Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1944-12-01
BEHIND
The News
BY Paul
MaIIon

Thanksgiving Daye (last Thurs
day in the month";, chung to by
a few states.
The one we had last week was
sort of Roosevelt hangover
Thanksgiving Day, celebrated
by most.
The President moved the cele-
bration ahead a week in 1899.
40 and Al at the suggestion Of
retail merchants who thought
thus to provide another week of
shopping time before Christmas,
and three years ago Congress
thought il settled the arguments
by designating the fourth Thurs
day of the month, which is
usually the last, but this year
was not.
A considerable number of
people have been saying Mr..
r. again furnished the religious
significance of a great day for
a minor commercial reason al
though he had nothing TO do
with it this time. On the first
one, which I celebrated regard
less of the fact that my state
observed the second one Il will
always celebrate two or more
holidays if opportunity allowsl,
you heard such equally i'll found
ed public comments as these:
"This country Is so divided IL
cannot even agree on a day Of
Thanksgiving"
"Mr. Roosevelt will he giving
us two Christmases next"
what have we to be thank
full for this year."
CINCE this seemed to consti-
~ tute the chiefly discussed
news of this day, / decided TO
look up the facts on it, as is my
wont. I found far more than the
fact children know, that the
Pilgrims kept the last Thursday
of November as their own re-
ligious feast in thanks for the
harvest each year after 1921.
The Massachusetts colony took
It up nine years later. then
Connecticut 20 years after that.
The Dutch j New York
selected another day for thanks.
Then, during the Revolutionary
Wark, Congress chose one or
more Thanksgiving days each
year.
President George Washington
officially proclaimed the Puri-
tan Day twice, but the idea
lapsed until the end of the war
of 1912 when Madison pro-
claimed il.
State governors thereafter
designated the day without an
official system until Abraham
Lincoln, in the last year of the
Civil War, started the custom
of annual presidential procla-
nations which all presidents
followed annually thereafter
until Roosevelt.
THIS year the crops certainly
Il justified il. even justified
two. The bounty of nature was
unmarried nationally by drought.
storm or floods. If you did not
get your share, if you had to
eat fish instead of turkey, you
cannot blame God, but the
waste. confusion. disorder, en-
larged demand that ride always
with the horSemen of war.
What is there to be thankful
for in the midst of this cruelest
universal war of all time? The
facts answer that question just
as severely.
You. in your hardshipS, are
paying the penalty of living in
stirring days. The Roman en-
pire. the French Revolution. the
wars of England which fur
nished the top dramas of this
ageing sphere are puny one-act
plays compared with our era.
YOU should be thankful for
l. being alive to witness such
a time. and pray only that you
may live TO see how things
work out. To those who fear
or mourn the worst of news
concerning some one close 10
them. let them remember there
is nothing unique or exclusive
about their troubled state,
shared by so many others.
The way to find out what to
be thinkful for is to look around
you and think of others. rather
than yourself, of their troubles,
their hardships. Measure your
self against your neighbors. not
against your hopes, desires, or
times past.
If this is done. few will find
sound ground to ask the ques-
ton. OF course, the country is
divided. Democracies always
are. in handling great issues.
Distributed by King Features synd.. Inc.
Reproduction in whole or In part