Evening star., 1940-05-14
Mrs. Roosevelt
Deeply Moved by
Stories Of Distress

Mrs. Roosevelt could tell worse
stories Of the suffering Of the un-
employed than she heard today at
the National Women's Conference
on Unemployment.
After attending the morning ses-
sion for 20 minutes, she told her
press conference she had felt like
standing up and saying the women
who told their stories weren't getting
over to the public how bad their
conditions really were.
Obviously moved by the stories she
had heard and her own knowledge
Of the conditions the women had left
undescribed, Mrs. Roosevelt was Wig
orous in asserting that the only hope
for these women was to make de-
mocracy worth while. .
There wasn't q woman testify
ing there today to whom democracy
meant hill Of beans. Why should
it?" she declared.
Cites French Revolution.
When a reporter commented that
"the bridge playing ladies" through
out the country felt it wasn't their
responsibility to improve conditions,
Mrs. Roosevelt responded:
"Look at Marie Antoinette. She
didn't care either, and 1t led to the
French Revolution"
Wages, she felt, were going up, but
the most gradual rise, she predicted,
would be In the wages Of the do
mestic workers.
THE hardest person In the world
to educate" she declared, "is the
woman at home who doesn't know
what it means to have a job"
Discussing the "halting" stories
told by the unemployed women to-
day, Mrs. Roosevelt discussed in
surance.
sThey pay insurance because they
must be buried" she said, "but they
never read the insurance blanks
For Is years . mother had paid in
surance, never noticing that there
was a clause in the contract saying
the insurance would not be paid If
tuberculosis was the cause Of death.
The mothers boy died of tubercu-
losis. When she went to collect the
insurance, they refused to give 1t to
her"
Mrs. Roosevelt revealed that she
was told Of the case and threatened
to publish . story II the insurance
men failed to pay up. The woman
collected the insurance.
you must realize" she said, that
q lot Of the time these women are
buying phony insurance. That's the
pitiful part"
Cites Tenement Case.
She cited another story she had
heard during the conference by the
mother Of four children, all of whom
were in "open-air classes" She de-
scribed the kind Of tenements she
kaew Tint family camA 1rom.s She
spoke OF the inadequate sanitary
facilities tl1e poor venttaation and
the fact that she was sure the moth
er's children either had tuberculosis
or were on the verge Of 1t. She said
she had gotten desperate feeling
because 50 few people realized these
conditions and because it was i'm
portant that every community find
out what was going on In its COM
munity.
Speaking of the Districts own sit
J uation, she said she had received q
letter from Senator Overton saying
he agreed with her that capital
outlay was needed for schools and
other institutions here. Comment
ing on the District supply bill, she
termed the $100, 900 increase in the
relief appropriation "a little better"
Simple deduction and not Inside
information" made it possible fol
Mrs. Roosevelt to predict the Ger
man invasion Of Holland, she re-
vealed to her press conference today
She explained that she had seer
small item in the newspaper say
ing that Hitler had stated he was
prepared to uphold the neutrality OF
Belgium and the Netherlands
Using Norway as an example, she
said it seemed to her that Hitler's
idea Of upholding neutrality and ag-
gression were very similar.
Therefore, she said, she was able
to predict In her column that the
Netherlands would be invaded.