The Wilmington morning star., 1946-04-29
Fair Enough
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
Copyright, 1916, by King Features
Syndicate. Inc.)

FdIk, So-eiIlnlZlng taX-dOdge through q
transfer Of real estate from the Roosevelt
family to the Department of the Interior, there
is found a groveling remuneration of his owl,
dignity and character.
May Almighty God, who has watched over
this republic as it grew from weakness to
strength, give the wisdom to carry on N
the way Of Franklin D. Roosevelt said the
man VINO, only year before, had accepted
the presidency of the United States in his own
name.
If plain words have plain meaning. notwith-
standing Felix Frankfurter's devious dictunn
that it is pernicious to assume that thew do
these considered utterances of Mr. Truman
mean only that the dead Roosevelt is still
president and that his successor does not con-
slider himself to be president in his own self
/ but rather the executor of Roosevelt's politi-
cal will according to the interpretation of a
presunaptuous college of lamas. They mean
| that he will not make decisions according TO
the Constitutional duty of his office but will
consult the spirit of his political deity and
search his papers for guidance
inns IS the most abject degradation OF a
| president and of the office in all our history.
And it comes at time when Roosevelt's most
intimate followers are clarnorng for Ameri-
can collaboration in action against the estab-
llshed government of Spain which inevitably
and Intentionally would cause new massacres
n6GQloSS
to millions, all in the name of that nocking
phantom, democracy" For intervention in
Spain, whether side-long through withdrawal
OF our recognition and starvation of her people.
or by support of an invasion such as our gov
ernment permitted when the communists were
openly and Illegally organizing their military
"brigades' in New York and WASHINGTON. the
interpreters of Roosevelts way will find
/ plain justific cation in his policies It has been
| rf1 Lotto fhof 11,o
ernment had traffic with The Axis during our
war. This may be granted, although, as Win
| ston Churchill said Franco could have done
us terrible injury by letting Hitler through 20
Africa. But why shouldn't he have been friend
ly to the Axis considering that Hitler and
Mussolini helped him beat the communists?
And why should he have had any tender feel
ing for us, considering that we allowed his
enemies to recruit troops in cur country and
send them other aid and comfort, too?
wiser president than Mr.. Truman might
have detected the indignity to Almighty God
in the raocking prayer for wisdom by which
to carry On, not in Gods way but in the way
of Franklin D. Roosevelt In this he skirted,
if he didn't actually touch blasphemy and
dernonolatry and, in his reluctance to ac-
knowledge Gods way as the moral and
social preference of nation which has Off
ically recognized God many times, we find
d CudHSe Ill COuuSel. AlInlSILy NIOQ becomes
emeritus, so to speak, and the spirit of Roose-
velt succeeds him.
To be sure, Abraham Lincoln honored the
dead in an earlier great war but not above
God. In pointed fact he said that this ma
ton, under God, shall have new birth of
freedom"
Why Go you suppose Mr.. Truman says such
things and abdicates his own dignity in the
highest office within the gift of his country
men, Republicans as well as Democrats. The
religious of all faiths as we'll as the atheists?
Did he write what he said and, if not. does
he lack the intelligence to detect in a politi-
cal speech written for him by others, the
elevation Of the memory of a contemporary
politician above Almighty God? 1t has been
observed that, contrary to our custom still
prevalent in both sides of Congress and even
in the increasingly sordid rites of our nation
al conventions, the invocation is sometimes
eliminated from important deliberations.
That is show Of difference to the Goddess.
But better that God be ignored entirely than
that he be pensioned off by the process used
by Mr.. Truman in dedicating a site for cyni-
cal wreath-layings and self-serving orations by
machine politicians with no more inner re-
spect Cor Roosevelt than John L. Lewis had
or Tom Girdler, Tom Dewey or Jim Farley.
"Only history can do him full Justice" M.
Truman said an unwilling criticism of his
own impetuous haste to 'hal1ow' the site one
year after Roosevelt's death, revealing some
apprehension that history will not defy but
indct
man capable of such indecency at grave
might not realize that his remarks were not
merely tribute to a political effigy but an
affront to almost half of the electorate. Those
who cannot excuse the offense against man.
ners in this cheap sentimeutality will have to
accept Mr.. Truman's vulgarity feet to be
lived with while he is president.
For future reference, the total meaning of
his speech is highly important, for here is
man, become president of The United States
and warmly tolerated during an erratic year
Of trial, who then frankly says that he doesn't
regard himself president al all but merely
as meiium earth for political spook,
receiving bis orders through crystal ball and
a chorus of table-tippers in touch with the
spirit world.
We thought we had president but discover
instead fellow in conical cap adorned with
Zodiac symbols, with a stuffed owl and
glass-eyed tomcat for stage props, governing
our nation by signals from a ouiJa board. We
could get a night-c1ub mystic with talking
tea-kettle for less money if all we are entitled
| to is static from the great beyond
Chilly Days Ahead
| Ser;orenaec of the coal strike is emphasized