The Wilmington morning star., 1946-12-09
As PeglerS Sees 1t
BY wEsTBROOK PEGLER
Copyright by King Features Syndicate,

today could have been uttered when ne was
the political ally of Franklin D.. Roosevelt.
Lewis has not changed. His methods and
principals are the same. And the powers by
which he called the strike Of his subject
miners lare no greater today than they were
when teams of trained goons, many OF them
communist street-fighters, were terrorizing
statewide areas and lesser regions OF the
automobile trade, the little steel centers and
Akron. Roosevelt gave Lewis those powers
knowingly and with full understanding of
their extent and none of those who now dis.
own Lewis on any grounds but still revere
Roosevelt can deny that historic fact.
These same objections to Lewis conduct
that are heard today were heard in those
days but were howled down by the Roosevelt
governm ent and its political subsidiaries and
proteges as the cries Of American f~asclstS.
Roosevelt is dead, but this really f~righten-
ing danger to the power of elected govern
ment here and to the faint hope of recovery
in Europe is his bequest to the nation whose
Constitution, on four occasions, he .sWore
to uphold, including its purpose of insuring
domestic tranquility and promoting the gen.
eral welfare.
Roosevelt is dead, but Senator Robert F.
Wagner, who gave his name to this terror,
still lives and is silent in the presence Of
peril that his law put upon a natien which
gave him refuge first from CONSUMPTION by
the Kaiser of his native Germany and, later,
from Dachau. Felix Frankfurtes still lives,
a Justice of the Supreme Court by Roosevelt's
appointment, who heartily approved the Roose-
welt alliance with Lewis and all that kind
and he, too, against warnings of the con-
sequences to a generous nation which saved
him not merely from the concentration camp
but, almost certainly, from the gas cham
Der.
1t is wrong. it is dishonest to abuse Lewis
today. He is not to blame. We do not blame
a man for asserting his rights under law and,
whatever the courts may decide as to wheth-
er Lewis has technically ove-reached his
rights, there have been many cases in which
individuals claimed rights under phases Of
law which had not been clarified. He thinks
he is within his rights, and the courts may
finally decide that, after all, he was, and with
Frankfurter concurring.
If Roosevelt, in creating this monstrous
power as a favor to a political protege, was
and promote the general welfare, what can
Wagner say now to reconcile his law with his
own protested purpose to promote interstate
commerce? How tranquil are we and how
we'll off in the grip of this coal strike, caused
by the personal decision of one man, and
what is the condition of our interstate COM
merce with the railroads refusing all but
the most urgent kinds Of freight and with
paralysis spreading so fast that even a sur
geon may be unable to operate on a desperate
patient for lack Of light, heat and power?
In this strike we have heard, as though
IL were news, that Lewis is a dictator over
the mine workers. But he was a dictator
when Phillip Murray, now the president of
the CLIO, and an enemy of Lewis, was one
OF ms suDordlnates on the national roster of
the United Mine Workers. Roosevelt knew
all about his union and his methods and knew
ne was a dictator. We have heard that the
miners were not consulted to to whether thew
should strike. Is that news to anyone? We're
they ever consulted? Did Senator Wagner
heed warnings during the debate on his law
mat ooss' unloneers would have the power
70 throtle all interstate commerce by call
ing out workers without consulting them and
10 throw millions of others out of work and
ONTO tne dole at the expense Of state treasu-
res! Can Wagner say that he was unaware
lhat MS law contained no protection for tbs
WORKERS and the public against arbitrary de.
clslons by ruthless dictators, communist or
gangsters?
Today we hear that Lewis is . civ oae.
that by using the strategem of merely refI,s'
ing 70 Work without a contract he not only
clears himself OF the charge of calling = xtriks
put saves money for his treasury hv With
holalnS strike benefits. This is "discoversd,,
now IN condemnation Of Lewis bv men y,h,
nnsw az ABOUT this lawyers slick-t-ick years
~, ~ - WAS all part OF a plan
whereby The state TREASURES were to take
over inc burden Of unemployment benefits to
workers made idle by union orders. leayire
inc unions millions intact. May wa abuse
Lewis Tor shifting this financial burden n
tne public and praise the name OF Roossv.It
VINO planned it that way?
|, Lewis refuses to work ''witho,t .r
tract because in going to work. his s,,bisc+s
wouio De guilty OF trespass on the private
ptopelty Of the owners. But that position
oilen admired as a shrewd technicallitv, was
soanooned when the vandals and rioters u,ho
formed the United Auto Workers of the rIO
uhoer Lewis, occupied plants durins bic ~
down strikes. And the Roosevelt ,olIou,;aa
then called this a class war and s.iS ths
ICONS : most OF whom never were employees in
.ne plants mad a property in their Jobs which
1ney had a moral right to protect. '
IN this crisis, In the alarming .nsrchv
OF tne Oakland general strike, as on So MANY
past OCCASIONS, the pleas to Congress- for
remedial laws sound a conventional hacknev.
ca note OF caution lest Congress. in q state
OF alarm, go too far and iniure the cause
OF the workers. But what injury can the
workers suffer from any law which merely
preaks the powers that Roosevelt gave to
Lewis and hundreds Of other unscrupulous
men to herd, rule. exile, regulate and share
the earnings Of millions of Americans without
even consulting their wishes?
Roosevelts legacy and Wagner's evil in
Fiction on the United States are bringing
this country today close to the showdown
which, in Italy and Germany, brought Ease.
ism as a natioualized version of TeniniSrr