| Show Round Merry By DREW V PEARSON and ROBERT S Sr ALLEN i Editors Editor's Note Not The Note Th The Brass ss herewith tendered to Morris orris Ernst is good for one free ride on The Washington Round Merry and andis andis andis is granted only to those to-those those who can ride the Merry ferry erry- erry Round Go without losing their balance WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Morris Morris Ernst the C I 0 O lawyer who has been bringing such squeals of rage fron the czar of Jersey City is the greatest greatest great great- est crusader for the bill of rights since the younger days of Louis D. D Brandeis There is hardly a case of suppressed civil liberties liberties lib lib- lib lib- any anywhere here in the country o try that has he-has not championed champion yet he also represents some of f the biggest firms on Wall Street He lie has amassed a cons considerable fortune yet he lie dips into his own pocket to finance most of the human rights cases which he champions Finally he is branded a t by Mayor Hague but is so bit bitterly erly opposed by more radical radical radical radi radi- cal elements within the C CIO I 0 that he was dismiss dismissed dismissed dis dis- dis- dis missed miss d as attorney for the newspaper guild which he helped to found because he was too conservative for wing left-wing leaders Ernst is one of the most versatile lawyers in New York City He is attorney for the New Yorker the Nation and the Survey magazines magazines magazines maga maga- for Erna Ferber Charles G. G Norris Heywood Heywood Heywood Hey- Hey wood Broun the Authors' Authors league and the Dramatists Dramatists' Dramatists Dramatists' Dramatists Dramatists' Drama Drama- guild for Doubleday Doran Simon and Schuster the Vanguard Press for Maurice Evans Margalo Marg lo Gillmore Gilimore and June Walker At Atthe Atthe Atthe the same time he is attorney for the family for giant Kuhn Loeb and Company is a member of the New York state banking commission commission commission commis commis- sion and put across a billion dollar reorganization tion of the mortgage banks for the New York insurance department Despite all aU these interests he makes a solemn vow every every summer summer and and keeps it to it-to to mend soend three months at Nantucket where he sails a boat makes furniture and writes fiction Hague vs Ernst Inside story of the Mayor Ernst-Mayor Hague legal battle is that Lee Pressman general counsel for forthe forthe forthe the C CIO I 0 long opposed to Ernst drafted him to todo todo todo do a job on Mayor Hague because he thought Ernst would use plenty of fireworks At first however Ernst did just the site He sat down with Mayor Hagues Hague's lawyers and tried to work out a compromise to end the entire dispute without a court fight In these private discussions Hagues Hague's attorneys attorneys' agreed to yield on picketing the right of unions to or organize organize organize or- or and the right to hire halls for meetings The only CIO C I 0 demands not agreed to were open air meetings and the use of placards in picketing S Before the negotiations got any further however however however how how- ever the mayor got sore at the trek of congressmen congress congress- men invading his domain and called off the entire entire entire en en- tire compromise So Ernst brought up his heavy artillery But before he did so Morris had a lon long talk with the president told him in some detail how he was planning to put Roosevelt's vice chairman of the Democratic national committee on the spot The president made no objection Later however he did After Ernst had taunted Hague with the question of whether or not Senator Barkley of Kentucky should accept support from the United Mine Workers a C I 0 O organization he got a phone call from Jimmy Roosevelt The Ernst barrage was great up to that point Jimmy intimated but in the future leave out Barkley and other t er Democratic leaders J Jewish Probably Ernst inherited his crusading in instinct instinct iri- iri from his father a Jewish refugee who fled from Pilsen Hungary Austria-Hungary now Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia during the troubles of 1848 Morris Ernst was born in Uniontown Alabama just 50 years ago His father ran a shirt factory and for two years Morris worked in it after graduating from Williams Later he ran a furniture manufacturing shop for four years and never has been quite able to give it up Every summer he turns out exquisite exquisite exquisite ex ex- ex- ex beds and tables Meanwhile Ernst studied law at night and it was not until he was nearly 30 that he finally began law practice Ernsts Ernst's public service dates back to 1914 when he organized the first public p employment bureau in the United States for Governor Glynn of New York But it was was not until the Hoover administration when he secured the entry of the long-barred long Count Karolyi of Hungary that Ernst really beca became me known as a civil liberties champion About the same time he was in in the thick of the Sacco fight later helped with the defense of the seven sevens negro boys arrested for rape at Scottsboro Alabama took a hand handin in the Tom Torn Mooney case and was Mayor LaGuardia's LaGuardia's LaGuardia's La- La Guardias Guardia's arbiter in the taxicab strike of ot 1934 Behind the Scenes Less spectacular but perhaps more important important important tant have been Ernsts Ernst's court battles on behalf of books books- barred by the customs and the post postoffice postoffice postoffice office department He took the banning of Marie Married Love and James Joyces Joyce's Ulysses to the federal circuit court of appeals appeals appeals ap ap- ap- ap peals and in both cases won He also got Radclyffe Radclyffe Radclyffe Rad- Rad clyffe Halls Hall's Well of Loneliness and Margaret Marga Marga- ret Sanger's Birth Control off the censored list Ernst is constantly slipping down to Washington Washington Washington Wash Wash- ington for a talk with the president or Justice Brandeis and has had his finger in a lot of pies which no one knows about One of these was the senate banking investigation for which he helped pick Ferd Pecora took him to Washington Washington Washington Wash Wash- ington and got him off to a flying start with the newspaper men Two of Ernsts Ernst's are Herman Oliphant gener general l counsel of the treasury and Huntington Huntingdon Cairns assistant general general general gen gen- eral counsel One of the most important jobs Ernst ever put across was the organization of the Lawyers Lawyers' Lawyers Lawyers' Law Law- guild But after he had laid its foundation tion tion Control of the guild slipped away to lef left left- t wing leaders The truth is that Morris Ernst is as much opposed to Stalin as he is s to Mussolini and Hitler Wherever he bumps into a dictator t j whether it be Frank Hague or a Stalinist clique within organized labor there is nothing that gives Morris Moms Ernst more pleasure than taking out his sword and battling the monster until death y Copyright 19 1938 8 for The Telegram r a |
