Show t t VI w roosevelt foreshadows Fore shadows new role rob for america ameria U e predicts world based on human liberty latvian minister to U S awaits rebirth of his country t i I 1 by BAUKHAGE Naf national ional farm and home hour commentator oh I 1 dream of jeannie Jea nitie with the light broten hair borne like a vapor on the summer air washington I 1 heard that sweet simple song the night after the president delivered his message on the state of the union it a summer day the washington monument was a cold pillar in the sunlight the potomac a sheet of shimmering metal beyond bare trees but that song its beauty born of the suffering of stephen foster the symbolic monument and the echoing memory of the solemn voice of the president blended together to make an unforgettable moment in which I 1 suddenly seemed to see a changing america a nation stepping forward on a new and unknown road I 1 have said before that many of the presidents close advisors believed that he saw growing out of the war in europe a new role for the united states the role of world leadership each days developments seem to confirm the belief that such is the part mr roosevelt expects the nation to play and that if he can he will direct us in that path the path he mapped in his two recent speeches the america which produced jeannie with the light brown hair had disappeared even before admiral dewey blazed the way to empire for america in manila bay the last vestiges of american provincialism were trampled into the mud of france by pairs of american boots we thought and some of us fervently hoped for a while we were going to leave europe to her own devices after 1919 forget if we could the white crosses we left there and tend our own fireside isolationist sentiment weakens we have tried for a year to stuff up our ears at the roar of the but each explosion over europe sounds founds nearer the majority of letters which I 1 receive are still very much against any step which would lead us into war but the congressmen coming in tor for the new session report a weakening of the isolationist feeling one thing was clear when the president delivered his message to the joint session of congress on january 6 although many minds there did not meet his though much debate was to follow it was plain that his plan to make america an arsenal for the democracies had majority support that step by step he was doing the leading and step by step congress was following I 1 watched the session from the floor of the house of representatives for radio has a little room at the side of the chamber to the left of the rostrum there was a long silence when the president was announced the audience rose and stood with hardly a whisper finally the president appeared at the entrance just to the right of the speakers desk and walked slowly up the ramp between his aide and a secret service man then came the applause punctured with only a few of the shrill rebel yells and throughout the speech with few exceptions the handclap ping came only when the president emphasized a passage foreshadows Fore shadows new role but to me the significant lines the ones indicating that the president was shadowing foreshadowing fore this new part he felt america must play were these in the future days which we seek to make secure we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms the first is freedom of speech and express expression ion everywhere in the world I 1 the third is freedom from want which translated into world terms means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life tor for its inhabitants everywhere in the world reading them over now in cold type they dont have quite the same effect but perhaps you recall if you heard the broadcast how he emphasized climactically the phrase everywhere in the world it was plain his concern did not stop at our own frontiers but everywhere ery where in the world then he went on to describe his new order quite as specifically as hitler has de described his that is no vision of a distant millennium it is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation that kind of world is the very antithesis of the so called new order of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb to that new order we oppose the greater conception the moral order A good society is able to face schemes of world domination and foreign revolutions alike without fear admirer of wilson it must be remembered that franklin roosevelt is a great admirer of woodrow wilson we have forgotten what a tremendous following president wilsons Wil sons ideas had for a short time among the peoples of europe we only recall now how tragically his plan failed I 1 recall very well the tremendous ovations wilson was given in europe I 1 am certain that keynes is right when he says that the peoples not the governments of europe ac knowledg cd woodrow wilson not as a victor only but almost as a prophet As I 1 said the world has forgotten this but franklin roosevelt has not it Is within the realm of reason that he feels having lived and studied these chapters of history that he may be able to avoid the pitfalls of the past and succeed where woodrow wilson failed as a world leader latvian minister retains his post alfred bilmanis has moved that was not highly important news in the diplomatic chancelleries chancell eries of the world although dr bilmanis is is according to our records a minister plenipotentiary to the united states from latvia but it will be of interest to more than one reader of this column who has drunk lemonade in the latvian legation in washington and trooped up the stairs past the stained glass window to look upon the marvelous maiden of wax in her gay peasant costume and great amber necklace for alfred bilmanis like the former head of the little baltic country now under russian domination was a great and enthusiastic friend of the four H for many years when the four H clubs encamped in the washington mall they met this cheerful round faced man who told them about organization in latvia which carl president of the baltic state had bad founded patterning them after the farm clubs in in this country once before had been driven from his country by the russian government he came to america where he became an ardent student of our farms and our farm methods our agricultural schools and the various activities connected with rural life in this country under russian yoke now latvia is under the russian yoke again and the young people who were members of the organization which president and his representative in this country alfred bilmanis did so much to encourage are probably all turned into young communists if they exist at all since the united states government has not recognized the recent seizure of the baltic states by the soviets dr bilmanis still remains minister of latvia even if latvia as a government no longer exists in russian eyes but he was unable to maintain the old legation where he often entertained members of the four H and where guests loved lovea to admire his art treasures released by western newspaper union |