Glorified General?
Sirs:
. . . Your article on Rommel is full of slurs at the British--and could well have been dictated by Goebbels. How can we achieve unity within or without while you glorify the Germans? . . .
TRUDY LANCASTER Los Angeles, Calif.
Sirs:
Congratulations on your story of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. It was timely, fact-filled, and nicely written.
You no doubt will receive some criticism from people who will say you are "playing up" or "idolizing" enemy officers.
I, for one, think you are doing America a great service by providing military men and civilians alike with a true picture of what we must be prepared to meet if we are to be successful!
HERBERT H. BROWN Long Beach, Calif.
Plans
Sirs:
THE DAY THAT YALE CONCEIVES AN ORIGINAL IDEA WILL BE COMPARABLE TO JULY FOURTH. YALE ONLY ADAPTED THE SO CALLED YALE PLAN
[compulsory undergraduate registration for the armed forces or war industry; TIME,
July 27] AFTER CAREFUL STUDY OF THE PRINCETON PLAN WHICH HAS BEEN IN EVIDENCE FOR SEVERAL MONTHS. SUGGEST THAT YOU RECONSIDER THE REMARK TO THE EFFECT THAT YALE HAS SCORED A CLEAN BEAT ON ITS FELLOW COLLEGES.
G. H. LINEAWEAVER III Princeton '46 Haverford, Pa.
P: Yale's beat was clean. Her plan is compulsory; Princeton's is not. But Freshman Lineaweaver can sign up if he wants to.--ED.
Leaders Wanted
Sirs:
Michael Griffin in his article, "What is the matter with the people?" (TIME, July 20) has hit the nail on the head. . . . Believe me, the people are getting pretty dam' tired of selfish interests, political skimeroodle, and red tape. We want action, not oratory; sacrifices, not parades; victories, not flag waving. And we want it not after the elections, not next week, not tomorrow, but now! . . .
I keep telling myself we are at war. Beyond the difficulty of getting fuel for the coming winter, of constant reminders in the form of patriotic appeals at the movies, on the radio, on the billboards, and in the newspapers . . . there is little else to bring home to the average American just how serious our predicament is. ...
I feel, and there are millions like me, that we've got to take the pill without the sugar --let there be more confidence in Washington that the nation will live up to its honored heritage of being able to take it as well as dish it out. If we can't take it, it's time we learned.
COLLEEN MCFARREN Portland, Ore.
Sirs:
What is the matter with the people?
They're sick unto nausea at the caliber of leadership they are told to follow. . . . Sick of being talked down to. ... Sick of not being given credit for knowing there is a job to be done, a willingness to do it and a rather intelligent idea about how to go about doing it. Sick of so damned much talking.
S. L. LANHAM Carmel, Calif.
Sirs:
. . . Mr. Griffin bluntly stated exactly what is in everyone's mind these days. . . .
People down here are pretty sick of hearing what's coming. No one I've talked to thus far would mind any sacrifice in order to win the war. But their Congressmen don't seem to realize this. Once again the people are far ahead of Congress. . . .
RICHARD KLEIN Lawrence, N.Y.
Sirs:
. . .It's like rain after a drought to read Michael Griffin's straight talk on U.S. morale. It got me. This morning I actually poured the bacon grease into a "widemouthed metal container" instead of just thinking about doing it. ...
ELIZABETH LYMAN Omaha, Neb.
Sirs:
Michael Griffin's appraisal of U.S. morale is ... inaccurate in its conclusions and petulant in tone. . . . He finds the country is going to the dogs because our leaders are incompetent nincompoops.
It seems to me that Mr. Griffin wrote this piece right after eating something in the hash house which didn't agree with him. His stuff is ill tempered. He hasn't caught the spirit and tempo of the American people. He doesn't realize that the American people understand that their leaders are not perfect and are proceeding along lines laid down by the responsible and trained technicians and experts whose business it is to conduct the war for us. ...
A. GORDON New York City
Sirs:
. . . Unlike Mr. Griffin's Louisville, we are without boomtown war activities, padded payrolls, bulging pocketbooks. . . .
We have done everything asked of us, bought bonds, paid taxes, and given our most precious possessions--our sons and daughters--to be sent to all parts of the world. We have done all these things, and will do much more, very much more, without complaint. . . .
. . . Instead of "the people wanting Washington to quit treating them as if they were children subject to tantrums," we want Washington to quit acting like children subject to tantrums.
