Had a lecture before the Overseas Party Workers’ club at 10, but the car was nowhere to be found. At 10:15, it came back and I got to the class at 10:30. Talked about relief of overseas Chinese first, then about the overseas Chinese in general. It was a sleepy affair: somehow, everything connected with the Party is sleepy.
Roosevelt died yesterday at 3:30 p.m., in his Florida resort, of a cerebral hemorrhage. I heard of it at 9:30 a.m. and felt very sad. The world has so many problems to face. He had wisdom and courage; he had the might of the U.S.A. behind him; he also had his personal influence. The latter is irreplaceable.
Afternoon, finished drafting my radio MSS for next Monday.
Wrote a statement on Pres. Roosevelt’s death for the Central News Agency 【中央社].
Evening, Dr. C. K. Chu 【朱章賡] and Dr. Powers came to talk about conditions in Kweichow: horrible, fields left uncultivated, for lack of seeds and of shelter; taxes still collected in the devastated districts. What they told me convinced me that relief must be followed by rehabilitation; otherwise, conditions get worse. Powers again talked about West Szechuan famine. God save us from another famine and another scandal.