Evening star., 1946-12-06

At any rate. 8
the baseness of
Elliott is con- Frank r. Kent.
trasted with the nobility of his
mother, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, and
his two brothers, James and Frank
lii. These are pictured as the "re-
sponsible" members of the family
and their nti-Communist senti-
ment is described as much stronger
than Elliott's pro-C Communism. Mrs
Roosevelt, in fact, is shortly to par
ticipate, it is said, in non-Com-
munist meeting in Washington on
January 4, which, 1t is predicted
will be "a turning point in the story
Of American progressivism"-
ever that may mean.
Three Broad Charges.
Three broad charges are made
against Elliott by the CLOSE as
sociates''-G) that he has capital
lied his fathers name and reputa-
ton to make a considerable sum of
money for himself-and plans
further commercial exploitation
along the same lucrative lines; t2)
that he has given aid and encour-
agement to the Communists here
and abroad, criticizing the United
Nations and his own country; go
that he has degraded his fathers
memory by distorting his views.
Few persons would care to defend
Elliott on any one of the three. He
deserves everything the "close as
sociates" now say of him, and a
whole lot more.
Nevertheless, it seems entirely
legitimate to point out that on the
first two charges Mrs. Roosevelt
herself has not been altogether free
from we'll founded criticism. Ger
tainly, for nearly 13 years she capi-
talized her husbands position as
President, and through newspapers,
magazines, radio and the lecture
platforms made lot more money
than Elliott-money which no one
contends she could have made If
she had not been the Presidents
wife. This can be-and is-de-
Tended as proper by Mrs. Roosevelt
and her friends. Perhaps 1t is-but
1t is exactly what the CLOSE asso-
ciates" now are fiercely angry with
Elliott about.
Sincerity Not Questioned.
On the pro- Communist charge,
those now assailing Elliott and
landing Mrs. Roosevelt as the lead
ing liberal non-C Communist" make
no mention of the encouragement
Mrs. Roosevelt, in her time, has
given the Communists here.
This is not to question the sin
cerity of Mrs. Roosevelt's anti-Com-
munism. She is always sincere. 1t is
merely to point out that in the past
she has lauded and approved the
concededly Communist-controlled
American Labor Party OF New York;
that she has been in various youth
and peace movements since taken
over by the Communists; that she
has stood by and supported the
Communist-saturated CIO; tnat
she Is a member Of the New York
Chapter of the Newspaper Guild,
which. it has been widely charged,
is Communist controlled and which,
Westbrook Pegler asserts, a few days
ago made an award of honor to a
Communist with a criminal record.
None of this makes Communist
of Mrs. Roosevelt. None Of 1t ques-
tions the purity of her purposes or
her personal patriotism. She is q
good woman who makes a lot OF
mistakes, but always means well. 1t
does, however, question the right OF
those now ridiculously portraylng
her as a superwoman whom all
must love and admire to SO COM
pletely ignore the record and dis
miss the facts. But that is the way
with the Roosevelt intimates when
they start out to make point.
Should Drop Salesmanship.
In their case against Elliott, which
is a sound one, they ignore not only
Mrs. Roosevelt's record OF White
House commercialization but also
that the growth of Jinmie's insur-
ance company in the years OF his
fathers presidency was little short
of a business miracle and not far
from scandal.
Notable, too, is it that in their in
dictment OF Elliott for what he has
done to his fathers reputation, not
one word is said of the large f1nan-
cial borrowings which he made with
the assistance of his father, who
later, by drafting the services OF
Jesse Jones, enabled him to settle
approximately 100000 of debts for
2 cents on the dollar. To those who
fully appreciate the facts, this in
flicted far worse damage to Mr..
Roosevelt's reputation than any
thing else that has been done to it.
1t is easy to understand why the
Fclose associates" do not mention it,
but it justifies Indignation more
than the things they now cite.
However, they are to be congratu-
lated that they no longer can stand