Eleanor Roosevelt: My Day (1947)

61

March 12, 1947

SAN FRANCISCO, Tuesday – A letter from a French missionary in East Africa to the manager of Liberty Carillons, Inc., was recently sent to me in the hope, I think, that I would be touched and would want to accede to the writer’s request. No one could help but feel the sincerity of Father Jean Delemer, but I found out that to grant his wish for a church bell would cost $800, even though no profit is made by Carillons. So I have decided to give an opportunity to my readers to join with me, if they are moved to do so, in contributing toward this sum, since I would not feel it right to other interests to which I am pledged to do this alone. Anything above the $800 which I receive will be turned over to the Father for help in education.

The letter comes from the White Fathers of Myaruonga, Bukoba Post Office, Tanganyika, East Africa.

"Dear Sir: I dare to write to you in my bad English (you will not mind, I am a French missionary) that to ask you for a big service. You may see now and then good people who come to buy bells at your store. Some bright day, could you not kindly ask one of them if he would not accept to do a wonderful action and buy two bells instead of one, and spare the second for an unknown, poor, faraway church in the African bush.

"I realize it is rather strange and bold to come to you in such an intrusive and direct manner, asking you for such an unusual commission. Even I am aware you may have little chance to find that splendid Catholic who could and would answer this call… There are so many distresses all over the world now, also everybody is forgetting us, and for years we find ourselves so sadly unable not only to develop but even to maintain our missionary works. That to call our black folk we have only an odd native drum with an old plate of iron from a petrol tank, not very harmonious you can imagine, but chiefly quite insufficient to be heard by our Christians or catechumens living far away from the mission.

"How miraculous for us and for them if we could ring the ‘Angelus’ with a real bell! They have never heard and cannot imagine the sweet voice of an ‘Ulaya’ (European true bell).

“You will pardon me, dear sir, thinking I am not troubling you for myself but for my black children, as ourselves the children of ‘Our Father Who art in Heaven.’ I am sure your good heart will understand and try to help. Beforehand I dare to tell you my gratitude.”

That letter was two months on the way, and when it came to me, I had to find out how much the cost would be, so another month has elapsed. The casting of the bell will take time. It will be a long time before Father Delemer’s bell actually reaches him. I am not a Catholic, but I love the bells from both the Catholic and Protestant churches, and I know that they can give inspiration when the spirit is weary and when human frailty makes one lag in well-doing. Those who try to help the people of Africa deserve our help, for theirs is an unselfish life. I hope you will be moved to give a little of the bell!

62

March 13, 1947

SAN FRANCISCO, Wednesday – As always, I am struck by California’s beautiful flowers. Ever since we have been here, people have been giving us flowers from their gardens – the loveliest camellias, irises, daffodils. In other words, spring is already here.

A violent controversy goes on in the city of San Francisco over the removal of the old cable cars. People are passionate about it and I can understand why, for to most of us the cable cars climbing these steep hills are among the first things we think of when we call this city to mind.

To me, however, the beautiful views of the bay and the bridges are the greatest charm that living here would hold. My young friend Mrs. Hershey Martin’s apartment on Telegraph Hill is like the deck of a ship. You would never have claustrophobia there. Miles and miles of space greet you as you look out of every window. There is nothing to impede your view.

The other day, we drove up into the hills near San Rafael to lunch with some young friends of mine – Mr. and Mrs. Evans Houghton. They are living in a little cottage deep among the redwoods. Their baby, as she grows up in the shadow of those immense trees, will certainly have a sense of time and space. Redwoods do not burn even in a forest fire – they simply blacken. There they stand, defiant of most of the things which wipe out our forests, and so they grow to be thousands of years old. I think they are the most awe-inspiring trees that we have in this whole country.

Yesterday morning, I took a stroll through Chinatown and visited my old friend Suey Chong. He is now receiving goods from China, but he deprecatingly said that silks were still very expensive and therefore the goods made from them were expensive. I am afraid we were not very good customers but our welcome was nevertheless a warm one. In looking into the shops here, one sees that some goods which were impossible to get during the war, such as rattan furniture, are being produced again, so that an order can be filled in a month or six weeks.

My old friend Miss Flora Rose, who used to be head of the College of Home Economics at Cornell, came over from Berkeley to have lunch with me yesterday. She is just as full of interests as ever, and is now conducting a Red Cross course for the wives of G.I.'s studying at the University of California. They have to live in cramped quarters and she has the greatest admiration for their fortitude and cheerfulness. I am sure that no one ever did so much active work after retirement as does Miss Rose.

In the afternoon, Mrs. Thomas Dillon drove us to her lovely home in the hills back of Oakland, where we sat with her and her husband and watched the sunset over the bay. We enjoyed every minute until it was time to go to my evening lecture for the YWCA in Oakland.

63

March 14, 1947

SAN FRANCISCO, Thursday – Before the President’s speech to Congress, the papers published statements by various senators who gave qualified approval or unqualified disapproval of whatever he might be going to say. It would seem to me that these gentlemen might better have stated their own attitudes if they wanted those attitudes to be of value to the President in forming his own. But to criticize his policy before it had even been stated seemed to have an element of the ludicrous about it.

I hope we are going to give aid to the countries in Europe that need it for relief and rehabilitation, and I hope we are going to see to it that what we give is administered impartially and is given to all people in need, regardless of their political beliefs. That was the reason we gave to the United Nations for refusing to join a new international relief organization to take the place of UNRRA. We felt that that organization was susceptible to the accusation of having been used politically, and therefore, in the future, we wished to control our own giving.

We must, however, be doubly careful that we are non-political in whatever we now give. Neither must it be possible to imply that anything we do is done to oppose the influence of any of our former allies. If we do that, we weaken the U.N. and find ourselves enmeshed in the old form of alliances and power politics.

