OPERATION DEMOCRACY NEWSLETTER
Vol. 1, No. 5 ------- October l, 1948

Americans did their best to "get away from it all" this summer, but OPERATION DEMOCRACY can testify to the fact that a great many of them took their consciences along. From one summer resort after another (and from many people who didn't get away) came letters asking for information about affiliating with towns abroad - with promises of action "as soon as school starts." Out in Iowa, the people of Grand Junction and Mt. Vernon talked it over. In Ohio, Mentor and Norwalk inquired about European towns of similar size and interests. There were letters from Appalachia, Virginia; Downers Grove and Highland Park, Illinois; Boulder, Colorado; Maplewood, New Jersey; Montpelier, Vermont; Chico, California, and a host of other American towns and cities. Most encouraging of all, however, were those who, despite summer heat, really got under way with active programs: Bushland, Texas; Rockland County, New York; Pelham, New York; Morganville, Kansas.

The following report from American towns is a tribute not only to America's concern over the way the world is going; but also to our faith in ordinary humanity, and our growing desire to widen our horizons, as Morganville, Kansas, puts it, "beyond our own rim of prairie."

We are proud, in our fifth issue of the NEWS-LETTER, to lead off with the story of Morganville.

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MORGANVILLE, KANSAS

This small Kansas town of 300 played host to over 2000 people from the surrounding countryside recently when it staged an historical pageant and street fair to launch its program for the little French farming village of Feves. More than $600 was raised. Food and clothing were also contributed to be sent to Feves.

"Message to Feves," as the pageant was called, was participated in by 150 townspeople and depicted the founding of Morganville in 1870, tracing its growth and history up to the present day. The theme of the pageant can best be summed up in the following lines from the pageant script written by Mrs. Velma Carson:

Little town in France, we know you Better than you comprehend. Grasshoppers once ate us bare -- Many times -- our crops and foliage -Ate our suppers, and the year's food; ate our clothes off of the line. Once we choked on dust so heavy Day was dark and lamps were lighted. Even better years -- the good ones We've been hailed or blown or blighted Some years cattle died on parched earth. And. our fruit trees died of long thirst. Morganville went out and buried Dead fish on the blistering sand.

But never have we plowed our ground, Waiting for explosion's sound -Never has our sky rained horror Made by man.

It concluded with this thought: "In this chance Friendship - Fate has made it Feves in France - Someone else can help another. Feves, We're Morganville in Kansas."

Mr. Robert Sonkin, representing OPERATION DEMOCRACY, made wire recordings for rebroadcast to France. "To put it mildly," he said, "those three days in Morganville restored my faith in humanity."

Congratulatory telegrams were received from the French Ambassador, Henri Bonnet, and from Milton Eisenhower of UNESCO. Then on September 1 Governor Carlson of Kansas and Mr. Sonkin spoke in tribute to Morganville over the Mutual Broadcasting System.

Sidelights on Morganville.

Homer Christensen, crippled popcorn vendor, gave all the money from his stand on the night of the pageant to buy hard candy for the children of Feves. The candy is being shipped at once.

Mr. L. L. Hearn, former resident of Morganville, heard Governor Carlson's broadcast and wrote saying that during a banquet in Seattle at which he was a speaker, he took occasion to pay tribute to Morganville's fine efforts,

A sustaining ration of powdered milk for 60 children for six months is being estimated and will be sent soon.


GLEN COVE, NEW YORK

On August 26, Salvatore Baccalone, famous baritone, directed a successful concert of Metropolitan Opera Stars at the Glen Cove High School Auditorium. Proceeds of the concert will buy a much-needed refrigerator for the hospital at Pontecorvo, Italy, as well as linen supplies for the hospital and orphanage.

Miss Virginia Osborn has returned from a visit to Pontecorvo and the following are excerpts from her detailed report describing the town and its people and their needs:

On the outskirts of town, one begins to notice that the houses have machine gun holes in the walls and most of the roofs are half gone. In among these bombed houses, a lot of activity is going on. There are workmen laying bricks for the orphanage, plastering the back of the new public school and digging ditches for the new water main.

