 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? From the CBS television news staff, Larry LeSir and Charles Collingwood. Our distinguished guest for this evening is Eric Johnston, special emissary of the president to the Near East. Mr. Johnston, you've done so much work of national importance in the last ten years under three administrations, I guess. I probably covered more of your press conferences than almost anyone else. Now you've just returned from the Middle East, where you were the special emissary of the president. Can you tell us exactly what your mission was there? Yes, I went out to the Near East to present a program for the development of the Jordan Valley. Before the program was presented to the United Nations and perhaps summarily dismissed by the nations involved. The development of the Jordan Valley calls for the irrigation of 240,000 additional acres of land in this area. For the development of 65,000 additional horsepower of electric energy. Under this program, the four nations involved in which the Jordan, which comprises the Jordan watershed, would agree upon the division of the waters of the Jordan. It would avoid future conflict between the countries involved. It would make this valley blossom such as it has never done before and probably would allay a great many of the fears and the bitterness that exist in this whole area. Well, Mr. Johnson, weren't your negotiations made considerably more difficult by the flare-up of trouble on the Israeli-Jordan frontier at about the time you were there? It certainly was made extremely difficult. As a matter of fact, the bitterness and the hatreds are very difficult to describe here and I think it would be difficult for us in America to understand them. Well, Mr. Johnson, do you think it's possible to put up a TVA authority for the Jordan River Valley without peace in the Middle East? Oh, I certainly do. As a matter of fact, I think if the people involved would agree upon a division of the waters of the Jordan watershed that that in itself would avoid future conflict inside the riparian rights of the river. It will inevitably lead to future conflict and the President of the United States wants to avoid that. Well, did you make progress? Yes, I went out there merely to ask these nations to consider the program and to talk to a special presidential envoy when he returned. In each instance, the heads of the governments of the countries involved agreed to study the program to see if it fitted into their particular plans and schemes and to talk to a presidential envoy when he returns and the presidents asked me to return. You're going to be that presidential envoy. Mr. Johnson, do you think that the Middle East can ever be turned back into that biblical land of milk and honey under such an electric project? Yes, it really can. As a matter of fact, in this whole area, at the time of the fall of the Roman Empire, there were about 57 million people who lived in a standard of living which was the highest of the then known world. Today, there are about 16 or 17 million people living in the same area at one of the lowest standards in the now known world. And if we continued our technical assistance program in this area and if the British and the French continued their program, perhaps 400 years from now, we would restore this area to its productive capacity at the time of the fall of the Roman Empire. Well, Mr. Johnson, this gets us to something which has been a considerable preoccupation of yours for some time, which is point four. You're still chairman, are you not, of the International Development Advisory Board, the point four board. What do you think about the role of point four in the Middle East and in the world in general? Well, I think the role of technical assistance is one of the finest things that America has ever done and I believe most of the people of America feel that and most of the people of the world. Technical assistance in its broadest scale tries to teach other areas of the world to help themselves. In other words, we provide technical assistance to people in the fields of agriculture, health, sanitation, education, so that they can help themselves to improve their lot. We in America don't realize how important technical assistance from other countries is to us in the United States. For instance, during the last 50 years, we've imported thousands of plants from abroad that has increased the productive capacity of various of our agricultural products. And without these new strains from abroad that have resisted disease or resisted rust or have increased the productivity per acre, we would not be producing anywhere near the agricultural things in America that we are today. Mr. Johnson, each new administration seems to make a policy of rediscovering Latin America. It seems to me you are once chairman of the Inter-American Development Commission. What's the situation now south of the border? South of the border, they've made a great deal of progress in technical assistance. As a matter of fact, today the nations of South America contribute about four dollars for every dollar that we contribute. I think there is no program in Latin America that is more popular than the technical assistance program. Eisenhower testified to that in his recent report after his tour of Latin America. Point four have made areas of South America that have grown unproductive through misuse, brought them back into productivity again. It has eliminated malarial areas and yellow fever areas that existed in these countries. It has brought new and improved livestock strains and new improved seeds to the country. And technical assistance is really beloved by the people of South America. Mr. Johnson, to go back to your power project, your water power project in the Middle East, do you think that the President's new offer of a pooling of atomic energy resources would make a great difference to the output of electrical power, say in the Middle East and Latin America? Well, it could in great many areas, but probably not in Middle East because they have tremendous resources of gas and oil. And you can develop electric power from gas and oil probably much cheaper than you can from anything that we know about atomic energy today or nuclear fission. But in other areas of the world where there is little or no gas or oil or coal or hydroelectric energy, of course it can do a great deal towards increasing the productivity by increasing the power facilities of those areas. Mr. Johnson, you were a man who met budget problems as a businessman and also as the economic stabilizer right after the war. You had some ideas then about balancing the budget. Do you think