The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-02-08

much as many of his readers. His articles
serve the good purpose of making people
think)
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
Copyright 1945, by King Features Syndicate.)
Now children, if you little buns with your
rosy, apple cheeks and the stupid expression
on your silly little faces, will hold still a few
minutes, we will continue our English lesson.
We are running down the word "curmudg-
con- which is what Harold Ickes calls him
self in his autobiography and with no dissent
from me, because it means IAN avaricious,
churlish fellow; niggard miser.'
We will stir in some ethics and a yolk of
civics along with the philology. If you will
bear in mind that Mr. Ickes personified the
conscience and spirit of the New Deal, and
has been in the cabinet longer than any other
member except Mrs. Perkins, you will grasp
the the idea that his character suits Mr.
Roosevelt right down to the ground. His Mr.
Roosevelts kind of fellow Another day we
will take a one-Way excursion off a tangent
exploring the wonderful paradox presented by
Mr.. Roosevelt on coronation day when with
our friend, the niggardly old miser standing
by churlishly, he scattered handful of corn
to the assembled suckers in his observation
that the way to make friends was to be a
friend
No. you may not leave the room.
Let us see what ''avarcic1s'' means
laval" AVALANCHE All yes here it is.
'Avaricious; actuated by avarice; greedy of
gain; synonyms; rapacious, grasping, sordid
see covetous."
And here is "avarice" 1t means excessive
or inordnate desire for gain; covetousness,
cupidity.'
Goodness we have our work cut out for
us, haven't we? But it will be worth while
because it will teach SO much about the
full
the New Deal.
Shall we look up "covetous next? That
sounds kind of bad doesn't it? Didn't we hear
somewhere that ''thuo shalt not covet they
neighbours wife, or his goods. But we must
resist the temptation to digress, although our
miser did strike it rich when he married the
millionaire ex-wife of neightbor and seems
to have coveted the small estate left by Frank
Allen, a taxi-man, in very modest circum
stances, who died of injuries suffered in
smashup in which the first Mrs. 1ckes was
killed. Anyway, he sued the taxi mans estate
for $500 and chased the unfortunate widow
of Mr.. Allen clear up to the supreme court
Of the state of New Mexico where he was
turned back with a decision that his claim
died when Mr. Allen died. There were five
children in the Allen family and all that was
left of his small estate after the litigation
with the living spirit of the New Deal was
$685..
Mr.. Allen was one of those Americans who
Mr. Ickes Henry Wallace and the rest OF
them would have called 1.-The common man
His widow and the children would be regard
ed as little people, This case gives US a
real, practical demonstration Of that great love
of theirs for the common man and the little
people.
Incidentally one of the Allen boys turned
out to be very fine American He joined
up with the British before our country got
into the war, flew with the Raj, then joined
the American Air Forces completed his mis-
sions in Europe and is now flying instructor
in California Maybe if the conscience of the
New Deal hadn't sued his dead fathers estate
for more than the total amount that Mr. Allen
left this boy would have grown up to be
no-account Helpful little acts like our avari-
cous old miser's lawsuit do build character
don't they
But ''covetous, covetous" Yes here it is
Very DESTROYS. Unfortunately eager to obtain
Especially money!. Covetous implies especial
ly excessive desire for what belongs to anoth-
er; avaricious: greed for wealth with view
to boarding it,
Now "cupdity.' It's from the Latin ECU
pidus,'' meaning longing" 1t says here: Ito
long for. Eager desire, especially for wealth;
avarice.
That "avarice'' certainly gives us lot of
mileage, doesn't it.
No, told you, you may not leave the
room What, You're SICK Well 1 can't blame
you. l am pretty queasy myself, II you want
to know Go ahead then, if you can't take any
more of the beautiful character personlfylng
the great humane, altruistic, rotherng New
Deal.
Now to continue. Lust" meaning money
lust. and greed are synonyms. Then 1t says
in the dictionary "cupidity, greed, avldlty
agree in the idea of inordinate desire. Cupldlty
applies to covetousness of wealth; greed toI
insatiate and selfish cravings avid1ty to eager
or ardent relish or appetite"
Well, shall we see what a mlser is? OIL
course, we know Ickes is one because he said
SO, according to Websters Collegiate dction-
airy, when he called himself curmudgeon.
We aren't going to doubt his word, are we?
Except, perhaps, to think he may have been
guilty OF under-statement
"Miser." From the Latin ''niser', meaning
"wretched.' "a covetous person, especially
one having wealth who lives miserably to IN
crease his hoard"
That doesn't quite fit Ickes does it? A little
tight across the shoulders. He certainly does
have wealth and does increase his hoard but
nobody can say he lives miserably, what with
his suburban place outside Chicago on a
street called Private Road and his egg plan
tation outside Washington which would be an
"estate'' in the hands of anyone opposed to
the New Deal but, in his ownership is called
a farm.
incidentally, great excitement goes on in
Chicago these days against un-Amerlcan peo-
pie who fled to the suburbs to escape the de-