The Wilmington morning star., 1944-02-19
By WEsTBROOK PEGLER

WASHINGTON, - Well, personally, I think
it is rather dirty pool to mess around in
mans personal and social activities as
means of political or journalistic repartee,
and l felt some qualms in writing about Mar
shall Fields little party for matter OF some
1900 politicians, statesmen, jurists and Jour-
nalist last Sunday evening" Neither do con-
slider it to be any of my business that man
spends an amount of money, whether S3ooo
or $4,000, the guessing range OF the cost OF
the grog and whatnot, on a large and ornate
drinking in big hotel, or five bucks for tub
of household whisky for himself and the old
lady on Saturday night. If he wants to spend
it that way instead Of buying bonds that is
mans privilege and in this particular case
YOU have to admit that a large part of the
tab which Mr. Field lifted that night had al
ready gone into old Sans damper in the form
of liquor taxes and for good, too, not merely
on loan at interest.
But this MIR. Field has been playing low
down dirty pool ever since he moved into New
York and set up his little whatlzzlt manned
by a staff so largely composed OF Muscovltes
that in no time at all, the Americans IN me
newspaper business around town were calling
is without question the nastiest, unfairest, pub
LEGATION ever offered for general circulation in
my time in the newspaper business, which
runs from the summer of 1910 to the date
of these presents, and is fairly comparable in
it's method and tone to the journalism OF
julius Streicher, the TIitlerian Jew-baiter, and
Charlie Coughlins little Detroit mash-note 1t
adopted abuse as a policy and method, and II
participated with group of Communist party
line union goons in strong-arm raid on
some private premises by night one time after
confidential information had been betrayed to
the goons by a faithless secretary. Any publ
cation which, in this day and age, as dlstln-
guished from the rowdy old rough-and-tumpl e
era in Chicago would crash into mans OF
flee and bust up the joint in concert with
crowd of obvious bolos certainly invites
watching.
There is a distinct contrast between MIR.
Fields New York thing and his full-size paper
in Chicago called the Sun. The Sun, while
not At ali original, is well-edited and reason
ably decent. although strongly partisan on the
new deal side, and men who have Mr. Field S
confidence have said that the Sun is really his
pride and 10y Incidentally it is matter OF
passing interest that the Chicago Daily News
will not publish pieces critical of Mr.. Field S
operations in new deal journalism through his
New York outlet, he being valued tenant OF
the News building in Chicago, and Of its me-
chanical plant.
But lust wonder who Mr.. Field thinks he
is anyway He is sensitive himself. but exer-
cises a right to smear, sheer, inslnuate and
otherwise try to injure the regulations of men
who by the measure Of work and achievement
are much better than himself and to call peo-
pie and institutions anti-semites who are moth
ing of the kind although large portion Of his
own fantastic fortune was derived from an
institution which for a. long time did discriml-
nate against jews in employing t. To hear him
tell it in New York you would get an impress
sion that he associated intimately with Ne
groes and that there was correct proportion
of Negroes on his editorial pay rolls, but II
you believe that you are just being naive.
Fields Communists are masters OF a dirty
European technique by which they can take
the innocent fact that man stopped IN Tor
drink on the way home and there at the bar
was introduced to ham fish, and give II the
business in such a way that you get an I'M
preston that they were plotting to turn the
country over to Hitler.
AS said, I believe Mr.. Field was within his
rights in giving his party, but II Tom Glroler
had been the host, or Frank Gannett or Tom
Dewey his Communists would have angled
the story to convey the idea that here was an
outrageous brawl with cockeyed economic
foyalists Dumping into doors and walking up
the walls. while soldiers die in foxholes; and
that the whole thing was the kickoff in cam
paign to re-establish Negro slavery, massacre
al Jews and send Coughlin or Gerald Smith
RI tho White House on horse OF the same
COLOR