The Wilmington morning star., 1945-02-02
BY WEsTBROOK PEGLER

(NOpyIlSAt, 1O9O, ny mig CdtuIcS SyuO1Cate.)
Among those who dislike Henry Wallace
there is a tendency to despise the fellow as
one who is not too bright and, by himself, an
aniable and harmless bleeding heart W h o
wants to do good but has fallen into the hands
Of totalitarian schemers most of whom brought
their political purposes with them in the steer
age from the slums of continental Europe
This is dangerous assumption, tending to
Risarm or lull those believers in the American
republic who thus far have lost every round of
the fight on the home front to preserve until
the day OF their return the liberties entrusted
to their care by ten million men and women
gone to the war.
For fact Wallace does seem vague. pride-
less and even innocent of personal ambition
for power. His submission to the nastv insult
implicit in President Roosevelts letter morn
mating him for Jesse Jones job in the De-
partment Of Commerce suggests noble meek
ness that would endure much for the opport,n
lty to serve that faceless nonenity described
by the prophets of our Nazi-Comnaunisn as
the common man.
His docile acceptance of the betrayal at
Chicago when his great friend threw him out
because he had political B. O. and took Harry
Truman instead, and his trudging personal
campaign for the ticket On his own, may
seem to bespeak admirable humility and de-
votion.
must be remembered that the power OF the
American President today is greater than l.
ever was before in our history and greater
than the people ever intended 1t shoula DC
and growing by the day.
The fact must also be kept IN NINA tnat
when Wallace has had power IN office he mas
used it ruthlessly in cunning connvance WIN
less subtle enemies of our liberties Ana, mai
". we overlook only at our peril the proDablll-
l94S which is the purpose of Sidney Human
and all the strange, fierce and unscrupulous
European conspirators of the Political Action
Committee, he would use that power to the
limit and with the cold brutality OF all dc
tators.
The mythical Wallace character which has
beguiled the people is an artificial creation OF
a small group of Washington journalists, some
of them innocent dupes of their own sentl-
mentalism.
We have in our craft number of yearning
essayists who are forever seeking another LIN
coin, and in their quest, overlook Lincoln's
many faults including his frequent contempt
for law and his unmanly submission to the
rule of vixe in his home even to the ex-
tent of keeping his own son safe from war
while he was rounding up by force the sons
of other mothers to die horribly in battle.
This eagerness pounces on any untidy man
with bang over his eyes, not unlike Hitler
if it comes to that, knee-sprung pants and
clumsy, fumbling public manner which may
be sheer political atfectation. Given these
properties and some generalities stolen from
Jesus Christ, such the brotherhood of all
mankind and the great virtue OF the poor.
they beat the people over the head with adula-
ton of their discovery and the propaganda
makes great Roadway before resistance sets
in.
William Jennings Bryan, in his day, enjoyed
the benefit of comparable cult only to reveal
himself in his final years as an avaricious
old con-man who did not hesitate to preach
religion on the Miami seafront on Sunday af
ternoons as a bait for suckers who then fol-
lowed him out to Coral Gables and bought
lots from a crew of promoters who then paid
Bryan off in currency at the rate Of 5000
show
How do we know what Wallace would do if
he should become president in 1913?
Frankly, we don't know but it would be
crime against the freedom that the fighters
hope to return to to assume that man OF his
associations and his revealed tendencies would
respect those liberties and the conventional
vow of presidents to uphold the constitution
Already, Wallace has spoken in belttlement
of bill of rights democracy" and in praise
of the despotism Of ruling few in Russia
which he had the effrontery to itemze as
sexual democracy" and economic democra-
Cyl.
What reasonable American confidently
believe that man thus committed already
would not permit himself robust mental
reservation toward that same precious Deca-
lougue four years hence?
Gratuitously, and before this nation was att
war, he attended frankly Communist rallv
in New York and his collaboration with the
communists of the political action committee,
avowed and covert, was a conspiracy much
deeper than the public realized. 1t was not
for lack of telling that the people were de-
ceived however but because the totahtaflahs
were marvelously organized along INES faWn
nv Hitler in his rise to power and ne volume
and clamor of their propaganda were over
This organization reached into the very
White House as the Dies committee proved
by telephone records showing many calls from
Hi,lman even while Roosevelt was denying
the connection Against such power many trll-
Nv patriotic and traditional Americans could
not be convinced of the dark ana omlnous
portent of these proceedings.
Wallace in his role of shy and awkward
bunDkin. Wallace the champion OF that con-
temptible invention, the common man. repre-
scented as the free, proud Individual american
citizen. is not even original in his oatlsh role
Will Rogers, before him, shreWd' perform
or. also wore bang, said amt as con-
descension to the taste of his public, and was
endowed with a character quite unlike me