The Wilmington morning star., 1945-08-24

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 people Think
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
copyright, 1S45, by King Features Syndicate)
NEW YORK, Aug. 22.-George Spelvin,
American. has odd moments of absolute hon.
esty when he goes into executive session with
himself lust for the pleasure of twisting his
own arm. Mr.. Spelvin yields to no man in
detesting the aggressors and treaty breakers
hut in this mood he locks the doors and
draws the blinds of his soul and goes over
his secrets like fugitive from chain-gang
who has changed his name and lives in fear
of denunciation.
At such times he bats himself over the head
with reminders that the only Indian treaties
which his own country did not violate, in
manner that could have been the very pat
tern for Adolf Hitler's penetration and the
ensuing rescues of his oppressed minorities
of Germans were the last ones. OF course.
most of this happened long time ago but
he is vague as to the statute of Limitations
on such betrayals and does not know at pre-
cisely what time they become vlrtuous extern
sions of frontiers.
He thinks Of the Japs crowded back into
their home islands and agrees that even
though they are an awfu1ly tight fit. never
theless they had no right to 20 out for con-
quest Just because they needed room and re-
sources that other people were not using eff
ficiently and couldn't defend. But then he
turns to the British and French and Dutch
Empires and wonders by what right these
European peoples, his gallant Allies in war
and strictly peace-loving. non aggressive
members of the new family of good nations.
ever acquired these properties and for what
purpose beyond that of improving the condi-
ton of the natives. It couldn't have been
profit, could it, and the exploitation of the
labor and the products of little brown people
and yellow people and blue neople and. by
the way, did those peoples definitely ask these
Europeans to come in and set them right or
was it case of spontaneous and altruistic
sacrifice for the good of the backward breeds?
He certainly is against racial discrimina-
ton vet remembers that the American Indian
occupies a status that is officially and LEGALLY
Glass B and that the U. S. A. fatty bars
Orientals for the very reason that thew are
Orientals some of whom have shown that they
can work harder and longer and live on less
than Americans while. as to others. the OBJ
lection is just that they disgust us. Fifty
years ago, the Chinese for whom such warm
affection exists in the United States,
were so feared that serious predictions were
made that unless their immigration was
stopped, within a century they would be the
majority and would own the country and re-
duce the white man to some terribly inferior
status. Thew were abused and pushed around
and one old-time western judge expressed the
spirit Of the community when he said he
knew Of no law which forbade the killine OF
a Chinaman. That has stopped. thank God.
but is it mere coincidence that the Chinese
population fell off to negligible numbers in
proportion to the white, or did this rough
treatment stop because we had nothing to
fear from them any more?
Spelvin sort Of witches when he comes to
the perfidious sneak attack of the Japs on
Pearl Harbor because he does regard it as
dirty trick and hates Japs for their ferocities
to prisoners and their arrogance in momen-
tary victory But in the privacy of his own
mind. he harks back to that little, insignifi-
cant dispatch out of Boston thirteen days be-
fore Pearl Harbor which attributed to Sena-
tor Claude Pepper. of Florida a flat state
ment that our side would start shooting with
out warning the instant the Japs should cross
an underlined line, apparently in the Pacific
1.-THE actual declaration of war is legal
technicality and such technicalities are being
held in allowance as long as those brigands
continue in force" were some of the words
attributed to Pepper, who has not denied them
and who was and remains a member of the
Foreign Relations Committee. and so should
know about our relations with other govern
ments, and was extraordinarily close chum
OF President Roosevelt. too. Was this just
case of flannel-mouthed irresponsible talk,
ing big and loud or was this responsible
statement by an informed official of the
American government announcing our repudi.
alton of international law? If he was rieht in
warning the Japs that we would start the
war with sneak punch. didn't that give
them right to beat us to the punch?
1t is thing to whoop it up in parades
and damn the Jap regardless but for personal
consumption, Mr.. Spelvin wants to be sure he
isn't kidding himself about his own country
and her record and the present motives and
past performances of the other good coun-
tries as compared with the conduct of the
bad ones. It hurts but George Spelvin, Amer
lean, feels that these little secret sessions do
him good, at that.