The Wilmington morning star., 1946-11-02
An Upsetting Speech
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
right. 1916. By King Features Syndicat,

(COpyr1gnt, 1910, by hlng reatures SSholcate
Inc).
NEW YORK Nov. 1.-The 1916 campaign
has wrought some interesting political novel
ties.
In New York, a paper organization calling
itself the Business and Professional Mems
committee of the Democratic State ommitte
has abused Governor Tom Dewey for &C
formulating a surplus Of 500 millions in the
State Treasury and for his failure to abolish
the state income tax which, the cornrnittee's
advertisement says, is the highest on personal
Incomes with the exception Of Oregon's.
Mrs. Ele amor Roosevelt, some time previous
ly,had complained Of the same surplus, a
phenomenon of which her late spouse had
never been accused and one which, in. the
lady's unaccustorned sight, must seem truly
menacing.
Here, then, for the first time in the rather
extensive political experience, which has in
cluded ham an eggs and share our wealth, the
nation has heard a candidate seriously con.
demned for running a state up to it's eyes
In prosperity, the committee, which is sup.
porting Senator James M. Mead for govern.
orshlp, a loyal gesture OF wasted motion by
common consent long before the voting, fear.
lessly condemns Mr.. Dewey for his stubborn
refusal to spend the surplus. Thus. theoreti.
cany, ne might save rent and the hire nj
watcnman for the dead storage of the money.
eu' the saving would be only theoretically,
1or IL mas been observed in Washington tbat
the storage and protection of the national doh,
ana Inc deficit have been expensive items. too
III the Dill against the taxpayers.
Although Mr.. Dewey has reduced the income
tax to a pleasurable degree and thereby did
hearten an unknown number Of residents
VINO mad begun to yearn in earnest for the
1llusory freedoms of New Jersey and Connect.
cut, the Business and Professional Mems Com.
mlttee takes him angrily to task because he
hasn't abolished the state tax altogether. This
comes with a strange sound, as OF politicians
slrangllng on a paradox, when it is recalled
that the late Roosevelt left the state of Ne,u
York with a forbidding rate of taxation m
incomes and that his successor, Herbert. H
Lehman, not only preserved the masters
traoltlon but raised him by a special 1 per cent
emergency levy.
Dewey's "unrealistic, unbusinesslike income
Tax pollcy IS driving important business and
Important residents out Of New York" the
no.nia1I says leaving those who read its
pdulotlc writ to wonder how. if that is the
case, any business or anv residents co,,,d ,.ne
persuaded themselves to remain thro,oh w.
"ooSeVelt and Lehman Administrations
This. OF course, is mere amusement. but
the best the party OF humanity has been able
20 o11er IN a campaign whose results has been
conceded so long that Mr.. Dewey has been able
TO run his contest sitting down. Barring a few
remarks in favor of tolerance and free i'm
mlgraflon to Palestine for vote-insurance in
he lily OF New York, he has not had to
49,. go. nliiseH any more than a drowsy man
orusnlng away a ~listless fly. Inasm,1ch &c
there is no city in the country where radical
and religious prejudices are less manifest
NY te majority but where the ''minorities,
are less Tolerant OF self-respect. decent nr;do
anu lnee opinion among the mannerlv majority
'he ilrst o. these gestures by the governor
oeen plainly intended only to compensate
ne n1echanlzed bawling of the communists
ana 'ne political actionist of the c. 7 q 90
~ falestlne' which may be a concern NJ
ue state Department of the national oovaro
ment, but certainly no official 49,. ~ 4h-
soVerhor o. New York. it is generously recoa~
lli1eo IN Justice to Mr.. Dewey, that her, e
q niocAIssue In a state campaign which hse
Neeh substituted Tor the old synthetic rr;sh
9oeSlon now happily solved. A little tail-tvist.
ns az lhe expense of the British lion c.n
.lane no dl11erence one way or another in tho
o. the Palestine affair. b1t u,bere
- 49, lllsnt De falsely construed as hostility
oed ae Saose' tne governor is generally con-
migrating note. ~e 1ainlnar
IN washington, a bashful investio.+o.
organlzatlons which have spent Or contr;h,,+ea
,iioney IN We interest of causes and cand;d.+.e
d revealed that the C. los Political Ac+;os
oonlinlttee taught its lessons too well for "a
own good. In the 1914 campaign Il ~
monopoly On unique and adroit methods -.
persuaolng and even forcing union member
U register and, moreover, to vote. Tn th.t
contest 1t may be remembered the rao;str.
uon laws were stretched out of recoonizah1a
shape by Jealous and slightly lawless shor
committees who brought the egistration books
10 lhe shlpyards and war factories and or.s
ialo OH workers who refused to register =,
vote. The charge was "un-unionlike condnotu
IN mat registration and voting were d,,+io,
OF citizenship and that persons who wills,111
neglected their civic duties were not oooo
union mer and women. This year the I'D,
catlonal' methods of the P. A. C. have No..
ADOPTED almost whole by dement's of 49,
Republican side, but with the arguments ..,
alarms reversed. There has been no annaren+
coercion, but none has been needed anvvu.u
Tor alarm and resentment have taken the nlsoo
OF compulsion as. practiced in the origina1
version. The apathetic element of 1946 seer.
to have learned the lesson, preached bv the
P. A. c., that only by registration and yotas
are elections won.
Following President Truman's aba,doaa.
of the control Of prices of meat and ~ 49,
principal OF price control altogether. the A
and P grocery stores were rnobbed az th.u
reopened by permission of the te,rst.rs
union, a special protege of the late cornm.nd.s
in chief. This was the partial monona1u,: