The Wilmington morning star., 1947-01-15
as Pegier Sees 1t
BY WEsTBRooK PEGLER
Copyright by King Features Syndicate, Inc.)

bureaucracy, 90 you NAPIER 10 remember
old Charlie Harwood, the one Elliott Roose-
velt's uncle. Hall. pointed that time when he
was playing bird-eog for chumps to put money
into the radio ming and Jesse Jones, later.
drew a bead on, and missed. clean2
There was considerable indignation against
Charlie because he wouldn't drop dead like
John Hartford and Dave Baird and that fell
low, Max Bielowski, or whatever his name
was. But tapped away without shedding a
feather when Jesse. closed his eyes and went
"blami" he vas out for judge or some feder-
al court and he sort Of figured that Elliott's
OLD man could do that much for him, espe-
cially after his campaign contributions and
the SIS, 900 that he put up tor Elliott. But in
stead, the boss made him governor of the
Virgin Islands, under Harold Ickes. which
may have been Mr.. Big's idea of a joke on
Charlie. Then, when Jesse tried to scare him
into giving up his SIS. 900 worth of stock for
$500, saying if wasn't any good, anyway. old
Charlie figured that if it was so no dam good.
why was Mr.. Big so anxious to get it back?
And, furthermore. governor Of the Virgin Is
lands amt judge or no federal court but a
dogs life, with old Ickes always ~yapping why
don't he stay down there on the job and how
come he S always putting in for travel money
back to Washington and making him sit out
in the hall, waiting like a messenger-boy.
So, Charlie held onto his radio stock, which
was lese majeste under Mr.. Big, and just
like taking s25, 900 out Of the mouths Of FL
lofts children because the old gent wanted
this for the alinony tund, and, along about
this time last year. a funny-scunding little
piece came cut Of the White House one day.
1t said in this little piece that Judge Bill
HASTE, a Negro who had been doing a job
under Patterson over at the War Department,
had been appointed governor OF the Virgin
Islands. Then it said somebody asked what
about Charlie Harwood, what happened to
L;, ryl, ~, L;~0 Anl xbo~ - didn't go, |
any more. Just Hastie appointed governor,
period, new story and for all you know they
took Charlie out and gave him the rub and
slang him into a swamp.
In a way l admired old Chas. because he
really did idolize Mr.. Big, whereas none Of
the other chumps even liked him and yet,
when the squeeze came, he had the sense to
see that this was the gimmick and refuse.
That took some courage. Some people bow
ed down before him.
No Judge, no soap and the answer was
nope.
In another way. I felt real sorry for him
because Charles War Department is one Of
those determined-Woman types and the first
time l called up about the story, Mrs. H.
got to the phone first and when l told her
about Charlie putting up the Is m. eor Elliott
she 50 !, well you must be out OF your mind
because l know how much dough Charlie has
got and how much 1 get for clothes and
some guys, well maybe they keep a woman
and some play slot machines but not my
Charlie and 1 thought you were intelligent but
you are just leaping, that is all"
Then, Charlie comes home from the bridge
game and 1 can see the poor little guy all
cut and bruised and hear her going on ITO
think Of a supposed to be smart fellow like
you going for a racket like that And so
forth, far into the night, the way they some
times do.
But 1 will bet she was proud OF him when
he told her he didn't give up the stock and
it was back up around par because he was
the smartest one OF the lot. Maybe she
up his hair and called him something
pretty, the way they sometimes do.
Charlie has been ducking me for a year.
Nope, unhere. Nope, not expected. Nope, don't
know where he is. I wanted to ask him ever
since last winter. what happened to him. Did
he resign the Virgin Islands? Fired? Or what.
They just didn't say whether. So 1 went down
to the Interior Dept. and 1 asked this Mr..
Oscar Chapman, the under : secretary, and
even he didn't know, either. No resignation
anywhere on file. Nobody canned him. Mr..
Chapman family remembered that he did
write Charlie a letter to close his record and
get him of the payroll. But when he searched
the files, he found the letter, still unsigned
and never mailed.
Maybe Charlie was still governor OF the
Virgin Islands. Maybe they. had two COVER
nors.
Finally, it comes out. He wasn't fired and
he didn't resign. But he never liked the job
or the islands, either, and he did like to play
bridge and it seemed every chance he got he
would bob up in Washington or New York.
So it didn't make much difference to him
whether he was governor or not, except the
$4,000 a year and that is just peanuts to Chas.
and certainly not any compensation for what
he had to take from old Ickes.
Now it turns out that if you are a p%residen-
tial appointee as Charlie was YOU serve dur
ing the pleasure Of the President. And when
Mr.. Truman came in he discovered that he
wasn't getting any pleasure out Of Charlie
and when his pleasure stopped, Charlie was
out. Governor Harwood just got a 2 in pleas
ure and HASTE got the job so now he can
play bridge all the time and when he sees
Ickes he can tell him all he was telling the
bows at the club he was goine to tell him.
That is what happened TO Charlie. Maybe
he wasn't a verv hot governor but 1 will bet
you President T.. has got a sneaking adnira-
ton FOR A fellow who shifted the trap. smelled
the hand of humanitv's greatest friend and
walked away with his stock. His old lady
does have to give him credit for that.
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