We know that, with the growth of independence and individual power in the Latin American countries, we have had to recede from our old interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine. We no longer act alone – we act in cooperation with our neighbors in whatever we do in this hemisphere. That, on a larger scale, is the attitude that will uphold the U.N., and we must not forget it.

I was told a curious thing the other day. It seems that, here in California, there is a controversy raging over sex education – not over how it should be taught but over the teaching of it at all. There is a learned state senator who has discovered, that, in some way, this teaching is connected with Communism.

I have been a little confused about this since a young reporter first asked me my opinion. I told him I could not have an opinion as I did not know what the controversy was about. After he tried to explain, I was still at a loss to understand how sensible people could be making such a to-do about something which should be treated as naturally as the other ordinary things which we begin to teach children in their babyhood, hoping they will fully understand when they are grown.

We start teaching babies how to eat and how to dress themselves. We teach them habits of cleanliness, and we go on to good manners and the various necessary graces and morals. It seems to me that sex education is much like this type of education. It goes on in the home and in the school. We don’t talk about it, we just see that it is as well done as possible, because we know that it is essential to safeguard our children. Where the issue of Communism can possibly arise is still a mystery to me, but perhaps it is just a case of branding anything as Communistic which you do not know much about.

64

March 15, 1947

SAN FRANCISCO, Friday – I have been giving a good deal of troubled thought to the President’s speech. No one can view the state of the world today without grave concern, but it seems to me that there are parts of his speech which are based on premises that some of us feel unable to accept without further information.

For instance, why must this country accept Great Britain’s military responsibilities? Britain undertook them for reasons of her own, which may or may not seem good reasons to us. It does not seem as though a government could be completely stable, and representative of 85 percent of the will of the people, and still require military bolstering from the outside.

I do not question the absolute need to help both Greece and Turkey with relief and rehabilitation. They certainly are unable to cope with their economic problems alone. Without help, chaos would ensue. I think the part of the President’s speech which states that Communism follows economic chaos is entirely correct. The economy of Communism is an economy which grows in an atmosphere of misery and want.

Feeling as I do that our one hope for peace lies in the United Nations, I naturally grieve to see this country do anything which harms the strength of the . If we could have given help for relief and rehabilitation on a purely non-political basis, and then have insisted that the U.N. join us in deciding what should be done on any political or policing basis to keep Greece and Turkey free from all outside interference, and to allow her to settle her own difficulties in the way the majority of her people desired to have them settled, I would have felt far happier than I do now.

We seem to have decided not to let Greece make her own decisions but to make them for her. In other words, we seem to have accepted Great Britain’s policy without very much investigation. I hesitate to say this, however, because I realize that the men in power have much information which the average citizen cannot possibly have.

I am sure that the President and the Secretary of State and our Ambassador to Greece are anxious to do the most stabilizing and farseeing job that can be done, not only for Greece but for the world. In giving my personal reactions and fears, I hope that it may point the way so that our government representatives will give us the answers which we need so badly in order to support our Government fully and wholeheartedly in a situation which does require the support of the whole people of the U.S.

I realize that the lack of a military set-up within the United Nations makes it very difficult to use the U.N. in a situation requiring force. And of course, not having setup an international relief organization, we are now obligated to handle any situation of this kind, which requires vast sums of money, on the basis of relief by our nation alone. But it would seem to me wiser to strengthen the U.N. by having its influence brought upon these serious questions as they arise. And if force is deemed necessary, it might better be brought in from the individual nations at the behest of the U.N. until we have collective force to use.

65

March 17, 1947

LOS ANGELES, Sunday – One of the nice things about traveling is that you meet old friends, and because you are in strange places it gives you a particular sense of pleasure. When my press conference assembled yesterday morning, I was surprised and pleased to see Miss Mary Hornaday, one of the members of my Washington press conference group. The last time I saw her was in London, when she had just returned from a trip to Yugoslavia and was still deeply impressed by the hardships which had been undergone by the women and children of that country.

I wish that the men and women who serve as correspondents on the United Nations could always have had experience in some theatre of war. It would give them a greater understanding of the reasons which lie back of some of the situations that come up for discussion, and, I think, would on the whole give us better reporting.

One thing has particularly impressed me in our Northwestern country, and that is our lack of awareness of the need for conserving and replanting our trees. I see constant reference in the papers to restocking fish and even protecting game, both of which are very important; but I notice less and less reference to the horrible waste occasioned by forest fires and excess cutting. I was told that in some sections we are cutting something like 16 billion feet of lumber and growing only 4 billion. These figures may not be accurate, but if the proportion is correct we will wake up someday to find we have exhausted our lumber supply, injured our water supply and followed in the footsteps of the Chinese, who prepared years ago for the floods of today by denuding their hillsides of trees and leaving them bare.

I understand perfectly why people who are on vacation love to come to Southern California. As we sat in the dining room eating our lunch, we could watch people sunning and swimming in the hotel pool. My grandson was fascinated as they dived off the board at different heights, and I could not help thinking of the shivering hundreds at home who would enjoy basking in the hot sun with the temperature at 83. However, I have a distinct feeling still that this kind of climate is not invigorating and not conducive to building up energy or the kind of endurance which our New England ancestors developed. One of my daughters-in-law who comes from New England acknowledged yesterday that, though she enjoys living here very much, she does not think the very slight changes in temperature and the fact that one is never obliged to combat a wintry climate is as good for children. It does not take long, however, to get up into the mountains, where one can enjoy all of the winter sports; and she told me of a two-weeks vacation, only two and a half hours by car from here, where the temperature was below freezing every day. I imagine that is the charm of this country; you can so easily get a variety of climate.

I am regretful that I did not plan for a few extra days and drive down from San Francisco through my favorite national park, the Yosemite. It is so early in the spring that I think the water falls would have been at their best, and I have never seen them until they had begun to shrink in volume with the disappearance of the snow.

