The Wilmington morning star., 1947-01-16
As Pegler Sees 1t
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
Copyright by King Features Syndicate, %

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 BreathIesS ana
busting with good news, bring my fellow
citizens word this beautiful day that we have
had the privilege and honor to provide a
beautiful summer home set In a park OF 200
acres FOR Harold L. Ickes and the lucky girl
who was won by his niggardly. mlserly, cur
mudgeonly charm and their BARNS these last
few years. Old Mr.. Ickes, who calls himself
a liberal in the strictly political sense of the
word, a limited meaning never to be confused
with extravaganza in his case. IS noted Tor
his scrupulous honesty.
An Eskimo. up in Alaska, near the Arctic
Circle, which was included in his jurisdiction
when he was Secretary of the Interior coined
a phrase about him, a few days before Christ
mas several years ago.
Mr.. Ickes," this Eskimo said, and l quote,
lis as honest as the day is long
Having no such gift of poetic expression,
myself I resort to a homely comparison. In
the Arizona desert We have a little rodent
also noted for his honesty, known as the pack
rat or trade rat. The pack, or trade rat will
pick up little trinkets, such as a diamond
ring or a jewelled watch and whisk them off
to his hole in the ground, if you don't watch
out. but he always leaves something IN ex-
change, often a piece OF ole DEAD choua,
which is a small cactus with stickers all over
it and suitable for throwing away i you use
tongs, or a rusty bottle-cap which he considers
to be a fair trade for that which has caught
his eye.
Well, today I went over to the Department
of the Interior. which, as you may know is
now under new management and. finding that
Cap Krug, the new secretary. was just about
to be off somewhere. like a Secretary of
State, I was sulking in a hall and trading
glares with a hand-painted oil portrait of Mr..
Ickes, the biggest portrait in all the gallery
Of immortal ex-Secretaries, and holding my
own if l do say SO, when a right nice girl
came along. She said, 81 will bet you came
I@r-~ 49,. = ELL 500 .L-,x L-, III T1x---.
have been spending their summers up at AGA
dia Park, a public property managed by the
National Park Service of the Department of
the Interior, at a very moderate rent"
The Gestapo has been tapping my
thoughts" exclaimed /. and she said, come
and see our Mr.. Oscar Chapman the under
secretary, who is a public servant with moth
Mr.. Ickes ever concealed the facts, either, be-
cause if you keen, alert trained observers Of
the Fourth Estate"
"Oh," said l, enough Of this hero wor-
ship!"
Because" went on she, "s you don't
ask questions. you can't expect a man like
Mr.. 1ckes, so busy with his cares and affairs,
to volunteer Information about every little de-
tail. And this" she said, with a pretty firt
OF her dancing curls, sis our Mr.. Chapman
l first commiserated Mr.. Chapman on the
great blow to the morale Of the personnel of
interior that President Truman struck when
he accepted Mr.. Ickes' resignation. But he is
a game fellow, imbued with the carry-on spirit
and, with a slight tremor Of some emotion,
Dut dry OF eye-repeat, dry of eye-he said
some trite thing that sounded like, "Oh, well,
we must accept the sweet with the bitter
in this life"
State your business" Mr.. Chapman said.
1 stated my business and Mr.. Chapman
blanched but resolutely unto me did say:
That 1t is a matter of public business and
pubic record that sone years ago the Rookie
fellers and others contributed money to buv
a passel OF land at Bar Harbor, Me, and gave
1t to the National Park Service as a public
park. Ihat a gentleman named Homan be-
q~ueathed his house and 10 acres to his coun-
try to be embraced in Acadia Park. That the
department OF the Interior adopted a regula-
tion under Mr.. Ickes, which gives the secre-
lary frst claim FOR summer occupancy. That
Ine mouse has a beautiful great living room
with a large fireplace and a picture window
overlooking a bluff to the bay. three he'd.
rooms a servants room, dining room, kitchen
and bath, and was furnished by the Interior
department at a cost of about So, 500 in 1943.
mat by the terms of the deed this house was
10 be available to government officials and
other prominent citizens for summer use.
AND that the department under Mr.. Ickes.
oetelmlneo not be be mercenary and thus to
charge only a very moderate rent.
Mr.. Chapman said the rent was $50 q month
ana mat Mr.. 1ckes had put himself down for
august and, sometimes, September, for, 81
tnlnk three years." including 1916, when he
was no longer secretary. This year, he quail
LED as a prominent citizen and got the
place because he had been alert enough to
put his name at the head of the list. Mr.
krug, although he was now secretary NAV
not nave heard about the house and his privi-
legged priority but he knows now and even
though he shouldn't pull his rank and privi-
lege, the 1ckes family won't be there IN l947.
For one reason, Mr.. Krug is fixing to raise
the rent to a tair competitive basis and Sena-
tor Ralph 0. Brewster of Maine says that
would be 81 1000 a season. AS though anv other
reason were needed, Mr.. Ickes didn't file his
application for 1947 early enough and others
nave beaten him to it.
Mr. Chapman said, further, that Tommy
Corcoran, another great liberal, also in the
political sense, known in the early and cornv
roosevelt humor as Tommy the Cork had
tne place tor week-ends one year and that
the Chapmans, themselves, had it for a co1nle
OF weeks In July, 1916. For that reason he
knew what the rent was. Not many citizens
know ABOUT the house and the rent.
Unlike some contemptibles who exploit their
positions to get something for nothing M
lckes always insists on paying at least a very
Moderate amount for everything he gets from
tne government. He adhered to that policy
though 1t may have cut an old miser tn tbs
heart' when, on two occasions, he put himse1f
away IN the Naval Hospital for treatment
VIZ - l