LAURA PENGELLY Zanesville, Ohio
Sirs:
. . . Which shall it be--to hell with politics or to hell with America?
LYLE BRUNER Knoxville, Tenn.
Smoke
Sirs:
Re your article (TIME, July 13) on Reader's Digest test of leading cigaret brands, you will perhaps be interested in an experiment some of us conducted in connection with this research.
Eight impartial judges gathered in one room and six smoked one of each of the leading cigarets, one smoked a copy of the Reader's Digest, and the eighth smoked a copy of another well-known monthly pocket-size magazine.
We found that Reader's Digest as a smoke had certain definite advantages over all the others, as well as over Reader's Digest as a magazine. Whereas the reading time for the smoker in question had been 3 hrs., 9 min., 27 sec., smoking time was 3 hrs., 14 min.,
38 sec. We found that Reader's Digest contained less nicotine than a combination of any five of the six leading brands, and that throat irritation caused by smoking it was only .1 of 1% of what it would have been had the smoker chosen, instead, to read the magazine aloud.
In view of these discoveries, it seems that Reader's Digest is overlooking an opportunity in offering itself as a publication and should advertise these facts in an attempt to corner the smoker's market.
With those of us who made the test, it's Reader's Digest, 2-to-1.
MENDEZ MARKS JR. San Antonio, Tex.
Fair and Well Judged
Sirs:
... I feel I must offer you very belated congratulations on the article "As England Feels," which appeared in your issue of April 13. That issue has only just reached me. It seems to me to be a first-rate piece of reporting, accurate in fact and psychologically sensitive. Whoever wrote it really did understand what English people were thinking at the time, and he has expressed it admirably. His description of the difficulties of life in England now is absolutely accurate; he has neither exaggerated nor depreciated them. He is quite right about our admiration for Russia, our former lack of interest in the Empire, and the feelings with which we entered this war. His criticism and his praise of us are both fair and well judged. I only wish that an English correspondent would do as good a job in explaining you to us. ...
JANE MEIKLEJOHN, Ph.D. Harpenden, Herts., England
Maddening Inertia
Sirs:
J. Horace McFarland's letter [TIME, July 20] regarding difficulties encountered by U.S. ships at our Navy yards certainly strikes a familiar chord.
During the time that I served in the Navy I had occasion to visit most of the yards on the East Coast, and anyone who supposes that the statement of conditions is an exaggeration has no idea at all of the restraint that must have been observed in making that masterpiece of understatement. The inertia of the yard "monkeys" is maddening. . . .
______________* Washington, D.C.
Sirs:
. . . Such conditions as the author describes may be peculiar to one yard and, I suspect, may have been magnified out of proportion by an uninformed and mechanically unintelligible "greenhorn.". . .
As a Navy yard worker I find situations that, at times, irk me but a little thinking on the subject usually eases my conscience and clarifies the case at hand. ... If the riveters are on board waiting for the carpenters, the carpenters are on board, etc., then the maximum effort can be delivered at an instant's notice, whereas if each had to be located somewhere else, their-tools brought to the ship, and time lost in getting ready for work it would still require at least four other men to keep one working. . . .
. . . Though I sometimes have to wait around for a ship fitter or rigger, I know that I'm there when occasion demands and when I'm welding or tacking that someone else is waiting for me to finish, since we both learned a long time ago that "two bodies cannot occupy the same space at the same time.". . .
GEORGE G. CROSS JR. Salmon Falls, N.H.
Sirs:
. . . My experience parallels in many respects that of the disgusted officer. Hired as a -Name withheld by request. fireman to safeguard the ship against welders' sparks, I consider myself valuable for about 20% of the working day. . . . Workmen string out the hours exchanging stories, sneaking smokes, sizing up jobs and bumping noggins. A passing boat or plane apparently justifies time off to estimate cargo, judge tonnage and type, etc., etc. . . . Recently, having sighted no sparks from welding operations atop a gun platform, I investigated to find a six-man crap game in hot progress. Most explanations revert to a common basis: "We gotta wait for the other guy."
At a time when sacrificial blood is flowing freely and uncomplainingly in so many other quarters and when shipping is important enough to decide a nation's fate, it is sickening indeed to realize the treacherous apathy that is allowed to exist among a class of workmen who, by the very token of their skill, have so much to offer, positively and directly, to the cause of freedom.
