The Wilmington morning star., 1946-12-16
As Pegler Sees 1t
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
Copyright, 1916, by King Features
Syndicate, Incl

NEW YORK, Dec. is, A few days ago
a startling story broke in the papers under
an Atlanta dateline concerning a secret or
ganization called the Columbians, which ap-
pears to be anti-semitic and anti-Negro. At
worst it is a rather juvenile group and quite
small, for it claimed only $500 members and
those who exposed it said it had only 500.
The 'break'' of the news story was con-
trived in dramatic fashion, revealing a pro-
f~essional touch. The only ground for the
startling allegations was the confessions
Of two young backsliders, ID and q. On the
basis of the printed allegations, l doubt that
anyone will be convicted of a crime. and I
note particularly that no crimes were cnars-
ed and no arrests were made.
If this is a sinister and dangerous organ
ization. however, it obviously is petty by COM
harrison with the. outfit which arranged the
expose.
That organization is the non-sectarlan
anti-Nazi League of New York. 1t was organ
lied in 1888 to boycott Hitler's Germany and,
by other means, to oppose the rise OF rait-
lerism. In the years since, it has become, by
its own boast in the Atlanta case, a secret,
private espionage system. 1t plants Its agents
in positions OF trust in private employment
to fitch confidential information and betray 1T
to the league and to photograph private cor
respondence and other documents for any pur-
nose that suits the individuals who run the
league. 1t is reasonably comparable to the
German gestapo and the late Russian u. r.
u. It has no official equal in the agencies OF
the United States government, which even
to this day do not include a secret police"
service of this type, not even the F. B. l.. the
intelligence departments of the Army and
Navy or the authorized investigators Of legally
qualified committees of Congress have the
right to plant secret agents in the offices
Of private groups, whether political or fra
ternal, to photograph or copy their private
papers and to make public OBJ
tanned in this way.
The non-sectarian anti-Nazi league has
absolutely no standing as an official agency
of any branch of the government nor does
it present itself to the public as a secret
police or detective agency. 1t operates In
the guise of a group opposed to Hitlerian and
similar methods of secret terrorism through
methods amounting to moral and political
blackmail. In the Atlanta case, nevertheless,
its agents boastfully told Of their cleverness
in worming their way into a private group.
The Columbians may prove to have used
illegal methods to obtain illegal results,
but in any case, they should have been in
yestigated by the authorized police Of Atlanta
or the state Of Georgia or by the F. B.. l.
The non-sectarian anti-Nazi league has no
more right to employ the methods that it
did employ against the Columbians that it
has to do the same thing to the Masons. The
knights of Columbus, to any innocent, law
abiding family or any business organization,
nevertheless. it may be doing just that. The
public can't know what it is doing, because
it is a privately operated secret service.
The active director Of the non-sectarian
anti-Nazi league is James H. Sheldon, OF New
York, known as Doctor" Sheldon. He was
listed as a member of the national committee
of the American committee for struggle
against war. an immediate forerunner of the
American league against war and fascism,
which in turn dissolved into the American
league for peace aad democracy. He was ac-
tive in the league against war and fasclsm,
which the Dies committee classified as a
communist front in the United States. One
purpose of this league was to stop the manu-
facture of munitions and other materials Tor
war, BY violent methods. 1t does not appear
that Sheldon himself is Or ever was a COM
munist. But. like many others, he has be-
come an inveterate committeeman and ex-
ecutive director Of activities
The president of the league is Herman
Hoffman and the treasurer is 1sldore LIP
chutz. Lipschutz is a refugee diamond broker
from Belgium who appears to be elther a
rich man in his own right or to have large
financial backing.
The day after the news OF the leagues
coup in Atlanta, l telephoned the office OF
the league in New York to ask information.
A woman who answered the phone asked me
to wait a minute and. after a little more
delay than seemed necessary to refer a call,
and sufficient delay to permit a tracer to
start checking my number. which was an
right with me, a mans voice answered. HI
spoke in a thick dialect. I mention this fact
for its own sake and because John Roy Carl
son, the Levantine sneak who writes boast
full books about his success in crawling into
political groups which are about as difficult
to enter as the subway, often notes that
dangerous and sinister fascist" enemies Of
democracy speak il 'heavy cultural &C.
cents" and pronounce America" as though
it were spelled America" which is the way
all Americans pronounce it.
The man with the thick dialect told me
that Mr.. Hoffman was the president. Then,
when l asked him what Mr.. bus
mess was, he said, wv h his
business? Well. / think he is a lawyer. A
former Judge. / think so, in New York"
Then he said, 'the answers that l give
you are not the right ones"
asked him why he was giving false an
swers if the league were an honest orga:1iza-
ton with nothing to hide. He said that if I
really were Westbrook Pegler I ought to
know all about Mr.. Hoffman and his busines SIS.
7 told him my way of getting reliable infor-