Eleanor Roosevelt – My Day (July 1940)

21

July 24, 1940

Hyde Park, Tuesday –
I suppose for many people the question of the three months’ closing of the Burma Road, over which supplies go to China, seems rather an academic question. Yet, when a nation is cut off from its ports, its one source of connection with the outside world, it must seem rather important to that nation.

I can remember, when I was young, having had explained to me what a great stride had been taken in drawing together the various nations of the world when trade had been established between China, Japan and ourselves. The “open door” policy was considered one to create better understanding between the yellow races of the Far East and the white races of this continent. Just as we see understanding receding between us and the nations of Europe, we see it disappearing in the Far East as well.

In a minor way, Japan is doing to China what someday, a combination of nations might do to us. It is hard even to imagine such a thing, but the continent of Europe under one dictator can have all the advantages that the United States’ economic system established when it drew 13 sovereignties into one and extended that sovereignty over 48 States.

With this kind of economy in Europe, under a man who does not have to persuade his people that he is right in anything he wishes to do, but simply gets the best advice he can and orders something done, we may well look with some concern on what is happening in the Far East, for we might find ourselves between two fairly strong pincers.

The Chinese people are making an interesting experiment in cooperatives which we might well assist. Their success and their economic setup may mean freedom of intercourse in the Far East with people living under a democratic form of government – a situation which we must hope to see in both China and Japan in the future.

An appeal has come to me to help China with their industrial cooperatives. They have over 2,000 small industries now established, making over 500 kinds of goods of local raw materials for local needs, with a monthly turnover of $6,000,000 in Chinese money. There are millions of men and women to work in these new industries.

It may sound very selfish, but from the point of view of our own interest, wouldn’t it be wise to encourage the growth of economic security in China? I realize the needs of Japan, I am all for peaceful trade with Japan, but somehow it seems to me that this spread of war all over the world must be stopped and the best way to do so in the Far East would be to build up economic security.

22

July 25, 1940

Hyde Park, Wednesday –
Ever since he came home, the President has been busy coping with cases of books and ship models. Someday, I imagine, they will find their proper places in the new library, but at present nobody knows just where to unpack them.

I was much interested in rummaging through the library basement the other day to come across an ice-boat, which had been to me a legend. It still has the name Icicle on the bow, and it is easy to see from its lines why my husband could tell me of its racing success on the Hudson River in winter.

When I think of all the work which has to be done before anything is on exhibition, I wonder if the library will be open next spring, as they now plan. I have had some interesting talks with Ambassador Bullitt and I hope that he will find ways of telling other people as vividly as he has told me some of the recent history which he has lived through.

My husband says that, on hearing of Mrs. Forbes’ death the other day, the Ambassador said:

I wonder if there will be in the next generation any women as great as those produced in Mrs. Forbes’ generation. She talked to me one evening at dinner about the origin and roots of words in the Turkish language and turned to her neighbor on the other side and discussed the conformation and points of polo ponies.

Mrs. Forbes knew more about history than most historians. She had met people from all parts of the world and, at ninety kept her interest in everything that was going on. She maintained a serenity of spirit which made her remain in Paris, in the face of possible bombing, with complete calm until she had completed her arrangements and could leave without any fuss or hurry.

There are remarkable characters, these women of that older generation. I am afraid the rest of us are going to seem somewhat uninteresting in comparison, but, then, most of us have lived through a less interesting period. There may be situations ahead of us, however, which will develop what latent powers we may have and make us more interesting in retrospect to our grandchildren.

Ethel and little Franklin III left today to visit her mother in Maine. Everyone here will miss the interest which a small child always lends to his surroundings.

Miss Helen Ferris, of the Junior Literary Guild, had luncheon with us yesterday and gave me a most interesting account of the successes and problems encountered in choosing and distributing books for the various age groups of young people. I think the most valuable thing accomplished by the Guild is awakening in young people the desire to own books of their own and frequently to read books because they come addressed to them. The children might not read them under any other circumstances.

I am off for New York for a meeting today and hope for cooler weather.

23

July 26, 1940

Hyde Park, NY, Thursday –
I was very fortunate yesterday in having a cool day in New York City. After the meeting of the Committee for the Care of European Children, I met a young friend of mine for lunch at the Biltmore Hotel to hear a sad tale of personal difficulties.

An hour at the dentist and a pleasant drive home. A cool swim, with the President joining us at the pool, and it seemed to me on the whole not such a strenuous day.

