NEW ORLEANS, Tuesday—Early Monday morning I left by plane for here to be the guest of Dillard University, where I am scheduled to speak twice within a few hours. I spent last night with Mr. and Mrs. David Stern and am booked to fly back to New York City Tuesday afternoon.

A special appeal was made by Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower last week to aid the Red Cross in its campaign for $93,000,000.

The Red Cross must collect this amount of money and greatly increase its number of blood donors if it is to provide the necessary blood needed for two important purposes. The first of these is to save our soldiers who are wounded or ill in Korea or anywhere else, and the other is to collect enough gamma globulin to be used against polio wherever it appears. In addition a sufficient fund must be kept in reserve to meet any disaster that may come upon us during the coming year.

A pint of blood can be processed into gamma globulin or into serum albumin; so the blood you are willing to donate either goes to Korea or it helps safeguard the life of some polio victim.

Mrs. Eisenhower asked the mothers of the land to put their strength back of this Red Cross drive. She felt we should not fail to do both things that are asked of us—to give money and blood—and we should help in our own neighborhood so that everyone who can do so would send in his contribution and donate his blood.

If you are over 60 I know from my own experience that you cannot donate blood. But you can do some work in this campaign and you can urge on others to do all they can.

Naturally, I am particularly anxious to see that the Red Cross should take advantage of the research done by the National Infantile Paralysis Foundation, which recently announced that probably through the use of gamma globulin thousands of children may be saved from the paralysis resulting from polio in the coming year. This news made the Red Cross increase its original estimate of the money it would need for work during the current year overseas as well as in possible disaster relief here at home. A working reserve of $5,000,000 is earmarked for disaster services since no one can ever be sure of what calls may be made upon the relief agency.

This appeal, then, made by Mrs. Eisenhower, which I warmly second, must touch the heart of every mother in the country and make her do whatever she can for the support of the Red Cross campaign.