Word: pegler
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...time drew near for Roosevelt-hating Columnist Westbrook Pegler to say farewell to Scripps-Howard and hello to Hearst (TIME, Aug. 28), he became curiously engrossed in matters which seemed far removed from his everyday peeves. His mind's eye filled with tall clipper ships crowding on sail on the China run, with silks and sandalwood and opium, gongs and the firebreath of dragons. In New York and Boston libraries he delved long in old tomes: Lawrence Kearny, Sailor Diplomat; The Clipper Ship Era; The Opium Trade; The Opium Clipper. Could Peg be softening up, seeking escape from...
...Roosevelt's autobiography," wrote Pegler (referring to This is My Story by the President's wife which goes into detail about the family of the President's mother), ". . . is one of my favorite books and every time I dip into it I am tantalized by the author's iron reticence concerning the sources of the Delano fortune. Now I think I understand. The old gent, Warren Delano, President Roosevelt's grandfather, was an old-time opium smuggler, a member of something rather like our own Rum Row which operated off the New York coast...
Like a bagpipe, Westbrook Pegler is raucous, penetrating, effective in arousing belligerent emotions. But also like a bagpipe, he is monotonously limited in range and variety. Last week it was announced that Columnist Pegler will shortly begin piping for a new audience. When his contract with Scripps-Howard and its United Feature Syndicate ends in November, the Pegler column will shift to Hearst and Hearst's King Features Syndicate...
...Said Pegler: "I am very happy about it. I got another job and a better one. Roy Howard and I have always been good friends and we're parting good friends...
Said Roy Howard: "The Scripps-Howard parting with Pegler is a symptom of a journalistic problem that arises when a writer is given carte blanche to express himself with complete and uncontrolled freedom. . . . This problem . . . concerns . . . journalistic technique and editorial judgment in determining how loudly and how frequently a writer may sound a single note without upsetting a newspaper's editorial balance. . . . Scripps-Howard has never exercised control over the subject matter or the opinions of Mr. Pegler as they appear in his column, but we have been unable to satisfy many of our readers on this point...