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

[This column has emendations. View original version]

      

PRINCETON, N.J.—I was interested to read, after learning of Governor Harriman's request for a visa to visit Communist China as a reporter, that Vincent Sheean had now been granted a passport to set up a news bureau in Communist China.

It is good to know that our government has now made clear its readiness to entertain applications from Communist Chinese reporters wishing to enter this country and that it would recommend that the Attorney General waive laws now preventing entrance by Communist Chinese.

The State Department also has extended the visas for a year to 30 United States reporters who had been granted visas earlier. At least our government does not stand in the way and has agreed to the conditions which the Communist Chinese originally made. Therefore, it is to be hoped that the Communist Chinese government will grant permission to American reporters and writers to travel in China.

It is important for all of us to know about China. I do not think it will do any of us harm to have reporters who try to tell the truth examine what is going on in this country, or in Communist China or in any other country in the world.

The American people, I think, have a right to know as much as they can learn about other parts of the world, and other countries have a right to feel that they are not dealing with a country over here that is completely in the dark as to the conditions of any people in any part of the world.

I read an analysis yesterday of the re-employment situation in this country. With the increase in automation actual production has increased, but that has not meant an increase in employment. It is now reported, however, that it is normal for re-employment to lag somewhat behind production increases but that inevitably re-employment will follow.

The analysis I read, however, pointed out that a great number of unemployed today are men—at least two-thirds of them in the prime earning years of life. Most of them are unskilled, and more than 50 percent of the unemployed are to be found in the ranks of the non-whites in our population. This would seem to indicate a certain amount of discrimination, which should not be the case, especially in labor groups.

Among the women who are unemployed, it is the single women over 25—who need their jobs for self-support—who are the largest number.

Statistics are, of course, designed as a rule to keep us from getting a really clear picture of conditions. At least this has been my experience in the past. But as I read the morning paper it would seem that there is a real rise in employment, but one does wish for a little clearer analysis of the situation.

We all rejoice with President Truman that Mrs. Truman's operation is successfully over and that no malignancy has been found. Now the family can breathe freely and rejoice in the birth of a second grandson.

My warm congratulations go to the baby's parents and, above all, to President Truman. I understand he had practically ordered a second grandson! My very best wishes go also to this little boy who will carry the responsibility to live up to very fine forebears.

E.R.

(Copyright, 1959, by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)


Names and Terms Mentioned or Referenced

Persons
Geographic
  • Princeton (NJ, United States) [ index ]
Other Terms and Topics


About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, May 22, 1959

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
[ ERPP bio | LC | VIAF | WorldCat | DPLA | Wikidata | SNAC ]

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

  • Brick, Christopher (Editor)
    [ VIAF | ORCID ]
  • Regenhardt, Christy (Associate Editor)
    [ ISNI ]
  • Black, Allida M. (Editor)
    [ VIAF | ISNI ]
  • Binker, Mary Jo (Associate Editor)
    [ VIAF | ORCID ]
  • Alhambra, Christopher C. (Electronic Text Editor)
    [ VIAF | ORCID ]

Digital edition published 2008, 2017 by
The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project

Available under licence from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.

Published with permission from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.

MEP edition publlished on June 30, 2008.

TEI-P5 edition published on April 28, 2017.

XML master last modified on May 2, 2022.

HTML version generated and published on May 3, 2022.

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