HYDE PARK, Thursday—Tuesday in Washington I managed to have a little quiet time with my hosts, Mr. and Mrs. Adolph C. Miller during the morning. I talked with some of my friends and relatives on the telephone and I saw Mr. and Mrs. James P. Hendrick. Then I went to lunch with the President who had just returned from Miami. He looked tanned and full of health and vigor. He had done some work every day but nevertheless had some chance to relax and to be in the sun. He showed the relief that comes to us all when we get away from the daily routine of work under pressure.

Immediately after lunch I drove out with James Carey, secretary of the CIO, to see his wife and children whom I had not seen for a long time and who are now settling in a home of their own. It is a great satisfaction, I find, to see young people planning and creating their own home environment. There is nothing so satisfying as owning and working on your own home, and it certainly gives children a sense of security that cannot be found elsewhere.

I caught the plane back to New York City at four o'clock, and in the evening went with my son, Elliott, and Martin Jones to the broadcast at Carnegie Hall where Miss Margaret Truman and the Robert Shaw Male Chorus were the star performers, with an orchestra led by Dr. Frank Black. I thought it was a delightful show and I enjoyed the hour's program very much.

Miss Truman has gained very much in poise and self-possession. But I think Carnegie Hall is always a rather breathtaking place in which to sing, and at first I thought she was a little frightened.

I had a feeling that the program might have sounded even better over the air than in Carnegie Hall itself. I think it is stimulating for those who do a performance, however, to have a gala audience such as filled the boxes and every seat up to the very last gallery for this hour's entertainment. There were people waiting outside to see Miss Truman as she came out and they greeted me kindly as I walked back to the hotel with Elliott.

New York City looks most festive and Christmas–like. The trees on Park Avenue and the huge one in Rockefeller Plaza, as well as so many others, are beautiful. I must say I like the colorful decorations.

I do not happen to have seen in any paper a mention of the fact that a New York bank—the Modern Industrial Bank—has just made Dr. Channing Tobias one of its directors.

As far as I know this is the first bank to elect to its board of directors an able and prominent colored man. He is a man of proved ability in the administrative and business field.

Sometimes I think we are nearing the goal which many of us wish to see reached when we will choose people as people, qualified for a certain position and forget the question of either race or religion. When that day comes we will have taken a great step forward in the field of human rights.