The Wilmington morning star., 1944-09-09
BY WEsTBROOK PEGLER

NEW YORK Tex Richard sometimes ad.
mitted that, among the veterans of the Alaskan
gold rush who chilled the very marrows of
their friends with stories of hardship and ran
cid blubber, there were some of the most
imaginative liars on earth. Men who, as rest.
less youngsters, had Jared north for adventure
and gold, had taken few whiffs of the brisk
winter air and thereafter had holed up in
saloons as bartenders, Dealers sWeepers and
common, never far out of the warm pre-
sence of the iron stoves and had taken the
hardships Of the trail by proxy
Yet in later years when their company had
been thlnned out, survivors of that place and
time, by common consent. would corroborate
one another's stories of Chilblain the frozen
vastness and men who had suffered no worse
than occasional lack of room-rent would in.
vent perils and sufferingS to curl the hair of
city friends who could interpose no very solid
doubt merely because they hadn't been there
Ben Stolberg, small and knocking skeptic
OF the left-Wing, the biographer of personalities
OF the foreign-American union political move
ment, invites similar establishment concern.
ing the revolutionary adventures of such pack
age goods heroes under the Gar For many
years native Americans nave heard with hor-
ror and sympathy tales of exile to Siberia
and OF enormous bravery in suffering, all for
their ideals which in view Of their frequent,
savage dlSagreements in the land of opportun-
lty, seem not to have been alike except to
the extent that they unanimously oppose any
system which they, individually, cannot boss.
OF David Dubinsky whom he admires
emotlonal1y, Mr.. Stolbery writes in his infor-
native work, Tailors Progress, that Dave
though sentenced to Siberia, actually was allow
ed to escape before he even reached his desti-
nation. The Czarst government he reveals,
paid the penal authorities nine kopecks day
Tor the maintenance of each convict and the
jailors "often abetted the escape of prisoners
in order to pocket this allowance"
Which explains Mr.. Stolberg says, "why
so many revolutionary figures made seeming.
ly miraculous escapes from Siberia
Dubinsky, moreover, bribed one og his
guards with his spare clothing and was allow
ed to walk away He reached without too great
distress, his native LODI and, about year
later, landed in New York. He promptly joined
the Socialist party, Mr.. Stolberg says, and a
year later, twas soap-boxing all over the east
side''
Earlier, Dave had spent year and half
in the LODI local prison, if the hero himself
does not exaggerate, but even there Mr.. Stol-
berg says, his life was made easier by a
contribution of three rubles month from his
father to the warden, who seems to have had
a good job.
THAT didn't mean,' Dubinsky said, that he
escaped the terrible beatings which all Of us
had to take to which, however might offer
the observation that, at ST. MIR. Dublnsky is
still very solid and healthy man, bearing no
visible scars of this abuse.
Of Sidney Hillman, whom he disapproves
with joyous personal detestation, Mr.. Stol-
berg paints a picture even less heartrending
citing Hillman's friendly Communist biog-
raphers. who had him on a proletarian COM
nittee> which "seized' his native town of Ia
gere, Lithuania, and made him the hero Of six
or eight months in the Dvinsk prison, Stol-
berg says: first that Zagere never was "seiz-
ed'' by any proletarian committee and that
number of other refugees never heard of him
as an active fighter in the 1905 revolution.
To squeal on Sidney Hllnan and discredit
him may seem to violate the alaskan tradition:
but, as told you, the gold rush veterans did
not always hang together. Mr.. Richard. in GER
tain moods, would debate the adventures of
some OF his contemporaries and Jack Kearns,
the manager of Jack Dempsey, who also was
there sometimes remembers that the
heroes OF great adventures never wore any,
thing but store clothes.
V
If, after Versailles, our high hopes gave way
to establishment, it was not because our lead
ers betrayed us or even because they were
outwitted by the willy Europeans It was we
the people who tossed away our golden OPP
portunity last time in favor of the FOOLS gold