The Wilmington morning star., 1947-02-11
As Pegler Sees 1t
Bv WESTBROOK PEGLER

and HOLLYWOOD, l find myself accused Oh nav
ing defended Senator Bilbc, OF Mississippi,
the Columbians. of Atlanta, Ga, and Fritz
Kuhn, late leader of the NazI conspiracy
against the United States.
I have explained that Senator Bllbo is a
Roosevelt, new deal Senator, which certainly
is no defense of him according to my lights,
and have commended that he is no worse than
CONGRESSMAN Vita Marcantonio or Senator
Robert F. Wagner, of New York, the sponsor
of the pernicious and fraudulent labor rela-
tons law whose stated purpose was 10 aoate
labor disputes but resulted in the most tur-
bulent and dangerous civil commotlons OF our
time, one of which President Roosevelt de-
nounced as a violent Instruction against pop
ular government.
If it is a defense of Bilbo to concede all
the nastiness that has been attributed 10 him
bv his Northern enemies including the com
munists. to find him no more ungentleIn a:lly
than those picturesque and beloved partlsans
of the Roosevelt folloWing, Harold L. 1ckes
and Fiorello La Guardia, and to review the
historical background o. reconstruction days,
I am guilty as charged. However. l hold that
Bilbo is entitled to a trial on charges, and
that in the hearing of the evidence against
him. this being a political issue. the incon-
sistency and hypocrisy of those who decry
lynch law and yet would lynch Bilbo. deserve
consideration by way of showing that they
do not come into court with clean hands.
If it is a defense of Bilbo to show that
Franklin D. Roosevelt gave him political and
moral countenance and raised no objection to
the election of other new dealers by the same
process, and to point out that Roosevelt never
could have been elected the first time if he
had opposed that process because, thereby,
he would have alienated the solid South, put
me down as counsel for the defense.
I invite you to refer to the campaign
speeches of Roosevelt in 1882 and cite for me
any declaration by him to the effect that he
repudiated the electoral laws and customs of
Mississippi and other Southern states and
would not welcome the adherence OF congress-
men. senators and governors elected by those
processes with which he certainly was famil-
lar. I remind you. also, that Mr.. Roosevelt
took pedantic pride in his knowledge of the
general and intimate history of the United
States and that. therefore, he must have
known of the terror and oppression inflicted
on the Southern states under President Grant.
the military despots and the carpet-baggers
and of the rebellion by which his own party
became the party of the Ku Klux Khan, Jim
Grow and the lily-white ballot.
Bilbo, I declare, was not my man but
Roosevelt's man and the methods by which
he was elected in 1916 and the principles
which he hollered up in his campaign. waged
according to the laws of. Mississippi were
consistent with a system whose political bene-
fits Mr.. Roosevelt had accepted without CUES
ton and therefore must be regarded as COM
patible with his own principles. That Bilbo's
language was louder and more vulgar cannot
be held against him by those who erected a
thing like a thermometer of enormous size to
measure the noise of Mr.. Roosevelt's own ac-
CARNATIONS at the national conventions, and
who cherished the only president who ever
violated the unWritten law of the Gridiron
Club in WASHINGTON that ladies are never
present but gentlemen always are.
AS to the Columbians. my defense of them
has been only that they are smaller and less
cunning and efficient in espionage. the boy
colt and intimidation than some OF the very
organizations which exulted in the expose o.
the Columbiaas and are therefore less danger
Gus. I may have overlooked the fact, in which
case I advert to it now. for it is fact. that
New York and Washington organizations
which live by espionage against the privacy
OF individuals and organizations. have actual
ly fomented incidents and situations in South
ern areas deliberately calculated to inflame
susceptible white persons and cause them to
"organize' in order that these Northern prov
o%cateUrs and sneaks might then exploit these
difficulties as fascism.' This they do 50 that
they may then solicit contributions from fear
full and historical citizens in the North for
their noble work of combating native fas-
cism.
I have never met Emory Burke. of the Co.
lumbians who is alleged to have expressed
"admiration' Cor me Or had any correspon.
dence or other communication with him. but
the only time I ever met William z. Foster.
the present chief of the communist conspir-
acy, some years ago. he expressed approval
of my work. I believe this defect has been
attended for it has been 10 or y years since
I have been guilty of anv writing which could
incur the agreement of Mr.. Foster or any of
his group. Detesting Ku Klux Klannishness
by any name and under any symbol. whether
the fiery cross, the lightning bolt or the ham
mer and sickle, I can only surmise that if
Mr.. Burke did admire me his was genuine
respect for one who detests all brands of
fascism. red brown. black and red-white-a and
blue, with artistic vehemence.
AS to the facts of the character of the Co.
lumbians, I would say, however. that I have
only hearsay, whereas I have had reliable in
formation concerning the methods and some
OF the personalities employed AGAINST them.
If I knew as much about the Columbians l
might oppose them with equal conviction. but
I have learned by experience not to form
judgments by reading smears. The new deal
taught me that and I have tried to atone for
my error of subscribing to the fraudulent SUI
perstition that Herbert Hoover ordered a mas
sacre of veterans of the First World War
and that it was Hoover who brought on the
bank panic of 1888 when, in fact. it was
Roosevelt.
I cannot imagine what Fritz Kuhn could
have had in mind if he ever said. as he is
reported to have said. and possibly by some
enemy of mine, that I was the onlv American
newspaper man who ever gave him a break.
1t may have been. however. nv distrust of
the oblioue method by which he was destroy
ed. Kuhn was, like so many communists and
other subscribers to the New York espionage
organizations, an enemy of our government
and I thought he should have been punished
Tor that under appropriate laws instead OF