Evening star., 1940-01-20

irrigated land-today q desert,
which is to be made a garden
with the aid of modern science.
Who ought to 60 there? Are we
going to treat that two years
from now as we treat the average
irrigation project-first come,
first served? A contract with
the Government to pay out the
loan over period Of years-first
come, first served?
Would Like to See
"Grapes of Wrath Settlers" There
I read a book, it is called "The
Grapes of Wrath" There are
100000 Americans that live in
the covers of that book. I'd like
to see the Columbia Basin de-
voted to the care of 500, 900 Amer
leans of "The Grapes of WRATH"
migratory families. The situa-
ton of these children who have
no homes and can put down no
roots in school or community
calls for special consideration.
am trying to be practical and
find place for them to go. 1t
means simply program for the
permanent resettlement of at
least 1,000, 900 people. In the CO.
lumbia Basin and a lot of other
places the money spent on it
after careful planning will be re-
turned to the United States Gov
ernment many times over in q
relatively short time.
Your report has devoted many
pages to family economics. We
all recognize that the spirit with
In the home is the most impor-
tant of all influences in the
growth of the child. In family
life the child should first learn
confidence in his own powers,
respect for the feelings and rights
of others, the security of mutual
good will, faith in God. Here he
should find a common bond be-
tween the interests of the in
dividual and the interests of the
group. Mothers and fathers, by
the kind of life they build with
in the four walls of home, are
largely responsible for the future
public and social life of our
country.
Welfare Bound Up With
Other Institutions.
Just as we cannot take care
OF the child apart from his fam
lily, so his welfare is bound up
with other institutions that in
fluence his development-the
school. the church and the agen-
cies which offer useful and happy
activities and interests for leisure
time. The work of all these in
stitutions needs to be harmo-
nized so as to give our children
rounded growth with the least
possible conflict and loss. The
money and hard work that go
into these public and private en-
terprises are repaid many times
over.
Religion, especially, helps chill
dren to appreciate life in its
wholeness and to develop a deep
sense Of the sacredness of hui
man personality. In view of the
estimate that perhaps one-half
the children in this country are
having no regular religious in
struction, it is important to con-
slider how provision can best be
made for religious training. In
this we must keep in mind both
the wisdom of maintaining the
separation of church and state
and the great importance of re-
ligion in personal and social
living.
I share with you the belief that
fair opportunity for schooling
should be available to every child
in our country. I agree with you
that no American child, merely
because he happens to be born
where property values are low
and local taxes do not support
good schools, should be placed at
a disadvantage in his prepara-
ton for citizenship.
Certainly our future is endan-
gered when nearly a million chill
dren Of elementary school age
are not in school, when thou
sands of school districts and even
some entire States do not pay for
good schools. What I really
wanted to say is this: I'd like to
put on the front page of every
newspaper in the United States
the most backward school dis
tricts, the most backward schools
in the United States. That Is
rough treatment, but every per-
son in the United States could
know where the conditions are
worse-education and health.
Those areas would get the SYM
pathy, the understanding and
the help for improving those
worse conditions. Again I sug-
gest that the permanent answer
is not mere handouts from the
public treasury, but has to be
solved by improving the eco
nomics of the poorer sections of
the country and an insistence,
hand In hand, on adequate tax
alton in accordance with ability
to pay. ..
Must Plan Large-Scale
Leisure Time Activity.
We must plan also on a larger
scale to give American children