I am having an interesting experience in meeting again a woman whom I have not seen since we were girls at school outside of London. She wrote me that she was in this country visiting her daughter in Canton, New York, and that she would like to see me again. She came down to spend last night. I do not suppose that either of us would have recognized each other, but we do have many memories in common, in spite of the fact that very different experiences have come to us in the intervening years.

I am giving my final broadcast in the present series today and afterwards some of those who have worked with me, will join me at a picnic lunch at the cottage. I hope it has been as pleasant an experience to them as it has been to me. This afternoon I go back to New York City for a meeting at the YWCA, at which I have agreed to speak.

I am much grieved that I shall not be able to hear either of the concerts given by the American Youth Orchestra, led by Mr. Leopold Stokowski. I am sure that this is going to be a remarkably successful orchestra and I am glad that they are taking their trip to South America, for I feel it will help greatly to cement friendship between our neighbors to the south and ourselves. No one but Mr. Stokowski would have had the courage to get such a group together and give them the necessary training. I think he deserves our gratitude and deep appreciation.

24

July 27, 1940

Hyde Park, Friday –
I drove up from New York City last night with Mrs. Henry Morgenthau Jr. and spent the night with her in Fishkill. We had a very pleasant, happy morning together. There is no lovelier view than the one from her porch, and a swim in her pool is always delightful.

After lunch, I came back to Hyde Park to find a peaceful and very much reduced household. But I never find that we are long without guests and I am always happy to see my friends here.

My mother-in-law is back from Fairhaven, and I wish for her sake that it was cooler, for she needs rest after the ordeal which she has been through.

The Rev. Bernard Iddings Bell has sent me an article which he wrote called “What Shall The Church Say To America?”, published in The Living Church on July 24. There is a paragraph in it which I think we should all keep in our minds these days:

We Americans, in common with other nations, whose governments were founded on a “liberal” or “democratic” basis, have dangerously forgotten the fact that liberty consists not merely in freedom from certain restraints, but also, and more important, in freedom for the attainment of certain ends.

A letter has come to me with an appeal which is really touching. It is from a young doctor in New York City. He tells the tale of spending 10 years in the study of medicine. He counts the cost of those years plus the $1,800-a-year job which he gave up in order to become a doctor, as an investment of $25,000. 15 years after finishing school, he is still doing daily, a great deal of charity work, which he has been doing for 12 years.

He is on the staff of a teaching institution and treats as many as 20 people a day in the clinics and in the wards. He is married and has three children under 10 years of age. In spite of the charity work, for which he receives no remuneration, his private patients are very few.

He says he sees people going into clinics whom he knows could well afford to pay for a private doctor. He feels that much which has been done to make it possible for the very poor to obtain medical attention has militated against the possibility of earning a living as a doctor in private practice. He feels, also, that so much has been said about doctors being commercial and high priced that people will not trust them and, in addition, “influence” enters into the success of some men.

Of course, there are a great many factors which enter into this difficult situation. I tell you this tale to point your thoughts to a problem which is two-sided. Many people are without medical care. Many doctors cannot earn a living. Something is wrong in the setup.

25

July 29, 1940

Hyde Park, Sunday –
Yesterday, Miss Thompson and I started on a full day’s recreation. I don’t think I prepared for it in the best possible manner, because the night before my son, Elliott, motored up from New York City and because, early in the evening, I had a meeting of the Hyde Park Improvement Association. We did not get -started talking until fairly late. At 12:30, he told me he could not spend the night and was driving back to New York City in order to be there for an 8:30 appointment Saturday morning, so he actually left about one a.m.

The group left here was still so interested in the discussion we had had with Elliott on our personal obligations to the country at this moment, and what they meant for each and every one of us, that we went on discussing our divergences of opinion on the matter of compulsory service. Two of the young people present felt that if the opportunity for service is offered to young people, they will take it so gladly and willingly, it is almost insulting to suggest that it has to be compulsory.

In addition, they felt it would establish a bad precedent to force people to give part of their lives into the hands of the government and that the compulsion will make it an unwilling service. I cannot help but feel that this is a mistaken idea, and my own sons feel as I do. Of course, they are fortunate in that they have not had to sacrifice in order to keep alive during the past few years and they do get a satisfaction in giving, as any of us do who have something to give.

