The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition > My Day
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt

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NEW YORK—I was sent a little story the other night which told of a rather nice little incident that brought about increased interest between two travelers in Austria and the people of a small Austrian town or village.

Our two American travelers were school people and frugal, so they developed a good way of looking for accommodations. They would drive to the middle of the place where they wished to spend the night and ask a policeman where they could find a clean but inexpensive room.

In Bregenz, Austria, they followed this procedure and were intrigued by the fact that the policeman had a flashlight hanging from his shoulder strap. They talked for a long time and in the course of conversation discovered that each individual policeman had to buy his own flashlight, which cost three and a half days' pay.

When they returned home, they contacted the largest flashlight manufacturers in the country who agreed to furnish all the police of Bregenz with flashlights, 21 in all, and 48 batteries. These were sent to Bregenz for the whole police force. The mayor and the chief of police wrote appreciative letters, begged the travelers to return and spend a longer time, and sent them a delightful book.

All of this adds up to good feeling between our citizens and those of other countries, and we hope that this suggestion will be carried out by many other visitors in far corners of the world.

Mr. M. Harman and his wife, the travelers, certainly created good feeling for their countrymen by this gesture of friendliness. And this could be multiplied millions of times if all of our people would have the same thoughtful interest in those they meet when they are away from home.

At the American Association for the United Nations we have been planning the study program that we are going to suggest to our various chapters for the coming year. Mr. Clark Eichelberger in making a statement for the press said:

"The United Nations, as it enters its second decade, is overwhelmingly accepted by the American people. However, acceptance must be reinforced by public understanding of the great issues. The Association has found that the American people now wish to know more about the great issues before the U.N. and the position that the United States government will take upon these issues.

"The Association has decided to take these great issues to the people—issues such as colonialism, atoms for peace, disarmament, and membership. The Association will encourage groups in thousands of homes and meeting places throughout the country to participate.

"This effort will be a major part of the program of the chapters of the Association. The cooperation of the major national organizations will be sought to undertake the presentation of the great issues to their members.

"The Association at its next conference in Washington, in which it will have the cooperation of almost 100 national organizations, will deal with some of these issues. In its educational program the Association will stress the importance of U.S. leadership in the U.N."

E.R.

(Copyright, 1956, United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, January 6, 1956

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
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Digital edition created by The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project The George Washington University 312 Academic Building 2100 Foxhall Road, NW Washington, DC 20007

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MEP edition publlished on June 30, 2008.

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Transcription created from a photocopy of a UFS wire copy of a My Day column instance archived at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.
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