NEW YORK—With Election Day over and the public decisions made in true democratic style, the contest, which was certainly conducted on both sides with vigor, will now be placed in mothballs.

A number of important decisions must now be made to meet the world situation as well as the domestic situation which will arise out of the world situation.

Adlai Stevenson's message to the President was a heartening one and all of us will pray for the President's health in the next four years.

I saw somewhere not long ago that the President had said he was not sure it was wise to have passed the law limiting the President to two terms, and I think a number of us may agree with him during the next few years. That law, however, was also the decision of the people, through their representatives, and so we will have to abide by it though it may mean the President's influence with Congress will be lessened during his second term.

I think it is a wonderful thing, in this free country of ours at a time when the world is in turmoil, that we can go through an election campaign in which many of us fought with conviction and still accept peacefully the verdict of the majority and go back to our given tasks with complete confidence.

Though one may doubt the wisdom of the people, we believe that the will of the people must be accepted and that it is always best to trust that in time the wisdom of the majority of the people will be greater and more dependable and those who are in the minority must accept their defeat with grace.

I shall go back today to my chief interest, the American Association for the United Nations. From now on I shall watch every move in the U.N. with keen interest, for that organization seems to me the one hope of restraining the passions of the world at the present time.

Big questions remain to be watched besides the foreign policy, and perhaps civil rights is among the first. There will be no way without Democratic White House leadership to exert any pressure, I fear, on Southern Democrats, so it will depend on the Republicans in Congress, plus liberal Democrats, if there is to be any advance in civil rights in this country.

During the campaign the State of New York showed a woeful lack of Democratic organization both throughout the state and in New York City. One cannot help but feel a little curious about this situation, for during the past two years it would seem that conditions have been ideal for building a strong Democratic organization.

The downfall cannot all be blamed on the Eisenhower landslide, since certainly it is unusual in the Democratic strongholds of New York State and New York City for the Republicans to do so well.