NEW YORK, Wednesday—The papers are full of the news of the number of coal miners who are just calmly walking off their jobs in protest against the Taft-Hartley labor law. Many of us have hoped for unity in this country and for the understanding, on the part of management and labor alike, that the economic salvation of the world lies in our productive capacity. Now we have created groups bitterly divided against each other.

If Congress wanted to hurt democracy and make it difficult for us to show what a united nation can do to give its people the widest distribution of opportunity through a successful, cooperative economic system, they could not have succeeded better. It will be a long time before peace will reign in the economic circles of this country.

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I think the selection of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower to head Columbia University is a very happy choice, and I am glad he has accepted. The students will certainly approve, for Gen. Eisenhower has a gift which helps him to understand young people. He showed it as a soldier and I am sure he will show it as the head of a great university. New York City will welcome him as one of its new and influential citizens.

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Last night I attended a session of the annual convention of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. They tell me there are more delegates present than they have been allowed to seat in the hotel's big ballroom because of the fire laws. I feel sorry for those delegates who have not been able to attend the sessions they wished to attend, but there are many things in New York which visitors can find to do, so perhaps it is not quite as much of a tragedy as it might have been in a place which did not offer so many other attractions. Some of the ladies have confided to their hostesses that this is their first chance to see a real stage play and that they are certainly not going to leave New York without having been to the theater.

As I looked at the filled ballroom last night, I could not help realizing what very great power lies in the hands of women. I know only too well that direct action for them is sometimes difficult because the vast majority of women merge their lives into the lives of other people, to some extent at least. That, however, may be a great addition to their influence, because they may reach more people by the mere fact that they are tied to the interests of their families and communities.