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

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NEW YORK—The report of the Democratic Advisory Council, issued after its last meeting in Washington, contained some pretty plain language, both as to the President's threats to veto certain legislation and the efforts by Democratic leaders in Congress to prevent these vetoes by watering down the controversial bills.

I was rather grieved when the party's Congressional leaders decided not to join the advisory council, but now I think they were right. For the council is now free to criticize both Republican and Democratic leaders, and the latter are the only ones who can show through their actions what may be expected of the Democratic party if it comes to power.

The advisory council, in being able to criticize Democratic Congressional leadership, may well keep in line a number of Democrats who might otherwise become discouraged and say, as I have heard said so often, "There is no difference between the Democratic party and Republican party. They are both equally bad (or equally good)."

I was interested in the news that Henry J. Rand of Cleveland, Ohio, has signed a contract with the Soviet government giving him an option to license in this country the manufacture of certain Soviet medical instruments.

Mr. Rand has been studying Soviet technology and apparently has found some interesting advances in that field.

This will be a new type of exchange between our countries and should be valuable to both.

As usual, the climate in our country seems to swing sharply from one extreme to the other. After several very warm days last week, the weather in Hyde Park last weekend made me think we were going back to mid-winter. Everyone shivered, including the flowers, and I am sure the baby birds must have felt the change, too.

One of my granddaughters has acquired the tiniest and fluffiest little kitten. Their own dog seems to regard the new pet with pleasure and kindness, and because the kitten is so small and helpless, I only hope the two other dogs on our place will feel the same way.

There is nothing so sweet as baby animals. I even felt kindly toward a furry baby rabbit I saw scampering out of my garden, even though I am sure it and the rest of its family ate many of our young vegetables.

New York City has tried lighting streets in certain areas much more brilliantly and now reports that this has been responsible for a 47 percent drop in the incidence of murder, rape and assault in those areas since 1957, plus a 30 percent drop in juvenile delinquency.

Brilliantly lighted streets may cost more, but if they achieve such results, I believe they are well worth the cost.

E.R.

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


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, June 19, 1959

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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