NEW YORK—By now, it seems to me, we as a country must have learned that trade between nations, and adjustments which make that trade mutually possible, are essential to the economies of every nation, including our own.

The President, who is still trying to get the United States into the Organization for Trade Cooperation, spoke on this subject before a group representing the Committee for a National Trade Policy in the White House Rose Garden the other day. He emphasized, as he has done so often before, that he prefers a liberal trade policy to any kind of aid.

Many nations are finding it necessary to broaden their trade to include an interchange of goods with Communist nations. This has value, it seems to me, not only from the economic standpoint but from the political standpoint as well.

For how are other nations to find out that things they have been told about us in the past are not true without a two-way street where we can demonstrate the value of our own way of life and economy?

The fact that the U.S. exhibition at the Polish Fair is drawing such large crowds is proof that when we show what life in this country really means, we arouse tremendous interest from Communist countries. This, it seems, can only be beneficial for us; certainly it cannot hurt us.

Back in New York Saturday morning, I took a 10 a.m. train to Hyde Park where my weekend guests had arrived the previous evening. My daughter-in-law, Mrs. John Roosevelt, and my cousin, Mrs. Marie Morgan, had looked after them for me.

Almost simultaneously with my arrival a group from City College of New York came to my picnic grounds with Dr. William Turner Levy. I went out under the trees and for three-quarters of an hour answered their questions. Then they went to the Memorial Library and I went back to the house and had lunch with my guests.

At 2:15 p.m. everyone except the children went with me to the Library to greet a group from the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. This group had come up to Hyde Park, as it does every year, to visit the Library and pay respects at my husband's grave.

We talked a little of the wonderful 25th anniversary celebration several days earlier in New York for David Dubinsky and of how much he, as a man of vision, had achieved for his union and for the whole industry. Then my guests and I enjoyed a swim in the pool, for this was really a warm summer day. It also was my first opportunity for a swim this summer.

In Philadelphia, from June 30 to July 5, the National Education Association will hold its annual convention at which a commemorative stamp honoring the country's teachers will be issued.

Of course, the NEA's centennial is being observed in many ways in 1957 and many things already have been done on the community level to draw the attention to the value of the teaching profession and its influence on American life. But the issuance of this stamp should have a real impact, not only in this country but in others throughout the world.