HYDE PARK, Monday—I left New York after lunch Friday following a visit with Madame Marthe de Fels, a French journalist who visits this country every year and who is back here now for a short time. She is a keen observer and tells me that she was surprised at first to find how implicitly a great many people believed in Senator McCarthy's accusations about Communists in our country. Her remark was, "Conditions here are not conducive to the creation of Communists and I have found none myself."

This should be reassuring to those who believe that Senator McCarthy alone can save us from this menace. I cannot help believing that overwhelmingly our people in the government service are not tempted by Communist theories, and outside the government service, I have found remarkably few. It is evident to anyone who visits other areas of the world that the temptation to be a Communist is not present in this country.

It grew cloudier and began to rain before we reached Hyde Park and by the time I went to dinner with Mrs. Richard Kraut of Poughkeepsie and then to speak for the Vassar Temple Sisterhood about my trips around the world, it was raining in good earnest and we ran from the house to the car.

It was wonderfully quiet and peaceful to wake up in the country Saturday morning and I got up early, since the rain had stopped, and was out with the dogs by 7:30. My snowdrops under the hedge are out and there are little green shoots poking up above the ground in many places, but winter is still too close for me to say that there is a real look of spring. Friday night's rain was warm, however, and I have a feeling that two more weeks will make a very great difference. I cannot be back here till Easter Sunday and by then I expect to see great changes.

I was interested to see a release from Cleveland, Ohio, today, telling of the first Northeastern Ohio Science Fair which will take place on April 23, 24, and 25. About 700 schools in that area will participate. The fair is co-sponsored by the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the Cleveland Press, and the Cleveland Technical Societies Council. There will be 400 top level scientific exhibits selected from more than 2,000 entries of science projects made by students, in grades four through 12. The whole idea is to furnish able students with the incentive to work and develop their talents in scientific fields.

It is interesting to note that this is considered important for industry since Greater Cleveland has felt sharply the shortage of scientific talent. To me, this is particularly important because I was told not long ago that the Soviet Union is graduating more students in science than we are and unless we look to our laurels they will be overtaking us. Education in certain fields is as important as military preparation!