66

March 18, 1947

LOS ANGELES, Monday – The papers out here report the hanging by one youngster of a younger playmate somewhere near Albany, N.Y. It always seems to me a pity that things of this kind should become headline news the country over. Any informed person knows that a youngster committing a crime of this kind must be one of those unfortunates who have no emotional control.

Modern psychiatry recognizes this type of individual. Parents who find out in time are advised to keep close watch on such children and are usually told that it would be wise to put them under restraint somewhere. The difficulty is that very few states or communities recognize the need for any institutions where this type of youngster may be confined and cared for.

Such children are apparently normal under ordinary circumstances – sometimes very intelligent. They only go off balance when something hits them emotionally; then they have no control, and apparently no amount of training gives them control. In their calm moments they recognize the danger of what they do, but they are unable to prevent the recurrence of such actions. This is undoubtedly one of the reasons motivating a number of youthful crimes, and one of the least recognized reasons.

I am beginning to feel, however, that our newspapers have far more responsibility than they accept when they spread the stories of such crimes – in fact, of any crimes – in detail. I think crimes are almost always the result of diseased minds, and such minds gain new impetus from reading about crimes in the papers.

Yesterday afternoon I was unfortunately prevented from listening to the radio and hearing Miss Margaret Truman sing with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, but I think nearly everybody else all over the country must have listened, for everyone I’ve seen has spoken with enthusiasm about her voice. She has been very persistent in her studying and has wanted to make singing a career, so I hope that this auspicious beginning means that she will be successful. A beautiful voice can give the world great joy, and I think nothing can give greater personal satisfaction than the knowledge that one can contribute to the pleasure of large numbers of people.

I am confronted daily in the papers out here with some news about a group which calls itself the Los Angeles Smog Committee, under the leadership of William Jeffers. I have no idea what the word “smog” means, but the objectives of this committee seem to be altogether good, so perhaps we should start the same type of organization in every city and town in our country!

They apparently attack any bad situations which creep into the surroundings of any aggregation of people. Today it is the city dumps which have come in for denunciation and vociferous demands that they be done away with immediately because they are “creating a vicious public nuisance.” Nearby Long Beach has solved the problem by a method of burning the rubbish which creates no smoke or rat problem. It seems that this committee not only fights against a nuisance which endangers public health, but also suggests methods for improving the situation.

In every locality, I think, one could use a group of public-spirited citizens who would agitate on local questions of this kind – and the first point to be taken up should be housing everywhere!

67

March 19, 1947

LOS ANGELES, Tuesday – I have been amused by some of the recent headlines here which would make it appear that Foreign Minister Molotov is more or less trying to insult Secretary of State Marshall and that Secretary Marshall is trying to insult Mr. Molotov. As a matter of fact, I cannot imagine that that is the object of either gentleman. China is the point at issue, and I should think they could decide, without very much heat, on whether China’s affairs should be discussed at the Moscow conference.

It seems logical that China would prefer not to have her problems touched upon when her Government is not represented. That is the point of view which Secretary Marshall has upheld – and which is probably wise, since he has had long experience with the Chinese Government and the Chinese situation. I rather doubt that Mr. Molotov would feel that this decision was made with any desire to rebuff his suggestion for informal talks. He would recognize that it is a question of what is the most advisable thing to do in a situation which sooner or later must be taken up by the Council of Foreign Ministers but which can well wait until China is represented.

The other evening, when I went to San Diego to speak, I learned about a very interesting undertaking in that town. They have an organization called the House of Pacific Relations. Peoples of all the countries represented in the community are united in this organization. The city provides cottages in Balboa Park. Here the groups can hold meetings, and they have pleasant social gatherings which further mutual understanding.

A public-spirited citizen, Frank Druggan, started this association some eleven years ago and has given it a great deal of his time. Now he is working with unstinting effort to make it helpful to the efforts of the United Nations. San Diego has a great variety of nationalities represented, including Swedish, Norwegian, Russian, French and Greek citizens. All of them look with favor on the undertakings which have been carried out through the House of Pacific Relations.

This morning we are leaving for Phoenix, Arizona. I look forward to spending two days there with my daughter and her husband and to seeing their youngest child, little Johnny, who I’m sure has grown considerably since I last saw him.

John and Sara are popular names in our family. My son Jimmy and his wife have named their very vigorous and hefty baby Michael Anthony, after Rommie’s grandfather, so he will not compete with any other member of the family in the matter of names. But my youngest son John has named his dainty and very sweet little girl baby Sara Delano, so she will have to add “second” to her name since she has a cousin, a good many years older, who bears the same name. Both of them were named after their great-grandmother. The newest little one, however, is called Sally, so perhaps there will never be any confusion.

68

March 20, 1947

PHOENIX, Wednesday – As we neared Phoenix on the plane yesterday, my young neighbor, a sailor who had come down from Seattle, looked out of the window with great interest at the irrigated farms below us. Wherever there is water, the desert blooms. I can remember the day when there were no farms in this area, but now they look green and prosperous.

The only need is more water, and I am told that that is one of the great preoccupations of this state. The sunshine and the climate are a gift from Heaven, but somehow people will have to use their ingenuity to increase the flow of water, so that more people may enjoy this health-giving atmosphere and at the same time earn a living.

I stopped off here primarily to spend two days with my daughter and son-in-law, who have settled here, started a newspaper, The Arizona Times, which will soon be on a daily basis, and bought a charming small home under the shadow of one of the mountains. Last summer I thought the heat might somewhat dampen their enthusiasm, but I was quite mistaken. They enjoyed it, because apparently what you adopt as your own always loses its flaws. Since this is their adopted state, even their two older children, who are away at school part of the year, have decided that they thoroughly agree on the choice.

