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

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WASHINGTON, Wednesday—There are many people today who must have read in the morning papers, with great relief, that a limited amount of food will be allowed to pass into Spain and unoccupied France. This will aid many of the helpless victims of war.

Last night we held our second big reception. All the departments except the Army and Navy are represented at this reception and it seems to me that it is on the whole a very friendly party. People know each other and there is an informal, pleasant felling. The crowd stayed to talk and to dance, and I thought the atmosphere was gay.

This is another beautiful day. I started it early this morning by inviting two guests for breakfast, in addition to my two old friends, Mrs. Grenville Emmet and Mrs. Frederick Stuart Greene, who were staying in the house. I had determined that I would only spend an hour with my guests, but I found that two hours had passed and I was still sitting at the table talking. I had to say a rather hurried farewell and felt apologetic to others for having started the business of the day so late.

Today, I was asked to attend a very interesting luncheon in New York City, at which a plan for sending vitamins, condensed in tablet form, for the use of children in Great Britain will be discussed. Six American doctors have been working on a formula in consultation with the British Ministry of Health and the British Ministry of Food. It has been found that 156 rolls of "vitamin sweets," which are sufficient for one child for one year, may be purchased for $8.55, for shipment to a child in Great Britain. The British-American Ambulance Corps will receive donations for this purpose.

The conditions under which both children and other people are living in England, require more attention to creating as much resistance as possible. The taking of vitamins has been proved to be a good defense against any of the ailments which are sure to follow present war conditions.

I have a letter from the council of the feather industry of America, who feel that in making my plea for the preservation of wild bird life, I should have made it clear that where firms have acquired a stock of feathers in the past, they should be allowed to use them, for not being able to do so constiutes a serious loss.

I can see that this is so, but I realize that it will be difficult to know when these stocks are exhausted and to prevent their replenishment. I hope that this can be done and I am happy to learn that, in general, the millinery business is using the feathers of the ordinary barnyard fowl!

Copyright 1941, by United Features Syndicate


Names and Terms Mentioned or Referenced

Persons
  • Emmet, Pauline A. Ferguson, 1879-1947 [ index ]
         Spouse of American diplomat and FDR law firm partner Grenville T. Emmet
         [ Other source ]
  • Greene, Grace Emily Clapp, 1873-1969 [ index ]
         Spouse of public official Frederick Stuart Greene; friend of ER
         [ Other source ]
Organizations
Geographic
  • Washington (D.C., United States) [ index ]


About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, January 9, 1941

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
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, , January 9, 1941

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)
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  • Black, Allida M. (Editor)
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  • Binker, Mary Jo (Associate Editor)
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  • Alhambra, Christopher C. (Electronic Text Editor)
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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.

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Transcription created from a published My Day column instance. Syracuse Herald-Journal, January 9, 1941, page 23