thirty-room hospital, the Carrie M. and James O. Young Memorial Building. This is the only hospital in the United States, affiliated with a home for the aged, which provides a private room for every patient.

Ground was broken at the Elyria, Ohio, Methodist Home for the Aged for a new fourroom cottage, the gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Marlow.

A new wing will soon be dedicated at Fort Dodge, Iowa, at Methodism's Friendship Haven. Begun only a few years ago with one small section, the Home has added two new wings and expanded the original wing in just three years.

The famous Casa de Manana resort hotel at La Jolla, Calif., is now a Methodist Home for the Aged, one of three in the thriving Pacific Home Corporation. Oldsters enjoy the beautiful facilities once used by relaxing movie stars.

The San Diego Methodist Home Corporation recently accepted the Fredericka Home, at Chula Vista, Calif., as a gift made to the Southern California-Arizona Annual Conference. This almost-new home provides complete facilities for care of the aged.

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Pasadena, Calif. Committee on Problems of the Aging is recruiting volunteers for a new project, "Operation Friendliness." Idea is for each member to "adopt" a grandfather or grandmother living in one of the boarding homes licensed through the County Public Welfare Commission. Mrs. Keith Messent is directing the project.

The Pasadena Welfare Council has approved plans for a day center to house the activities of the Community Friendship clubs now being carried in various churches and other buildings. Membership in these clubs is reported as between 500 and 600.

Improving institutional care for the aging will be the subject of nationwide discussion early in 1954 when representatives of health and welfare authorities in the 48 States are brought together in a series of regional conferences, under the auspices of the National Committee on Aging of the National Social Welfare Assembly. These meetings will provide the first opportunity in the United States for national interchange of experience in the relatively new field of standard-setting and licensure of institutions caring for elderly people.

Financed by a grant from the Frederick and Amelia Schimper Foundation, the conferences will be designed to carry forward, through "grass-root" discussion, the findings of the recently completed two-year study of basic standards for this field conducted under the same auspices and sponsorship. "Standards of Care for Older People in Institutions," the report of this study, was released several months ago and has received wide international distribution and favorable comment.

Following its official report (see page 8 this issue) the Oahu (Hawaii) health and welfare agencies are planning a working conference covering the entire field of aging. Seven subject-matter planning committees have been set up in anticipation of a Territory-wide meeting tentatively scheduled for February.

New Films

Adventure in Maturity released by the National Film Bureau, 6 North Michigan Ave., Chicago 2, and produced by the Oklahoma State Department of Health and the University of Oklahoma. Story is of a widowed grandmother, living an unhappy "square peg" existence in a 3-generation family situation, who decides to strike out on her own, opens an employment office and does a thriving business persuading employers to hire older people. Prints will probably be available through State health or mental health departments, State mental health associates and film libraries.

Books, Pamphlets and Reports

Helping Older People Enjoy Life, by James H. Woods. New York: Harper & Bros. 1953. $2.50. Mr. Woods has written this comprehensive and thoroughly useful handbook out of his wealth of experience as coordinator of recreation, club, and camping programs for Cleveland's mature adults. Shows thorough understanding of needs for recreation and for usefulness and how to achieve satisfying objectives. Exceedingly well written.

Age Barriers to Retirement, Proceedings of the Second Joint Conference on The Problem of Making a Living While Growing Old. Pub lished by Temple University School of Business and Public Administration, and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. Philadelphia and Harrisburg. 1953. Pp. 414. More than 40 specialists brought the latest thinking and documentation to focus on the problem of the older worker in employment. Old and new concepts were examined, new experience and data were placed before the Conference, and estimates made of social and economic costs of continued age discrimination.

A community inventory, of course, provides a logical and systematic basis for planning an environment suited to the special needs of older people. The Toronto Welfare Council has published just such a document, prepared at the request of the City Council. In capsule form, the booklet discusses needs, existing services, and necessary additions, and allocates responsibilities for providing them among local, Provincial, and Federal governments and voluntary agencies. Old People In Toronto is available from the Welfare Council of Toronto, 100 Adelaide St., West Toronto, Canada.

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Community Organization for the Aged in 1953. Community Chests and Councils of America, 345 E. 46th Street, New York 17. 1953. Pp. 15 tables. Community Chests and Councils has been instrumental in encouraging local community welfare councils to extend their interests in aging. This pamphlet is a statement of Community Chests and Councils philosophy and a report of a survey of local Council activities.

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"Organizing Older Adults in the Church," by Rev. Oscar P. Campbell. In International Journal of Religious Education, Oct. 1953. Suggests educational and recreational activities for older members of the congregation and counseling on financial and legal problems.

