people of the nation do not understand
what happened, much less how it was done.
We begin with the Wagner Act, dishonest
in concept and vicious in it's administration
The present results were predicted in outline
during the debates in Congress and were not
denied at the time The worst that was said
by the Roosevelt senators was that they were
exaggerated. The evil principle thus was en-
braced and there was disagreement only about
the degree.
The stated purpose of the Wagner Act was
to permit workers to join unions free of CO.
ercion from their employers. That could have
been achieved by simple law forbidding
employers to fire or threaten to fire or other
wise punish workers for joining unions, with
adequate penalties, complaints under such
law could have been tried in the federal courts
and prosecuted routine cases by the regu
lar FEDERAL district attorneys
Instead, Mr.. Roosevelt's law, set UP it's own
system OF non-judicial courts and its own staff
OF Investigators referees and judges These
persons, mostly lawyers, included many COM
munlsts and political and social allies of the
communists, even in the membership of the
Labor Relations Board itself. They were Sc
lected not for their impartiality but for their
partially to the unions and their prejudices
against the employers and the workers them
selves. The intent was TO drive millions of
workers into the unions and make them ac-
cept collective bargaining agents presented by
Mr.. Roosevelt out of his political following.
Right or wrong, the employer could not win
before the Labor Relations Board. Subsequent
testimony before a committee of the House
of Representatives proved that the personnel
was handpicked with this prejudice in mind
1t was admitted unwilling workers couldn't
refuse to join, lest they lose their jobs. That
too, is admitted. In fact it is ordered.
AS result, these union bosses Of the Presi-
dents party were enabled to collect not mere
millions nor hundreds of millions but thou
sands of millions of dollars from the workers.
The bosses have never been required by law
body knows how much they have stolen for
themselves or spent for the reflections of
president Roosevelt and the consequent pro-
lection OF their taxing and grating power be-
cause nobody has legal access to their books.
Not even the union members can see the
books it the bosses refuse permission. Last
spring, Congress did pass a law requiring
them to report their income to the Internal
Revenue, not for taxation but merely as in.
fNrv~o o{yOr, p,,% 1x,sk1
on, the Treasury department under Henry
Morgenthau, rewrote the law by "interpreta-
tom that not even the government has
access to the figures
Meanwhile, during all these years, coercion
by the union bosses was encouraged, even to
the extent OF riot, lnSurrection, terror and ac-
tual slaughter, all for the purpose of driving
millions of workers into the unions so that
they could be taxed by the Presidents politi-
cal satraps. ALI this was done by elaborate
government agency for the ostensible simple
purpose OF preventing employers from firing
men for joining unions or putting them in
fear OF discharge for joining.
The normal way in such a case would have
been to forbid certain acts and prescribe pen
alties for such acts.
But the Wagner Act wanted more than mere
forbiddance and punishment for violation. 1t
wanted compulsion. Our American laws say
you shall not do thing. This one says you
must do certain things or you will be punish
ed. And those punshments were contrived to
threaten the workers who were supposed to
be the subjects of protection under the Wagner
Act.
President Roosevelt has selected the dinner
of the high dignitaries of the teamsters union
as the occasion for speech which, he says,
will be the first political Grafton OF the CAM
paign.
Seattle is the scene of dictatorship es-
tablished by Dave Beck, one of the high pow
ers of the teamsters' union. Mr.. Roosevelt
we'll knows the details of this dictatorship.
His son-in-law, John Boettiger, was news
paper publisher here during the rise OF the
Beck dictatorship and his daughter Boetti-
gers wife, was a new deal political agent
throughout their residence.
| Beck used the power granted by MI Roose-
welt through the Wager Act to rule Seattle
and, for a time, much of washington ana
Oregon. He embargoed California peer IN IN
ter-state commerce because the California
brewery truckmen belonged to the brewery
Workers Union In the state OF washington,
in collision with corrupt or desperate business
men, he ran the brewery workers out of their
legitimate traditional union and made them
| Join his teamers. Then he gave MS clients
rnonopoly. He corralled as teamsters h e
o1arks in the retail stores and he was able