NEW YORK, Wednesday—I was deeply proud of our Secretary of State today as he welcomed the delegates to the United Nations General Assembly. His speech was temperate in tone, honest and forthright. No one could be with Secretary Marshall and not recognize the integrity of the man and his deep convictions. He is a good democrat in the best sense of the world, and he wants to get on with the business of creating a peaceful world in which you and I and all the people can have a chance for a better life.

I kept thinking of the many young men who have been under his command and how many sleepless nights he must have spent during those war years. I hope these younger men will support him now.

We should not be harsh in our judgments of each other in these UN meetings. Many of us have made mistakes in the past, so in all of our hearts there should be the hope that we may do better in the future.

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The other afternoon, an American who worked in China with the late Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell and married a young Chinese woman who was liaison officer with his group of our Army, brought his wife to see me. We had a most interesting talk. They are returning to China, but she is coming back here in the spring to try to learn some things from us that may help the women in her particular area in China.

What she said reminded me so much of the things I have heard said by ambitious young workers in this country. Looking at me very seriously, she remarked that it was very difficult to get the women of China to be interested in civic affairs—that they liked to stay at home and play mah-jong or bridge. If that is so of people who have some means, it is even harder to arouse an interest in civic affairs among the women who have to work not only in their homes but in the fields.

I suggested it might be done through starting something of value to the children. But I sensed that she thought there were so many children that even that might not arouse these hard-worked women. I confess that if I were starting out on this crusade in China, even in a very small area, I would feel that it required great courage.

It is just this kind of work, however, which will eventually bring about better understanding among the nations.