The Wilmington morning star., 1947-02-17
As Pegler Sees 1t
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
Copyright by King Features Syndicate, Inc.)

OF upholdlng that government particularly
sin matters affecting the administration OF
justice. The federal judges in New Jersey
have recently observed a farcical performance
in the trial of Joe Fay, the union racketeer.
All of them were on notice that there was
reason to anticipate the acquittal OF Fay by
reason of conduct which Tom Clark. the At
tcrney General, promptly after the verdict
but too late to serve the public interest, con-
demned as a"--- damned outrage"
An area of discretion exists here in which
all the Judges concerned may justify their con-
duct. That they could have been more Jealous
without violating propriety and at no sacrl1lce
of the defendants rights also is a TACT.
These judges are citizens and residents OF
a region in which the political influence OF
that lodge of the democratic party known as
the Hague machine is mighty, ruthless and
notorious. Judge Thomas F.. Meaney, VINO
presided, has been identified with the local
party for many years. He is an lnteAlgeht
man, an excellent lawyer, a fairly oashln2
fellow in the politico-social life in his COM
munity and one of those %jurists of the type
known as .human'' who lives neither in an
| ivory tower nor in a vacuum. He gets around
and knows everybody.
The Fay case was assigned to Judge
Meaney in the regular course by Judge Guy
L. Fake, the senior judge of the district. There
is evidence that the judges were not confident
that Judge ,Meaney should sit, IN the tact
that Judge Meaney consulted Judge Fake
and they both consulted John Biggs, Jr., the
senior circuit judge, for his judgment. Having
made the assignment, Judge Fake was not ex-
pected to advise Judge Meaney to disquallfy
himself. Judge Biggs concurred and the trial
went on to a scandalous conclusion after the
disclosure that Edgar H. Rossbach, the United
States attorney, had accepted a juror who re-
Gently was a member of Fay's union, had three
close relatives in the same union and was now
a small contractor at Fay's mercy in his labor
relations. The examination of this and other
jurors reveals a caSualness that might be ex-
cused in a traffic case, but was one of the
outra geouS factors in the farce that Mr.. Clark
condemned. There were other points of critic
ism in the drawing of the panel and the investi.
CATION of the background of the few eligible
persons.
Observers of good legal standing on both
sides of the case have agreed that Judge
Meaney's conduct was above suspicion. AS to
whether he could have been criticized on his
rulings Or instructions there will be no de-
cision, because Fay won hilariously. Even a
corrupt judge would have had little to do to
help the kings henchman. Fay had excellent
lawyers, and the best that his own boss could
say of the peoples lawyer, Rossbach, was that
the result was an outrage.
Some federal judges sometimes do take
notice of the atmosphere and interesting GEES
lures before them which indicate that the in
terests OF the government are not being served.
In a recent immigration case, in New York,
Judge Murray H.. Hubert, as an officer of the
government, warned another officer that he
would watch further proceedings and see to
It that the law was observed. He could have
kept quiet. His warning was gratuitous but
conscientious.
After the acquittal of Fay, SO the New York
JournalAmerlcan reports, the federal grand
jury which indicted Fay voted to investigate
the conduct of the trial. One of the grand
Jurors was reported to have told Judge Fake
that he felt that this trial had brought the. ad-
minlstration Of federal justice more o. less
INTO contempt in that district. Another was
quoted as having told Judge Fake that the
grand jurors couldn't condone the conduct of
the governments case.
lnasmuc as Mr.. Clark, from a distance.
IN washington, had anticipated trouble, these
federal judges, some of them right on the
scene and one of them, Judge Biggs, on the
outskirts Of it, might have had app-ehensions,
too. During the war, defendants charged with
seoltlous utterances were dragged from the
ehoS OF the country to Washington for trial.
Fay was allowed to stand his trial on his
home ground on which he, through his union
and the political machine of which he is a
distinguished member, freely exe-ts terroristic
powers over the citizens. This influence affects
almost every conceivable interest of the pros
pectlve Jurors. Banks, unions, licensino bu-
reaus. and bodies which award contracts and
levy taxes are at his service to ccerce Jurors.
1t was a situation in which, even under the
most expert and conscientious administration
OF justice, the government would still stand
less than an even chance against Fay.
A feGera1 ind "a ic No Automatically :.
tellect. Judge Lands, in his time on the
bench, used to walk home alone along North
clark street after nights in his chambers. He
Knew something more about Chicago than just
the proceedings that occurred before him in
court. Other judges have eyes and ears for
thelr informal hours and are not forbidden
to take precautions to guard the integrity and
prestige of federal justice.
Frank S. Hogan, the New York district
attorney, convicted Fay in a much more diff.
cult case. That conviction and the trial ma
terlal which Mr. Hogan and his staff prepared
constituted pioneering of which Mr.. Rossbach
could have enjoyed the benefit.
In a speech to the New York County Grand
Jurors ASSOCIATION several. weeks after Fav's
acqulttal IN Newark, Hogan reviewed his New
1ork trial. He very frankly damned the kind
OF contractors who paid extortion to Fav and
urea 10 protect him and Illustrate justice bv
refusing to cooperate with the police and the
district attorney.
Harry F. MCLEAN, of Toronto, the presi-
dent OF The Seaboard Construction. who some
t1nes throws money out hotel windows. heat
up one OF Hogan's men who was examining
MS books in Toronto. He refused to enter the
United States to testify and when Hogan
trapped him at a sanatorium in Michiean
Where ne was boiling out, Mclean went out
a window at night and escaped.
One witness who reluctantly testified
against ray In New York, admitting that his
company had paid Fay for delivering a
speech on good roads. went to New Jersey
and changed his story. In the Newark trial
ne said his company hadn't paid the money
Tor SERVICES but had given il .Gn annreciatin,