I have not heard a murmur about the heat from any of them. In fact, they tell me it is quite different from the heat in the East. That is damp, and this is dry. And the nights are never too warm to sleep. They haven’t yet told me that you must have a blanket to be comfortable even on the hottest night, but I fully expect to hear it before long!

Some friends came in late yesterday afternoon and among them were Mr. and Mrs. Charles Allen Ward of St. Paul, Minn. Their three girls look like perfect patterns for the rodeo in Madison Square Garden, but I was told that they had on their new Easter outfits – embroidered cowboy boots, turned-up riding trousers, colored shirts and gay neckties. Even the little 4-year-old girl rides or swims all day.

Everyone is agog over the coming rodeo here. Before it there is a parade in which beautiful saddles and bridles and the most expensive cowboy suits can be shown to the best advantage. I am told that anyone who appears on the streets in anything but Western garb while the rodeo is on runs the risk of being put in jail!

This show is, of course, part of the local color which draws many visitors to this part of the world every winter. There are more here this winter, they tell me, than ever before, and prices are higher than ever before. Someone told me that a depression has begun, but I can’t say that it looks that way when hundreds of visitors are able to pay present-day hotel prices.

In San Diego the other night, a little item on a menu struck my eye. It was a little clipped-on sheet and it said: “Take Our Special Steak Dinner. Price, $4.00.” Shades of the time when $2 would have bought a very special steak dinner or any other kind of dinner!

69

March 21, 1947

PHOENIX, Thursday – There is one institution in Phoenix that I have heard about for many, many years – St. Luke’s Sanitarium. All over this country and even in Europe, there are people who will remember the man who founded it – the late Bishop Julius W. Atwood. He had friends of every age and in every station of society. He was equally at home in an old castle in Great Britain or in a ranch house out in the desert of Arizona, where perhaps the mother of the family not only cared for her own children, but for all “the boys” on the ranch as well.

When he retired as Bishop of Arizona, I think his greatest interest in life was gone. But today St. Luke’s Sanitarium, which his efforts built, stands as a monument to him. He used to tell me stories of people with tuberculosis arriving in this health-giving climate who had no place to live and no place to receive proper medical care. That was the problem of hundreds of people and it became his greatest preoccupation.

St. Luke’s is a private institution, but it is under the special supervision of the Episcopal Church. There is another hospital here under the supervision of the Catholic Church. Yesterday my daughter, Miss Thompson and I visited St. Luke’s. As I went through the main building and saw the cheerful rooms, I could not help feeling what a blessing it was for the patients to have such bright surroundings, since tuberculosis is a disease in which a cheerful spirit helps recovery.

I stopped to speak to an Army nurse back from overseas and many other patients, but my main objective was to see the son of an old friend. He did not, however, look much like a patient, having gained 10 pounds. He will be allowed to leave the hospital next week, though he must still spend some time in recuperation.

They told me that his bed will be the first vacancy they have had in weeks and that they have a long waiting list. The same is true of the state hospital and of the veterans’ hospital, which have every bed filled. This means that the conditions which used to exist, where tubercular patients were obliged to stay at home, thereby running the risk of spreading the disease, now exist again. This state’s climate holds out to so many people the hope for a complete cure and to others the chance to live and to work for many years. But facilities for their care must be increased.

It strikes me there is a need here for the development of small industries – industries in which people do not have to work under pressure and in which individual consideration can be given to the workers. In this age when the tendency in most places is to bigger and bigger units of production, I feel that we lost sight of small industries which may not bring in high returns on the capital invested, but which can give the workers a decent living and more satisfaction, because they can often see an operation through from beginning to end. In a state where so many people come in search of health, this seems especially important.

70

March 22, 1947

EN ROUTE TO NEW YORK, Friday – While I was in Phoenix, my daughter and son-in-law gave a reception to give me an opportunity to meet their friends and acquaintances in the place which they have chosen for their permanent home. Like so many men home from the war, my son-in-law, John Boettiger, wanted to pick out a place where he thought there was an opportunity to do a piece of work on his own, and to establish permanent roots for his family. I think Phoenix was a wise choice. I know that the paper he and Anna are building up will be successful. For both of them, it is an absorbing business and a labor of love.

They have found a really charming home in which to put their accumulated and inherited possessions. Among these are many things which belonged to my husband or to my mother-in-law and were formerly either in the old Hyde Park house or in the White House. Their home is not too far from the business center and yet seems to be in the country. Certainly their patio looked gay and bright on the afternoon of the party.

When I was in Phoenix last year, I was interested in an arts and crafts enterprise, and so I asked my daughter to take me to visit it again. It is called The Arizona Craftsman and is at Scottsdale, only a short drive from Phoenix. To my delight, I found that everything had developed greatly since my previous visit.

There is a fascinating Indian shop where Lloyd Kiva has developed his handmade leather articles, decorated with silver and brass. They are expensive but very good looking and well made. And I think they will last longer than any machine-made article I have seen, besides being attractive in color and design.

There is a fascinating silverware shop and some delightful ceramics. A luncheon service with a lovely new blue glaze attracted me immediately. I also saw some woodwork, some nice pictures, rugs, hand-blocked blouses and skirts, and table covers. There is glass and Mexican silver also on sale. I think it was fortunate that I had to leave to attend a luncheon for the United Jewish Appeal or I would never have been able to tear myself away with any money left in my pocketbook.

That afternoon, we visited Father Emmett McLoughlin at the St. Monica Hospital, and I was particularly interested in the training school for nurses. Here they have eliminated all racial discrimination – Negro, Mexican, Japanese and white citizens all study and work together. The hospital has a wonderful atmosphere.

