A ROOM OF OUR OWN

...I once asked Dick why he couldn't do as well...

...Too Much Talk Angelo Patri wrote on this page recently about the evil of talking too much in our dealing with our children...

...Most of us are conscientious, all of us want to see the war end as quickly as possible, and everyone I know is constantly examining her own position to see if she is really doing all she can toward the war effort...

...The "balanced world outlookers" cannot seem to appreciate that, as Phil wrote recently, their commitments will be worth just what the average person is willing to put into them...

...He believes women's third responsibility to be the election of men with a "balanced world outlook" to public office...

...His answer was, 'Well, I got Oscar to subscribe!' All this to ask if you could drop him a note...

...A Room Of Our Own By Isabel B. La Follette WOMEN ARE URGED to tend home fires," reads a headline in the New York Times, followed by the sub-head, "Told also they must supply manpower needed to see the war through...

...With that and the New Yorker I don't need anything else to read...

...I was sure he had left the country...

...This is the sort of talk that makes me tear my hair, and if correctly reported, reflects the general administrative attitude which so confuses and irritates the civilian population—"A bunch of hooey," as the children would say...

...As I interpret the attitude of the people I see about me, I find very little kicking about the rationing itself—in fact most people seem to think that it works out pretty well, considering everything...

...John Michael will have to wait until the war is ended...

...How do you think a pronunciamento like the one which begins this column is received by women like her...

...Recently our friend, Oscar Casey, while visiting in the South, sent in five subscriptions...

...That Means You And Me' "I suppose I will go back to work, but sometimes I think it is asking a lot of anyone to take care of two such small children—Mary is only 15 months old now —but the allotment just isn't enough to live on...

...Once the policy was decided on, there was no talk, and infringement was followed by retribution...

...One can scarcely pick up the paper during this war period without finding examples of the same thing— one "authority" telling us one thing and another exhorting us to do just the opposite...

...When I say 'brass hats' now I mean some of of them...

...Then came a letter telling me he was in Hawaii...

...Far more sound and truly patriotic, it seems to me, is the attitude of a man like Henry Kaiser who, while carrying on amazing production of needed war equipment, at the same time tells Congress that the manpower situation could be tremendously improved if proper child care facilities, shopping centers, and recreation were provided for women in war industry...

...Every issue of The Progressive is excellent...

...What is very irritating, however, is the great field of "voluntary services" where no two officials seem to agree and where each person is left to his or her conscience...

...In all that makes about 15 subscriptions he has sent in...

...People must be happy to be productive," Mr...

...that "the first responsibility of women was to see the war through, supplying the necessary manpower wherever possible...

...I know how busy you are, and if you can't it wouldn't matter so much, but he is such a fine 'Jimmy Higgins' and he will keep up the good work...

...My friend's case is duplicated by the million...

...Several people have asked me to come and live with them...

...We were both pleased to read of Phil's last promotion...

...There were times, with you children, when I chose not to see if I was not in a position to act...

...The following letter is a case in point: "Dear Mrs...

...A Case In Point What the people with large and nebulous ideas, like the gentleman who talked to the New Jersey P.T.A., fail to take into consideration is the fact that the general term "women" includes each one of us individuals with her own very pressing problems right on her own door-step...

...Kaiser is quoted as saying, and he looks at the practical, everyday problems of their lives...

...That means you and me...

...Our mother brought us up in the same philosophy, and I recall her telling me once when Bob was a baby, "If you once take a stand you have to see it through...

...In any case, if I am any judge of human nature, I think that most of us would prefer the government to lay down its policy on these various details and then stop the perplexing haranguing from the radio and press...

...Their post-war job, seeing through the reconstruction period and returning to the home, would be even more dif- ficult, he said, and would in- elude the educational problem of teaching the public to accept war casualties with sympathy but "without pity...

...It would be all right for six months or so, but I couldn't think of it in terms of years, and now it seems as if the war would be years, so I think I will just hang on...

...The ensuing news story only adds to the general confusion, describing a talk by the civilian defense director of New Jersey who told a P.T.A...

...For three weeks before the baby came I didn't hear from Dick...

...This probably means that the questions of railroad travel, collection of tin cans and scrap, buying only what is "necessary" etc., are sufficiently controlled by the conscientious among us, or, on the other hand, the Administration may deem it unwise to attempt further rationing problems...

...La Follette: This note is to tell you and Phil that we have a second baby daughter...