Nation's Neighbor

Six days a week Mrs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt writes her diary in public. Whom she sees, what she reads, where she goes and what she thinks are all available to anybody who can afford a newspaper. Her column, My Day, appears in 75 U. S. newspapers reaching more than 4,000,000 readers. This overpowering demonstration of neighborliness is also, for the President of the U. S., a priceless political asset.

Last week, My Days,--* an unclouded selection from Mrs. Roosevelt's columns, appeared in book form. Since her first column, on Dec. 30, 1935, she has not missed a day, even when she was ill with influenza. On only three occasions, none of them Mrs. Roosevelt's fault, did her copy reach United Feature Syndicate's office late. It is written the day it is sent in, appears in most newspapers next day. United Feature confines its editing to facts and grammatical construction, never touches her opinions. Mrs. Roosevelt gets about $10,000 a year from United Feature, has a five-year contract.

More remarkable than the fact that one of the most active gadders in the U. S. can find time to turn out a daily column is the fact that in doing so she has consistently avoided making serious boners. Without being maudlin or saying an ill word of anyone, she generally manages to say what she means. But most gratifying to millions of women readers who write her thousands of letters is Mrs. Roosevelt's ability to make the nation's most exalted household seem like anybody else's: "The White House is crowded with guests these days, and we never go in or out without finding groups of people examining the portraits in the corridor or walking through, looking into the rooms. It is astounding what an amount of cleaning the house needs when so many people visit us!"

--*Dodge Publishing Co. ($2).

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