The Wilmington morning star., 1947-03-27
As PeglerS Sees 1t
BY WEsTBROOK PEGLER

BY WEsTBROOK PEGLER
Copyright by King Features Syndicate, Inc
Until a few days ago our Supreme Court
communists or any other group committed
to the violent overthrow Of our government,
associate with them and enlist their help and
still be no communist provided we could not
prove that he personally advocated that final
purpose of such enemies. The American peo-
pie had to prove that a person SO accused
had this final purpose in his own mind. The
people did prove it in this case to the salts
faction Of the lower courts, but the Supreme
Court wouldn't believe it.
But now look.
The same court now tells us that a man
may be adjudged a communist if he just
changes his mind on a given question.
This came down in the case Of a New York
lawyer who was fired from an important job
with the War Manpower Commission because
he had been active in a thing called the
American Peace Mobilization. This was one
OF those letterhead and propaganda outfits
which sprouted in New York when Hitler and
Stain became allies in their noble joint re-
~sistance to the foul aggression of Imperial
Poland. 1t carried on, opposing our own mill
tary and industrial preparations for war and
Roosevelt policy of assistance to Great Brit
ian and France until suddenly, in June, 1941,
Hitler, that double : crossing, bloody handed
despot, jumped on Stain and the peace-loving
Soviet government. Then within a few days,
it changed its name to the American Peoples
Mobilization and hollered for help for Russia
and Great Britain. The war ceased to be a
Polish and British imperialistic war and be-
came a peoples war. Curiously, throughout
the life of the American Peace Mobilization,
it found itself on the side OF those vehement
Americans such as Charles Lindbergh who
were called fascists because they also thought
we ought to keep out of the mess, and con-
tinued to say so right down to the hour of
Pearl Harbor.
A long time after Pearl Harbor, Elmer Da-
Wis, our own director of war propaganda,
said he had devised his own personal method
OF deciding whether a person was a COM
munist or p~ro-communist. Anyone who switch
ed over on the war issue when Russia was
attacked was. Now that test has become law.
The United States Civil Service Commission
adopted it and invoked it as a reason to fire
this lawyer, the two lower federal courts ap-
proved it and now the Supreme Court has
refused to consider the fellows appeal. This
means in very practical effect that the Su-
prene Court, as of this moment, recognizes
the Davis test and regards the decisions of
the commission, the district court and the
court Of appeals as legal and just. However,
this thing was done under a special wartime
regulation Of the Civil Service Commission,
so perhaps the same fellow would be vindi,
Gated in time of peace. l thought Davis test
was all right long before he propounded it.
l applied it to Mrs. Roosevelt's friend, Joe
Curran, the president Of the National Mari
time Union, and to other friends of herself
while she and Mr.. Big were giving them
plenty of character. But l always thought it
was weak law because it meant that a person
couldn't change his mind. My way would
have been to keep the communists out Of the
| ont nav hacJx <horo onI fhn fn11or
in this case got in in 1885 and hung on until
1914. You can do it without violating any law
or anybody's rights il you have a mind to.
You may have noticed that those people
whom Roosevelt wanted to keep out were
kept out, such as Herbert Hoover, Jim Far
ley, Robert Moses and Lindbergh. So don't
tell me he and she didn't want communists
in our government.
Now we would be in a terrible fix if we all
could be adjudgei communists and traitors
just because WI agreed with the communists
on some one issue or a number Of PROPOSE
tons. Forgive me if you can, but l agree
with the communists and Henry wallace, who
agrees with them almost entirely as well as
l can judge, that we don't belong in that
mess in Greece and ought to get out OF
Europe as fast as we can. My reasons seem
not to be the same, but we do agree on the
proposition. The communists and Wallace
think President Humans proposal is a step
toward war. so do l. But / think also that
war is inevitable with Russia because it is
SO written in the book of Le1in and the book
OF Stain and l figure that we ought to reor-
game our country and our strength instead
Of %spraWling all over a lot Of no-account out
posts and squandering our efforts on debili-
tated nations and peoples whom we can't sup
port anyway. Yes, squandering our efforts.
Squanderlng the work of our people. This
venture and others that would surely follow
take money. Our government puts up the
money. Where does it come from? From our
income taxes. Where do the taxes come
from? They come off the pay which you earn
by working.
But l never knowingly associate or have
any truck with communists. They are enc
mics OF my country and therefore my enc
mics and I say our constitution should not
be invoked to protect persons who know what
they are up to and cooperate" with them
in activities which are merely preparatory to
the bloody Instruction of the future. ALI their
activities are bent to that final purpose and
I say anyone who helps them in the prepara-
tory work is one of them by intentional as.
sociation. A pick-and-shovel man is paid off
and gone away by the time the roof is fin
ished, but you wouldn't say he didn't know
ingly take part in the building Of a house.
OF course, you can read in the majority
opinions in the Harry Bridges deportation or
habeas corpus case that they were deter
mined to absolve him and let him stay here.
But you might get a few crooked laughs
out of some of the language used in the
majority opinion by Douglas to justify the
result.
One place he writes that deportation NAV
visit upon a man ''as great 4 hardship -
the deprivation of the right to pursue \ voca.
l+;on ); Hs., dn vou like that from . Aaus..