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WILMETTE LIFE 1 1After two sentences of "comment Dr. Martin H. Bickhàm, director of the wourk program of the Fed'eral Emer- gency Relief administration for Illinois andl Illinois Emergency Relief commis- sion, looked sharply over at me as ive sat iin bis living. room %vich was tightly closed against the bot July evening. -"You understand that I cannot give an interview for the commission," lie said empbatically. But like the character in Charles Dickens' "David CoPperfield" who could flot get beyond the head of Charles the .in bis writing of Englisb bistory, I have uiot been able to get away from bis relief work. Everytbing Dr. Bickham has done, everytbing he is doing. and probably bis chief interest 4ior the future center about the problem of social. ad- j ustinents, economic studies, sociological t rends. lis life is so integrated, his purpose so steadfast that he is today, after five years of planning and directing the %vork relief project§ of Cook county anîd within the last year of the state, 1ereie looking, still judicially académiie ini hîs presentation, rernîniscent. of the scholar of reasoned judgments. .C lose to Huma,, Problema, vet witb al bis dispassionateness lie is close to buman problems. Ris enltire staff of iiearly 2,500 bas been assenibled f rom ment ahd women wvho came to hiim frouni the relief lists. Under bis guidance several bholders of Ph.D. degrees lîavc 'Viseu -steadily in bis organization to places of respoùisibiiity wliere their teclh- nique and knowledge count. He is 'able to talk ini ternis of five hundred chickens and one bundred tur- keys wbicb a man in downstate Illinois wishes to raise so as to care for lus fivê small cbldren and wife. This par- ticular ma4h as just asked for a $200 boan in order to get bis self -sustaining farin project going nicely. To begin at the beginning I learned that even as a college student Dr. Bick- bam was engaged in settlement work, ini sociological studies. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania, whicb gave Iiim a degree in 1908, un(d er the distinguislied Dr. Simoni Nelson Pat- ton. It wvas Dr. Pattoni,-accordiing to bis admirer, who evolved the tbeory of the economy of abundance, a tbeory nlow l)eing used effectively by Stuart Chuase iii bis iiew book and iin bis lecturing, the idea of a surplus civilization. Back iin bis college days young Bickhiam was iîîterested in the immigrant strains in our civilization, in the clash and mini- gling of cultures in America. Begim With Y.M.C.A. After college he entered Y. M. C. A. work, where lie stayed for eight years. lit 1917 before the United States bad actuallv entered the WVorld war, Dr. Bickhamt (not yet a Ph.D.) visited th-e Great Lakes NÇaval Training station. became acquainted with AdmiralINMof- fett and other officers. and was instri.- mental in organizing tlie Y. M. C. A. %(rk there. "A the hieiglit of the war we. had tNwetv-fotir Y. M. C. A. buts about the Station aiIt a staff of 115," recollecte(l Dr.. Bickliàirý -1 i -l elie e there were somne 55,000 boys there." At Great Lakes Dr.- Bicklîan staved two years. In 1919 after the arniistice lie was sent to France to assist with demnobilization 'problems of the A. E~. F.. Still ini the Y. M. C. A. organiza- ti.mn. He dwas. overseas several mnonths. spen(ling some time ini Paris dTrectinig the sigbt-seeing work in Paris and on the Western front.. Returps "High and Dry" "Wlien I came.back, I was higb and dry." commented Mr. Bickhani wrylv, "like 50 many cbaps who bad been con- nected -witb the war. I decided then to take graduate wvork at the Univerqitv of Chicago and got -my niaster's and doctorate." Duning this important period of bis li fe Dr. Bickbam was- studying under two other outstanding teachers. One of these was Dr. Charles R. Henderson, wvbom lie described as a great humani- tarian, a man who had gone through the depression of 1914-15 and had leahned LUCY ROGERS HAWKINS RO A ,TE valuable lessons. Under bim le partici- pated in stock yard and steel miii immi-* grant studies, in settlement work ini :Chicago. The',other was Dr.,Aibion M. Small,: froni wboni le learned tbe ap- plied technique of sociology. Thelessons imparted by Patton, Hen-. droSmall bave borne fruitin great degree, it would seeni., The day Dr. Bickbam received bis doctorate, a uni- versity trustec accosted bim and said to go down to a' certain office tbe next day to see some people wbo were very interested in him. He diçi so and imme-: diately.was asked to join t'*le staff of the United Chiarities of Chicago. Devises Work Relief Plan It was the research done on tbat staff, the studies developed that pre- pared him for the next step, which was the presenting to the governor's boar -d in the fall of 1929 a work -irelief zplaiy calling for the appropriation of $3,000,- 000 in Cook county. "To everybody's surprise, and my own, too, the board voted a million, and the wvork started," said Dr. Bickbam 'witb a wave of his large and expressive hands. By October 21, 1930, tbey started to put 100,000 men at work iin Cook counity to earn their relief. In New, York state Harry Hopkins was asked hy Governor Roosevelt to work out a work relief plan, and. iniOhio Fred Koliler of Cincinnati was developing a sirnilar idea. Thus in tbree widelv separate sections of the country began the movement, quite independently, w~hiclî bas now grown into a national ()rganization headed by Mr. Hopkins