Evening star., 1947-07-11
Considering the Source

OlnCe CQe FTeSlQenCS personal dislike OF
former Representative Slaughter is noto-
rious, it Is not surprising that he should
bristle at criticism coming from the man
he helped drive out of Congress But
even though Mr.. Truman may dislike his
critic, he cannot hope to brush the criti-
cism aside by saying that, considering the
source, it does not worry him.
1t ought to worry him. For the criticism,
regardless of the identity of the critic, is
well taken, and it is possible, as Mr..
Slaughter has said, that "a scandal threat
ems the great office of President"
When Mr.. Truman decided to purge Mr..
Slaughter he personally sought the assist
ance OF James Pendergast, who inherited
the notorious Kansas City political ma
chine from the late Boss" Pendergast.
Mr. Pendergast agreed to do the job, and,
with the aid Of the CIO-PAC, succeeded
In defeating Mr.. Slaughter in the Demo-
cratic primary lastfyear in Missouris fifth
congressional district. When the ballots
were counted" 1t was seen that the
margin Of victory was secured in the four
wards controlled by the Pendergast ma
chine. And some of the machine e-controlled
precincts rolled up such anti-Slaughter
votes as these: $50, 145-l. 700-7, &C.,
and 374-5.
Such returns, on their face reeked with
fraud. Presumably, Mr.. Truman read them
with satisfaction, and his chief political
lieutenant, Mr.. Hannegan, spoke PRIDE
fully of these results ~ being strong
vote Of confidence" In the President. It Is
Tr,,ysa I'D f.
gan suspected nothing. although. knowing
the methods of the Pendergast machine rs
well as they did, it seems incredible that
they were not struck by the one-sidedness
OF some of the returns. In any event. the
President made no move to initiate an
investigation. He was content to let we'll
enough alone. 1t was not until more than
eight months subsequent to the primary
after grand jury had found that Mr.
Slaughter was robbed through "delib-
crate, calculated and premeditated plan
to miscount and otherwise steal votes
that Mr.. Truman saw At to comment. Then
he said that no one wants to condone
vote fraud because they are the worst
things that can happen in 4 democracy.
Now no one suggests that Mr.. Truman,
personally, had anything to do with the
fraud, or that he personally approved OF
what was done. Still, the fact remains
that the election obviously was stolen, and
If 1t had been left to the Federal authorities
nothing whatsoever would have been done
about it. Furthermore, If Mr.. Slaughter is
right-and the President does not deny It
Mr.. Truman continues to be dues paying
member of the Pendergast organization
and permits that machine to list him on
its letterhead as its vice president.
If the President is not going to let him
self be worried by Mr.. Slaughter as an in
dividual, he nevertheless ought to be wor--.,
ried by the factual source from which Mr..
slaughter's criticism springs, The whole
affair is sofdid business. theA"worst thing
that can happen in 4 democracy" and the
President. having enlisted the support of
Pendergast in the first instance, cannot
escape some measure of connection with it.
One would think that instead of seeking
to brush criticism aside, he would be bend
ing every energy toward getting the truth
out into the open. As late as q month ago,
however Mr.. Truman said he had not dis
cussed with the Attorney General the
belated investigation being made by the
Department of Justice.