NEW YORK, Friday—Mr. Clark M. Eichelberger, director of the American Association for the United Nations, and I went to Wilmington, Delaware, on Wednesday. He had the heaviest program because I played hookey for two hours at lunchtime and visited my friend, Mrs. Charlotte Shedd, and her husband and had the pleasure of seeing their little home in Arden and having a delicious lunch.

At the train we were met by a group of students who were beginning the sixth Delaware Youth U.N. Conference. They brought me the most beautiful white orchids and I met their committee and then spoke for a minute over the air, stating why Mr. Eichelberger and I had come to Wilmington.

Our state chairman, Mrs. Bohn, has made a remarkable beginning in her organization and has already three chapters in Delaware.

From 3:30 to 5:00 we met with the heads of organizations cooperating with the AAUN in support of the U.N. Then we had a dinner attended by the governor and the mayor and their wives, and the officers and members of the association. At this dinner both Mr. Eichelberger and I said a few words. Then at 7:45 the Delaware Youth Conference was opened in the Dupont public high school. It is a most magnificent building and the auditorium holds over a thousand people and was practically filled, except for a few seats in the gallery.

This Youth Conference is attended by students from many different high schools, and they were a most attentive audience. The governor and the mayor presented me with honorary citizenship which I deeply appreciate. I felt we had a very good day and that our AAUN organization will move forward and the young people will be a force for the future. We got back to New York somewhere around midnight.

I was glad to see in the papers a statement by Joseph P. Lash charging that the Mr. Paul Crouch whom I had answered in my column the other day, had lied where he (Lash) was concerned. I have never been able to understand why we accept the statements of ex-Communists as gospel truth even when they have been convicted of treason as Mr. Crouch seems to have been, according to the newspaper account I read.

I have long wanted to be able to say that the accusations levelled at Mr. Lash are palpably untrue, since he organized the original Students' Union and was thrown out by the Communist group. Mr. Lash appeared before the Dies Committee because he was still acting secretary and defended the Students' Union as well as he could at this hearing, though he had already been expelled from the Union.

Mr. Lash has been called a Communist by uninformed people and I am glad to have him state the truth. I have always been personally grateful for the way in which he, without ever informing against any of the other young people, still, through the questions he asked there when I was present, led me to understand the communist line and the communist tactics. This has been useful to me in many ways since then.