The Wilmington morning star., 1947-01-18
A. Pegler Sees 1t
Nv pEGLER
onxrirht Bx KIM Features sxndicate, Inc

\lVuyl SAt - 4AAHA
WASHINGTON, Jan. 16. - A short time
after the death Of Judge K. M. Lands, the
baseball industry was invited to consider FL
mer Trey as mis- successor. The owners chose,
instead, Happy Chandler, of Kentucky, a poll
tician and, by the process OF that occupation,
a Senator. He was not a good Senator and
the qualities which recommended him to his
new employers were his defects, not his vir-
tues. They wanted a nran less narrowminded
than the old judge had been and an optlmist
who would look FOR a silver lining In a sewer.
Mr.. Trey was coordinator Of the Intelligence
Services Of the Treasury. That means he was
general manager OF the Secret Service. the
narcotics and alcohol tax units and several
other groups of Investigators and fly cops. He
was retired.
In his career with the government, Mr.. Trey
had general charge Of the Investigations. which
turned up the evidence against the Pendergast
gang in Kansas City, against the Huey Long
gang and AL Capone. His staff also prepared
the income tax case against Joe Schenck, Of
Hollywood, who loaned $50. 900 to Jimmy
Roosevelt, the soaring ca glet of the new deal.
In fortuitous anticipation of d presidential
pardon which washed him clean OF faint, Sc
cretly, in the fall OF 1945.
This long experience necessarily made Mr..
Trey familiar, as few other men are, with the
personal relationships and the interlocking in
terests of the criminal underworld of New
York, the Mia1nis and Hollywood and the nj ght
club and radio departments OF the mutually
nasty amusement, gambling and narcotic in
dustries.
Now. professional and, ir some phases,
amateur, as it were sports are invaded by
the same vermin who infest our other enjoy
ments.
Being apart from politics and objective by
temperament, MI. Trey would have come to
the job OF baseball commissioner free OF the
old associations and the debts Of political
gratitude which might handicap a man with
Happy Chambers history.
The proprietors of the major league teams
are the trustees Of a curious industry which IS
carelessly regarded as the national game Of
the great republic. They have lowered the
standards that Judge Landis maintained. Ian
dis was arbitrary and he invited damage suits
by his DEGREES. of Punishment against indivi-
dual r%ascals. He also excluded, on general,
but beautiful, principles, all race-track men
and race-track money from the ownership %
major league teams or firms.
This verboten was abandoned soon after his
death.
Lands kept the players on warning to
shun eangsters. and keep out Of underworld
h%ansouts of politicians. crooked Hollywood
movie and radio disnitsries. and bookmakers.
That social demarcation has been obliterate1
The mosl conspicuous common resort in New
~ quay VI PldNGIS. &dIlUlelS, ldCcIIldkeIS,
panoplicd sound-effects and the lower para
sites who feed off their boots. is a saloon
which is mentioned so often in print and On
the air as to seem TO be the capitol Of baseball.
For Tat matter, if baseball has a capitol to-
day, it is.
Mr.. Trey is no longer a candidate for the
lob, if he ever was a candidate. I mention
him in this connection only to emphasize the
nerd OF an unconiproroisinY ~sttituFe in tine in
dusfry toward the uD6Arvnr1d And ~ a ~ A n
On top who knows crooks in all guises and
aoW they operate and cooperate.
Hollywood is not merely a branch office OF
the criminal underworld. 1t is an autonomous
state of corruption. but with royal and diplo-
matte relations with other criminal sovereign
ties. GangsterS have become powerful. even il
iustrious, and enjoy the status of 'celebrity.'
The social standards of Hollywood permitted
Willie Bioff, a brothe1-keeper. so foul that ne
had to take salt below Charlie Chaplin. 10
fraternlze with the peerage in command Of
the industry. A noted rnagnate of this art re-
Gently asked what was wrong with the movies
and undertook to answer his own question. He
could not have understood if he had been told
the truth, because the worst fault is the social
and ethical saualor of his own friends. He
would see nothing wrong with them, nor in his
own mirror.
say. let professional baseball 90 its dirty
way. 1t is not really. a public institution,
anyway. and the nobility and moral solendor
which it exploits tor the profit OF methodical
m~ercenaries and noisy adventures are an IL
fusion Of an affectionate public. I anticipate
that one eminent club in the major 1eagues
will be secretly owned by the underworld soon,
through loans to an inept and stupid owner.
If baseball never comes back to respectable
ty. all right. ~
We had a nation before we had professional
baseball and our civilization will not explode
il the ball-yards are sow11 to apartment
houses.