HYDE PARK, Tuesday—In Washington the other day, as I sat on the platform during President Truman's address to the convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, I looked out over the sea of faces below us and thought how significant this meeting before the Lincoln Memorial must be to most of the people there.

Lincoln said that there should be no more slaves in our country, but he did not want to give people a freedom that meant nothing or that carried with it the bitterness of inferiority. Now, some eighty years later, we were gathered here to try really to achieve the ends which he envisioned but could not fully accomplish.

President Truman spoke words for the Government, in the presence of his Chief Justice and his Attorney General, which should give hope that tangible strides towards the fulfillment of Lincoln's vision can now be taken. I was very proud that these words were being spoken. It made me feel that our country would be stronger because they were fearlessly spoken.

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The sun made the top of the Washington Monument glisten before us, and somehow it seemed as though years of our history lay between the two monuments. And in my heart I said a prayer that this meeting might be the symbol that we really would lead the world in justice and brotherhood, and by so doing would make it possible for peace to grow in men's hearts and justice to exist between man and man.

Sen. Wayne Morse of Oregon, who spoke first, also gave you a feeling of dedication to the new and better world of tomorrow which we may build if we are not too small, too mean and selfish, or too lacking in vision. There is no need to fight a military war with any nation on earth if we are prepared to fight on the spiritual, educational, political and economic levels for the ultimate good of mankind.

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Before the meeting, I went to the White House and was happy to see Mrs. Truman and Margaret before they left for home. The White House grounds look lovely, and the house itself gleams with fresh paint. But the portico is temporarily barred off to all but pedestrians, because the storage space under the driveway has to be enlarged.

During the time we lived there, we unearthed President Jackson's stable and thought we had done a fair job of providing new storage space. But more is now needed, and the summer is the time for making additions and repairs to the White House.