The Wilmington morning star., 1945-03-13


views of Mr.. Pegler, and often dlsagree
with them as much as many OF ms reaa-
ers. His articles serve 1ne gnu po- poSe
of making people Think
Bv WEsTBROOK PEGLER
downright, 1915, by King Features Synd1cate')
II is great misfortune that people VINO
are so imposed upon and Knocked in their hber-
ties and dignity by little bund OF political
annointees cannot keep aware of the deci-
s;ons of the United States Supreme Court and
understand them. It takes tedious reading ana
we all have so much else to do
I refer again, earnestly, to the courts de-
cision in the case of native American cltlzen,
named Fred Korematsu, who was conV1cteo
of remaining in his home town in his native
state of California, contrary to an order by
an Army officer who was heutenant-general
hut might as we'll have been corporal. The
law. in this case, provided that ANY military
commander designated by the Secretary OF
War" might forbid any person to remain or
commit any act in any military area, un-
der penalty of a $4,000 in fine and one year
in prison for each offenss.
Obviously, any person must COMMIT many
acts every day. Each breath he draws is
IAN act" This, each defendant so excluded,
could be fined the total value OF his property,
as Hitler fined the Jews into restitution, and
condemned to prison for the rest OF MS lie.
The Supreme Court upheld Korematsus
conviction. Hugo Black wrote the majority
opinion.
When the New Deal was very young, Black
prowled the private Geographic correspon-
dence of countless American citizens lndls-
crininately searching for information OF po-
litical value to his political boss. At that time,
h. was a member of the Senate and was con-
cealing his own membership in a murderous,
but. by then, >outmoded gang OF night riding
religious and racial terrorsts. He had joined
them only to win support for his election TO
2 cheap political job as county prosecutor IN
Alabama.
He was an adult man at the time of this
election and the office which he thus won
was the first step in his advancement to the
u. S. Senate and the Supreme Court. Whsn,
wears later, he was caught by reporter in
the act of membership in an organization
which now had become handicap, he con-
fessed that he had not been sincere even to
his fellow gangsters. He had joined them only
to win support which a more conscientious
American should have spurned on any terms
and had swindled the night-riding, Jew-balting
Alabama Negro beaters Of their votes.
In his majority opinion, Black wrote that
where the proper military authorities are ap-
prehensive of the gravest imminent danger,
native Americans may be excluded from their
home neighborhoods, if they be OF certain an
cestry. He had the effrontery to say for the
Supreme Court that KorematSu was deported
to concentration camp, not because Of hos
tility to his race but because the proper mill
tary authorities had decided that military
urgency demanded that all citizens Of Japa-
nese ancestry be segregated from the Pacific
coast temporarily.
incidentally, temporarily has meant 'for
life in the cases OF some who have died
in internment camps. In thousands of other
cases it has meant three years of imprison-
ment and the sacrifice of their hom7s, business
interests and property, to say nothing Of their
rights as loyal, native citizens.
We finally pin Black down to the dictum
that any private soldier, deriving authority
from the Secretary of War, whatever his pol
itics, may become a proper authority to de-
cree that native Americans Of unchallenged
loyalty may be thrown into mass camps be-
cause the United States happens to be at war
with the country OF their ancestors.
is a formidable proposition.
At present at war with Germany
and thus with Austria. Only by political &C
cidents and accidents to Hitler at that, do
we find ourselves now on the side Of Russia,
Romania and Bulgaria and not against them.
Millions Of good Americans whose ancestors
came from the white enemy countries are ex-
posed by Black and the majority to confiSca-
ton and Imprisonment for life.
Oddly, Felix Frankfurter, himself an immi-
grant from an enemy country, Austria, con-
Cured with the majority, but in a separate
opinion whose reasoning, if any, eludes me.
believe it would have been more to the in
terest of the United States to snatch Frankfurt
ter from the bench and lock him up, than
to intern a thousand Koremasus in the Ari-
IONA desert. He has long associated with in
dividuals whom I regard as enemies OF the
American system Of government which guar
antee our liberties and possessions, notably
Professor Laki of the London School OF Eco
Monies, often an impudent intruder in Ameri-
can affairs, and 1 would defend the PROPOSE
ton that Frankfurter and his theological COM
panions are more dangerous to us than all
the Korenatsus.
Twenty five years ago, in Bisbee, Arizona, a
band of communists were "deported' by the
native Americans. The deportees were, in the
aggregate, violent and menacing aliens, in
Guiding recent anti-American soldiers OF Pan
cho Villas Mexican army, Austrlans Ger
mans and other Europeans well as some
native American traitors. Some innocent and
worthy Americans, as blameless as Koremat-
SUI were included, however.
In that case, the vigilantes justified their
conduct the ground of imminent danger to
the public safety and there was abundant tes-
timony to threats and intimidation. In formal
trial this was held to have been the case
and a man accused of abduction was ac-
quilted in test case. Yet Frankfurter rallied