The Wilmington morning star., 1945-06-15

Editors note.-Ihe star ana the news
accept no responsibility for the personal
views of Mr.. Pegler. and often disagree
with them as much as many OF his read
ers. His articles serve the good purpose
of making peorle Think
BY wEsTBROOK PEGLER
Copyright, 1945, by King Features Syndicate)
NEW YORK-In judging President Frank
lin D. Roosevelt's action in encouraging a
loan of $780, 900 from an Individual man of
big business, whom he did not know, to his
son Elliott. history will be free of the emo
tional handicap which embarrasses effort to
arrive at correct opinion today
There are some Americans whose attitudes
n1ainlv suggest a belief that Mr. Roosevelt
nartook of deity Thus, an account OF the
| transa ction in which Elliott boldly walked in
on John Hartford, president OF the Great At
Iantic and Pacific Hea Company, and walked
ont with 5000, 1000 which never has been re-
maid. and of his fathers part in the deal,
will be denounced as "ghoulish attack on
dead leader" IAN insult to the overwhelm-
ing majority of the people, mad rantings,'
and IAN attempt to smirch the fair honor of
most noble man.
| The facts. however. are plain
| Tn March 1899. when he was % years DID,
Elliott Roosevelt did call on Mr.. Hartford
whom he had met only once before, to bor-
row $500, 900. Mr. Hartford seems to have
| and it is our privilege to conclude that he
was stalling when he suggested that the Pres
| dent. himself, might not be pleased if he
| should comply After ALL there are ethics.
| A hard-headed man OF big business would
carefully examine the background of the deal
if the applicant for the loan were just the
son of George Spelvin American. He would
make his decision on the financial merits of
the proposition He would want to know first
whv he was honored with such a request
and whv the Spelvin boy did not 60 to a
bank. And it would make difference to
him whether Mr.. Spelvin, senior, were pleased
or disappointed.
Having a deep, traditional American re-
spect for the office of the presidency the
business man surely would consider ques-
ton of propriety when the request came from
a presidents son. And he might assume that
the President would be outraged it he should
hand over 100000 to his boy. Hartford may
have hoped that President Roosevelt would
forbid the loan and thus help him Oft bad
spot and spare him the risk of sum amount
| inc to a fortune which he ultimately lost.
| But President Roosevelts ethics were his
own When Elliott got him on the phone at
the Little White House at Warm Springs the
President Familiarity greeted Hartford as
John" although they had never met and
expressed warm approval OF this assistance
to his SON. He invited Hartford to visit him.
haunt of night club characters and polltlco-
theatrical transformers. An invitation to visit
the President of the United States was still
an impressive honor. The persuasive effects
of the invitation cannot really know but
| it is not unreasonable to assume that it was
intended to have an effect on Hartford In
making his decision as to the loan.
| Throughout the new deal the Roosevelt ad-
rninistration was compared to the Harding ad-
ministration to the serious disparagement OF
the Ohio gang The Harding crew were, for
a fact a ribald lot and the conduct OF the
Department of Justice during that time has
been a historic disgrace. However. there is
nothing in the record of Hardings regime
quite like the episode OF the $20O,0OO loan.
Nor can it be honestly argued that the Roose-
welt Department of Justice administered
free of suspicion of political and personal
anirnuS and favor.
| Big business men were, as the saying went,
| Sin the dog house. And man in the posi-
ton in which the Roosevets, son and father.
placed Hartford might have been pardoned
| for wondering what would happen if he re-
fused. And. as his idolators would be the
first to contend, President Roosevelt certain
" was shrewd enough to consider the psy-
Geological factors in advance. We may be-
lieve therefore, that he intended that Hart
ford's judgment the loan would not be
| the free decision Of an able business man
| consuming only MS DuSlHeSS eApel1eHCe dilu
intelligence. And for cold decision
as to whether Hartford flouted his genuine
business Judgment we need only ask whether
he would have recommended this deal to the
Guarantee Trust Company of which he is
director
man so placed, suddenly and solely on
the initiative Of the borrower, cannot be ac-
cused of seeking an unethical dishonest
advantage in any existing or future trouble
with the treasury or the Department of JUS
| tice.
But he might have had the thought that a
president who so warmly appreciated a favor
might resent with equal warmth refusal Of
the same favor. Mr.. Roosevelt's best friends
often said admringly that he was a good
lhater.
President Roosevelt had given deliberate
consideration to the subject of the exploita
ton of public office for the private advantage
of relatives of high officials. He discussed
the issue in one of his speeches as governor
Of New York and condemned such conduct
So if we ponder Mr.. Hartford's thoughts and
motives we are obliged to wonder what was
in President Roosevelt's mind on the other
side of the equation
| General Grant was great hero too, but
Of his administration as president, history
has given the verdict that it the most
corrupt of all to date. THIS far there has
been neither time opportunity to develop
fully the inner record of the Roosevelt re-
gime His own henchmen are still in office