Detroit evening times., 1945-09-11
WESTBROOK
PEGLER
Fair
Enough


CTRICTLY in the interest OF
~ enlightenment and UNDER
standing. l submit some obser-
vations concerning the state of
Mississippi and the city of New
York.
As hitherto remarked in these
essays, a number of demagogic
New York politicians, engaged
in the current mayoral cam
paign and each coveting the
votes of immigrants and their
children as segregated blocs,
pounced on an opportunity TO
denounce enator Theodore
Bilbo OF Mississippi.
THIS propaganda against
l. Mississippi began, according
TO my recollection, in the early
days of prohibition when most
of the literate New Workers.
were given TO feel an unde-
served sense of superiority by
the mischievous flippancies OF
Henry Mencken who spoke de-
risively of Mississippi and other
states or The southern Tier, as
the Bible Belt
About the same time. the
modern Ku klux Klan. which
was a racket like many of our
unions, swept the South and
then moved strongly into Indi.
ana. Ohio and New Jersey.
IT EXPLOITED 100 per cent
L Americanism in such bigoted
and oppressive and mercenary
way as TO embarrass honest
men and women who were 100
per cent American in their de-
Votion TO the United States but
did not subscribe TO the persecu-,
tion OF Jews, Catholics, Negroes
and persons born abroad.
So here was more propaganda
against Mississippi
However. Americans the
people of Mississippi owe no
apologies TO the residents of the
City of New York. She has, Ia
be sure, her illiterates, but so
have we and our vaunted public
school system Is such that in
some lchools we have had not
mere childish mischief but seri.
Gus crime. including killings.
hxf httl~ ,,Nle
nelghborhoods are terrorized
by young gangs
If MISSISSIPPI has slum
L areas. New Yorks are worse
and with less excuse because
Misslssippi is cotton. yam and
watermelon state, whereas New
York has great foreign COM
merce and great manufacture
ing business and we draw mil
lions OF dollars from ell the
other states by our hotel and
amusement business.
The voluntary enlistment rate
for our last two wars has been
notably high. in the southern or
benlghted states. including Mis-
slssippl. | cannot discuss her
general crime rate but IL II were
spectacular. we Wou q have
heard about that. whereas all
New Workers know that there
are some sections of the city
into which a stranger strays at
night only al the risk Of his
life Notwithstanding a force Of
1900 policemen.
IN PATRONIZING Mississippi
and In expressing contempt
for the people because of the
quality of her statesmen IN Con-
greSs, New Workers have de-
Ceived themselves. II would be
wiser TO consider the quality Of
New York's political leaders or
bosses and ask whether A city
which elects a LaGuardia mayor
three times, elects Senator
Wagner repeatedly, and Con-
gresham Vito Marcsntonio has
any excuse TO Sneer AZ A state
which sends 10 Washington a
T heo dore BilbO and John
Rankin.
Among our other bosses, we
have Sidney Hillman. whose
own old colleagues of the politi-
cal union movement repudiated
him last year. charging that he
had gone over 10 the Com
munists. who certainly cannot
he compared 10 the Mississippi
patriots In the quality OF their
citizenship.
4 ND then We have David Du.,
"A binsky OF the garment
workers, who, like Hillman,
found here asylum from oppres.
sion IN Europe but, in common
with many other professional
unioneers OF alien birth, was too
preoccupied TO Join the Mlssis-
sippi volunteers in either war.
Among my treasures is
bound volume of testimony taken
in the congressional investiga-
ton of the ku Klux Klan in the
South, begun in 1872. which exc
plains the old feeling of Missis-
Slppi and other southern states.
TlIE northern rascals, known
as radicals and carpet bag
gers, swarmed into Mississippi,
whose white population was. Of
course, broke The cost of
legislative session jumped from
$4,000 to $3.50, 900. The cost OF
assessing taxes went from 500