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

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WASHINGTON, Tuesday—Yesterday I spoke in my column of controlling the world around us, but, of course, this is only a temporary control. The war we are now engaged in, must be won, but then we must begin the struggle for control of the world of the future—the control of the people of the world, of a world which belongs to them all.

Sometimes this is rather terrifying to think about, because the task seems so gigantic. It means that so many people have to be educated to struggle for similar objectives and, unless we succeed in this education, our hopes for peace are built on very uncertain foundations.

People must learn that force is a very destructive method of control. That reason and cooperation are the only methods by which we can build a world constructively.

A newspaper recently asked some questions on the postwar world. It found that one of the things least understood and accepted was need for economic cooperation, and yet this is one of the basic considerations if we are to live together in peace. A visitor from Chile, a social worker who has been studying here for some months, said to me yesterday:

"I always find in your country an assumption that you have things to give us and that you are going very consciously about the business of being a good neighbor and intend to share with us some of your culture and technical knowledge. But I never find any conception of the fact that we might have something to give you in return."

I feel very sure that our relations with all the countries of the world will have to be undertaken on the basis that we will give and take, and we have to be humble enough to realize that there are things we can learn from almost every group of people in the world.

We received the delegates to the Food Conference on the lawn yesterday afternoon after the President had talked to them in the East Room. It was very inspiring that they held such a harmonious conference. I was disappointed that there were not more women taking part, because I think women have such a vital interest in the canvassing of these subjects which are preliminaries to peace and which touch the home, where every woman's interest centers.

In the evening I spoke at the meeting of the War Activities Labor Management Committee of the Office of Price Administration, during their "Tribute To The United Nations Week." Today I go with great anticipation to the Women's National Democratic Club, where Miss Josephine Schain, one of our delegates to the Food Conference, will speak.

E.R.

(COPYRIGHT, 1943, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, June 9, 1943

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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