Miss Edith Coleman, who has been supervising housing, tools me around to see the main institutions. The orphanage is not yet completed. They are operating with almost no equipment; every dish, blanket and sheet of paper is precious, for they had to begin from scratch when their former building was bombed to bits,

The Mayor told us with many helpless gestures how he is besieged all day by people asking for coats, skirts, pants, shoes, blankets, but he has "niente, niente" - nothing. He has a list of 172 families who are in dire need, who lost every possession in the bombing and now live 10 and 12 in a room in stables, cellars, caves and even open fields. We have seen women cooking in corners of bombed-out buildings with the roof gone and only the angle of the wall for protection.

The bombed-out families are gradually being re-housed in the Casetti or "little houses" built with left-over UNRA funds. There are four apartments to a house, each with its own separate entrance and garden plot. It was very impressive to see how clean and shiny these homes were kept. The family might be so poor that no clothes were hanging on the hooks in their rooms, and only three or four dishes and pots stood on the shelves, but the stone floor of the kitchen and living room would be scrubbed spotless and the bedrooms swept and kept neat as a pin.

The people of Pontecorvo are friendly toward America and very much interested in news from the outside world. Miss Coleman suggested pinning note paper and self-addressed envelopes to gifts as the people are too poor to buy paper and find it difficult to write foreign addresses properly .... A little knowledge of America and feeling of friendship will go a long way in a little town like this where there are no newspapers or radios and the people's greatest recreation is conversation.

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NEW YORK

The Rockland-to-Echternach exchange of friendship program sponsored by the Rockland County Boy Scout Council was put into active operation on September 1 when 150 pounds of fortifying vitamins made available by the Lederle Laboratories at Pearl River were sent by plane as a token shipment to Luxembourg. These were consigned to the Echternach Hospital where they will then be distributed among needy people in the community. Other shipments will soon follow.

Many other phases of activity are in the process of formation with the Boy Scouts making the contacts in Luxembourg for local groups and then letting the groups themselves take over.

One interesting project which is now being considered by the Rotary Clubs is the possibility of bringing scholarship students from Luxembourg to study in Rockland County for a year.


NEOSHO COUNTY, KANSAS

An on-the-spot report of conditions in Zevenbergen, Holland, Neosho County's affiliated city, was received by Mrs. T. H. Cronemyer of Chanute, Kansas, president of the UNESCO chapter, from her brother, Dr. George Zook, who as president of the American Council on Education attended the recent UNESCO conference on Higher Education in Utrecht, about 40 miles from Zevenbergen. A few of his comments and observations follow:

I was, of course, welcomed by the Burgomeister who told how glad they were I could come, expressed great appreciation for the assistance which you and your group had been able to give them. They showed me a spot map of the town showing exactly what buildings and blocks of houses had been destroyed.

We then got in car to visit various parts of the town .... I took my motion picture camera along and took pictures of a lot of the things .... We first went to the central part of town where the market was completely destroyed, the town hall and a number of more important buildings there. All these places have been cleared and it is not easy to realize that good size buildings filled this section a few years ago ... We walked along the canal where whole blocks of houses had been destroyed. ... Then we went to see the new permanent houses. They had done quite a bit so that one gets the impression in Zevenbergen and in other places that the Dutch have made great progress toward reconstruction. The Dutch certainly have worked:

I talked with the group about what they still need. It seems as if they are especially anxious to get various equipment for their hospital ... They also seemed anxious to set up more correspondence with individuals. They thanked you and your group over and over again. They are certainly grateful for the assistance they have received.

LOCUST VALLEY, L.I., N. Y.

The little French village of Ste. Mere Eglise was the scene this summer of an all afternoon ceremony in honor of its sister community, Locust Valley. An eye-witness story of this celebration is now being prepared by Mrs. Isabella Greenway King, OPERATION DEMOCRACY, who was invited by Ste. Mere Eglise to represent her daughter, Martha Breasted of Locust Valley on the program.

Meanwhile, two items of practical Interest to town affiliates were noted during the Ste. Mere Eglise distribution. First, American shoes, especially for women, were not made for the sturdy feet of French country folk. Local cobblers tried to adapt the Locust Valley shoes for children's wear, but were not too successful. Actually, says Mrs. King, carpet slippers with heavy soles are worn out-of-doors as well as in, and were gratefully received by the French.

Another item of importance was stressed humorously by the Mayor of Ste. Mere Eglise who, toward the end of the distribution, pointed out to his audience of 800 citizens that "in America, women never grow old." This referred to the lack of black dresses for the old ladies of the town -- for elderly French women rarely wear anything else. Incidentally, one American town solved the problem by sending several rolls of black-out cloth which provided a - real blessing to the overseas town.

