 It's time for the Lawn Jean Chronoscope, a television journal of the important issues of the hour brought to you every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, a presentation of the Lawn Jean Wittner Watch Company, maker of Lawn Jean, the world's most honored watch, and Wittner, distinguished companion to the world-honored Lawn Jean. Good evening. This is Frank Knight. May I introduce our co-editors for this edition of the Lawn Jean Chronoscope? Larry LeServe from the CBS television news staff, and Thomas J. Hamilton, chief UN correspondent of the New York Times. Our distinguished guest for this evening is Moorhead Patterson, chairman of the United States Committee for United Nations Day. As we mark the ninth anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, there's a dispute in our country as to its real value. Well, our guest tonight is not only UN Day chairman, but a businessman of international repute. So, a few persons are better qualified to answer a question. Are we really getting our money's worth out of the UN? Well, I think very much so. I don't know if anybody knows quite how much the United Nations is costing us, but I've been told it costs somewhat less than half of the amount that's necessary to clean the streets of New York for one year. Something less for each person in the United States than 50 cents. That is certainly good insurance for us, and I think we're getting our money's worth. No question about it. How hard is the UN delegate's work, Mr. Patterson? You represented the United States in the disarmament talks in London last summer. You saw them in action. Do they work as hard as businessmen? Well, leaving me completely out of it as far as the working of the thing is concerned, because that's a special case. I think most of the people in our delegations work around the clock. I mean, they're on the job all the time. They're studying when they're not actually in operation, and they're conferring with other diplomats and talking with them, and keeping their hands in, and get to knowing the people all the time. They're really on the job all the time. Perhaps they're overworked. I think on the basis of any ordinary business, they would be overworked. Probably a time and a half for overtime wouldn't do them any harm. Mr. Patterson, despite the amount of work they put in it, there are a lot of charges by some people that the United Nations is ineffective. How do you feel about that? Well, I wonder what they mean by that. Of course, it depends what the purpose of the United Nations is in each person's mind. Some people say that it's to prevent war. Well, of course, it is to prevent war. But we know perfectly well that nothing in the world can ultimately prevent war if aggressors intend to start a war. The United Nations does the best it can under the circumstances. It's already prevented probably seven wars of one kind or another which could lead into larger wars. And I think comparing the cost of it with what those wars would have cost shows that really it's done an effective job. What about a thing like disarmament? The UN is just about to start some more talks on disarmament with the Russians, incidentally, saying that they're all for it. How do you feel about that? Well, in the first place, the Russians have always said they're for disarmament. They say that year after year. They say they're in favor of their type of disarmament. It's a very simple proposition. They say disarm at once and that's that. Give up the atomic bomb, all those things. But if you ask them any specific questions, they refuse to answer. We came to the conclusion in London that Russians just don't like to answer questions. Under those circumstances, you can't bring down the specific, I mean the general things to the specific. And when you can't do that, well, you don't know where you stand. You don't really know what the propositions mean. Mr. Patterson, do you think the UN would be better off if the Russians were not in it? I certainly do not. I think that the presence there in the UN of the Russians gives us the greatest possibility of forming, an opinion, a world opinion about who's right in these debates. The debate goes on in the same way that you would have in your trade association. The UN, I think, of a little as if it were a trade association. And you know in America the development of trade associations has been terrific. Everybody belongs to a trade association more or less. And what for? You meet with your competitors. You meet with people you don't like. You meet with people you're fighting with all the time. And yet you feel you're getting something out of it just by rubbing shoulders with these people and getting to know more about the way they look on the problems. Why isn't that, doesn't that apply equally to the United Nations? I mean you see these people from all over the world coming there with diverse and changeable points of view and that's where we find out how they feel in the hurly-burly and the hard fire of debate and conference. And we really thrash out opinion there. It's really a great place to do that. Mr. Patterson, as a businessman, do you think it's possible for this country to ignore world public opinion? I don't, as a businessman or any other kind of a man, I don't think you can ignore world public opinion in the slightest. Anymore than you can ignore the opinion of the American public. I don't think that if the American public decided, for example, to, in a good, sensible way that they wanted to give the whole thing up, I don't think we could stand in the way. Nobody could stand in the way. And the same is true of world public opinion. There isn't anybody that can simply look at it and say, we don't care about that. