Yuku free message boards

Sunday, November 2
Heard Harry Emerson Fosdig, "Mastering Depression." Have been reading "Silas Strong" by Bacheller. Elaine went to a movie with M. Mitchell.

Three mainstream media of the 1940s find their way into Minnie Conklin's diary today: radio, newspaper, and the movies... Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878-1969), pastor of the Park Avenue Baptist Church in New York City, delivered a talk on depression over WJZ radio from 4:00 to 4:30 this Sunday afternoon in November 1941... Minnie and Elaine have also been enjoying the serial story, "Silas Strong" - perhaps in the Watertown newspaper - since early September... Elaine made a trip into the city today to catch a movie with a friend.

Monday, November 3
Mr. Bence brought cheese returns. Net, 2.28, pr. 24-3/4. Wm. and Doris put new ceiling on their bedroom. Heard Rev. L. E. Wakeman, radio, "Personal Evangelism."

If Mr. Bence made his last batch of cheese on Saturday, this may be the last time he brings the "returns" over to Minnie's place... William and Doris - now four months pregnant - are busy remodeling their bedroom... Minnie's former minister, Rev. Wakeman, broadcast today's radio devotional.

Patrons Cheese Factory produced what was called a New York cheddar. I'm not sure how New York cheddar differs from, say, Vermont cheddar, though!

Tuesday, November 4
Election day, but did not go to vote. Elaine stayed at Dexter till evening for the 4-H club meeting and joined the club.

The election Minnie probably heard most about during the fall of 1941 was the mayoral election in New York City. Fiorello La Guardia, the popular Republican incumbent, was running a tight race for a third term against Democrat William O'Dwyer... The Jefferson County 4-H Club had been around since at least 1933. It's funny to think of an older teenager like Elaine joining 4-H. I usually think of it as a popular activity among tweens and younger teenagers.

Perhaps, Minnie was not feeling well, the weather kept her home or, she had no means of getting to her polling place.

It's hard for me to imagine living somewhere out in the country like Minnie did and not having the freedom a car and a driver's license offers me to able to leave whenever I wanted. Then again, that's all she ever knew, so it must have seemed quite natural to her.

Wednesday, November 5
Fine day. Heard Rev. McClung on "The Spirit of Christ" and Rev. Roy, Ps. 78.41, limiting God. LaGuardia elected mayor, New York. Also, "Grand Canyon Suite," Whiteman's Orch.

A big day for radio in Minnie's kitchen. Two radio devotionals, the second of which was based on the verse, "Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel"... Mayor La Guardia was elected to a third term in office, though with the slimmest victory he'd seen yet... Ferde Grofe's Grand Canyon Suite is an orchestral piece composed between 1929 and 1931. It contains five movements, each of them based on a scene typical of the Grand Canyon: "Sunrise," "The Painted Desert," "On the Trail," "Sunset," and "Cloudburst." The Paul Whiteman Orchestra made the first public performance of the piece in Chicago in 1931. Grand Canyon Suite became one of their signature pieces.

Thanks for all the info on Paul Whiteman, Steve! I've heard Bing Crosby reference his days with the Whiteman Orchestra on his radio program, so it's neat to learn more about it. It sounds like the group was a real training ground for the stars of the future...

Thursday, November 6
Heard Rev. Harrison, "A Merry Heart." Fine. Also, Pres. Roosevelt. International Labor Conf. Gilmore's had a cattle auction. Rainy. Cheese work again. Net, 2.14, p. 24-3/4.

Minnie heard her former minister, Herbert Harrison, deliver today's radio devotional. Isn't it nice to hear the voice of someone you know personally over the radio?... Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 15-minute address to International Labor Organization officials visiting the White House was broadcast over most stations at 3:00 this afternoon. He minced no words when it came to the place of unions in Nazi Europe. His address is printed in full below... Minnie must have seen lots of vehicles come and go past the farmhouse as the Gilmores - who are hosting the auction today - live right in the neighborhood.

