The Wilmington morning star., 1947-09-19
AS Pegler Sees It
Bv WEsTBROoK PEGLER

in a classroom at a state university, per-
haps in a lunchWagon, listening to the ra-
do. the common man has heard that the
Constitution guarantees religious freedom.
He has construed this timid promise to
mean that religion is a forbidden subject
except in consecrated premises, in restrict
ed classrooms for higher learning n in
courtooms where members of that pesti
ferrous cult, Jehovah's Witnesses, are re-
luctantly had up for giving trouble.
The common man believes that religious
freedom precludes freedom of expression
on this fascinating mystery and that who
ever ventures to ridicule n sanctified
nonsense shall fry in a public incinerator
called hell. Meanwhile this un-American
bigot should be indicted for violation of the
tax law. maintaining a fire hazard in his
garage and multiple old violations of the
OPA and should be boycotted in his bust
ness and put to the expense of carrying
appeals all the way to the Supreme Court.
In all this the common man IS mistaken,
but he is so aggressively wrong, and IN
such numbers, as to give overwhelming
force to his error.
Henry Wallace, a strange fellow with a
stringy bang and the voice of Mortimer
Snerd, but not his intellect, went dow a
| hole one day while doing nothing at the
corner of no place and somewhere else.
He found himself in a large cavity with
Prof. Nicholas Roerich, of Tibet, the Hons.
| Sol Bloom and Robert F. Wagner, OF the
new deal, and Ezra Pound, the expatriate
poet. Mr.. Pound only recently turned out
to be as nutty as a nougat and was put
away in a lunatic asylum. Had the federal
government persisted in trying him for
tire ason, as charged, he might have SUBJ
poenaed Wallace as a witness. Pound had
been an out-patient or nonresident men,
Der of the Roerich cult whose mother
house, a tall, liver-colored lamasery on
Riverside Drive, was the scene of the up
town Limehouse nights. Pound had written
some truly oceanic poetry that changed
shape and color as it swelled and sighed
and had no more fixed meaning than a
song of music. BY some process, perhaps
by decision of a morose attorney lodging
the draft in the Department of Justice,
Mr.. Pounds sentiments were construed to
be culpable fascism. Therefore, he was in
| dicted and, after the war, was brought
home from Italy for trial as a traitor. OBJ
viously, were it shown that Henry Wallace
| agreed with this monster and were Henry
sworn as a witness, the defense might
lead the common man, gaping Slobber-
ing, through all the gaudy, amusement
park chambers, grottoes and caves OF Hen
rvs old e%soteric phase. Some pictures OF
these lunar haunts frequented by certain
supernormal souls had been seen in the
exhibits of Henry's old guru, Professor Roe
rich. Louis Horch, the New York regional
director of the Department of Commerce
by Henry's own appointment, had held
these paintings to be holy and therapeutic
and therefore above price. He lost a lot OF
| money, however, found himself hard up,
and, caveat emptor, would sell or trade a
whole gallery of the old masters works for
cash Ono reasonable offer refused) or what
nave you? You might experiment with a
himalayan sunset, rather ike a tomato sur
prise, on a mild case of rash, but MIR .Horch
would bluntly advise you not to waste your
| time on anything as serious as compound
hangover.
Now Mr.. Horch, m apostate, has be-
| come a hooking infidel. He SCOTS and rid
icules. I don't. scott or ridicule but I con-
fess to some merriment at Henry's cost
because he obviously feels that recantation
would imply that he once was there with
Louie in the spell of a squint-eyed mahat-
ma. He doesn't want to confess to that.
Sol Bloom, an old carnival grifter from the
days of the miracle spot remover and the
little gem potato peeler, was a bit OF a
m~ission-stuff himself, like the hallelujah-
shouters on the Bowery who whoop for a
bowl of stew and a flop on winter nights.
The 1amasery was in old Soils congress
sional district and he found himself down
on the list for some very ivable quarters
among the faithful. He remembered back
as lar dS C1e ldQ Cl IIlSSlAISA AoIlA, lOWCVCAs
and he never let cid Roerich catch his eye
to put the wharnmy on him.
Wallace aims his message exclusively to
the common man. h common man is an
| unidentified but, unfortunately, numerous
| American with a vote but without the sense
to realize that a fellow who embraced one
holy faker and then denied him might be
too unsteady for great public responsible
ity. He might go for Doc Robinson, of
Moscow, Idaho, the hobo who talked with
God and acquired a Cadillac for himself,
a Buick for his wife, Fords for his kids
and a big house with a pipe-organ and
two pianos. He might whip up a cult Of
his own. In such case, the common man
in his millions would rebuke as unconstitu-
tional impudence the slightest ~irreverence
from the ~unconvinced. H.
This is a relatively new error among
Americans. In times past our franker and
honester ancestors Knocked, sneered, snarl-
ed and fought with voluptuous joy over
questions of religion. The Abie's Irish Rose
or Perlmutter, Healey and Lapidus ther1e
is overworked to banality these days, es-
pecially in the movies and in the Broad
way charity racket. 1t means simply that
Americans are too ignorant to discuss their
religions competently and too bigoted to
endure argument. 1t is not tolerance or
brotherhood that we see in these STACEY
situations but an ignoble and unauthorized
armistice in the holy wars. If the subject
were not taboo there would be excellent
fights and the satanic atheists, fitting
everywhere, would scalp tickets and sub
sidize seasons of Ingersoll.
Mark Twain never was better than in
his strange furies against Mary Baker
Eddy and her teaching. The Mormons
fought skepticism every inch of the way
to Deseret and paid back the brutal gentle
in his w coin, the dirty bigot. If I didn't
think both cults were rubbish I would be
unfaithful to the only true religion, and
eternally damned
This Kings x Of the last 20 years is a
mistake. The clergy keep lean and nimble
only by competition and the antitrust divi-
sion MIGHT want to look at evidence ne q