The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1942-01-16

Eleonor Roosevelt

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tense a number of divisions reach
ing out through the regional bureaus
down to the community level. am
convinced, however, that we need
one overall planning group, and two
other groups to meet those needs by
the use of every available agency,
public and private. This overall
planning group will tie in all the
other divisions and use them to the
best advantage, besides working
closely with the civilian protection
organization. The whole picture will
be able to meet new needs and I'M
expected demands as well as those
situations which already exist.
/ have always held that a good
organization should function in
, whatever way you planned it to func-
/, ton. In this particular case, / think
it important for the heads OF the
Office of Civilian Defense to keep in
close touch with the regional offices
and to see as much OF different To-
calities as possible.
The day when / shall be satisfied
that my small part of the Civilian
Defense Office will 60 on, whether I
am on hand or not, has not yet
come. / feel sure that it will soon
be accomplished, particularly with
the able leadership heading up the
various divisions, and all the people
who have been my close assistants
working with Mrs. Henry Morgen-
thau Jr.
STUDENT FEDERATION
One Sunday morning l left New
York city for Minneapolis, Mimi,
for I had promised some time ago
to spend little while at the con-
vention held there by the National
Student federation. This organiza-
ton is composed of the elected heads
of student government bodies and
can be of great value in directing
the thought and activities Of these
young college people, many of
whom are going to be leaders of
their association.
/ read an editorial written by DR..
Alvin Johnson, the director of the
New School for Social Research, in
New York city, in their bi-weekly
bulletin, and ! could not help think
ing how valuable stimulus to young
people this type of short article
might be.
The outstanding thought in it is,
that in the past, at the end OF periods
of great crisis, we have tried to re-
constitute the past to the future:
''The physicists have discovered
the possibility of penetrating the
black fog of London with infra-red
rays. Reason is, after all, a kind of
infra-red ray"
We should use our reason to I'm
derstand the meaning of the past
and to shape our action in the fu-
ture. We have learned what not to
do. Have we the courage and fore
sight to begin to build new order
when this crisis is over?
TWO WAY PASSAGE
Since mentioning Mr.. Louis Adj
amic's 1.-TWO Way Passage" ! have
showed keen insight into the various
strains which make up the United
States. Whether his plan for two
way passage is possible, just as he
describes it, or not, only time
will show. One thing is sure, this
two-way passage must serve to in
terpret what we have accomplished
in this nation by way of good will
and better understanding.
This puts upon us in this country
tremendous responsibility to live
up to our theories of democracy and
make them reality in every part
of our own country. We must live
down our prejudices, whatever they
may be, and be sure that we make
every act of ours conform to our
Bill of Rights, and to the highest
ideals of democratic nation.
80
RELAXATION
A few people came in to tea one
afternoon. The President worked
right through with the prime min
lister and others, so we were late
for an eight o'clock dinner. The
President made up his mind that
they had all worked enough and
needed relaxation, so we had
movie, which apparently was just
the right thing for the occasion. It
was called "The Maltese Falcon"
and as far as / could discover was
a mixture between an old-fashioned
melodrama and a detective story.
I had to work and wasn't quite
sure that was up to anything Sc
exciting as this movie promised to
be. joined the party at the end
of the picture and found everybody
completely restored to working
capacity. They had really been en-
crossed in the picture and were then
able to turn back and to 60 to work
for another hour or so.
IMPORTANT PROBLEMS
spent nearly two hours one