 Honored watch is Laun Jean. Laun Jean watches have won 10 World Fair Grand Prizes, 28 gold medals and more honors for accuracy than any other timepiece. Laun Jean, the world's most honored watch, is made and guaranteed by the Laun Jean Wittenall Watch Company. It's time for the Laun Jean Chronoscope, a television journal of the important issues of the hour, brought to you every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. A presentation of the Laun Jean Wittenall Watch Company, maker of Laun Jean, the world's most honored watch, and Wittenall, distinguished companion to the world-honored Laun Jean. Good evening. This is Frank Knight. May I introduce our co-editors for this edition of the Laun Jean Chronoscope? Mr. Elliot Haynes, an editor of United Nations World, and Mr. Henry Haslett, editor of the Freeman and contributing editor of Newsweek Magazine. Our distinguished guest for this evening is Dr. Lyle J. Hayden, formerly chief of the agricultural section of ECA and presently program director of the Near East Foundation. The opinions expressed are necessarily those of the speaker. Dr. Hayden, you've just returned from Iran. I'd like to know what the Near East Foundation has been doing lately there. The Near East Foundation is engaged in a program of rural improvement, and our objective is to improve the standard of living among the peasants in rural Iran. We hope to do this in the form of a demonstration which will be accepted and put into practice by not only the Iranian government, but the peasants themselves. I suppose it ought to make clear, though, that the Near East Foundation is a private organization, a private philanthropic organization, has nothing to do with ECA. That is right. It's a private organization sponsored by individual contributions, and it has its motto, to help the people help themselves through greater learning. Could you give us some idea, Dr. Hayden, of who those contributors are? Well, for the most part, they're people without a great deal of money, I judge. I don't know who they are, but the average contribution runs around $10 or $12. So this is more or less the common people of America helping the common people of Iran. That's the nice thing about our program. What sort of relation would your program have to .4? I don't mean whether it has any formal relationship, but I mean how does it compare and what it does, it tries to do. Perhaps you should say what relationship does .4 have to our program. Well, that's all I thought. We were going, the 4.4, but 4.4 was inaugurated. But actually, it's to accomplish the same thing. We're both trying to help the backward peoples of the world help themselves. Could you give us some idea, Dr. Hayden, of just how backward Iran is? Say, for example, what their agricultural methods are? The average Iranian peasant farmer has a wooden plow. He has a float that is a drag about 8 feet long which he sticks the point of the plow in. And perhaps he has a half interest in a nox. Outside of that he has nothing but hand tools. And that requires an awful lot of correction, I imagine, doesn't it? Yes, it does. It means that with these very crude implements, he can only handle about 7.5 to as much as 15 acres. That's all the land he can physically get over during the short growing season that they have available. I'd like to bring up a question of this nature. A lot of people think, a lot of businessmen who've come back from the so-called underdeveloped countries say that the chief need of those countries is private risk capital, private foreign risk capital. And that when this money is handed out, let's say under point for ECA or our United States government, then these countries, the governments of these countries, won't do the things that are necessary to attract foreign capital, to make their countries attractive to foreign capital. And that until they do that they won't be developed. And I'd like to have you speak to that point. That is a very difficult point. And I think it's due to the fact that many of these governments, many of the governments of these backward areas are relatively unstable themselves. Until the nationals of a country who have wealth are willing to invest in that country's resources, you can hardly ask a foreigner to send money in. But doesn't the government have to make conditions attractive for the domestic investor before it's likely to make them attractive for the foreign investor? That's true. It should make it attractive for the domestic investor. And I think that most countries are trying to do that. They've made considerable progress in that respect. Dr. Hayden, getting back to Iran for a second, I understand that no matter how much technical assistance of the type that your foundation renders to foreign countries, that they do need a certain amount of the type of capital that Mr. Hazlett mentioned, and Iran especially needs a resumption of her oil revenues that she lost recently. Would you concur in that? Yes, very definitely. It seems as though Iran is almost on the verge of bankruptcy. I don't know where they'll get foreign exchange unless they can sell their oil. Do you think that there's a possibility that the British and the Iranians will patch up their differences? I don't think so. But do you think there's any likelihood of a settlement through this World Bank arrangement that's been spoken of? The most hopeful type of solution that has been suggested so far. Do you think there's any real possibility of it being acceptable both to the British and to the Iranians? I think it has, yes. I think that probably some type of arrangement like that, perhaps with modifications, is about the only solution that I can see. I understand that the loss of oil to the West has already been made up in other areas of the Near East though, so that it's actually just a question of Iran's welfare. That's right. That's unfortunate from Iran's point of view. Well, just how important is Iran to the West in that case? Well, I consider it is very important because there is a great reserve of oil in that area and we are interested