The Wilmington morning star., 1947-07-11
AsPeglerSeesH
Copyright by King Features Syndicate, In
Bv PEGLER

By WESTBROOK PEGLER
Copyright by King Features Syndicate, Inc.9
NEW YORK, July 1O.-About the time that
Frau Wagner was convicted Of being a fanatl-
cal Hitlerite, in Germany, I received a letter
addressed to the editor, typical OF those which
come from F. D. Roosevelt's most ardent
followers which said that Pegler was a
menace, a nut, insane, crazy
when he says that Roosevelt was a crook
the letter said, ''it proves conclusively that
his mind is out of order"
AS to Roosevelt's crookedness, and I mean
his larcenous ~avarice, not mere Intellectual
dishonesty, l have been going on the assump-
ton that his guilt was admitted by his own
son, Elliott, and the widow. Otherwise they
must have defended his character and reputa-
ton against unchauenged evidence. The Ways
and Means Committee of the House, con-
trolled by his own party, took one look at
the proof collected by the Treasury and de-
cided that they would not even call witnesses
because if they went into charges at all they
couldn't save their hero.
quote from this letter just to show the
fanaticism that Roosevelt aroused in many
Americans. 1t is completely insensate. Both
Roosevelt and Hitler We're idolized and this
idolatry was addressed to qualities which
both men had alike.
Nobody in our country, except Huey Long,
ever realized more shrewdly that the COM
mon people possess about IS per cent OF the
muscle, the emotion and the votes and only
about Is per cent Of the intelligence, and
character. OF course Roosevelt was a snob
whereas Huey and Hitler were one-gallus
barefoot boys. But Roosevelt OWNED that it
he could goad a few aristocrats to say that he
had turned against his own superior class
and thus put himself among the common
people, he had put over a trick on both classes.
The dumb aristocrats obligingly did just that
and the common people fell for him. When
he called them my friends he was con-
descending and they knew it but they thought
it was very ''democratic'' of a snob to srlo
with them, even though he used a long spoon
and wore a clothes-pin on his nose because
the 'poo-ah'' they have B. O..
Bob Taft suffers g handicap because he
is too honest to pretend that he thinks the
common man is wise and pure in heart just
because he is a common man. He might be
wise and pure in heart, but not for that
reason. Huey knew that the poor and the
middle class people came as ornery as any
others because he was one Of them. AL Smith
knew it, too, for the same reason.
If you think back, you will recall that both
vanity, the s~elf-pity, the envy, the vengeful-
ness and the brutality of the greatest number,
with the greatest power.
Roosevelt was an amazing corn-doctor. Hit
Ter foamed at the mouth and shrieked and
ridiculed the Heinies to arouse them. Roose-
welt called the common man, my friend"
which was something, coming from an up
river millionaire who spoke with a Groton.
Harvard A, and churned up his feelings
against princes OF privilege He and his
family had been all of these, themselves. His
father wouldn't fight in the Civil War be-
cause he favored the Southern cause. That
is what a copperhead was. His sons, Elliott
and Jimmy, were truly princes OF privilege,
like the Mussolini boys and Count Ciano.
We heard a great deal about the wicked
German law to punish anti-Nazis for acts
the basic idea of a penal law and the sound
feeling of the nation even though no specific
law was applicable to the fact.
Roosevelt couldn't do that to US all Of a
sudden. But he had tricks, he was 4 hell
OF a man for administrative law A bunch
Of communists on the labor board could
penalize an employer contrary to the evidence
and the employer had to take it because the
courts wouldn't question the boards version
OF the facts. He was a great hand to '%'investi-
gate" his opponents and smear them with
scandal. But he wouldn't let Congress inspect
his own tax returns or his wife's or his
mothers or Jimmy's. They were royalty. That
was all.
This high prerogative was a trait that he
'AeAA At4& 4ASoS4Ahl AIo Oldxlkl Wxll4C
pretending to abhor privilege. He had a special
household regiment Of foot with a special
insignia and a special garrison. communica-
tons, signals and flood-lights. Henry Morgen-
thau. his %neighbor and court yes-man, got
a government plane manned by the Coast
Guard, and a private field, when the common
man couldn't get an eye-cup Of gas to 20 to
the movies. Henry was comparable to Goering
or Goebbels but not as stout-he arted.
Finally Roosevelt got much OF the effect
OF Hitler's law against underlined crimes. He
did this by driving millions of common men
into unions which were lawless, often crimi-
nal, pockets Of his party, ruled by ruthless
demagogs at best or brothel-keepers or ex-
tortioners.
Yes, Jimmy Petrillo can clown and he has
no criminal record but he can inflict the
economic death penalty on his subjects, for
anything, or nothing. So can old Whitney
and old Tobin. So can John Lewis who got
his powers straight from Roosevelt. When
they bare their fangs they can rip and slash.
Throughout the years Roosevelt beat every
effort to remodel the union laws to protect
his stupid, gullible. ~faceless friend, the com.
mon man, from the exploitation, anger and
malice Of his political henchmen, the bosses
Of "labuh."
And now they make speeches at the grave
(admission free) about his great love OF
humanity. Don't tell me.