Evening star., 1951-11-04
Tower of Bubel

This cosmopolitan enclave in the
most cosmopolitan of cities is, at
present, almost as difficult to reach
as the world peace to which it is
dedicated. Tucked away in back
wash of Manhattan which decade
ago was almost unbelievably seedy
its chief assets were a pair of
slaughterhouSeS - United Nations,
N. Y, can be visited only by a
roundabout taxi or bus journey or
an arduous walk through a road
construction project.
The trip is worth the effort. Ger
tainly even New York never has
seen anything like this Tower of
Babel: The hint of native dress
remains, even when the Hindu
stenographer throws heavy tweed
coat over her sari to keep out the
bitter autumn wind that whistles
down from Hell Gate, miles to
the north.
Nearly TOO y. NJ workers have
gone to Paris to staff the Assembly
meeting at Chaillot. But among the
3,000-odd who remain, there per-
sists an air of dedication that gives
the lie to the notion that U. N.
is a moribund monument to mans
inability to handle his own affairs.
Not Only Whot, But Why
From the attractive Chinese at
the information desk to the brisk
Britisher on the 37th floor, these
international civil servants seem
not only to know what they are
doing, but also why they are doing
it. And the answer to the why" is,
to preserve a world in which Rus
sian and American, Caucasian and
Negro, Jew and Christian and
Moslem, can live.
Preconceived notions fall like ripe
apples at United Nations, N. Y. No
smart Philadelphia lawyer, but an
accountant from Scotland, is the
organizations top expert on Ameri-
can income taxeS-alwayS a ticklish
problem to United Nations en-
ployes. And one of the loftiest Of
ficials, head of U. MS information
services, is a Chilean named Ben
Cohen.
Senior Cohen, as much as any one
else, symbolizes the United Nations
for all who seek a symbol. He has
submerged his Chilean nationality
of which he is extremely proud
to become an international civil
servant working not for Chile, but
fof the human race.
As BELTS q busy bureaucrat, he
has three secretaries-one British,
one American and one Hispano-
American. His deputy is Nor
wegian, and virtually every other
strain In the Notwithstanding the
Russians represented among the
150-odd men and women who tell
the United Nations story to the
world.
Whot Is the Story?
And what is U. Ms story? 1t
has been in business for half a
decade, and in that time has de-
veloped into probably the most
contentious forum the world has
ever seen. It's opponents say that
all it has given the world is wal
Korea. It's supporters reply that
many wars-Iran. Palestine, Kash-
mir-have been averted by it, and
that in all likelihood, the biggest
war of all has been STAYED off, if moi
prevented, by the mere existence oi
the United Nations.
Critics of U. N. assert that it,
specialized agencies are boondoggle!
on a global scale. But the othel
nan OF the story is record o.
achievement in a score of health
welfare and social matters.
It's opponents say the U. N. ha!
cost the United States a lot Of
money and manpower without pay.
ing of in beneficial results. Tt
this, a New York observer-as ar.
IDENTIFY American as he is pro-U. N
asserts that the organization haI
given the United States chanc
for world leadership that this Ma
tion would otherwise have beer
reluctant to assume.
More down to earth, the Unitet
Nations has shown thousands o
men and women in one building