In reaching it, we passed a very charming housing project which Anna told me was duplicated a little farther up the street. The Marcas de Niza is for the Spanish-Americans, and the Matthew Henson is for colored Americans. Father McLoughlin is one of the heads of the Phoenix Housing Authority, and when you see the horrible tumbledown shacks outside the housing project, you realize what he has accomplished. He and Bishop Arthur Kinsolving of the Protestant Episcopal Church were consulting together at my daughter’s party as to the best methods of getting things done, and I think these two gentlemen will accomplish a great deal for the good of the community, judging by what I saw.

71

March 24, 1947

NEW YORK, Sunday – All day Friday we traveled through endless miles of country, most of it uncultivated and used for cattle ranges. Whenever a windmill appeared there was a human habitation and, usually, some tilled fields. Part of the time we could see mountains in the distance; at other times, just flat plains as far as the eye could reach. For hours trees did not appear, but in the afternoon more of these became visible, with more habitations and more tilled land. Everywhere some good paved roads linked what looked like wilderness to some more populated area. But the spirit of the frontier must still live in the people who have homes in this area and who ride the ranges.

Perhaps it was the wide-open spaces that made me think over my country as a whole. A letter I received while en route a few days ago told me that, among business circles in New York, the “jitters” have set in. It said that the bankers were worried by the serious condition of Great Britain’s economy. They foresaw collapse, and so they were beginning to make it more difficult to obtain money for business purposes, particularly where anything new wanted to get started. One of the old, big businesses which probably would not go under decided to play safe and retrench by dismissing a large number of employees.

It seems to me that somewhere I have read that depressions are brought about by drying up consumer buying power. Employees are consumers, and the “jitters” is contagious. Great Britain is only one factor in an after-war world situation which economists and industrial leaders must have faced long ago. I cannot help wondering, of course, whether this is perhaps an unconscious, final stand against the change from an economy where a few people dictate conditions to a cooperative economy where employers and employees work together and more equitably share the results of their labors.

Whatever the reason for this reported attitude, it can bring ruin not only to the people of the United States – rich and poor alike – but to the people of the world. If we communicate confidence to Great Britain, she will pull herself through. But we cannot allow high tariffs to restrict trade. Great Britain needs exactly what we need at the moment – production and more production. All of us in this country, whether we work by lending money or with our hands, must accept one fact – having more money when there is less to buy spells ruin for us all. We wanted to get rid of price controls. We have done so. Now we will have to learn that we still have to keep prices where they are, even if that means going without things we want and setting up a buyers’ strike.

Capital must use its money, preferably by lending to new enterprises. Returning G.I.s want businesses of their own. The G.I. loans are not enough in themselves. Human enterprise must be encouraged and not restricted. Years ago, a very conservative banker told me that the best financial risk was a man with character.

On the other hand, labor must face the situation which exists. Wages cannot go up unless production goes up correspondingly. You cannot earn more and produce less and have a healthy economy. This country has limitless resources still undeveloped, as well as opportunities for many more people than now live here. We are a young nation. But no nation will succeed without confidence in itself, without courage to accept the situation as it is or without a recognition that in the world of today the principle of cooperation is essential whether you deal with business or politics.

72

March 25, 1947

NEW YORK, Monday – I read with interest the President’s order on disloyal employees in the Government. As you read the categories of persons to be considered disloyal, none of them are people one would want to employ in any government capacity.

However, I think one paragraph towards the end requires clarification. This is the paragraph which states that proof that a person belongs to or has contributed to certain organizations, designated by the Department of Justice as undesirable, is a cause for dismissal or for refusal of employment in the Government. It seems to me that this calls for proper implementation by issuance of a list of such organizations, and this list should be kept up to date.

All citizens should be able to inquire of the Government as to any organization which they are asked to join, and they should get a prompt answer. Otherwise, many unsuspecting people may find themselves belonging to disloyal organizations or contributing money to them, and even if they are not seeking work with the Government, their membership might prove to be an embarrassment.

I remember once getting a list on which I found my mother-in-law and former Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson listed as donors of money to a number of subversive organizations. I do not think you could find two people less subversive than Mr. Stimson is or than my mother-in-law was!

I notice in the paper this morning that we in New York City are going to be admonished to pay attention to the traffic lights. We are way behind many of the other cities in the country. I can remember my daughter, when she lived in Seattle, firmly taking my arm and saying: “If you cross against that light, you will be arrested. They are very particular in this city.” To New Yorkers, who seem to enjoy dodging traffic, strict enforcement of traffic rules may come as a surprise at first, but I think it probably will be a great help to drivers and to pedestrians when once we learn to obey the rules.

It is really appalling to read that, in various kinds of accidents throughout the country last year, 100,000 lives were lost and 10,400,000 persons were injured. It is a good thing that, here in this city, a Safety Convention and Exposition is being held, and that the attention of the nation will be fixed on this problem.

Accidents are increasing in every city as traffic increases. More and more automobiles are now available. If you have been waiting for a car and have not been able to get one, you will probably think that statement is not true, but if you have been in a crowded city at the time of day when traffic is heavy, you will think that new cars are reaching the public quite rapidly. But our planning for increased traffic is not keeping up with the volume of cars.

In New York and in many other cities, parking is being prohibited on many streets, but that doesn’t remove traffic – it simply shifts it. New and imaginative plans will have to be evolved for parking cars within cities and for routing traffic – and this must be done soon!

73

March 26, 1947

NEW YORK, Tuesday – Since my return from my three-and-a-half weeks’ jaunt throughout the country, I have been very busy catching up with the things which you can’t do when you are away from home. In the first place, there were the threads to be picked up in the work of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights.

I had told the commission that I could not present our report to the Economic and Social Council, as the chairman would ordinarily do, because I had arranged for my lecture tour on the Pacific Coast long before I knew I was going to be appointed to the Human Rights Commission. Dr. Charles Malik, rapporteur of the commission, had been voted to be our representative, but he told me on my return, that unfortunately the grippe had laid him low just as our report came up before the Economic and Social Council.