utnder the governor turned president. Curiouslv enoughi. the greatest. op- position to the relief methods of the state and nation bas corne f rom tbe or- ganized charities wbo feared what they considered untried technique. The un- ion-s biowever f rom the first have co- operated sympathetically because Dr. Bickbam bas coîisistently made an ef- fort, to place union men in union j .obs. Siashez Red Tape Plaving fair is Dr. Bickbam's wvatcIi- word. Another might be, cutting red tape. In fact, more from wvh at he did not say than f rom any actual phrases, this reporter buiît up a picture of huPe shears slashing througb the intricacies of politics, charities, economics. ".There are tbree great areas iin this country where we cani take care of Our newcomers in tke labor market," stated Dr. Bickham earnestly, who for tbree depression * ears taugbt at the. Univer- sity of Illinois. These areas are recrea- tion, pub)lic healtb, education. In Cook' county. alone. there, are six hundred yo.ung, college-trained recreation lead- ers. 1 helieve that these areas can take care of our college graduates who otherwise wvilI have no place in the, lal)or mark et for years to corne.", Sorne day the wvhole story of the wvork relief project- will be told, a story that will be ricli in burnan values, drarnatic iin its ac cornplishments, startling iin its, scope. There are about 50,000 men and wornen at work now under the FERA ini Illinois. By faîlfthere will be 100,000 more. All of themn are. engaged, in gov- ernmental activities -or on projects of governing agenci es, sncb as the board of educat ion, the'paik boards, and so on. Trees are being planted on miles *oi state higbways,,grass seeded; beautiful Lincoln park is being ýenlarged at the north extrernity; the forest preserves. ,have been cleared of underbrush and 100 2 miles of bridle patbs put iii, footpaths nmade; public buildings are being re- decorated. But tbese details and others are farniligr ones. Constant Travelera So extensive bas the work reliefv prograin become that Dr. Bickham re- I ceives between five bundred. and sixJ Eiundred letters a week from persons seeking belp and advice. He travels constantly. His faniily hardly ever -sees Goodman Theatre Players Complete Suecessful Tour On July 18 at the Texas. Technicéal college at Lubbock, Texas, 1,300 miles away froni Chicago, the Good- man Players of the Art Institute of Chicago opened the first perform- ance -of an exceedingly successful tour of the soutliwest and Middle West. Tbe play was- "Mr. Pini Passes By" and the cast included two members of the staff of the theater, Dr. Maurice Gnesin and Eunice Os- borne, and five students who" are quite familiar to the audiences of the Members series. During the trip whicb ended in the Iowa State col-. lege at Ames, the players have ap- peared in colleges and universities of five 'states and have. covered some 4,500 miles on their travels. Trhe tour bas been so successful that the manager, Lucius Pryor, is already negotiating ýwith Dr. Gnesin for an- other tour during the summer of 1935. Dr.- Austin Phelps Is on Stanford Faculty Dr. Austin Phelps, son of Mr. and Mrs. Edward J. Plielps- of Kenil- wvort b, lias been appointed assistant in the researchi departmeuît at Stan- ford university, Stanford, Cal. Dr. Pbelps giaduated from Yale univer- sity in 1928. He entered the graduate department and after four years of study received.bis Pli. D. degree from Yale in june of 1932. He then re- *ceived a two-yvear fellowsbip at Stan- ford from.thýe Rockefeller Founda- tion. His appointment at Stanford. dates froni August 1, 1934. His liead- (luarters will be for- the. pres ent at the Marine laboratory* at* Carmel, Cal. Dr. Phelps is, specializing in zoology anid comparative anatomy. GUEST .AT, LAND O'LAKES Margaret Tidernan, daugliter, of the Harold Tidemans of 138 Abingdon avenue, Kenilwortb, who was at War- wick Woods camp at Pluni Lake, Wis., left Friday to spend ten days visiting Joan Ketchani, daugliter of the Frankc Ketcbams, at tbeir- summer home, Wee- wancbu lodge, at Land o'Lakes, Wis. Margaret will also visit Marsha Huck at lier parents' summer home at TrouK- Lake, Wis. =1 id5. 19 given Up social. life to a large éxtent, for everywhere theywent, lie was asked, "What do you think of tbis-and that ?" *Mrs. Bickbam jokingly reniarked the otber night that wvhen she-wants togàid out wbat lie. is doing, sbe goes to bear bim lecture. At home in Wîimette, where the f ar- ily, bas lived for 17 years at 429 Ninth street, tbe hobbies of Dr. and Mri. Bickhamn are gardening and missions, respectively, afid, of course, their daughters., The oldest is married and lives near Kokomo, Ind., but Emma and, Margaret who are students at Grinneli, and Frances, who is in grammar scbool, are al at home in the summer. M4fteM«t of Garden The Bi&ha àa1ederQ,,oasts of. twe.p- ty-five pereiniials ail inll~oom now, but Mr,-s." -ickbiam's real. .pride cornes iU3 having something in bloom f rom the time of the snowdrops in the spring to the chrysanthemum in the f ail. Dr. Bickham prefers the vegetabîrs to the flowers but "does the heavy work for both," according to bis sprightly lit- tle wife. With the spade and hoe lie forgets the 14,000,000 unemployed and Illinois' quota and w o r r i e s flot about what to do' with the 5,000.- 000 he sees as a permanent nucleus. Instead he worries about where to spend bis vacation, how to find a place where nohody knows bim or cani follow him.