The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1942-10-30
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PHILOSOPHY IN WARTIME
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Eleanor Roosevelt

q young friend, a student studying
philosophy who has entered the
armed forces. It so well expresses
what many of us would like to say
to young people today, but have not
said so well, that am giving an es-
sential part of it to you here:
"Dear ~
81 want to be one Of the first
of your friends to write to you.
am one of the citizens Of this
world who really believe in the
debt all of us owe to our young
men who have gone into the
Service Of Democracy. These
two words when linked have
great meaning. As dreadful as
this war is, this war does link
those words, Service and
Democracy, and i'm SO doing
creates service Of such gram
deur that we who recognize it,
cannot be overwhelmed with the
sorrow which war usually
evOkes.
I know that the period before
this war was one of bafflement for
most of our young men. It was an
era of great material development,
in which was not included any way
for the development of the spiritual
needs of humanity. Those Of our
youth who were highly intellectual,
among whom count you, worked
out philosophy for themselves as
best they could with the help of the
older philosophers.
"But I do not believe these salts
fed the younger philosophers, for
somehow the machine age, in its
harsh cold splendor, was not serv-
ing humanity, (as we now know, but
it was leading it to wary, and youth
felt this and could not be satisfied.
The machine was too big-too hid
eously unwieldy-no minority could
handle it, to turn it into humani.
tartan paths. So, there was no way
to serve, no way to be served by it
''But to use it to save demOc-
racy-that is a vast service,
provided we can see Gas we do
when we look at it thoughtfully)
that automatically democracy
will be increased enormously all
over the world as a result of
this vast struggle in its name.
In its name-we must not forget
this propaganda value. A more
enlightened democracy, with
modern machines in its service,
is something we can believe in
as the inevitable aftermath of
this most terrible of all wars.
$50 you see, we who stay at home
and think of it feel an increasing
gratitude toward the legions of our
warriors in this war of such far
reaching emancipation. It is this
gratitude which want to make real
to you-for it is wider, deeper
thing than my lifelong affection for
this beautiful little boy who walked
at my side through the green
paths of Hampstead Heath in Eng
land, and who later tugged so val
iantly as a college youth to estab-
fish a social-political group to study
and plan a way to meet the prob
lens he saw ahead Chose problems
which no man nor small group could
solve, and which have landed the
world in wary.
''There are still cynical peO-
ple-selfish, thoughtless, even
malignant. But before this
thing is over, even these will
have learned many lessons, and
one of these lessons will be that
they had no right to ask the
youth of this world to fight,
to offer life itself, for anything
less than a world emancipated
from their selfishness, thought
lessness and meanness."
NEW SERVICE CENTER
WASHINGTON.- recent aft
ernoon I attended the dedication OF
new service mems center here in
Washington. The building was OBJ
tanned and remodeled in the short
period of % days. The donor
achieved this miracle OF rapid work
by cooperation with labor and by
using ingenuity in the use of nom
essential materials. They have Gre
ated delightful atmosphere.
Mr.. Walter S. Mack Jr., who en-
tered the last war as second-class
seaman, has provided for the men
in this war the things he knows
from experience are desirable.
There is place where the men
may wash up and shave, a place
to receive telephone messages and
check belongings, a lounge room,
desks, stationery, plenty OF maya
zines and canteen.
The place is run under the aus
pices of the War Hospitality COM
mittee. / was told that on the first
evening the rooms were crowded.
and I am sure the canteen will
have the same success enjoyed by
the one in New York city.
Buy War Bonds
BIRTHDAY PARTY
That NIGHT I had a Very pleasant.