it's possible to do so? I don't think it's possible in the next year or so to balance the budget. No, I don't believe it's possible. I think when we want to balance the budget, we must decide in our own minds what are the things that we're going to do without. Because you can't balance the budget unless you are willing to cut out services or goods which we're purchasing. If you're willing to do that, then I think you can balance the budget in the United States. You mean it would be a reduction of the standard of living in the country to balance the budget? No, no, I don't necessarily mean a reduction in the standard of living. I mean that there are things which we enjoy, which our government pays for, and we're going to have to decide what are those things which we're going to eliminate. What about inflation, sir? The standard of the cost of living index is creeping up. This administration promised to end inflation and it seems to be coming around all over again. Oh, I think inflation is pretty much of a dead duck. I think it may fluctuate to one or two tenths of one percent in the next year, but that's about all. I think inflation is pretty well checked. Well, these things don't stand still. Would we have deflation then, do you think? No, I doubt if we'll have much deflation either. First place, there are inflationary tendencies in the economy such as an unbalanced budget. Furthermore, I doubt if you will find a reduction of wages and I think it would be undesirable to find a reduction of wages. So it's probable that for the next twelve months at least, things will be pretty much in balance. Mr. Johnson, your distinguished career in government has been involved a great deal with our relations with other countries abroad, particularly our economic relations with them. Do you think that it's possible for this country to exist independently apart from other nations in the world? Of course I do not. I think it's utterly impossible for us to do so. Many of our strategic materials we get from abroad, many of them we do not have in this country, we're becoming more and more of a have not nation. More and more of the raw materials we get from abroad and many of the skills we get from abroad. I think the leadership of the world has been thrust into our hands. This scepter of world power, many of us don't know how to use and many of us don't want to use. But the fact is that it is here. We can't throw it away and we are the leader of the world, irrespective of what we may think about it. We have to take the position of leadership and the responsibilities that go along with it. You mean our own self-interest involves the rest of the world? Unquestionably it does. In what way? You said something about raw materials. Well, for instance, most of our cobalt comes from outside the United States. We find that practically all of our tin and nickel come from outside the United States. A good deal of our copper, we're getting iron ore now from outside of the United States. Many other raw materials that we find essential for any type of productivity. Mr. Johnson has been talking in the past of a roving economic ambassador and I think your name was mentioned in that connection. Do you think anything could be accomplished by having economic ambassadors from the United States? Yes, I think a great deal can be done. The Economic Development Advisory Board that you mentioned a moment ago of which I'm chairman, recommended to the President of the United States some time ago that there would be economic roving ambassadors of various areas. I think the job that Mr. Randall did in Turkey as an illustration is a remarkable job in which he talked to the Turkish people, told them changes that might be made in their legislation in order to attract foreign capital. Until today, Turkey has done those things and today we'll find that Turkey is one of the most profitable, can be one of the most profitable areas for private investment. As a final question, Mr. Johnson, you're on the television now, but you've been long associated with the motion picture industry. Can you tell us something about the situation in Hollywood now? Well, I think Hollywood is going through a great revolution. It's always been in a series of crises. If it has a period of tranquility, it's kind of sandwiched in between crises. It's always been that way. But I think Hollywood will emerge better and finer than it's ever been before. Well, do you actually think that the TV will not put it out of business? Of course it won't put it out of business, nor will the motion picture put TV out of business. They're both here to stay. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Johnson, for a very informative evening. The opinions you've heard our speakers express tonight have been entirely their own. The editorial board for this edition of the Lone Gene Chronoscope was Larry Le Sur and Charles Collingwood. Our distinguished guest was Eric Johnson, Special Emissary of the President to the Near East. Falling snow, carolers in the quaint costumes of the 1860s remind us that this year, Lone Gene, the world's most honored watch, will celebrate its 87th Christmas. It was the success of Lone Gene Watches in early World's Fair competitions, which started Lone Gene on the road to world fame. As Lone Gene Watches won one grand prize after another, great people the world over simply had to own this celebrated watch, the Sultans of Turkey, the Mandarin of China, the Grand Dukes of Central Europe, and the Millionaires of America. The Lone Gene Watches for this Christmas of 1953 are truly magnificent. Each is individually worthy of the awards and honors which Lone Gene Watches have won over the years. And each, through personal experience, will demonstrate the greater accuracy for which Lone Gene Watches have won prize after prize. And remember that you may still buy and proudly give a Lone Gene Watch this Christmas for as little as 70-150. Lone Gene, the world's most honored watch, the world's most honored Christmas gift. A premier product of the Lone Gene Witner Watch Company, since 1866, maker of watches of the highest character. We invite you to join us every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evening at this same time for the Lone Gene Chronoscope, a television journal of the important issues of the hour, broadcast on behalf of Lone Gene, the world's most honored watch, and Witner, distinguished companion to the world-honored Lone Gene. This is Frank Knight, reminding you that Lone Gene and Witner Watches are sold and service from coast to coast by more than 4,000 leading jewelers who proudly display this emblem. Agency for Lone Gene Witner Watches.