The warmth of feeling toward Locust Valley which Mrs. King found in Ste. Mere Eglise was, in her words, "unbelievable." "We must never," she added, "fail to uphold their faith in us."


NEW ROCHELLE, NEW YORK

A cable was received from Mayor Stanley W. Church, honorary chairman of the New Rochelle to La Rochelle program, now in Europe attending an international conference of mayors, saying that he is making an official visit to La Rochelle accompanied by the Military Attache' of the United States embassy in Paris. Mayor Church will make a token presentation of a baby incubator together with a six months' supply of medicines and drugs to Dr. Armand Beraud, head of Pediatrics of the La Rochelle Municipal Hospital.


TUXEDO, NEW YORK

A flood of letters from Engelen-Bokhoven children and parents has been received following arrival of candy sent by Tuxedo. School children here are now busy with replies.

Tuxedo has received a book from their Dutch town giving the amount of war damage, reconstruction work in progress, and a description of each family in the town and its needs. This will prove very valuable in planning future efforts.

Prizes were sent by air as a surprise gift to be used as awards in the games and events that were part of Engelen's celebration of Queen Wilhelmina's anniversary.


FRESNO, CALIFORNIA

The Delta Kappa Gamma Society has decided to adopt the Lenteleven (Spring Life) school in Baarn, Holland. This nursery school for children of working-class parents is badly in need of equipment and furnishings. Mrs. Mary F. Paterson, chairman of our society, writes: "Our members are very enthusiastic over the opportunity to serve these little children... .We want to become sincere friends to the teachers and children at Lenteleven.�


DUNKIRK, NEW YORK

An account of the accomplishments of Dunkirk, N.Y. in fostering the town-to-town affiliation program, appears in a chapter titled Beginnings of World-Wide Friendliness by Quentin Reynolds. It stresses the importance of such movements as the town-to-town program in promoting world good-will.


SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

An old-fashioned political rally organized to raise funds for the "mortgage" due on Chief Seattle, the young bull sent to San Gimignano, Italy, to bolster cattle herds there, has been postponed until closer to election time. Local politicians will participate and will be allowed to express their respective views freely. The length of their speeches will be determined by how much they contribute towards raising the mortgage on Chief Seattle. Meanwhile, Seattle is planning a Christmas gift program for San Gimignano.


PASEDENA, CALIFORNIA

When Pasedena's "sister city," Ludwigshafen, Germany, was shaken and severely damaged by an explosion of a chemical plant, Pasedena was able to rush immediate medical aid by air to relieve the suffering of thousands in the stricken city. The medication was paid for by an emergency appropriation made by Pasedena Shares, a city-formed organization which is conducting a long range feeding program for Ludwigshafen's children. This is the quick, practical kind of aid that such town affiliation programs make possible.


BUSHLAND, TEXAS

Bushland, like Morganville, is a small town (200 population) with a big heart. Bushland recently affiliated with Epron par Cambe-en-Plaine, France, and collections of food and clothing are already underway. To the best of OPERATION DEMOCRACY'S knowledge, Bushland is the first community in Texas to adopt a French community.


MEADVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA

Initial distribution of the gifts sent from Meadville to Fismes, France, was made on July 14, Bastille Day, to the school children. At these ceremonies, the children of Fismes sang a song composed by them and dedicated to the people of Meadville. By the end of August, some 3300 packages had been apportioned and distributed to every home as well as to the hospital and almshouse. Letters of gratitude and appreciation have been received in Meadville, and photographs and perhaps a moving picture of the distribution are expected.


PELHAM, NEW YORK

Joining the rapidly growing number of Westchester County towns to adopt foreign towns, Pelham officially announced its affiliation program with Falaise, France. The program is being launched by an exchange of letters between the school children of the two cities.


CEDAR GROVE, WISCONSIN

This town, which is Dutch in heritage, was affiliated with Bierum, Holland.


SEMINOLE, TEXAS

This enterprising city recently joined the growing ranks of American communities which claim the distinction of having first thought of town adoptions. According to a local newspaper, it all began when Seminole, Texas, "affiliated" with Seminole, Oklahoma. OPERATION DEMOCRACY has explained that this isn't quite the same thing, and has cordially invited Seminole to take its pick of a number of European towns that expressed a desire to learn more about the state of Texas.


