A ROOM OF OUR OWN

...Glenn Roberts, chairman of the Progressive State Central Committee, gave an excellent interpretation of the state political situation which was enthusiastically received...

...While there was natural disagreement on various issues, particularly on foreign policy and President Roosevelt's regime, it was apparent to me from the time of Bob La Follette's speech that his analysis of the situation at home and abroad was food for hungry souls, that his interpretation of our responsibilities toward other countries expressed the sentiments of the majority...

...Willkie, among others, found to his sorrow, our citiz«ns are very independent politically and, like old Andy Gump, "wear no man's collar...

...A Fortifying Change I could see that even those who had been confused or undecided or had relied on F.D.R.'s judgment in pre-Pearl Harbor and early war days, have been battered and torn by the events and strains of the past months, and yearn to penetrate through the confusion of the facts...

...Inured To Brick-Bat Labels The kept press, like the politician as distinguished from the leader, follows the crowd rather than charting a course ahead...

...Unless I am much mistaken, however, the people have become quite inured to brick-bat labels which have outlived their usefulness...

...Whereas people had been stunned by Pearl Harbor and the rapid war regimentation thereafter, they are becoming increasingly tlfoughtful and critical of the civilian conduct of the war and are increasingly willing to say so...

...It has been a tough period for leaders—local, state, national—who in the face of administrative power unprecedented in the history of our country, have faced the facts and stuck to them...

...We have made some terrible mistakes here in Wisconsin, reacting from one extreme to the other, but we do make up our own minds what we want to do and mark the ballot accordingly...

...We all have them, especially in these sorrowful times...

...A friend and reader thanked me for maintaining such cheerfulness in this column, and I laughed and told her she didn't see me in the "low" spells...

...Whether such cases be true or not, the impression itself is a fact operating to maintain a silence which covers burning resentment...

...As I remarked to one of them, all these months I have had the feeling that we were in a trench where we could only stick to our guns and endure...

...It is my judgment that these experienced leaders saw that the great majority of the delegates were looking elsewhere for leadership...

...Lately, as I have indicated previously in this column, our strength is rising, and the Progressive convention gave me the distinct impression that we are on the move again...

...But as Mr...

...I suppose that it is almost a bromide to talk about progressives looking to Wisconsin to see what's ahead...

...A Room Of Our Own By Isabel B. La Follette's THE exceptional success of the Wisconsin Progressive's recent state convention has interesting and encouraging aspects not only for Wisconsin Progressives but like-minded men and women throughout the country...

...Bob and Rep...

...When the excellent "declaration of principles'' was read and voted upon, I had expected a bitter fight from Administration supporters, but to my amazement only two delegates opposed it on the convention floor, and only one delegate voted against it...

...Harry Sauthoff presented facts and figures on national and international affairs which were listened to in deep absorption...

...As I talked with men and women in various walks of life—leaders in their communities—I got a different reaction from the one they reported, say, two years ago...

...The servile press in the state, although bothered privately by what it senses is a resurgence of Progres-sivism, has not yet decided which way to leap, resorted to its customary name-calling...

...Bob and Rep...

...There is a renewed determination to assert their democratic rights which they had allowed to be taken from them...

...With the difficulties of travel, lack of gasoline, personal conditions tying men and women at home, plus general war depression, we had expected that only the utterly indomitable would appear...

...However, I was amazed at the attendance—more than 700 men and women delegates from all over the state, many of whom had raised heaven and earth to get there...

...The very size of the convention was an indication of this change which I find so deeply fortifying...

...I wish that all of you, therefore, could have shared with us the refreshing and heartening experience of the Progressive convention...

...I did not discover any "peace now" sentiment, but rather the feeling that we should decide what it is we are after and then do the job as promptly as possible...

...Whatever the private feelings of the other Roosevelt supporters may have been, they were not expressed at this time, although they were given every opportunity and there had been lively debate at committee meetings the preceding evening...

...Sauthoff took the line that we should prosecute the war as actively and speedily as possible but—and you could hear a pin drop at this point—we've got to know what we're after...

...There is resentment at what they consider discrimination of various sorts pursued by a vast patronage machine...

...They even told me, for example, that anyone who "stuck his neck out" found himself, son or husband, rapidly nabbed by the local draft board while the "good boys" remained at home at "essential work...