Queens College Forum; Part 2

[Speaker 1, Brian Meredith: ] Has brought together practical men discussing and suggesting practical solutions to very real problems. [Speaker 2, John Meng] May I, may I interject here, perhaps if you could mention just a few of these specialized agencies for the benefit of the audience? [Speaker 1] Yes, and I think, too, I should set them in the relationship to the Economic and Social Council to which they report and to the various economic commissions, the regional economic commissions that have been formed, for instance, the Economic Commission for Europe, the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East, and a similar one for Latin America and another for the Middle East. But all those have been functioning, have been coordinating in their areas that work [with] these specialized agencies, and a great deal has been done. You mentioned, you asked me to mention, the agencies. Well, they are, of course, the International Labor Office; the Food and Agriculture Organization; the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organizations; the International Civil Aviation Organization. There's the World Meteorological Organization ?[of Insipient] and will be with us. before long. [Speaker 2] Will that give us better weather, do you think?

[Speaker 1] Well, I certainly hope it does in New York. I've been so busy with the snow shovel these days that I'd certainly like to refer the matter right away to the U.N. [United Nations]. Then, of course, there's the International Bank and the International Monetary Fund and the old Universal Postal Union, which is definitely an old timer, and the Communications Union, and so on. I think it's worthwhile seeing what some of them have done, and they've done a lot. For instance, now, the Food and Agriculture Organization: There is a bringing together of the farmers of the world and the people who know the problems of farmers of the world. They point out the great problem of population and food. And the Director General has said that tomorrow morning, there will be 55,000 more people sitting down for breakfast. Let’s think of that: The population of the world is increasing by 55,000 people every day without a food problem right away. And there the planning to meet that problem, it has to be handled on a global scale. The [inaudible] and the FAO are trying to increase the output and improve the distribution

of food, the products of the farms and the forest and fisheries. And they're doing that by providing technical assistance. In Europe alone, [inaudible] specialists have tackled no less than 30 assignments. Your own country has contributed a great deal. The hybrid corn seed that has revolutionized corn production in parts of the states here has been provided to no less than 18 different countries. Now, that's a small thing in a monetary sense probably, but it’s awfully practical. Then a blight attacked Italy's chestnut trees, and they were important both for food and timber. And the FAO helped the country obtain a certain blight- resistant strain from China. Those are all little things, but they add up. In the field of ?veterinary? consultants to help the farmers in Poland and Czechoslovakia. In China, they've been working on irrigation and drainage work, and they've tried to reduce the Rinderpest problem, which is a cattle plague, which has devastated people. In one, for instance,

now, in Brazil, they have the forestry companies. In Latin America, there's a region which has millions of acres of forested land, and yet, curiously enough, that area imports more lumber, that it exports. That is a strange state of affairs, and if they worked on it, no doubt they can correct it. Now on the practical matters, in the field of health [and so on] is another story. [Speaker 2] Yes, I suppose you had the same kind of pattern of experience in the fields of most of these specialized organizations. I wonder if we could at this point, since the time is getting short, raise the question of whether you believe or the participants in this forum believe that the cooperation that may be elicited in these technical fields has any eventual bearing upon the possibility of cooperation in the political field. Ms. Frederick, what do you think about that? [Speaker 3, Pauline Frederick] Well, when you put it that way, Dr. Meng, I suppose there is a definite laying of a foundation for cooperation in the political field once you get people working together in the economic field.

But I think, first of all, you really have to have a truce in your political field, especially if you've got a conflict going on such as we have at the present time between East and West. Because in the economic and social and humanitarian fields, you're doing work that is of a long-range character that's necessary for a permanent foundation for peace, but you can't give that kind of a program an opportunity really to grow and expand until you have some kind of a truce in your political conflict that makes that long-term plan possible. [Speaker 1] You know, [inaudible] the maxim set up I think by the International Labor Office is rather a good one, and it's this: If you want peace, work for justice. Now that's an awfully good principle, and I think that many of the aims of a specialized agency indeed apply at home to our own communities, would help make for a better world, and we have better health and better [inaudible], more secure conditions. [Speaker 3] I agree with you, but I think, too, that they are the long-range, that is, the long-range program. And you really don't have a chance to do as much as you should in that field as long as you've got a constant conflict in your political field.

[Speaker 2] The problem with chicken and the egg, isn’t it? [Speaker 3] That’s right. That's right. [Speaker 2] But in this case, it seems to me that it's pretty definite which comes first. If I take your remarks, if I understand your remarks, as I think you meant them, Ms. Frederick, that you must have some element of political peace or at least political truce established if you're to have the accomplishment of the long-range objectives in the technical field. [Speaker 3] That's exactly the way I feel. And I think you brought that out a while ago when you referred to the League of Nations, because certainly the League of Nations had long-range programs in the economic and social field, but it broke on the political clashes. [Speaker 1] And I think you’ll find in the in the economic social field, however, that all of the agencies help not only the long-range, but also very sensible, practical, short-range plans, and that they are being accomplished month by month and year by year. The international refugee organization, for instance, is really doing a working job every day. They have one of the biggest systems of transportation in the world now, moving people to different countries, taking them back home, in some cases, moving to new countries in other cases. And that's a short range [plan], but

an awfully important one. [Speaker 2] Perhaps it's important that the Security Council should have a short-range plan as well as a long-range plan in the same sense. [Speaker 3] Well, I think the Security Council needs first of all, a truce between the United States and the Soviet Union before it does anything else. [Speaker 2] Well, there's a, we have just a half a minute or so left, Mr. Meredith, you had a little information there for us about a specific operation of the secretariat and your particular part in it. [The position of] public information on the radio. [Speaker 1] Well, in radio, frankly, we feel that programs like this do us more good than almost anything. We've relied tremendously on the initiative of local stations in this country and in every country. And I'm glad to say we've been getting a great deal of cooperation. We also put on the air a great many broadcasts in a great many languages like that to say [inaudible] really. But we do depend and we do thank people like yourselves for thrashing out the problems of the world before the public in this way, and more power to you. [Speaker 3] And I'd like to pay tribute to WNYC for carrying all the United Nations programs it does. [Speaker 1] Yes, bless them for it.

[Speaker 2] I take it that WNYC is extremely popular with both of you. [Speaker 3] It surely is with me. [Speaker 2] It also is with Queens College, I might add. This brings toward a close our program. I don't know whether in summing up what we've said, it is possible to be entirely optimistic about the future, or entirely complacent about the accomplishments of the U.N. during the past year. I think to put briefly what we have said on the political side, the U.N. can [now] point with very great pride to tremendous accomplishments. On the technical side, as the League of Nations in the past or the U.N. in the past couple of years, it has continued the amazing success and cooperation that it first elicited. [Announcer] And so the Queens College Forum closes for another week. The topic tonight: What has the U.N. accomplished in 1948? The program was under the supervision of Dr. Herbert Schiller, director of radio education at Queens College. Our speakers have been Pauline Frederick of the American Broadcasting Company; Brian Meredith of the Radio Division Department of Public Information of the United Nations; and our moderator, Dr. John Meng,

chairman of the Department of Political Science at Queens College. Join us again next week at the same time for another in the weekly series of programs by Queens College. This is the Municipal Broadcasting System.