Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1945-02-08
FAIR
ENOUGH
BY Westbrook
PegIer

hN n fltii itlfF t'ii ttfH'
wronged Harold IckeS when,
during the presidential cam
palgn, ! called him IN print a
penny ante chiSeler.
Although there is scarcely any
saving or profit too small for his
notice. Mr.. ICkeS is not 10 be
described as penny ante. He
Will chlscl a large profit, too,
and so | am happy &c do him
r1r mSuCe OF re-ctaSSltying him
as an open class chiSeler, | am
happy 10 award him this we'll
deserved promotion.
Ia the story of his life, Mr..
IckcS called himself curmudg-
con a choice with when | would
be- The last person IN the world
10 quarrel, the definition of
Curmudgcon being, in my die
tionary, an avariciouS. churlISh
fellow; nigGard. miser, and the
synonyms for ChurlSh given as
"Surly. Sullcn. grabbed "
incidentally, al h on z h his
memory seemed excellent IN
ancient matters relatively trIv-
lal nowhere in these memoirs OF
afleCtionate Sclf-approval did
our avariclouS, churllSh nlgGard
and miSeT COniidc TO his readers
how II was that he, an impe-
cunlouS Study-boy, niCkelinG his
way through school, then into
journalism. at which he topped,
and finally into the law sud
denly became a man of riches.
LIE HAD sneered at Wendell
IL WILKES associations with
Wall Street, which was the
region of Franklin d RoOSe-
velts early adventures with
other peoples money but mod
esty, or perhaps finer motives
deferred him from explaining
that he married the rich eX-wife
of another man as a preliminary
to his withdrawal from the
SQualOr and other disadvantages
of life in Chicago, to reside in a
pleasant suburb on a street
listed in his biographical data as
private road.
Ny first knowledge Of the
avariCiouS and misery Charac-
ter of Mr. ICkeS came Of some
inquiry in Washington prompted
by a casual news item relating
that he was i'll in the Naval Hos
pital.
Knowing that the Washington
public hospitals were over
crowded and even less cheerful
than most, and prompted by an
out-moded resentment against
Specia privileges, made in
quiries and learned that Mr..
1ckes was to a large extent a
guest of the taxpayers.
Notwithstanding his grea I,
unearned riches, he was paying
a nom NAL naval rate which
would not have hired a beaver
board booth in an anClen
Georgetown garnet. He was,
moreover, viola ting the law
which provided only that a doc
tor from the hospital should
attend the members Of Congress
and said nothing about rest cures
for rich and avaricIous misers
of the cabinet.
A DMITTING not one sue
"A soiourn, but two, our surly
preCeptor in citizenship, democ-
raCy and honestly added. in a
naive expression Of the sense of
speCial class and privileges
which pervades the New Deal
household. that really the pub
lie hospitals were very bad.
The first Mrs. IckcS was
killed in an automobile accident
in New Mexico, in August. 1885,
while riding in a hire-Car owned
and driven by Frank Allen of
Gallup.
Mrs. ICkcs had known Mr..
Allen about FIVE years in the
status Of client, and had ex-
pressed great confidence in his
driving
The car was no livery limou-
sine, but a desert Ford. and
renting and driving for hire was
Mr.. Aliens means of liveli-
hood for himself, his wife and
their five minor children.
PreocCupied perhaps. with
problems of inheritance in Chi
cago where contention soon de-
veloped over the distribution Of
his late wife's millions. our cur
mudgcon couldn't find time TO
60 TO New Mexico.
HOWEVER, in due course and
II in disciplined obedience TO
that graSplng character with
which he has publicly and some
what proudly endowed himself
in the title of his hook. the voice
and spirit OF the New Deal did
file suit against the estate of
Mr.. Allen.
He demanded $500 on the
general ground that Mr. Allen
had been a public carrier, not
unlike a rich and SoullesS cor
poration operating a railroad.
Mr. Allen was a one-man bust
ness OF the type for whom the
hearts of the New Deal, in par
ticular the hearts Of Henry Wal
lace. Sidney Hillman and tho
Communist Political Education
Society, now bleed
LIZ lrfi IN nsfnIl Of Sc ~ in