The Wilmington morning star., 1945-06-17

Editors note The Star and 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 people Think
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
Copyright, 1915, by King Features Syndicate)
WASHINGTON.-I have been coming to
Washington to do pieces for the paper ever
since President Harding's Peace conference
when Doc Sawyer, the Presidents personal
physician, a brigadier-general by appoint
nlent, but small-town pill-doctor by nature,
tormented the sentries who saluted him with
the elaborate flourish then accorded generals
by giving them back neighborly wave of
the hand and chippering how-de-do." In
those days people said that it was sheer in
flation to make Doc Sawyer brigadier and
so l guess it was, for those days, but now
buck-general is hardly a corporal as~ you
might say, and a major-general the equiva-
lent of top-kick and we see brigadiers inch
ing along in the choW-line at breakfast time
in the coffee room and taking their turns
among the standees waiting for the bus at
rrsh-hour.
In those days, two dollars would buy you
a fore-and-aft meal meaning one of those
program dinners that began with crab-flahe
or shrimp and went through the steak
salad ice cream and coffee but now you are
lucky and must be on hand reasonably early
10 get sheet of dilapidated fish doused with
paper hangers paste and the bread is made
of chalk and water and the butter you get
wouldn't grease the gears of your watch. And
then, if you bai' out for less than bucks three
you feel that you have put something over
on the house and stink away lest the walters
come tearing out yelling rs&p that mani"
l used to come here wheR my friend the
manager of one of the blSSEst hotels would
e To- t,-itb
his card on it and basket of grapes as big
as golf balls and oranges, bananas and great
red apples suitable for a gift from teach
er's pet. and the tab for the two rooms was
only eight dollars a day and quarter was
tip and not an imposition. Now you have
to be elected to get room over the kitchen
and your term is limited to five days, once
month.
have been here in all circumstances, in
GLIDING three of Mr.. Roosevelts inauguration
shows and two or three World Series displays
at Clark Griffith's ball park. T think the dem
onstration which preceded the first World Sc
artificial way, of all such public connections
ries was the most enthusiastic, in distinctly
1t was the first time Washington had ever
won a pennant in the American league and
the crowds went whooping and helllng
through the streets until all hours of the morn
ing riding on the shouts Of automobiles, bang
ing one another over the head with balloons
and throwing confetti and sneeze-powder I'M
til there was nobody left awake to play with
They did it publicity or propaganda, too
for there was no liquor then not even the
Maryland corn which later came to be the
staff of nght-life when prohibition was eff
ficiently organized.
They were really nuts that night, although
probably not one in thousand had ever met
one of the ball players of Bucky Harris Wash
ington club or expected to attend one OF the
World Series games. If l had been heavy
duty thinker l would have written something
fairly profound about mob psychology and the
1nsincerty of the celebrants and wondered
what gruesome things they might have done
if they were mad at some poor. mlsaccused
individual and someone had jumped up on
stoop waving a rope and yelling lets hang
him, men"
The first Roosevelt inauguration was the
most ominous or solemn or anyway forbodins
hour that recall living through in Washing
ton or anywhere else l tell you that the
night before, this town was doing jumps, and
Roosevelt certainly did pitch to our psychol-
ogy the next day when he got up on that
scaffold at the Capitol and, in that awful
weather, reassured us that all we mao 10 lear
was fear itself
It was wonderful speech, just as speech.
and there was faith and hope, as well as
confidence and strange wonder. in the
hearts of Us as the parade went along Penn
sylvania avenue to the White House in tie
the pathetic trash, the old French 75's and
rain You ought to see today the movies OF
threshing m chine tanks, that our Army
turnet OFT as samples of our military might
1t might make you wonder how we dared
defense and splintered bow and only one
half a dozen curly-shafted arrows, at that.
People was scared the night before. Scard
of what I can't say but nobody who was
here can tell me he wasn't frightened Tor the
fear that Roosevelt spoke Of next day pervaded
the crowds in the hotels and by train-time
wi. N the getaway began, people were around
borrowing fives-and- tens who ordinarily could
drop a check on the cashiers ledge at any
good hotel in town and walk away with any
amount. / happened to have few sheets
Of expense account money and loaned some OF
it. for their fares and meals, to two fellows
who coulon', have hefted their actual wealth
in gold The hotels wouldn't cash check
They woula bang Up your bill, OF course. bit
they had locked up their cash money against
the bank holiday, not knowing vaen II would
end, if ever.
Thereafter we had the honeymoon, the theme
song being lively thing that went Happy
Days Are Here Again. and, of course, few
communist marches-on- w Washington. all copied
from the march of the Army 1t old Jacob
Coxey, who, in later years, Used to sit sfrenly
IN little office on Brodtaay New York
where he ran an insrrat business.
But, in Washington, Mr.. Roosevelt always .
kept the population well in hand, aithouS
out in the region Of heavy industry the ClOl