The Wilmington morning star., 1945-11-05
Fair Enough
BY wEsTBRoOK PEGLER


BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
copyright, 1945, by King Features Syndicate.)
NEW YORK, Nov. MAYBE 1 better hurry
this one to the telegraph wire because it con-
Germs some bronze busts of Latin-American
presidents executed by 10 Davidson, of New
York who likes to wear tumble-weed whiskers
and make mud pies of peoples heads, for
which you paid him $20, 1000, and the score in
the last couple of weeks is two babies down,
eight to go.
Maybe you didn't know you were paying
Mr.. Davidson $4,000 for this but brother you
done such out of your taxes. didn't know
l had Clipped in my two cents, either, until
a fellow wrote me note ABOUT the time that
Davidson was getting himself lot OF picture.
press here last winter, showing him making
= mud head of that noble old Indian rassler
and boomerang thrower, Henry Wallace, and,
in another three-colunan shot, exhibiting to
the late President Roosevelt little thing
called an Inauguration medal which was being
struck off by the Philadelphia mint for sale
TO deserving democrats, P.A.C.'s and or com.
munist friends at 81 copy.
At that time it said, in the sheets that
Joseph E. Davies was the head OF a com.
mite in charge of the medal business and
that the Philadelphia plant was going to knock
out 5000 of them. guess the employees there
didn't have much to do. You remember Da'
vies. perhaps, as the rather spectral hero OF
that thins that the Warner Brothers turned
out called mission to Moscow all based
on his experience as an ambassador during
which time got an impression that ne was
Norman Davis's successor as our diplomatic
roundsman or shoo-fy, term that used to
be applied to plain-clothes cops in New York
who were sent out to check up on other cops
for smoking cigarettes in doorWays or easing
IN
NIGHTS. Joe seems to spend lot OF his time
touring around other countries where we al
ready had ambassadors but, after all, he and
Mrs D. are terribly dough-heavy and weren't
long married at the time and may have been
lust playing the regular honeymoon circuit
and buying bum watches in Geneva and send
ing home picture postcards along the way.
Well, anyway, figured that was no way
to be spending our dough and felt that II
thew lust had to do it well, art is supposed
to have neither race, nationality nor politics
and there must be some fairly good republic
or non political headstone cutters without
whiskers who could have used drab OF the
$40 900 and might have enjoyed a nice trip
to South America by the way.
For a long time I just sulked but then
l decided to write to Nelson Rockefeller be-
cause he was the co-ordinator of inter Amer
lean affairs and he wrote back that, yes, the
Axis had been putting it out in Latin America
that our beloved land was country OF big
businessmen and politicians, with no culture
or creative ability and that Latin Americans
had to look to Europe for understanding and
friendship. BY way Of counter-action, Rookie
teller therefore commissioned Davidson to do
busts of the Presidents of all other American
republics and Davidson made deep impress
sion in the political and cultural circles OF the
various capitals, says Rockefeller So now,
probably, the South Americans think we all
wear shiskers and make statues out OF mud,
like backward children.
So then wrote Mr.. Davidson and he said
the information was in the catalog OF the
busts issued by the national gallery in Wash
ington. But the catalog doesn't say anything
about price. It just says Mr. Davidson made
IAN extended tour of the 10 republics" in
1941 and that he had to make II busts because
he hit Venezuela about the time they were
changing horses in mid-stream and therefore
mugged both the outgoing presidente Cen
eral Eleazar Lopez Contreras, and the new
man, General Isaias Medina, both common
men, take it, because you know our policy
toward aristocrats, strong men and dlctators
Then, finally, comes letter from Frances
A. Jameson, acting director of the office OF
inter-American affairs, laying It on the line
That's right, he says, Davidson got 600 all
told including call services and expenses,
and not nickel too little, either, if you were
to put it to vote like local bond issue for
new high school cafeteria. But, easy go and
after a nice show in the national gallery IN
Washington and some more publicity for Dav'
idson, they sent the heads down to the Latin
American capitals where, from the looks OF
things, why pretty soon they may boil down
and load them into cannons and shoot them
at the presidentes thus honored.
Because first they had fuss in Caracas
and General Isaias Medina gets pushed and
quite lot Of people are killed in the change
of administration and the new fellow Romulo
Betancourt probably isn't going to like to see
that statue of Medina giving him strong,
determined scowl from a marble column
Maybe we ought to shoot another $4,000 and
send Davidson down there again to show him
how much we like him, too. And then, in
Brazil they give the heave to Getulio Vargas.
and down goes another baby from the rack,
calling for another replacement.
Twenty thousand bucks they pay including
republican bucks, as well, without telling us
word about it and then two of them get
canned almost before you can touch the cast
ngs without tongs. That is appreciation for
you.
'a's "jsey..