Foggy day. After breakfast, went to see 許靜芝 of the National Government, telling him that the Organic Statute of CNRRA 【行政院善後救濟總署], as passed by the Legislative Yuan, was satisfactory and should be promulgated right away, that the decrees of appointment of myself and Cheng Tao-ju 【鄭道儒] should be issued simultaneously. Then took Sze Pao 【蔣居仁] out for a walk, played shuttlecock with him and a game of chess. After lunch, while he went to take a nap, I drafted a press statement on the assumption of office, the main point of which was this: after previous wars, no planned systematic effort was ever made to hasten return to normalcy; UNRRA 【聯合國善後救濟總署] and CNRRA were the first attempts of this kind; with the aid of modern science, we ought to be able to shorten the social process and lessen the evils of the aftermath of war. I also paid a compliment to the Legislative Yuan for passing such a practical statute of organization. At 3:30, Sze Pao and I went out to buy some Chinese pens and ink for him to take to the States. Then we made lemonade and toasted some festival cakes and had our afternoon “tea.” Evening, fired off some fire-crackers and had some bridge.
Settled with 胡可時 about giving up the building in dispute. Looked over his accounts.