Taking part in a conference of the ILO is not a new experience for me. It was exactly at this time of year in 1919, that the ILO had its first conference in Washington. Apparently someone had fallen down on the job of making the necessary physical arrangements for the conference. Finally someone picked on the then Assistant Secretary of the Navy to help. I had to find office space in the Navy Building, as well as supplies and typewriters to get the machinery organized.

In those days the ILO was still a dream. To many it was a wild dream. Who had ever heard of governments getting together to raise the standards of labor on an international plane? Wilder still was the idea that the people themselves who were directly affected-the workers and the employers of the various countries-should have a hand with government in determining these labor standards.

Now 22 years have passed. The ILO has been tried and tested. Through those extravagant years of the Twenties it kept doggedly at its task of shortening the hours of labor, protecting women and children in agriculture and industry, making life more bearable for the merchant seamen, and keeping the factories and mines of the world safe and fit places for human beings to work in.

Then through the long years of depression it sought to bring about a measure of security to all workers by the establishment of unemployment and old-age insurance systems; and again to set the wheels of industry in action through the establishment of international public works, rational policies of migration of workers, and the opening of the channels of world-trade.

Now for more than two years you have weathered the vicissitudes of a world at war. Though Hitler's juggernaut has crowded your permanent staff out of its home in Geneva, here in the New World, thanks in large part to the efforts of our friend, John Winant, you have been carrying on. And when this world struggle is over, you will be prepared to play your own part in formulating those social policies upon which the permanence of peace will so much depend.

Today, you, the representatives of 33 nations, meet here in the White House for the final session of your conference. It is appropriate that I recall to you, who are in a full sense a parliament for man's justice, some words written in this house by a President who gave his life in the cause of justice. Nearly 80 years ago, Abraham Lincoln said: "The strongest bond of human sympathy, outside the family relation, should be one uniting all working people, of all nations, and tongues, and kindreds."

The essence of our struggle is that men shall be free. There can be no real freedom for the common man without enlightened social policies. In last analysis, they are the stakes for which democracies are today fighting.

Your concern is the concern of all democratic peoples. To many of your member states, adherence to the ILO has meant great sacrifice. There is no greater evidence of the vitality of the ILO than the loyal presence here today of the representatives of the nations which suffer under the lash of the dictator. I welcome these representatives especially.

I extend the hand of courage to the delegates of those labor organizations whose leaders are today languishing in concentration camps for having dared to stand up for the ideals without which no civilization can live. Through you, delegates from these despoiled lands, the United States send your people this message: "You have not been forgotten; you will not be forgotten."

We in the United States have so far been called upon for extremely limited sacrifices, but even in this country we are beginning to feel the pinch of war. The names may be unfamiliar to you, but the workers of Manitowac, Wis., who used to make aluminum utensils, have had to sacrifice their jobs that we may send planes to Britain and Russia and China. Rubber workers in a hundred scattered plants have had to sacrifice their opportunities for immediate employment that there may be ships to carry planes and tanks to Liverpool and Archangel and Rangoon. Tens of thousands of automobile workers have been shifted to other jobs in order that the copper which might have been used in automobiles may carry the deadly message from the mills of the Connecticut Valley to Hitler. But with all this, we have not yet made any substantial sacrifices in the United States.

We have not, like the heroic people of Britain, had to withstand a deluge of death from the skies. Nor can we even grasp the full extent of the sacrifices that the people of China are making in their freedom from aggression. We have in amazement witnessed the Russians oppose the Nazi war machine for four long months-at the price of uncounted dead and a scorched earth.

Most heroic of all, however, has been the struggle of the common men and women of Europe, from Norway to Greece, against a brutal force which, however powerful, will be forever inadequate to crush the fight for freedom.