GEORGE F. MATTHEWS San Francisco, Calif.
Synthetic Rubber
Sirs:
Please accept my congratulations for your account of the synthetic rubber situation in TIME [July 20]. This is, in my opinion, the finest job of reporting a very complicated technical matter that it has been my pleasure to read. I am very familiar with this situation and felt very pleased and gratified with the accuracy of your account.
BENJAMIN T. BROOKS Chemical Engineering and Research New York City
Objectors in China
Sirs:
The account of Dr. Gordon S. Seagrave's escape from Burma (TIME, July 20) stated that men from the Friends Ambulance Unit worked with him in gathering up the wounded and bringing them to the emergency base hospital. . . .
It may be of interest to know that the Friends Ambulance Unit is composed of British conscientious objectors. . . .
The Unit consists of about 80 men, including several Americans. Thirteen additional Americans are now ready to join those already at work in China. The project is an expression of Anglo-American good will and demonstrates the daring and courage of pacifists who are ready to make any personal sacrifice in service for fellow human beings.
The F.A.U. has other units at work in Libya (Tobruk), Syria and Ethiopia. Sixteen men were lost in Greece. Already two F.A.U. men in China have died of typhus and one was captured by Japanese in Hong Kong. The major operation in China involves transport of medical supplies to hospitals. . . . The program is largely financed with American funds from United China Relief.
It is hoped that the departure of ten American auto mechanics and three doctors will open the way for American conscientious objectors now enrolled in Civilian Public Service Camps also to participate in relief and reconstruction work overseas. . . .
JOHN F. RICH Associate Secretary American Friends Service Committee Philadelphia, Pa.
End of Pussyfooting
Sirs:
Mr. Ickes' rubber drive (TIME, July 13) is a disappointing failure!
If this rubber drive arises from a really serious need, then why not quit the pussyfooting and get down to business? Why not put the use of automobiles on a similar priority basis to that now governing the purchase of tires.
My family and I can get along without our car but we are using it because we don't know/ what else to do with it. And there must be millions more like us! Not only should I give-up the rubber mats in the front and luggage compartments, but I should give up the car itself--that is, if Mr. Ickes knows what to do with it.
GEORGE HOPKINS University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
Athlete's Foot
Sirs:
I see TIME [July 20] has joined the hullabaloo against the sale of camphor and phenol for athlete's foot.
The doctor who accidentally discovered this remedy put it through tests for several years to demonstrate its merit and safety, used as directed, before unselfishly giving it to the public. Apparently, this doctor realized, that if he made his discovery known to the medical profession only it would encounter unreasoning prejudice and that countless sufferers would never hear of it. So he gave it to humanity without charge. . . .
It seems to me TIME took a little too much for granted, reported only what it was told by prejudiced parties, failed to present the subject impartially.
OLIVER W. MEEKER Los Angeles, Calif.
Sirs:
. . . The basis of the cure is most insecure and you are perfectly correct in publishing; the warning as you have. I have been questioned by many patients regarding this preparation, and have seen a few. of the burns it produces. The Food and Drug Administration should put "phenol-camphor 50-50" on the dangerous drug list.
L. F. HEIMBURGER, M.D, Springfield, Mo.
Sirs:
, . . When phenol-camphor is prescribed, it should be prescribed by a physician. The indiscriminate use of this combination has already resulted in several casualties among: my patients, some of them of a severe nature.
CHARLES C. DENNIE, M.D. Kansas City, Mo.
Sirs :
... I personally have been consulted by six patients suffering severe injury from use of this mixture. The Journal of the American Medical Association has been frantically apologizing for publishing this discovery. ... I think you have done the public a service in exposing such prostitution and distortion of medical facts.
ANDREW L. GLAZE, M.D. Birmingham, Ala.
Guidance
Sirs:
. . . You state that I "prepared" the pamphlet Notes for Your Guidance [TIME, July 27] issued to British flying cadets in the U.S. It embarrasses me to be given credit for the admirable work of another man. . . . Professor W. J. Hinton. . . .
WILLMOTT LEWIS The London Times Washington, D.C.
P: The information that Sir Willmott was definitely not the author came after press time. All credit to British Ministry of Information's Wilfred John Hinton, 65, who will head the British Press Service in Manhattan when and if he reaches the U.S. On his first attempt he was shipwrecked and stranded in Iceland, returned to Lon don and was ordered to try again. -- ED.
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