The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1945-11-03
THE BAMBOOZLERS

propaganda line that will check the victory stride
Of Dick Frankensteen. To bambooze Negro voters
they have flooded the Negro districts with tabloid
newspaper which vainly attempts to drive wedge
between the Negro people and organized labor. 10
bambooze still others, they have adopted DeWeyS
1914 campaign lie that the national ClO is out to
capture this city for some revolutionary purposes.
Frantic as an angry fishwife Mayor Jeffries rs
sounding shri note Of alarm, a false alarm to
be sure.
These fraudulent tactics are not surprising. "A
drowning man will clutch at any stray straw, and
our do nothing Mayor must perform miracle
to win this election. The citizens of Detroit, white
and colored, want deal down at city hall. 1t
has been demonstrated that horse-and-buggy May
or cannot give leadership to the Motor City. AS
Time magazine pointed out last week, even the big
business supporters of the Mayor are lukewalm
about his candidacy.
The pitful attempt of the Jeffries gang to di-
vide and confuse the Negro voters afforded much
amusement. Taking paragraphs out of news stories
which appeared from time to time in the Michigan
Chronicle, they sought to paste together a story
which would discredt the UAW-CIO. The anony-
mousy published tabloid attacking the auto union
comes ten years too late 1t was neat trick, but
like so many Of the neat tricks of the administration
it just didn't work.
The Michigan Chronicle has been outspoken in
behalf Of the UAW-CIO because we convinced
that its program for industrial democracy a S
served and should continue to serve the best inter-
ests of our workers Nevertheless the Michigan
Chronicle is an independent newspaper and we have
printed and will continue to print both the successes
and the failures of the union to live up to its ideals
and purposes No sane reader, however, can escape
the inevitable conclusion that the UAW-ClO has
done more for the welfare of the workers of our
own town regardless of color than any other social
in tuition among 1t is tower Of liberal strength
and its aims utterly democratic.
We wish we could say much of the institution
for which our Mayor works, the Maccabees. But
for reasons that are obvious to all Detroiters we
cannot. Perhaps when our Mayor is relieved Of the
great responsibilities which come with his present
high office he will have more time to devote to his
inst tuition and broaden the scope Of its benefits.
The Jeffries line that the national Clio is about
to seize our city for some revolutionary purposes
only provokes our mirth. 1t reminds us much
of the double-tak of Mr.. Dewey in the 1914 cam
paign. Sidney Hilman Philip Murray and the big
CIO leaders were supposed to be grizzly bears: Joe
Stain supposed to be running affairs from
Moscow by long distance telephone. If Roosevelt
won the Hoover crowd forecast the end of democ-
racy. Like Hoover Mr.. Jeffres foresees only ruin
and chaos for Detroit if Frankensteen wins.
These phoney prophets of doom always play
democracy cheap. They have no confidence in the
common sense of the common man. They are fright
ened by the lusty voices Of the American rank and
file. They are afraid of government of the people.
by the people, for the people, In their supreme ego
tism they see themselves as wise giants with the
weight Of the world upon their shoulders and they
see the citizens as mob Of boobs and buns with
aday suckers in their mouths These false prophets
are defeatists who dwell in world of their own
foolish fancy. They see red hobgoblins floating
through the air with their tails attached to some
sort of atomic bomb.
Our Mayor belongs to the high order of big
bamboozlers. The citizens know that Dick Frank
ensteen and his running mates, HILL Edwards and
Doll, are no long-hared revolutionaries They are
practical, Woodworking honest leaders of the peo-
pie who want to make Detroit a happy democratic
town free Of friction and endless strife They are
clean-cut Americans, friendly, likabe guys They
have vision and will to do the things that must be