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong about that, but I think it's the most important thing that we can find out about in the world. How do you feel about the criticisms in this country of the U.S.? Especially, I was thinking of that one in which they say that the United Nations would take away American sovereignty. Well, I have here a paper which is called a United Nations Audit, gotten up by the United States Committee for UN Day. And it says, in the first place, there are facts that every American should know about the United Nations. It's a very short sheet. It shows, for example, an accounting of the course and what the United Nations has accomplished. And then it has some facts and fallacies, the kind of question that you ask. It happens, this is really quite a coincidence, incidentally, that the first fallacy here is that the United Nations threatens to destroy U.S. sovereignty. And I'm going to read the answer to that. The United Nations is made up of independent sovereign states, each one of which is just as intent to preserve its sovereignty as is the United States. The UN cannot make our country do anything it does not wish to do. I think that's a full answer to your question. Well, Mr. Patterson, just what does your UN Day Committee actually do? We attempt to focus the big efforts of many independent committees, national committees, on United Nations Day, and also to put information about the United Nations in the hands of all those teachers and people throughout the country that really want to know the innards of the United Nations. The last facts about them, the things that make the United Nations great or otherwise. In other words, we try to provide people with the information on which they can make up their minds about the United Nations. That is a year-round job. This year, for example, we have had something like 30,000 requests for information and literature. We've sent out more than 3 million pieces of literature, and we will have on Sunday 10,000 communities that will celebrate the United Nations Day. Now, that doesn't mean that we are fostering a world government. We're not fostering a super state. We are merely explaining to the people of the United States what part the United Nations plays in their lives and in the lives of all nations in this world. What is your pamphlets? Are they biased in the direction of the United Nations, or are you just trying to create an informed public opinion one way or the other? Well, we try to keep the pamphlets absolutely factual. Now, you know what the fellow said. He said, don't give me any facts. My mind is already made up. Sometimes facts aren't facts. But we try to keep them really facts so that we get to the fellow before he makes up his mind. Well, if the UN can't stop wars, Mr. Patterson, what makes you actually think it is effective? Well, I do think it does stop wars. I didn't say that it couldn't stop wars. What I said was that if there is an aggressor around who is just bound and determined he's going to have a piece of somebody else's real estate, there's only one way to stop him and shoot at him, unless you can talk him down. But once he's gotten ready to move, well, there's nothing else to do but shoot. If you talk, though, you can always delay things a long, long time and perhaps forever. And that's the United Nations has done on numerous occasions. Well, Mr. Patterson, if there were no UN, would it be possible to carry on the negotiations that do go on through ordinary channels of diplomacy? Through whispering into people's ears rather than into public microphones? Well, very likely you could carry it on. It was carried on for many, many centuries that way. But let's remember this one thing, and that is that the United Nations is a part of a great scheme of diplomacy, of the great scheme of the interplay between ourselves and our government and other governments throughout the world. But it's only one of the various schemes. We also have conferences of all kinds, and we have our ambassadors in all these capitals. And under the circumstances, it is one of the very important ways in which we keep on top of public, of world opinion. Well, I want to get back to the fact, Mr. Patterson, that you are actually a businessman. So I would like to ask you this, do you think that the United Nations is a good place to sell this country to the world? You know, the way you talk about, the way you pronounce the word businessman, it sounds like some sort of a peculiar animal that is different from everything else. Well, maybe it is, but I would rather just say from the point of view of myself as an American citizen that just looks around and tries to keep things going, that our people in the United Nations are doing a perfectly fine job of selling this country. I really think that we do get it across in a big way. And I think if they're backed up and if people don't shy too many things at them, they will carry through and will make a good word of opinion. They're really in there fighting. Thank you very much. It's been a great pleasure to have you up here tonight, Mr. Patterson. The opinions expressed on the Launcine Chronoscope were those of the speakers. The editorial board for this edition of the Launcine Chronoscope was Larry LeSere and Thomas J. Hamilton. Our distinguished guest was Moorhead Patterson, Chairman of the United States Committee for United Nations Day. To own a Launcine watch is to own one of the very finest watches made anywhere in all the world. 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