Imperial Valley press., 1943-09-15
1Mu uDaY
BY
ELEANOR
ROOSEVELT

orIlobANE, AuSJTalld, oepJ' IL
Mountains, woodland, valleys and
streams all passed below US as we
flew north today l looked down
with interest at the homesteads
that reminded me of some of our
western ranches. Much of the land
is unoccupied here, because as the
Governor for New South Wales
told me last night, in some places
1t takes forty acres to support one
sheep, since the land is poor and
the rainfall is not very heavy.
We landed at about 100 to visit
some of our armed forces who went
through the early fighting in New
Guinea. They were not trained
then for jungle warfare. Though
they fought with magnificent cour-
age and won, the price they paid
was heavy. General Eichelberger's
Chief of Staff, General Byers,
commanded them in that first
fighting until he was wounded, and
! think he must have been proud
to see them today.
We lunched in one of the messes
with the men and talked with some
sergeants who had been through
the hardest fighting. They were
men from Michigan, Wisconsin and
Illinois. Then we saw group in
their jungle outfits with full packs.
Forty-five pounds is what man
ordinarily carries, but some carry
up to 10 pounds and told me they
did not find it impossible They
looked fit and when I asked one
man if he felt the Japs were better
fighters than he had at first sup
posed, or whether he now had less
respect for them, he answered:
"They are not good fighters, but
are willy and tricky and never to be
trusted"
No one out here has any pity
for the Japanese. They have seen
them dol too many things which we
consider beyond the pale of civiliz-
ed practice. Human life to Japa-
neSe seems to have no value.
BY 500 we reached our destina-
tion, where there is city of some
10000 inhabitants. My first i'm
preston was one of the most BEAU
tiful and elaborate gardens I ever
saw. There were flowers every
where, and opposite the Generals
home, a gorgeous hedge in full
bloom.
First we saw the headquarters
company. Photography must be
great source of relaxation here, for
a battery of amateurs faced us in
stead of the usual press, who
seemed to disappear completely
from view. These troops, after
seeing hard fighting, have had a
retraining period with replace
ments and, therefore, they have had
time to make their camp look very
nice.
Flowering shrubs were planted
along the road and some of the
tents have flowers around them.
There was a little vegetable gar
den. The medical first aid tent
had the stones carefully white
washed to mark the walk and a red
cross in bits of stone which were
painted red. The chapel in another
tent, did duty for all denomina-
tions. Flowers stood on the altar
and crude altar rail had been
made out fencing.
All these camps have dogs and
cats and, sometimes, I imagine,
other pets. This company had a
little black pup who was almost
ready to 60 home with me. Some
dogs are born diplomats and the
little thing knew it was ingratiat-
ing itself, but would have been
most unhappy I am sure, if its ad-
vances had been taken seriously.
have finished Mr.. Wilkes
book, "One World" while I have
been here. 1t is an interesting ac-
count of his trip and I enjoyed it
and was glad to find that in many
things 1 agreed so heartily with
him and he agreed with the Ad-
miniStration. Two books by Aus
tralian writer's were given me to-
day. One is an animal story of a
COW on the range, who loved lib
erty and fought for it. 1t is called
Man Shy" and is delightful. An
other is book of verse by a poet
who recites his own poems for
agricultural groups, and is called
Mine Miles From Gundagai," by
Jack Moses. They seem part Of
the country and I can we'll under
stand their popularity.
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
(COpyright, 1943. by United Fea-