The council session is now drawing to an end, so we will soon know how much of our report was accepted and how our future work will be changed by their decisions. One great change that the Secretariat may make is in the date and place of our next meeting.

Today I go to Syracuse University to spend a few hours discussing with the students the work of the United Nations.

I hope I shall have time to see my young friend Leo Casey in nearby Chittenango. You may remember that, in a magazine article, he told the very gallant story of how he managed his life in spite of the paralysis which came from an accident when he was one of New York State’s motorcycle policemen. He hoped that this story would help some of the men coming back from the war who had to face a similar situation, and I am quite sure that those who read his story felt a real sense of gratitude to him.

The American Red Cross can tell us innumerable stories of the courage of young men who apparently were hopelessly handicapped, but frequently, through the aid of Red Cross workers, regained former skills. Mrs. Arthur Clift, Red Cross arts and skills instructor in the Brooklyn Naval Hospital, tells the story of a young sailor, Wilfred Grose, whose home is in Cleveland. At 23, in an accident aboard a cruiser, he lost three fingers on his right hand and thought that his ability as an artist was gone entirely and that he would never paint another picture. He went home last week, not only able to paint and draw with his right hand, but also having learned to use his left hand.

This is only one of many stories, but it is one worth remembering, since this work for wounded servicemen must go on if we hope for final rehabilitation. In addition, the Red Cross must have money to do many other peacetime jobs. Just because the war is over, this must not be one of our forgotten activities.

74

March 27, 1947

NEW YORK, Wednesday – The meeting which I attended at Syracuse University yesterday was under the auspices of the college groups of the United Nations Association. I find that these young people are thinking not only about international but about national questions.

I was asked about the President’s executive order to prevent disloyal employees from working for the Government. I was asked also about the proposals, which are coming up in several parts of the country, for outlawing the Communist Party. I was asked whether I thought it was necessary to take these steps. Therefore I’ve decided to write today on the feeling I have about all repressive measures.

To me such measures always are a sign of lack of confidence in ourselves. If we were sure that our citizens understood the value of democracy and were clear in their minds on the subject, I doubt if we would need such an investigation as the President has ordered. It would be quite easy to eliminate from the government, by the usual legal processes, anyone who was proved to be disloyal. Naturally, any order of this kind carries a certain amount of danger with it, in that it may be possible to misuse its provisions. If a wave of hysteria hits us, there will be very little protection for anyone who even thinks differently from the run-of-the-mill.

Political conditions in the USSR today still do not recognize the right of individuals to think differently. Only here and in other free democracies, can we criticize our Government and have the freedom to think independently. It is, I believe, a very precious freedom, but it requires of us something more than apathetic citizenship. We must really believe in democracy and in our objectives. We cannot live in fear either of Fascism or Communism. We have to be certain that the majority of our people recognize the benefits of democracy and therefore are loyal to it.

Proposals to outlaw the Communist Party seem to me another evidence of a feeling of insecurity. I can imagine nothing stupider than to believe that the mass of people of this country would really find Communism a greater advantage to them than our own democratic system. The danger in outlawing the Communist Party is that we would set a precedent which might work against any change or difference of opinion in the future.

I do not know why we are so prone to fears at the present time. Some people are so afraid of Russia that they are suggesting that perhaps, since we cannot hope always to be the only nation possessing the atom bomb, we should use it fairly soon to wipe out all opposition. That sounds ludicrous, but it has actually been said to me by some people.

Others fear that we cannot manage our economy so as to avoid a major depression. Still others think that it will be impossible ever to make the United Nations strong, because we are all too much afraid of each other to trust to joint action.

All of these attitudes are attitudes of fear. They show lack of confidence in ourselves and in others. For the leading democracy in the world to indulge in them is a very great danger, not to us alone but to the world.

75

March 28, 1947

NEW YORK, Thursday – I am delighted with the response to the French missionary’s letter which I published recently in my column. It is impossible to thank individually the people who have sent me contributions, since the number is very great. We have not quite reached our goal as yet, but I want to thank all those who have contributed towards the purchase of the church bell which Father Delemer requested for his African mission congregation.

I am sending the money immediately to the Liberty Carillons company, and I am also sending a letter which offers a school bell not used now. I do not know if it is suitable for the purpose, but the company will have to make the decision. In any case, I am most grateful to the kind person who has suggested giving this unused bell and will let her know as soon as I learn whether or not it is suitable.

As I wrote previously, any money received above what is needed for the bell will go to Father Delemer to be used for whatever he feels would be most valuable to his people. It will take a long time to hear from him, but as soon as I am sure the bell is going to him, I shall ask the manufacturer to send him word.

I have a communication from Dr. John M. Dorsey, professor of psychiatry at the Wayne University School of Medicine, who sends me some literature from the Cornelian Corner in Detroit. Apparently my reference to psychiatry being used nowadays to solve the difficulties of small children inspired him to let me know about the work they are doing in Detroit.

I am deeply interested in some of the facts which they have published. Of importance to us all is the information that, during the war, 41 percent of the inductees from the city, and 51 percent of the inductees from the rural areas, were found unsuitable for military service. “An appreciable percentage of this unsuitability stemmed in personality disorders which had their origin in early childhood. In addition, at one time during the hostilities, when combat infantrymen were in dire demand, 1,000 persons a day were being discharged from the military because emotional disorders rendered them unserviceable.”

One of the articles states that two groups of 6-year-old children were analyzed. Half of them had spent the greater part of their infancy in institutions and the rest in boarding homes. Those who had been institutions showed a much higher percentage “of overtly anxious and aggressive behavior.” Evidently children suffer when they lack “mothering.”