As far as we in the United States are concerned, that struggle shall not be in vain. The epic stand of Britain, of China, and of Russia receives the full support of the free peoples of the Americas. The people of this country insist upon their right to join in the common defence.

To be sure, there are still some misguided among us-thank God they are but a few-both industrialists and leaders of labor, who place personal advantage above the welfare of their Nation. There are still a few who place their little victories over one another above triumph over Hitler. There are still some who place the profits they may make from civilian orders above their obligation to the national defence. There are still some who deliberately delay defense output by using their "economic power" to force acceptance of their demands, rather than use the established machinery for the mediation of industrial disputes.

Yes, they are but few. They do not represent the great mass of American workers and employers. The American people have made an unlimited commitment that there shall be a free world. Against that commitment, no individual or group shall prevail.

The American workman does not have to be convinced that the defense of the democracies is his defence. Some of you, from the conquered countries of Europe and from China, have told this conference with the eloquence of anguish how all that you have struggled for-the social progress that you and your fellow men have achieved-is being obliterated by the barbarians.

I need not tell you that one of the first acts of the Fascist and Nazi dictators-at home and in conquered countries-was to abolish free trade unions and to take away from the common people the right of association. Labor alone did not suffer. Free associations of employers were also abolished. Collective bargaining has no place in their system; neither has collaboration of labor, industry, and government.

Nor need I tell you that the Nazi labor front is not a labor union but an instrument to keep labor in a state of permanent subjection. Labor under the Nazi system has become the slave of the military state.

To replace Nazi workers shipped to the front and to meet the gigantic needs of her total war effort, Nazi Germany has imported two million foreign civilian laborers. They have changed the occupied countries into great slave areas for the Nazi rulers. Berlin is the principal slave market of the world.

The American worker has no illusions about the fate that awaits him and his free labor organizations if Hitler should win. He knows that his own liberty and the very safety of the people of the United States cannot be assured in a world which is three-fourths slave and one-fourth free. He knows that we must furnish arms to Britain, Russia, and China and that we must do it now-today.

Our place-the place of the whole Western Hemisphere-in the Nazi scheme for world-domination has been marked on the Nazi timetable. The choice we have to make is this: Shall we make our full sacrifices now, produce to the limit, and deliver our products today and every day to the battlefields of the entire world? Or shall we be satisfied with our present rate of armament output, postponing the day of real sacrifice-as did the French-until it is too late?

The first is the choice of realism-realism in the terms of three shifts a day; the fullest use of every vital machine every minute of every day and every night; realism in terms of staying on the job and getting things made, and entrusting industrial grievances to the established machinery of collective bargaining-the machinery set up by a free people.

The second choice is the approach of the blind and the deluded who think perhaps we should do business with Hitler. For them there is still "plenty of time." To be sure, many of those misled individuals honestly believe that if we should later find that we can't do business with Hitler, we will roll up our sleeves later-later-later. And their tombstones would bear the legend "Too late."

In the process of working and fighting for victory, however, we must never permit ourselves to forget the goal which is beyond victory. The defeat of Hitlerism is necessary so that there may be freedom; but this war, like the last war, will produce nothing but destruction unless we prepare for the future now. We plan now for the better world we aim to build.

If that world is to be one in which peace is to prevail, there must be a more abundant life for the masses of the people of all countries. In the words of the Atlantic Charter, we "desire to bring about the fullest collaboration between all nations in the economic field with the object of securing for all, improved labor standards, economic advancement, and social security."

There are so many millions of people in this world who have never been adequately fed and clothed and housed. By the undertaking to provide a decent standard of living for these millions, the free peoples of the world can furnish employment to every man and woman who seeks a job.

We are already engaging in surveying the immediate post-war requirements of a world whose economies have been disrupted by war.

We are planning not to provide temporary remedies for ills of a stricken world; we are planning to achieve permanent cures-to help establish a sounder life.

