The Wilmington morning star., 1947-08-16
AS Pegler Sees 1t
BY WEsTBROOK PEGLER

-N-tu = 4os"AtS AoA VA AdA06
Roosevelt and Howard Hughes was barrel,
squalled by the colossal stupidity and clumsi
ness OF Senators Brewster and Ferguson, whe
permitted this ~bunptious pair to put the U. S
Senate on the defense.
The subcommittee permitted Roosevelt II
get away with a mock-modest display Of hero
ism. This recalls the conduct Of his nlaterna
great uncle, Theodore, who actually campaign
ed with Henry Cabot Lodge in a siege agains
the White House and the War Department tt
get an undeserved congressional medal O.
honor for T. RS skirmish in Cuba. His pur
pose, frankly stated, was to use the aware
in his political career.
Theodore was the brother Of that Elliot
Roosevelt who was the father Of Eleanor the
Great. Theodore was a man of pots, as one
might say, but drinking was a more or less
confidential sport in those days and so when
G.. H. Newett, the editor OF a trade paper,
called him a stew in print. T.. r. was able to
stand him down for a 6-cent verdict in a libel
suit where estlmon was heard that he some
times took a shot Of brandy in his milk, this
greatly amused the lower orders who had the
impudence in those days to belly up to the
cherty-wood and ask for a little milk in their
bE2ncy, Sinking enormously. We had no
F. B. l then to lay a peasant by the heels for
some lese majeste and the air was full OF
gamey little anecdotes concerning Uncle Joe
; Cannon and Teddy and the rest of a robust
crowc Of stays in their spare time ON Chesa-
peake bay and the Potomac.
However, though he undoubtedly drammed
a he-nan's portion Of grog and probably lost
a gentleman's fair share Of skin off the bridge
CT his nose bouncing off saloon doors and
floors. Theodore was not in the same League
with his brother, LushWell the Dipso, chris
tened Elliott. Old Lushwell was a falling
doV'r. drunk who. developed a fine, personal
herd Of pink elephants and spent the last 10
years of his life under glass. so, when his
namesake, the current Elliott, or Lushwell
Minor, came up with his memoir OF great
Gays and nights at Cairo and Teheran, when
he got "uncertainly" to his feet and shot of:
his II outh to Stain and Churchill trying to
think fast through the champagne bubbles"
those loyal and servile subjects of the royal
family-Gawd svve their bloody majesties-
who Lad read the intimate history Of the
dynasty rose waveringly from their bar stools
with cries of well s'osAed. old crock" and
"lesve i'm lie were e fell"
Lushwell, Minor, is the living confluence of
two rushing streams Of old red-eye. for not
Only was Lushwell the Soak his maternal
gramp, but on her mothers side. Eleanor the
Great was the niece Of Uncles Eddie and VAL
lie Hall, they were brothers o. her mother,
and Elliotts great uncles, they were kept I'M
der paddock in the family skeleton closet and
fed through a hole in the door. They some
111lS 11u oA(4S oA11 LII q lSoAJ SAooS ooNAA
q hollow where he stocked a boiler, not TO still
corn-juice, however, but to pump water for
the house, and he was so, let us say, unpredict-
able that after a time little Neil never invited
'any girl to stay at Tivoli'' and seldom asked
any young man because nobody could antici-
pale what Uncle Vallie might do. There is an
irritating reticence here. The Imagination
toys with Uncle Vallie popping out from spooky
shadows behind great leather chairs in the
n a o.; 1ntod hNJ1cn mr. cnrin OinO from tho bushes
and yelling 'ya-yi-yi' and making pinchlng
motions at virginia. young ladies. and even
young gentlemen, too.
Uncle Eddie proved himsel: 'just az weak
as his brother, Vallie'' but what he did his
niece doesn't tell us except that he sometimes
read Dickens or Scott alone. all day icng.
That doesn't seem so bad, though, do you
Think
TIE New York Times, whose ponderous
stateliness sometimes seems to camouflage
other editorial intentions, remarked that "it
is not edifying when a brave and distinguished
soldier has to admit that he accepted lavish
hospitality, however innocently-"
Now listen to that, will you? the New York
Times never ran a single word Of editorial
/ comment when the fact was revealed that
Elliott and his old man conspired to trim a
+ select list Of saps, notably John Hartford, and
finally gypped the chumps out o. their COLA
teral as we'll as their capital by invoking the
powers of Jesse Jones, the chairman OF the
Reconstruction Finance Corporation. the big
gest bank in the world, not a word did the
Times have to say about that debauchery of
the presidential office by the President, not
a word about this conduct of an Army o.
ficer Notwithstanding the fact that the 95tS
article Of war plainly SAYS dishonorable neg
lect tc pay debts constitutes conduct unbe-
coming an officer and a gentleman, for which
he may be canned in disgrace.
On what ground does the New York Times
presume to call this Fellow a 'brave and dis
tingui shed soldiar?' Says who? Surely there
has been enough evidence in other matters
to Justify the reservation Of a doubt in these
two particulars. Certainly it was tacitlv ad-
mitted that Elliott let a war contractor pay
81, 400 of the expenses of his wedding, a stroke
Of moochery beneath the dignity Of any man
of pride, whoever the donor might have been.
A gentleman just doesn't let strangers pay
his wedding expenses or let some crude bar
fly # the TYNE of Johnny Meyer hand his he
trothed a $40 bill because she has been
"charming," or slip her s132 worm OF nylons
at anv tn, but still less TvFo~ a" v"nr'"n re--
gardcd nvlons as treasure. On what gro'lnd
does the Times dare suggest that ms Ello't
accepted this hospitality "innocently..
As for Hughes. there is the record OF MS
agent. his pres~-agent. his 1'unkey' VINO III
sisted that, in Hughes name. he PAID wom-
en- 10 attend parties as quests. ana oouRht
ii EN- presents. as his official duty IN the en-
p7ov Of Hughes company.
The record shows that the government spent
$40. OCG 0OO with Hughes and got absolutely
nothing FOR the money, some OF Wnlcn was
spent by Never to buy drinks ana meals TOR
| Elliott and his friends.