As one reads the various articles, it would seem as though caring for children and running a home was a full-time job and that, during the years of childhood, that should be the first consideration in the planning of family life. I hope that those who are really interested in increasing the stability of our nation will read some of the literature available from this source.

76

March 29, 1947

NEW YORK, Friday – I am interested to see that J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI, feels as I do about the inadvisability of outlawing the Communist Party. I am in entire agreement with him in his recommendation that people whom we find actually engaged in subversive activities shall be immediately brought before the proper legal bodies.

However, the more I think about one clause in the President’s executive order for preventing the employment of disloyal persons in the Government, the more troubled I am. I fear that that clause, which refers to subversive organizations, would not be rendered harmless even if the Attorney General published, at frequent intervals, an up-to-date list of the organizations considered subversive. Under this clause, I am afraid it would be possible to declare subversive many organizations that are simply in opposition to the thinking of certain powerful groups. They might even be organizations upheld by the majority of the people and still, if certain groups were powerful and influential in the Government, they could be declared subversive.

This was brought to my mind last night when I spoke before a church audience and someone brought up the question of conscientious objectors. It is quite evident that, in the case of true conscientious objectors, we have no right to interfere with their conscience. But they will suffer, of course, because until the whole world comes to feel that war is really mass murder, the great majority of men are going to feel that they have an obligation to defend their country in time of war.

The problem may become obsolete if modern weapons prove, once and for all, that any war in the future will mean destruction of the whole race, and if we therefore use our intelligence to prevent this final destruction. Nevertheless, as long as the conscientious objector exists in relation to a majority opinion, he illustrates the point that we must preserve the right of individuals to be different. And we must very carefully guard against legal processes under which human beings can be punished for holding different ideas from the majority of their fellows.

I had dinner last night with two friends in a small restaurant. The food was excellent but the prices were appalling. I find that even to eat at home costs a tremendous amount these days, and I wonder how people with small incomes are eating at all.

I see that the President has called for a halt in the general rise in the cost of practically everything that enters into the daily necessities of life. But I think something more will probably have to be done than merely to urge the curtailment of costs. The indices show that, while the volume of retail buying has been less, the high prices have kept the actual money taken in by stores at about the same level.

We seem to be opposed to planning in our free-enterprise system, but it looks to me as though a little planning, in which industry and labor planned together, might be helpful to the general public.

77

March 31, 1947

NEW YORK, Sunday – I went to Washington on Friday to speak at the Women’s Action Committee banquet. This group of 15 affiliated organizations visited their Congressional representatives during the day, and had an educational time. Some of them were well received and felt they had been courteously treated and enlightened. Others had a variety of experiences, such as waiting a very long time only to find that the gentleman they wished to see was not going to receive them. Nevertheless, I am sure that this sort of interchange of views, face to face, is valuable both to the Representatives and their constituents, and I hope it will continue.

Most of us have been greatly saddened by the coal mine disasters. I feel that Mr. John L. Lewis, who is undoubtedly grieved about the loss of the men in his union, still had a sense of satisfaction when he could blame the government for lack of proper inspection and attention to the safety of the mines. It is true in this case that the Federal government might do a little better job of enforcing safety measures than the state governments have done in the past. But even if the enforcement in both cases had been excellent, I think it is only fair to recognize that the United States Bureau of Mines in all probability has never had a sufficient appropriation to make the number of inspections necessary to check on whether their recommendations had been carried out.

This is something which the people of the mining states should bring to the attention of their representatives in Congress, since the Bureau of Mines gets its appropriation from Congress. I see that Mr. Lewis has protested the nomination of the head of that bureau. I know nothing about the gentleman in question, but I believe that some attention should be given to the competence of any man entrusted with the lives of so many men in an essential industry. The men themselves, or their representatives, should probably be consulted and be convinced of the efficiency of the appointee.

When I was in California a group of young veterans came to see me who were studying city government, and I was told of the Coro Foundation, which had been established in San Francisco with the object of educating men to administer city affairs. This is a very good idea, and one which might be carried on in many of our larger cities if some forward-looking citizens could be found to take a real interest in training for this type of work. We have long had young people, chosen in their last year of college, doing work with the Federal government; and many of them have remained in government service. It seems to me that the testimony of Arthur Fleming on the improvement in the Civil Service system might lead us to consider some new ways of training all types of people for government positions in city, state and national work. A comprehensive plan worked out for training and promotion might be an incentive to schools and colleges to prepare young people to take these particular postgraduate courses, and might give us a new type of public servant.

78

April 1, 1947

NEW YORK, Monday – Yesterday afternoon I went to the opening rally of the Junior Division of the United Jewish Appeal. One of the speakers was a young man who had been at a bomber command in England during the war and, since the war, had been working in one of the refugee camps in Belsen, Germany. He spoke with a telling force which only personal experience and deep feeling can give. I wish everyone in our country could have heard him, for it would have convinced them that we want no more hate between human beings, but a growth of the understanding that men the world over are brothers, regardless of race or creed or color.

I think we cannot be reminded too often of the horrors which human beings have gone through in the past few years. It ought to keep us from doing, through fear, anything here which will lead to the same results again.

The particular story told, which I find hard to get out of my thoughts, was that of a Jewish Rabbi who, after years of hard labor in a German concentration camp, was aboard a ship, watching our shores come in sight. The young man, standing at the ship’s rail beside him, was excited at getting home and said: “This gives me a thrill. It must be an even greater thrill for you, Rabbi. Here you will be able to begin life again and be happy.”

The Rabbi answered: “Deep down within me there are memories which will keep me always from being really happy. Let me tell you something. On one of the Days of Atonement, as I came back to report after work, the German camp director said, ‘Did you pray today, Rabbi?’ I did not answer. He hit me across the mouth and said, ‘When I ask you a question, answer.’ I said, ‘Yes, as I worked I prayed.’