BROOKLYN, NEW YORK

Lollipops for the children of Breukelen, Holland, from Brooklyn, New York, arrived in time to add to their joy in celebrating their Queen's anniversary.

Miss Marguerite A. Salomon, founder of the Brooklyn-adopts-Breukelen project, will leave soon for Europe to be a guest of Breukelen. To date, the people of Brooklyn have sent 12 tons of supplies to their Dutch namesake.


SIDNEY, OHIO

This community of 12,000 has collected 256,000 pounds of food for Germany. The food will be distributed in Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Wiesbaden and Nuremberg. Lewis Warbington, farmer in Sidney, started the project. "We want to be good neighbors and some of our neighbors are hungry," he said. With each food package will go a letter from an Ohio family to a German family.


WORTHINGTON, MINNESOTA

Worthington's affiliation, Crailsheim, Germany, has been enriched by the arrival of an exchange student from the German town. The citizens of Worthington have also had an opportunity to learn more about their sister city through films taken this summer in Crailsheim by Mr. Donald Watt, Director of the Experiment in International Living. Mr. and Mrs. Cashel of the Worthington Committee met Mr. Watt last June at the Dunkirk Conference on Town Affiliation.


NORTHFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS

Northfield, through the Medway Plan, has affiliated with the little French channel town of Camiers and is planning a person-to-person, highly individualized program. The most urgent need is for the children of Camiers and a drive for blankets, linens and clothing is being started immediately. The program in Northfieid will strongly emphasize cultural exchange as well as material aid.


NOTES AND COMMENT

Several affiliated communities are now exchanging weekly columns through their local papers: weather and crop news, social events, local news stories and items relating to the affiliation program itself. Editors like the idea, and it helps considerably to bring the picture of the daily life of two towns into sharper focus. One has to remember, however, that Europe still suffers from a shortage of newsprint, and that overseas editors cannot give the same amount of space that ours can.

Many communities are inquiring about bringing students, farm boys, etc., from European towns to work and study in America. OPERATION DEMOCRACY is in touch with the agencies which can facilitate these matters and will be glad to refer such inquiries to them.

The New York office of UNESCO has called our attention to the "Children's Villages" which are springing up throughout Europe and whose Directors attended a recent conference in Switzerland sponsored by UNESCO. These "Villages" are separate entities consisting of homes and institutions for the care and education of war-orphaned children between six and fifteen years of age. UNESCO points out that these Villages "exist usually on a shoestring," and would benefit greatly by a program of affiliation with an American community.

Also in line with OPERATION DEMOCRACY'S desire to bring American towns into direct contact with the neediest cases abroad are the Displaced Persons camps in Germany. One American community is already considering affiliation with the occupants of one of these camps.

OPERATION DEMOCRACY was represented recently at a CARE luncheon inaugurating the opening of that organization's new "Friendship Program." From now on the CARE program will include, in addition to packages for friends and relatives abroad, provision for sending nine different types of CARE packages to families hitherto unknown, and selected by CARE on the basis of need. CARE will also now accept contributions to local CARE committees in any amount and will provide packages to families and groups in areas of particular distress. Among the new packages featured by CARE are a 10 pound lard package and a special holiday version consisting of a whole turkey with trimmings.

OPERATION DEMOCRACY suggests that wherever an affiliated community has no special plans for the Christmas Season, individuals be urged to send CARE packages, or any other recognized brand of overseas gift parcel, to their friends in the affiliated overseas community.

Our files are filled with dossiers on European towns seeking an affiliation program. If you have friends in nearby American towns which haven't yet been introduced to these programs, get in touch with them, or send us their names and addresses.

We are anxious to hear from all communities engaged in town-to-town affiliations, and will publish digests of such reports in future issues of the NEWSLETTER. Write to:

OPERATION DEMOCRACY, INC.
369 Lexington Avenue
New York 17, N. Y.


BULLETIN

Word has been received from Mentor Township, Ohio, that it has decided officially to affiliate with the town of Soulahti, Finland. The program will get under way with a Halloween street parade and dance, a concert by the Finnish Lutheran Choir from a nearby community, and a special celebration on Thanksgiving Day. Through OPERATION DEMOCRACY, Mentor has been put in touch with Help Finland, Inc., in New York City, and the Mannerheim League in Finland. These agencies will handle shipping and distribution.

Mentor is the first to affiliate with a Finnish town, and we are proud to join with the people of Mentor in an adventure which will be watched with considerable interest by all Americans.