You know about TIME'S four international editions, which carry to 1,400,000 people all over the free world the same news stories that TIME publishes in the U.S. Chances are that you know less about another reporting job which these editions do--through their advertising space. Last week I talked about this job with Walter Graebner, of TIME-LIFE International's London office, now in North America on an annual working visit and a vacation. Formerly a top correspondent on such TIME assignments as blitzed London and wartime Moscow, Graebner is an acute observer, an American who for two decades has worked at understanding his country's role in a changing world.

He had some things to tell us about the U.S. and about TIME:

"Whatever her faults, the U.S. is today playing a truly heroic role in history. Never before has a single nation tried to repair the war damages of many countries. Manning an industrial machine that admits no limits, the country holds out to the world a promise of better things and better living.

"I watched G.I.s start this thing, with their ready response to 'Gum, chum?' shouts by English kids, their handout cigarettes in France, even their swapped watches when they met their allies, at that time the Russians. EGA, in similar spirit and greater substance, continued the job. This governmental first aid is about over and a bigger rehabilitation job is getting under way. American goods, methods, ideas have gone out only in samples.

"We can't stop at samples. I study the advertising pages of our Atlantic Edition, which each week take to Europe, Africa and the Middle East news about U.S. goods--earth-moving equipment, tractors, pumps, motors, machine tools, business machines, washing machines and refrigerators. The advertisers tell about goods which raise the standard of living, about the machines which make such goods possible. These pages are a weekly reminder to men who can make better living available to millions overseas, for TIME Atlantic is read in its area by more top men in business and government than any edition of other export publications.

"International ads often say more than do those written for U.S. readers. They tell about the articles, their use, something of the spirit in their making. Example: R. G. LeTourneau's earth-moving monsters are pictured at work in Portugal on flood control, irrigation and electrical power projects. Example: Standard Oil reports improvements in public transportation through petroleum research. Example: Squibb tells about good health from proper medical care and sanitation.

"Such ideas are contagious. In their advertising, European businessmen have adopted some of this spirit and adapted many of these techniques to their own specialties.

British automakers use TIME pages to tell of the precision and durability of their cars. Swiss watch makers emphasize their tradition of fine craftsmanship. Both these groups also depend on TIME to develop U.S. markets, which help cut down Britain's dollar gap and maintain Switzerland's favorable trade balance. Thus comes a completion of the cycle whereby a nation produces what it knows how to make best and sells to those who need the product most. Advertising's job is to take information about consumer goods and production machinery, around the world if necessary, to men who will put them to use.

"In this age Americans are leaders in world trade as well as in world politics. We have the most goods to supply, the most funds with which to buy. We have made a promise of better living to millions. We have the resources to fulfill that promise and the advertising media to place our goods where they are needed. We have, I think, the imagination and the energy to do the job."

Cordially yours,

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