The Wilmington morning star., 1947-02-27
AS Pegler Sees 1t
Nv PEGLER

(Copyright, By King Features oyholca.e, Ate,3
The claims of Henry Morgenthau ana faafoia
Jokes that the memoirs and WHICH
they carried away are their private properly
are debatable if only on the score OF the actual
va lue of the paper and the work mat Went
into them. Neither Of these men was known 70
give himself the worst OF it IN dealings WAN
the government where perqulsltes ana setvtees
were concerned. Morgenthau got hooseVelt 70
assign a Coast Guard plane to him for trips
- he haronv in Duchess county. The ship,
itself. the salaries of the commissioned officefs
and the enlisted mechanics and the expensive
f,,e1 were charged to the common man, an
tenn of MANY thousands of dollars. All this
travel was private and not in the line OF OIL
cial duty.
By a theory having a faint color OF legahly,
Morgenthau got away with it aitnough mere
was a direct precedent on whtch ne coulo
have been made to pay. An AP dispatch from
Daytona Beach in June, 1915, reported that
his wife had been discharged from an Army
nsirmary after two months immurement' oucn
facilities ordinarily are not available TO CIVIL
ians or their wives and Mrs. Morgentnau was
not publicly known to be a member OF any Oh
the distaff auxiliaries. Like her, Iekes had
availed himself of quarters and treatment not
once but twice in the Naval Hospital. The
price. in each case less than So a day, bore no
practical relation to the going cost OF greatly
inferior accommodation in the hospitals avail
able to the taxpayers. .
Moreover, as Ickes' recordings will show, II
it is true that he faithfully recorded inter
views in his office, he admitted that ne knew
of no legal justification for this. Thls assump-
ton of privilege and his use Of government
premises for vacations in Acadia and Olympic
National Parks, indicates a probability that
Ickes did not overeharge himself IN the matter
of the memorial papers. He might not have
charged himself quite enough and might fairly
be asked to justify the price he did pay, IL any.
The bulk of Ickes' material and the amount,
nature and cost of the work OF preparing It
we are let in doubt about. A mar who would
scrupulously record a charge of Sermon, $780,
in the cost of his wife's funeral should be
equally careful to pay something for the clerl-
cal work, although the temptation to bill him.
sell in great moderation may be considered.
Like a man operating on himself, Mr.. 1ckes
might have flinched, even If he paid till 1t hurt,
he may have been representative.
Morgenthau has been more confidiag about
his diaries. We are told that there are already
more than 800 bound volumtes of about 300
pages each, with more to come, and that the
record includes transcripts of conferences and
recordings of telephone calls. The paper alone
would be a respectable item, much OF it con-
sumed when even the bureaucrats were using
both sides and single-spaciag their propaganda
for economy's sake. The cost of the labor
WOulo luSPiIG III 1ilClC 4EoPSSt pht o"N oiAo -
we may use the Internal Revenues cold-blood-
ed approach to the taxpayer these would be
chargeable. also the wear and tear On the
typewriters, the monographs and even the
building. Mr.. Morgenthau took a cold view OF
perQuisites of employment such as company
cars and houses provided for executives and
charged to corporate costs as operating ex-
pense. His policy was to disalloW them and
add an approximate figure to the executives
taxable incomes.
Although some political adversaries may be
uneasy lest informal opinions on issues and
personalities should now become public, the
dignitaries of the new deal obviously should be
more SO i there is to be a vast confiding of
political boudoir intimacies.
After all, they were not one great happy
family, most Of them had something on al
most everyone else and even in the eriendliest
routine could not have avoided the recording
Of matters that would send many a ruddy
blush to many a jowl.
Hopkins was a horse-player and had his ri
bald moments. Some distrusted John Garner
and waited after school to talk behind his back
when Cabinet let out. Roosevelt had a habit of
disparaging men to whom he presented a
friendly face. There were the mischievous bust
ness affairs of some of the Roosevelt kids
which Morgenthau was called upon to straight
en- out. All this should be in Henry's record
and there should be a naive, factual statement
OF Henry's own patient maneuvering to come
at the old mans soft side and bite him for a
new and more luxurious Coast Guard plane to
replace his old one. II all such matters are
down in Morgenthau's and other records, the
recovery Of the files should be more 10 the
advantage than the discomfort of the re nubli-
cans and, as to the new dealers, vice versa, al
though they don't embarrass easily.
On a sober note. though, we have here a
horrid and alarming suggestion Of eaves-drop-
ping. There have been some disquieting viola
lions OF confidence already in the hasty COM
mercial memoirs of oprortunists in place. The
slurs against Winston Churchill, based on So
cial encounters which he did not seek and
couldn't avoid with people whom he otherwise
never would have consented to meet, have been
because the authors were be-
meath his dignity. 1t is too bad that the United
States had to start this in the world.
This sort of thing could seriously affect the
willingness Of citizens to accept public service,
even in state government. It is a corruption
that should be repudiated by the President
now and all his subordinates.
When AL Smith said Lets look at the rec
ord" he meant the public record, not intimate
conversations, susceptible of doctoring; which
were understood by the victim to be loft the
record