Evening star., 1940-03-18
Mrs. Roosevelt.
Parties Query on
Third-Term Enigma
Newswomen Learn
Little After Answers
Are Promised

e\tsS SNsASs 1uSWStS
Are Promised
Mrs. Roosevelt told her press con-
ference today there was no ques-
ton of opinion she would not an
swer, and proved it a few minutes
later by replying, with skillful evas-
ion, to a third-term question.
The third-term question was asked
in connection with whether or not
her young cousin, Elizabeth Hender-
son, would return to her studies at
Miss Madeira's School here In the
fall.
When she replied that Miss Hend-
erson's family might be making
other plans for her, a reporter said
that rumor was abroad that Miss
Hendersons new plans we're an in
dication that President Roosevelt
would not be in Washington next
year.
Expresses "Uncertainty."
Mrs. Roosevelt smiled broadly and
replied that at best there would be
some uncertainty about whether or
not the President would be here
next year mo matter what hap
pened'
Earlier, in discussing questions
asked her on her MidWestern lee
ture tour from which she has just
returned, she said, in reply to a
query, that there was no question
OF opinion she refused to answer
from the lecture platform. The
only time she refuses to answer
questions, she said, were when they
concerned facts she didn't know.
Speaking of questions, she had
something to say about the census
She said she'd heard so much about
the census questions that she sent
for a blank to see what the ques-
tions were all about.
Il can't see anything there you'd
mind telling the census taker," she
declared. II don't see what all this
fuss is about"
Mrs. Roosevelt said she had heard
Ulldt POoPlC III COWIlS lAA6llG w.
ject to the questions because the
census taker might also be the town
gossip, but she thought this argu-
, ment was unfounded because ut
seems to me that everything there
Is something that everybody in small
towns would already know
She said she herself had lived
in small towns and never knew one
where everybody didn't know what
income their neighbors had. She
added that one of the census ques-
tions concerned divorce, and she
said everybody in small town
would know if their neighbors were
divorced.
| There was a similar tempest in a
| teapot about revealing women's
ages at one time, she went on. Her
mother-in-la law. she smiled, says she
doesn't like to tell her age and she
is 84
Most of the questions asked dur
, ing her trip, Mrs. Roosevelt said,
had to do with the American Youth
Congress, although there were many
questions on international affairs.
Nearly Stumped in Chicago.
She said she was almost stumped
in Chicago when some one asked her
if she knew about her son Elliot S
speech in which he allegedly said
that If John L. Lewis men came
into Texas, that State would know
how to deal with them Mrs Roose-
welt said she was sure he hadn't
made any such statement but she
had no way to prove it, so all she
could say was that if he had said
that he was younger than she
thought.
She will embark on another ques-
tion-answering spree March 26
when she heads for the West Coast
During the trip she plans to visit
one Of the Government camps fol
migratory workers in California.
She made it clear that she woule
return in time for the convention
of the Daughters Of the American
Revolution, which she missed las
year. Asked, however, if it wa!
true that she had resigned from
the D. A. R., fact which wa!
clothed in doubt while the issue o
Mrs. Roosevelt's relations with tn,
D. A. r. was alive last year, Mrs
Roosevelt made the blunt state.
ment that she had resigned.
Mrs. Roosevelt, asked about he
activities in saving the Nationa
Symphony Orchestra, said that sh'
had only written to the Board O.
Directors of the orchestra to asI
if there was any chance of smooth
ing out the difficulty. She said
however, that this was no mor'
than any other interested person
would do. She received an EN-
couraging letter. from the directors
she said, saying they hoped every.
thing would be Strengthened out.
Pays Disputed Gasoline Bill.
In answer to other questions, Mrs
Roosevelt said the only bill incurred
at Fort Myer for housing American
Youth Congress delegates there wa!
for gas for trucks, for transporting
the boys into town, a sum of $4.9O
which she paid; that If her speech
teacher was in Washington sh'
would take her lessons here; tina
she had adopted" child in Phila
delphia because she thought this wa,
of carrying the expense of sending
poor children to nursery school wa!
good and should be followed else
where; and that she had no idea hov
much she earned and gave away.
Congratulated on her 35th we'd
ding anniversary, which occurred