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The Fulfillment Years in Christian Education. National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., 79 E. Adams Street,

"A New Plan for Retirement Stability" a peared in the September issue of Dun's Revie and Modern Industry. Author is Arthur Viner of the Committee for Economic Develo ment. This is an excellent analysis of the fle: ibility retirement program recently initiated the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Associa tion of America for the purpose of gearing be efits to changes in the buying power of the do lar. The author indicates that some industri companies are studying the plan with a view adopting it to meet their own needs. Reprin of article are available by writing to 1 McAllister Lloyd, President, TIAA, 522 Fif Avenue, New York, N. Y.

check is made on the type of article that finds a ready market. Considerable effort has been required to keep the shops well supplied. Individual craftsmen have been encouraged to develop designs of their own. Although no copyrights are secured there seems to have always been an unwritten gentleman's agreement to respect the rights of others.

Fairs, both local and State-wide, are the lifeblood of the League, and the State Crafts

HOW THE LEAGUE OPERATES

Local Groups. These have their own officers and act as an independent unit, operate their own sales outlet, have their own local jury who pass on the quality and salability of the local product. They also make suggestions as to changes and new ideas, organize classes for craftsmen, request approval of those classes from the League State office as soon as organization on the local level is complete, secure quarters and equipment for the local classes, cooperate with the State League of Arts and Crafts.

The League assists local groups in organizing, securing instructors, supplying shops with craft articles, providing materials, upgrading the craft article (State jury). It operates in cooperation with the State Department of Vocational Education: classes throughout the State for craftsmen, teacher training classes. Operates Statewide Craftsmen's Fairs. Cooperates with other State agencies in New Hampshire, State agencies outside New Hampshire, arts groups, schools and colleges.

State Jury. Acts as the local jury but passes judgment on all articles to be sold on a State-wide basis, recommends to each craftsman what he can do to improve his product, suggests sources of information, teachers and craftsmen he can contact and libraries from which he can get information.

Guilds. Each craft, such as weaving, jewelry, needlework, woodcraft, etc., is now organized on a State-wide basis. Object: to assist individual craftsmen, to improve all work in its own field, to cooperate with other fields, to provide jury assistance in its own field when requested, to help build up the whole field of arts and crafts.

Individual Craftsmen. The only excuse for an organization of this type! Each individual sells his product through the League on a 25% commission basis, works for himself but also works just as hard for the League.

men's Fair, which is an annual event, ha gained a very considerable National reputation

Because the income from the sale of craf articles is relatively small, older people are by far the largest group of workers. Some man ual dexterity and a feeling for form and color, as well as a desire to create a high-grade piece of craftsmanship, are about all the prerequi sites for success. Almost everyone has these abilities. The older worker is serious, willing to give a lot of time to learning, and in most cases learns craft work very quickly.

The financial return is limited by two fac tors, namely, the ability of the producer and the salability of the article. There is, however, a good supplementary income for the craftsman This work is especially suited to the needs of older persons having some other means of support but needing more income.

A COOPERATIVE EFFORT

The whole craft movement must of neces

sity be a joint effort. It can succeed only in proportion to the amount of effort the people in the local community are willing to exert to support the two objectives of offering training and increasing sales.

The full story of the League has been told in Allen H. Eaton's "Handicrafts of New England." (Harper's) On a dollars and cents basis alone, the effort can rightly be called a success. But there are other values that never can be measured: the deep satisfaction that the individual derives from engaging in some form of creative activity like the arts and crafts.

are

Many of the very busy and contented workers, however, are not craftsmen at all. They the volunteers who are carrying on the multitude of little things that have to be done. They make it possible for the League to operate the classes and provide training for the crafts and an outlet for the products, and also to enable it to hold an annual Fair which is attended by upward of 30,000 people. They are constantly assisting the craftsmen in producing articles of better workmanship and design.

Over the years the two factors - sales and production - have been kept fairly well in balance. New sales outlets have required renewed effort in training. As more craftsmen were developed, new markets had to be found. The result has been a healthy growth.

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As of today the League has some members. Probably 90% of the present craftsmen in New Hampshire are in the aging group, and perhaps 85% learned their skills after the age of 50. Many of these craftsmen have their own markets and are not dependent on the League as a sale outlet. New members are constantly being trained for the new career of retirement. This is being done before they have reached the retiring age. The change is not difficult and in many cases is welcome. A whole field of work is open and the "new generation" seems to be very happy in that field.