To attain these goals is no easy task. Yes, their fulfillment will require "the fullest cooperation between all nations in the economic field." We have learned too well that social problems and economic problems are not separate water-tight compartments in the international any more than in the national sphere. In international, as in national affairs, economic policy can no longer be an end in itself. It is merely a means for achieving social objectives.

There must be no place in the post-war world for special privilege for either individuals or nations. Again in the words of the Atlantic Charter: "All states, great or small, victor or vanquished," must have "access, on equal terms, to the trade and to the raw materials of the world which are needed for their economic prosperity."

In the planning of such international action the ILO with its representation of labor and management, its technical knowledge and experience, will be an invaluable instrument for peace. Your organization will have an essential part to play in building up a staple international system of social justice for all peoples everywhere. As part of you, the people of the United States are determined to respond fully to the opportunity and challenge of this historic responsibility, so well exemplified at this historic meeting in this historic home of an ancient democracy.

Saturday, November 8
Elaine is at Bessie's. Mr. & Mrs. Ivan Wood have a son, Lawrence Ivan, born Nov. 5. Heard Rev. Graham, Ps. 19. Fine. Muriel Walker came about Christmas cards.

Elaine must have taken Bessie up on her invitation to see the film... The Wood baby would have just celebrated his 68th birthday if he's still living. Lawrence is a very '40s name... Minnie's reference to Muriel Walker - who must have been selling Christmas cards for one church group or another - reminds me that it's time to pick out some Christmas cards of my own!

Thanks for checking on the Woods, Steve. I was hoping you'd work your magic! I guess the movie Elaine and Bessie saw could have been a film of the event at Oberammergau, but with the latest war news about UBoats, etc. --- I'd be surprised to find folks in upstate New York publicly celebrating anything German during this autumn of 1941.

Sunday, November 9
Elaine and I went to church & S. S. Mr. Wakeman away. Chaplain Eric Espelien preached on "Armistice Day." Scripture Rev. 13, 1-9. Beast - Powers of Evil.

Elaine must have returned to the farm on Saturday evening or early Sunday morning. Just in time to spend the Sabbath at church with her grandmother. Rev. Wakeman is out of town himself, but it sounds as if one of the chaplains from Pine Camp filled his place this morning... Veterans Day was known prior to June 1, 1954 as Armistice Day... Was Chaplain Espelien comparing the beast of Revelation to fascists of Europe?

Wasn't it a German minister who's credited with that poem --- "there was no one left to speak out for me"? There must have been growing anti-German sentiment in the U.S. these days. Markedly so in contrast to the Japanese, who've only been mentioned once - I think - in Minnie's diary since we started following it in January 1940. That probably won't last much longer!

Monday, November 10
Raymond Walrath is still in hospital at Ithaca and Helen is staying to be with him. Elaine had some dentist work done Sat. P.M.

Mr. Walrath, who had his operation about two weeks ago, is still in the hospital. Helen may be a sister or a wife... It sounds like Elaine combined her visit with Bessie over the weekend with a trip to the dentist! I wonder if she had to go in to Watertown to see a dentist or if there was a local practitioner in Brownville...

I hear you about the dentist --- Elaine's a brave girl for bucking up and getting it done. Folks probably didn't get as much preventative dentistry in 1941 as we do today and - without flouride-treated water - must have faced some pretty painful procedures from time to time. Not to mention much more tooth loss. Thanks for ferreting out some information about Helen Walrath!

Tuesday, November 11 - Armistice Day
Heard Pres. Roosevelt's Armistice Day address at Arlington. Fine. Bought bed blankets for Elaine and myself. Elaine & I have joined Red Cross.