in the oil reserves, and if Iran should go through a revolution, if some foreign power should take over control of Iran, it's quite conceivable that they could easily take over control of all the rest of the oil producing area around the Persian Gulf. And that area produces or has a potential reserve of some 40 or 60% of the world's reserve oil supply. Which might be needed sometime. Which might be needed sometime in the... Well, do you think we've been following a very good policy in the Near East? You mean our foreign policy? Perhaps I might answer that question by asking one as the typical Arab might, and that would be to say, what is our foreign policy in the Near East? The Arabs don't believe that. What puzzles are the Arab about that? It seems that we have one time followed one course of action, and another time followed another. We have told the Arab that we were their friends and that we wanted to help them, and then we seemed to help the countries or country that was taking their territory away from them. At least they were afraid that they would do that as a reason. Well, does the Arab make any comparison between our treatment of them and our treatment, let's say, of Israel? Very definitely so. In the recent allotment of funds under TCA, the Arab has said, well, you are giving $50 million to 4 million people and $50 million to 40 million people, and we were the 40 million. We think that's not an actable distribution of this aid. Well, coming back to the work of the Near East Foundation, just what would be a typical project, what would be a typical concrete project that you've been doing lately? Well, one of the things that we have done is to encourage farmers to improve their poultry breeds. And just recently when I was around the last time, I was privileged to observe an exchange of improved birds. In fact, there were very nice barred rock roosters for those that the villages raised. Our poultry men went to the village with enough roosters to exchange one nice rooster for every native rooster they had. An interesting thing happened there. These children and ladies and men were bringing their roosters up. And I saw one woman that had a very small rooster, and pretty soon I looked around and she was not there. Then before the end of the line reached the truck, she was back, but she had two, the small rooster and a small hen. When they asked her why she was bringing the hen, she said, my chicken was so small that I thought I'd have to give two of one of these nice ones. Do you think Dr. Hayden that the absentee landowner problem in Iran is one that has to be solved? Yes, I think that type of land tenure system must be solved and must be improved eventually. Is that done by educating the landowner or by putting political pressure on him or how? He stated in a very nice way, educating the landowner to show him that it's necessary for this land reform to come about. In other words, that he must take more interest in his peasants, help them and share a greater amount of the wealth with them. You think that you can do that, that they will listen to you? Of course not all of them, but there are many landowners who are quite willing to improve a lot of their people. They know that that's simply good insurance. They must do that. Dr. Hayden, I'd like to switch to Europe for a second and ask you something about your ECA experiences. Do you believe that our policy was well handled in giving the vast sums we did to Europe in 1948 and 9? I think that very definitely we were doing the right thing by providing economic aid to Europe. Perhaps I would agree with Senator Taff when I say, when he said that he believed in foreign aid, but not so much. I think I agree. Well, Dr. Hayden, as a final question, I'd like to ask you, what do you think is the most important thing that America needs to do in the Near East today? I think the most important thing is to get the confidence of the Near East people. We need to help them straightforwardly and honestly to improve their lot. I think that by technical assistance, American know-how, with Americans going in and working with them at the grassroots level is the best single thing we can do. Well, thank you very much, Dr. Hayden, for being with us tonight. Thank you. The editorial board for this edition of the Laun Jean Chronoscope was Mr. Elliot Haynes and Mr. Henry Haslett. Our distinguished guest was Dr. Lyle J. Hayden, Program Director of the Near East Foundation. You know, there are many fine watches made in the world, but in my travels I have never found one that inspired the same degree of pride of ownership as Laun Jean, the world's most honored watch. Yes, a Laun Jean watch brings its owner more than beauty, more than thoroughly reliable timekeeping. It brings him the pleasure of knowing that he owns the watch of the highest prestige among the world's finest timepieces. Laun Jean alone has won 10 World's Fair Grand Prizes and 28 Gold Medal Awards. No watch has a more brilliant record of accomplishment in the world's great government observatories. And in fields of precise timing, sports, aviation, and science, the standing of the Laun Jean watch is unsurpassed. Yes, when you own a Laun Jean watch, you cannot help but be conscious that it is, in fact, the world's most honored watch. When next you buy a watch, either for yourself or as a gift, remember this. If you pay $71.50 or more for a watch, you are paying the price of a Laun Jean. So why not insist on getting a Laun Jean, the world's most honored watch? Premier product of the Laun Jean Wittner 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 Laun Jean Chronoscope, a television journal of the important dishes of the hour, broadcast on behalf of Laun Jean, the world's most honored watch, and Wittner, distinguished companion for the world honored Laun Jean. This is Frank Knight reminding you that Laun Jean watches are sold from coast to coast by more than 4,000 leading jewelers who proudly display this emblem, agency for Laun Jean Wittner watches. 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