NEW YORK, Monday—I have just returned from a trip for the American Association for the U.N. which took me in the first place to Watertown, N.Y. for a morning meeting and then to Syracuse, N.Y. for an evening meeting. Both occasions were very good audiences and again I am encouraged beyond words at the interest shown in the United Nations.

I was happy in Syracuse to see my friend, Leo Casey, whom I always count on seeing when I am in that part of the country, but I had only a few minutes in the hotel to talk with him as I had to dress for a dinner in the university before going to the evening meeting.

I took the night train from Syracuse for Chicago and was met there in the morning by a group of people with many plans. First I was to have a press conference, then I was to attend a luncheon. Incidentally, the luncheon given by Mrs. Carpenter in her apartment, was memorable not only because of the very interesting women, all of whom I hope are going to work to spread information about the U.N., but because of the wonderful view of the lake. Mrs. Carpenter lives on the Lake Shore Drive just at a curve so that from her living room you look out in the distance at tall buildings but in between you only have the green grass and the trees bordering the driveway and then the lake. It is an enchanting view and at night, she told me, the lights from the buildings reflect in the water and add to the beauty.

After lunch we drove to a suburb of Chicago where Mrs. Goldstein kindly opened her home for a large gathering of people and here I had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Adlai Stevenson, who came to introduce me. There was a very fortunate occurrence here. One "worried citizen"—anonymous but worried—sent me a telegram challenging me to read it and answer "if in view of the Korean war, the U.N. was not a flop." This, of course, gave me a wonderful opportunity to give the whole background of the Korean war and the situation of our country and to point out that this first attempt at collective security on a voluntary basis was a milestone in history and was an action which should make us proud.

We have carried the major burden and it has been desperately hard on the families with boys in this war, but war is always a tragedy and this at least was the first real attempt at joining together to stop aggression, which is the road we must follow to come eventually to a more peaceful world.