The ceremonies at Arlington Cemetery were carried across the dial at 9:30 on what must have been a particularly poignant Armistice Day. It was so hoped in 1918, that the peace declared on November 11 would last forever - that there would never again be another world war - and here the world found itself swept up in another violent conflict. Minnie Conklin must have felt very weary at the thought. She would have been 50 years old on that first Armistice Day. President Roosevelt's remarks are transcribed below... With cold weather moving in, Minnie is making more preparations for winter by investing in some new blankets for herself and her eldest granddaughter... Speaking of Elaine, she and Minnie commemorating Armistice Day in their own way by joining the local Red Cross. The Jefferson County Chapter of the Red Cross was founded in 1917.

Among the great days of national remembrance, none is more deeply moving to Americans of our generation than the Eleventh of November, the Anniversary of the Armistice of 1918, the day sacred to the memory of those who gave their lives in the war which that day ended.

Our observance of this Anniversary has a particular significance in the year 1941.

For we are able today as we were not always able in the past to measure our indebtedness to those who died.

A few years ago, even a few months, we questioned, some of us, the sacrifice they had made. Standing near to the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Sergeant York of Tennessee, on a recent day spoke to such questioners. "There are those in this country today," said Sergeant York, "who ask me and other veterans of World War Number One, 'What did it get you?'"

Today we know the answer-all of us. All who search their hearts in honesty and candor know it.

We know that these men died to save their country from a terrible danger of that day. We know, because we face that danger once again on this day.

"What did it get you?"

People who asked that question of Sergeant York and his comrades forgot the one essential fact which every man who looks can see today.

They forgot that the danger which threatened this country in 1917 was real-and that the sacrifice of those who died averted that danger.

Because the danger was overcome they were unable to remember that the danger had been present.

Because our armies were victorious they demanded why our armies had fought.

Because our freedom was secure they took the security of our freedom for granted and asked why those who died to save it should have died at all.

"What did it get you?"

"What was there in it for you?"

If our armies of 1917 and 1918 had lost there would not have been a man or woman in America who would have wondered why the war was fought. The reasons would have faced us everywhere. We would have known why liberty is worth defending as those alone whose liberty is lost can know it. We would have known why tyranny is worth defeating as only those whom tyrants rule can know.

But because the war had been won we forgot, some of us, that the war might have been lost.

Whatever we knew or thought we knew a few years or months ago, we know now that the danger of brutality and tyranny and slavery to freedom-loving peoples can be real and terrible.

We know why these men fought to keep our freedom-and why the wars that save a people's liberties are wars worth fighting and worth winning-and at any price.

"What did it get you?"

The men of France, prisoners in their cities, victims of searches and of seizures without law, hostages for the safety of their masters' lives, robbed of their harvests, murdered in their prisons-the men of France would know the answer to that question. They know now what a former victory of freedom against tyranny was worth.

The Czechs too know the answer. The Poles. The Danes. The Dutch. The Serbs. The Belgians. The Norwegians. The Greeks.

We know it now.

We know that it was, in literal truth, to make the world safe for democracy that we took up arms in 1917. It was, in simple truth and in literal fact, to make the world habitable for decent and self-respecting men that those whom we now remember gave their lives. They died to prevent then the very thing that now, a quarter century later, has happened from one end of Europe to the other.

Now that it has happened we know in full the reason why they died.

We know also what obligation and duty their sacrifice imposes upon us. They did not die to make the world safe for decency and self-respect for five years or ten or maybe twenty. They died to make it safe. And if, by some fault of ours who lived beyond the war, its safety has again been threatened then the obligation and the duty are ours. It is in our charge now, as it was America's charge after the Civil War, to see to it "that these dead shall not have died in vain." Sergeant York spoke thus of the cynics and doubters: "The thing they forget is that liberty and freedom and democracy are so very precious that you do not fight to win them once and stop. Liberty and freedom and democracy are prizes awarded only to those peoples who fight to win them and then keep fighting eternally to hold them."

The people of America agree with that. They believe that liberty is worth fighting for. And if they are obliged to fight they will fight eternally to hold it.

This duty we owe, not to ourselves alone, but to the many dead who died to gain our freedom for us-to make the world a place where freedom can live and grow into the ages.