The Wilmington morning star., 1947-02-19
As PeglerS Sees 1t
BY WEsTBROOK PEGLER

BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
Copyright, by King Features Syndicate lhc.)
While 1 am on the subject Of Tucson and
the nice. warm-winter part of Arizona, I think
7 should tell YOU that ii you have been think
i,o of coming here for a vacation 1t would
be a good idea to change your mind, unless
YOU have confirmed reservations for a place
to stay. The desert weather is beautiful, all
right, and the flowers are beginning to sprout
nov, but the hotels and ranches are 1ammeo
and the sign mo vacancies hangs out OF
most of the clusters of roadside cottages
called motels. The rates are high. too, but
probably a little cheaper than the rates Tor
similar accommodations in Florida, put we
haven't had anything like the de~velopneh'
that Florida had built and operating before
the war closed down on building ana mere
has been no catching up since.
Meanwhile, however, Arizona had a ire
mendous publicity. Probably many OF the sol
diers who trained here, hc.k for desert light
inc in Africa and in the air, hope they never
see Arizona again, but many liked it and
have moved back with their families. some
of them to live in trsilers, others In little
houses. Then we had a lot OF people working
on war Jobs who either STAYED on or dfl1ted
back and of course, there is a 2ooo oeal
of carriage trade here strictly on vacation
Anyway, housing is tight and expensive ana
there is an element Of more Or less SICK
people. T. B. patients. srthritics, asthmatlcs
and cardiacs. or t.:e parents of invalid chill
dren who have to stay here and support them
selves. and that doesn't help wages. Domestic
servants can get as much as $40 a week
and the usual room and board. but a BUS
driver doesn't do much better, with rent ana
groceries to pay for.
This generality is going to get me into
trouble I suppose. but the story OF the va
cation hotel and the dude ranch often IS JUST
the same old story that has been told Tor
generations in the funny papers about beautl-
full mosquito lodge in the northern resort
areas. The big, first class hotels are fine,
but that wouldn't interest you because you
can't get in, anyway.
But if you take a chance On a dude ranch
you had better have a solid understanding
first as to whether they have enough help,
and not come down here to listen to hard
luck stories about the wrangler getting drunk
and lighting out for California just the day
before you got here, so would you mind enter
ing into the spirit of the thing and chamber
maidine your own steedo Or. the cook. she
got plastered on the vanilla extract and we
are whipping up our own eggs and pollcng
our own dishes for a few days. You know,
roughing it. 1t is a too frequent experience
and to hell with it. because you are coming
down for a rest and not to have your host
hop in your lap and bawl about his disagree
ment with the landlord who won't repair the
pump. so they can't fill the swimming pool.
You don't want to travel 1000 or 1000 miles
for that and waste your vacation besides.
The Cleveland ball club is training in
Tucson this year and the Giants are up at
Phoenix and this is going to mean a lot
more routine date-line matter and feature
publicity. Tucson and the desert country are
OF the beaten track and in a year or two
maybe we will have enough good accommo-
dations to take care of a real big tourist
season. but right now I would say that there
is much more business than the plant can
handle. For that matter. one of our leading
citizens was telling me that they would like
to flag people way for the rest OF this season
but feel that they have to keep up the propa-
ganda about the climate, which is not ex-
aggerated, l assure you, so that the people
elsewhere will not forget tucson next year.
This year we have developed a very fair
little minor league underworld in Pima coun-
ty outside Tucson but thus far the hoodlums,
who come from around Cleveland and Gin
cinnati and are all in the books of the FB1,
the narcotics bureau and the metropolitan po-
lice departments, seem not to have decided
what they want to do. Don hays, our chief
of police, who has had metropolitan training
dIlu w d III navy Civ NJ nN T'NN5 AAA6S
them every now and again for jaywalking or
ION suspicion when a new member lands
in town, but that is done only so that the
policemen can all have a took at them and
know them by sight. Mr.. Hays will not, let
slot machines 60 anywhere in the city and
has ordered all the respectable clubs and vet
erans-outfits to put them away, but outside
the city the police work is mostly traffic and
emergency STUFF such as fights and %stickups,
if any and our underworld might get out Of
hand, as the criminal scum did in Florida,
for lack of a force to keep it down.
Buggy Siegal, the Hollywood g~angster,
George Rats great friend. came down to
Tucson for a conference with the new Ohio
talent a little while back, but Mr.. Hayes re-
ports that they were unable to make a deal.
Probably it will be gambling, and slot mi
chimes when they finally do make Up their
minds, with prostitution as a -side-line, as
these are the standard activities of our new
neiphbors on the old home grounds in Ohio,
Michigan and Kentucky. They also went in
for rackets against business men there, but
here they would have to operate in the city,
and / don't think the locals would take much
Of that because the frontier days are too re-
cent. ~
If you know anyone with a lot OF money
who would like to put up a half dozen or
more good cottage settlements Of the ranch
type out in the real desert, or hotels IN town,
send him down, but if you just land mere
Yourself without reservations you are prettN
likely to wind up on a bench i'll the PARK
or the Southern Pacific station. Don't say !
didr't warn YOU.