LAS VEGAS, N.M., Wednesday—We are on the train en route to Los Angeles. We awoke this morning to find ourselves some 7,000 feet up in the mountains, where the state of Colorado and the state of New Mexico join. A driving rainstorm, at times turning into snow, has been with us all day and in places really deep snow lies on the ground. Now we are looking at miles of prairie powdered with snow and have passed many, many cattle and sheep; none of them looking too happy at this last burst of winter.

The houses are so far apart in this part of our country, one can not help but think that it requires a different quality to live and to be happy where so much of the time must be spent alone. Even the immediate family of a woman must leave her many lonely hours, for they go to work or to school. The man who earns a living out here must spend much time alone. Even the youngsters must have occasions when they know what it is like to see no other human being anywhere in sight.

It must be hard sometimes, and yet I think it must give one a sense of self-reliance. Perhaps the nearness to the soil and the great outdoors puts iron into their souls.

I read the American Red Cross report yesterday on war relief, and I think we can be proud of the record that the help made available by and through the Red Cross up to March 1st, totaled in value $22,981,942.00. I was glad to note that relief to Finland had increased last month, but I was extremely sorry to note in the papers, that a shipload of Red Cross supplies bound for Greece had come to grief on its voyage. Somehow, one feels that no Red Cross supplies should be war casualties.

I read too, a little pamphlet issued by the American Association for Adult Education, called: "Women In Defense." It is designed for use by discussion groups and seems to me excellent.

There is a new quarterly magazine called: "The Land.," published by "Friends of the Land," which should be on everybody's table. It is a magazine which hopes to make us all conservation conscious, because people go down and come up with their land, and ours needs to be conserved.

Finally, I read a pamphlet called "Britain Under Fire." It is a collection of articles written by John Cowles, President of the Minneapolis Star Journal. I have read some before, but gathered together in this way, they make impressive reading. One of them in particular interested me. It is called: "What Will The Peace Terms Be?" I think these two paragraphs are worth much thought on our part:

"English trades unions and labor party leaders, who are cooperating completely with the Churchill government, have as one of their basic aims the reestablishment of strong, free trades unions in Germany as a bulwark against future militarism.

“To attain this end, they say Britain must help build a sound and thriving national economy in post-war Germany.”