“He said, ‘Dog, you will see how we treat Rabbis who pray to their wretched Jewish God.’ He took me out to where a little car stood upon tracks, and put my small son into the car and told me to give it a push. It rolled away from me and, before my eyes, I saw it roll into the gas chamber. Can one remember that and be happy?”

There are not only the Jews who have such memories. There are many, many other people – those who fought in resistance movements when their countries were invaded – who are faced with similar memories.

The other day, I heard of a Belgian organization known as “Les Invalides Prevoyants,” whose members are veterans of World War II, with a few from World War I. They are struggling to help the orphaned children of men and women who were shot or died in captivity, or who were tortured in German concentration camps for defying the occupying forces.

Under the law, the state can do nothing for these children. Orphans whose parents died under other circumstances have some rights under the law. But those whose parents, from patriotic motives and of their own free will, chose to defy the German authorities, are left without protection. I hope very much that, when we are helping the orphans of Europe, we will not forget this particular organization in Brussels which must raise money from private sources for the care of these children.

79

April 2, 1947

NEW YORK, Tuesday – I went to Washington yesterday afternoon, flying down and spending a short time before dinner with Mrs. Gifford Pinchot. She had a number of people at dinner who were interested in the forum for which Dr. Charles Malik and I spoke, on the subject of human rights. Then I flew back to New York, reaching home a little before 2 a.m. – which made it seem rather a long day!

I was particularly glad to see Undersecretary of the Interior Oscar Chapman, and I asked him with interest how Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are coming along. Puerto Rico has one of its own citizens now as Governor – Jesus T. Pinero. While from the economic standpoint there is still much to be done, Mr. Chapman felt that the groundwork which ex-Governor Rex Tugwell had laid so ably was making it possible for the new administration to do a really good job for the Puerto Rican people.

I am quite sure that many of the Puerto Rican men who served in the Army returned home with a useful background of information which will help them to do more in developing industries and in increasing the output of agriculture, if the Puerto Rican Government is back of them. The Puerto Ricans have a great love for their island, but it is small and they will need to develop connections with the outside world and to industrialize to a certain extent.

Mr. Chapman also told me that Gov. William Henry Hastie was doing an excellent job for the Virgin Island people. I have always felt that someday these islands would become a delightful winter resort and draw an income from tourist visitors.

A publisher has presented me with a new dictionary. It looks like a most comprehensive and useful volume to have around the house. Dictionaries and encyclopedias always fascinate me. I remember my husband telling me that, when he was a little boy, he read the whole way through an encyclopedia. I thought it a rather strange thing for a child to do but, as I have grown older, I have found myself, when I go to look up one thing, reading page after page of interesting things in a dictionary or an encyclopaedia!

The publisher also sent me a book on stamp collecting by Henry M. Ellis. This I am sending to the only one of my grandchildren who seems to have any interest in stamps – Johnny Boettiger. I am afraid this book is a little too old for him now, but perhaps in the future it will help him to develop his interest in collecting.

I have just finished Hendrik Willem van Loon’s slender volume called “Report to Saint Peter.” I grieve that he did not live long enough to write the end of it, because this first part just whets your appetite for the kind of story he told so well. He had such a fund of knowledge and such an original approach to many ideas that the way in which he could have presented his life to Saint Peter could not have failed to be interesting from beginning to end. I wish this had been one of his good, fat volumes instead of this fragment, which only sketches the background. I am grateful for this much, however, and I am sure that many others will enjoy it as much as I do.

80

April 3, 1947

NEW YORK, Wednesday – I’ve had a letter from a gentleman who is public relations counsel for the West Coast Lumbermen’s Association and who feels very strongly that more is being done to keep and rebuild our forests in the Northwest than I have given them credit for. He sends me a small publication called “More Timber” which contains some extremely interesting pictures and a good deal of interesting information.

My correspondent says one thing which I think is hopeful for the future: “It is a great thing, a tremendously significant thing under our private-enterprise system that the growing of trees and the protection of trees from fire has become good business practice.” I am enormously interested in the proper use of forest land. I think we can learn a great deal from what has been done in the past in foreign countries like Germany, Austria and Great Britain, where some of the old estates had good yearly incomes from carefully tended forest land.

The growing of trees is a private enterprise in many cases, but it is an enterprise in which the government has a share for various reasons. And the people as a whole have a very great interest, for the preservation of trees affects our water supply and our soil conservation. The cutting down of trees, particularly in mountain areas, can result in floods and bare hills, and can reduce populated, prosperous countrysides to deserted areas.

I think it is a good thing that the government should, in some ways, be in competition with and act as a watchdog over private enterprise. It is a human trait to want to make the greatest and quickest profit possible out of whatever one is engaged in doing, and at the same time to want to create a good public opinion about one’s enterprise. However, if the government and the public are conscious of their interest in an asset affecting the well-being of the nation, I think we can help people to think of the long-run value of this industry. That is the only way in which it can serve the public interest in the best way.

Here in the East, the farmers are being encouraged to do as much as possible with their woodlots, and where they have large areas of trees, the State School of Forestry is giving much valuable information and advice. Trees take a long time to mature, however, and one has to feel that the land is going to be of value to one’s grandchildren when one undertakes to plant trees. So I hope that we are going to develop more out-and-out ownership of land and that there will be a pride in living on the same land for several generations.

One of the greatest dangers to trees is forest fires. In the states of Washington and Oregon, they have organized the Junior Forest Council. The American Legion, the forestry departments of the two states and the forest industries’ organizations joined to promote forest-fire-prevention work by groups of young people. Now they are trying to educate the general public, and the program has spread to 19 states. We are coming to the season when everyone should be watchful not to start fires and should help to put them out as quickly as possible, because they are a great danger and constantly cause loss to the nation.