I still feel however, that this is the democratic way for us, through our representatives, to insist that all of us shall give some service to the nation, and that it shall be specific as to time, place and kind of service. After all, this is only delegating a little more authority over ourselves. We rarely hear any objection now to the fact that we are compelled to pay taxes for the support of the public school systems, and yet that is a good example of the kind of compulsion all of us enjoy without protest every day. In view of the necessity for mobilizing our country, why should we not compel ourselves to do a little more?

When I read in the newspapers every little while of this or that new adherent to Mr. Willkie’s cause, recruited supposedly from the ranks of the New Deal, I cannot help but smile. I think I could have named them months ago. They always have been adherents of some cause, but never of the New Deal. I feel like repeating over them all, the nursery rhyme:

Tom, Tom the piper’s son,
Stole a pig and away he run.
The pig was eat, Tom was beat
And ran off crying down the street.

26

July 30, 1940

Hyde Park, Monday –
The heat continues, but the country is unbelievably lovely. Because of the rains we have had, everything is green. My purple loosestrife, which turns all the ground around my pond into one great blaze of color, is beginning to come out. I love the first faint tinge of purple and its gradual rise to a deeper tone.

The sunsets have been beautiful across our little sheet of water, but they give no hope of cooler weather. Not even thunderstorms have brought relief. My porch is cool at night, however, and last night I read through Ernst Toller’s play Pastor Hall, which forms the basis of the English movie of that name, which my son is soon producing. I think in many ways this movie will put the ideas which are in the play more clearly before the people of this country, and that they should become more familiar with them.

Yesterday, in the late afternoon, some of us drove up to the Vanderbilt estate which has been acquired by the United States government to be administered by the National Park Service. It will be opened to the public on Tuesday next. The State of New York owns the Ogden Mills House and place, about ten miles further up the river, and I think it will be interesting to many people.

Individuals are not going to live in houses like these in the future, partly because few will have any desire to do so, and partly because our social setup will be so changed that it will not be possible. Historically, however, it will be interesting to see the various steps through which we have come in our development.

I wonder if we have really grown to the point where the size of a house in which a person lives will have little interest to his neighbors, but what he contributes in mind and character to the community will bring him respect and admiration? If we have, we are entering an era where the arts, sciences and cultures of every kind may come into their own.

In one of the morning papers, at the very end of an editorial on the events taking place in Havana, there is a little paragraph which all of us can take to heart:

Havana is an interesting beginning, but it will have to be implemented; Pan-Americanism is coming to life as a political force, but it will quickly die again unless we create the conditions for its survival.

We, the people, are the only ones who can create those conditions. I wonder if we will have the understanding and determination necessary for this new development of our citizenship.

27

July 31, 1940

New York, Tuesday –
I motored down to New York City this morning and it was a very pleasant drive. The minute one arrives in the city, one is conscious of the fact that no city can be a really pleasant place in summer. The mere accumulation of sidewalks, streets and buildings and, above all, people in great numbers, makes it impossible to feel cool. I shall be glad when I am home again this evening.

Yesterday I read a most interesting pamphlet which contains an account of a school run by a Mr. Mongasen, who is an expert on saving time. However, he does it not only by the old device of eliminating motions and speeding up. He proposes asking everybody to think how they can cheapen the production of the products on which they are working, or shortening the processes, and he assures us that nobody will lose a job thereby.

There are two reprints of articles by William Hard in this little booklet, both of which are interesting. One elaborates the theory that the way to bring back prosperity is to make it possible to buy more with our incomes by cheapening the cost of products and employing more people because of the greater volume of production. In the second article, he links this economic theory with Mr. Mongasen’s theory of all people in business using their intelligence and yet being assured that they will not lose their jobs.

If this could be done, it would, of course, answer much of the difficulty which we have experienced in the development of machinery, which has thrown people out of work instead of giving them the benefit of reducing drudgery and increasing the output and their leisure time. In his articles, Mr. Hard points out that we have reached a point where only cooperation will meet the present situation We must have business and government working together. There is no use in continuing the mutual recriminations which have been going on because, in the face of the present emergency, both business and government suffer. We need all the efficiency which this country can develop, plus an understanding of the situation which faces us both in Europe and the Far East, and which should tie the whole country into unified cooperation.

I am still hearing considerable comment about the compulsory military service bill. The general feeling seems to be that if we are going to have military service alone, it should be voluntary and not compulsory, and certainly the age for a year’s service should be eighteen, before a boy gets a chance to start anything else in life.

Future service for short periods, in order to keep his efficiency, is looked upon as necessary. But, when we are not in a war, the general feeling that I encounter is that we should remain, where military service is concerned, on a voluntary basis.