Upset Explained

Sirs :

As a Nebraskan who voted a straight Republican ticket yesterday, I want to say that George W. Norris' record was not "repudiated" by us. That wasn't the issue at all.

I have relatives at the front in this war. I want them backed up and "generaled" a whole lot better than the present regime has done. So for Senator I wanted a young man who would jab the coals, shake the grate, open the draught and get the fires of action to roaring in this war. Mr. Norris, over 80 and always talking about retiring, didn't seem to be that man. We are proud of his record, but this is a new fight.

ELIZABETH LYMAN Omaha

"No Wounded Were Left . . ."

Sirs:

In your account of the sinking of the Wasp (TIME, Nov. 2) you report that one of our returning pilots said, "I thought I saw a crowd of men standing on the after part of the flight deck, but they may have been wounded left there or dead men."

For the sake of the families of Wasp men reported missing, please allow me to say no wounded were left. Captain Sherman was the last man to leave the flight deck and shortly thereafter he came to the fantail of the ship where some of us remained. We were then evacuating the last of the wounded from the hangar deck areas. None of us will ever forget the courageous and unselfish conduct of our shipmates in caring for the wounded, both on the ship and in the water. The quotation is misleading. When the last of us left the ship, the wounded had already been evacuated.

LIEUT. MERRITT F. WILLIAMS Chaplain U.S.S. Wasp Washington

Best Christmas Gift

Sirs:

The greatest Christmas present that can be given to us this year is not smoking jackets, ties, pipes, or games. If people will only take the money used for such articles and buy war bonds, they will be doing something for both themselves and us. They will be helping themselves, and helping us to be home next Christmas. Being home next Christmas is something which would be appreciated by all of us boys in service!

SERGEANT JOHN BRIDWELL

Glider Replacement Center Albuquerque

Post-War Plan

Sirs:

The following is from my son's last letter: "These Negro boys I have under me are really a swell lot, hardworking, good-natured, and thoroughly cooperative. I was worried at first as to how they might respond, but am sincerely satisfied that I am getting good results.

"Old Epicurus never had anything on the soldier I heard telling his buddy in line his ambition when the war was over. We had been out on a four-hour hike with full packs, and had stopped for the ten minutes rest which comes after every hour of marching. I was checking over some of the men's packs, which seemed to be out of adjustment and were cutting off the circulation in their arms. It was very cold and one big brawny lad, whose teeth were chattering like castanets, was saying to an appreciative audience, 'Yes sir, this man's army is all right but let's hurry up and lick Hitler, and then we can get out and when we do I am going to build me a great big glass house and I am going to keep it filled all the time with sunshine and I am going to sit in that sunshine with only my undershirt on, perspiring all day long, and there will be a bunch of pretty gals to fan me if I ever get too hot, if such a thing is possible, and I will only go out to meals of fried chicken and waffles and just rest & rest and sweat & sweat.' To which dreams he got appreciative responses of, 'oh boy, oh boy.' "

GEORGE W. EDWARDS Cape May, N.J.

La Prensa v. New York Times

Sirs:

I regretted very much to read in the issue of TIME, Oct. 26, the following statement:

". . . La Prensa usually carries 32 columns of foreign news--more than any other paper in the world."

This is quite incorrect. The New York Times publishes very much more foreign news than La Prensa of Buenos Aires. As a matter of fact, for the past six months, by mutual agreement, La Prensa and La Nation have been confining their foreign news to ten columns. The New York Times runs around 30 columns of foreign news daily.

EDWIN L. JAMES Managing Editor The New York Times New York City

> La Prensa's Co-Director Tito Gainza Paz asserts that 1) his paper has no agreement with anyone "either to print news or to refrain from printing news"; 2) despite severe newsprint shortage, it still prints 15 to 24 columns of foreign news. As of the present, however, Editor James's claim for the Times is doubtless correct. Certainly the Times has one of the world's outstanding coverages of foreign news.--ED.

Demons Identified

Sirs:

. . . YOUR PICTURE OF GROTESQUELY PAINTED "DEMON MASKS" (TIME, NOV. 9) NEGLECTED TO SAY THAT IT WAS TAKEN AT THE TEXAS PLANT OF NORTH AMERICAN AVIATION. AS ONE OF ITS WORKERS I KNOW THAT NORTH AMERICAN IS LIVING UP TO ITS MOTTO "TO KEEP 'EM FLYING GET 'EM BUILT." . . .

MRS. ROSES PERRY Grandprairie, Tex.

Governor's Part

Sirs:

In your issue of TIME under date of Aug. 10, 1942, on page 51, you made untrue and unwarranted statements with regard to actions of my father, when he was Governor of this State of Illinois. . . .

I respectfully request that said remarks be withdrawn. . . .

(JUDGE) ROBERT JEROME DUNNE Circuit Court of Cook County Chicago

> TIME'S story, which contrasted the World War I records of the Chicago Tribune's Colonel Bertie McCormick and the Chicago Sun's Marshall Field, incidentally reported: "McCormick, now 62, joined the Ilinois National Guard before the U.S. entered World War I. A friend asked Illinois's Governor, the late Edward Dunne, for a commission for him. Dunne, who had often been roasted by the Tribune, roared: 'I'll give that bastard McCormick nothing unless he runs an editorial completely repudiating everything the Tribune has said about me.' The Tribune did. McCormick was commissioned a major."

TIME reported Governor Dunne's part in the matter on the basis of information then believed to be reliable, but gladly withdraws the statement, bowing to Judge Dunne's superior knowledge of his father's character and record.--ED.

Reminder

Sirs:

BUY A BOND DEC. 7.

No one needs to be reminded what day that is. The buying of a special bond would be a fitting commemorative of the day, for it would be an active symbol of our victory effort.

VERNER L. JOHNSON

Bay Bridge, Ohio

Harvard Enlightenment

Sirs:

The weary voice of a Harvard slandered once too often rises out of these hallowed walls in protest. With the righteous indignation and aching muscles of weeks of special wartime physical training, and the drooping eyelids of long hours of conscientious study of war courses under stiffened wartime conditions, Harvard most certainly and strenuously objects to your picture of young gentlemen students lounging into the House dining halls for midmorning snacks (TIME, Nov. 9). It may be interesting and to all appearances, even enlightening to the outside world to note in passing that Harvard renounced its midmorning cocoa at about the same time Vassar gave up bustles, and that Harvard does not think this the time for a revival of either of the quaint old customs.

MUNRO EDMONSON Class of '45 Harvard University Cambridge, Mass.

No Fake

Sirs:

In your issue of Sept. 14 you publish an erroneous story about Clifford Clinton of Los Angeles. . . .

You say about Mr. Clinton that "Once a trick motorcycle rider crashed into his 16-cylinder Cadillac to fake an accident for damage action." Everything in that sentence is untrue. In December 1939, in the court over which I preside the case of the young motorcycle messenger against Mr. Clinton was held. The evidence showed conclusively that Mr. Clinton carelessly and negligently drove his 16-cylinder Cadillac into the motorcycle messenger. The young man was awarded damages and Mr. Clinton paid them promptly without any appeal.

The trial attracted a large amount of public attention here, but neither Mr. Clinton, his lawyers, nor any witness ever proved or charged that the legal action was a "fake." All the evidence indicated exactly the opposite to be the truth.

GOODWIN J. KNIGHT

Judge of the Superior Court Los Angeles, Calif.

> To Judge Knight, TIME'S apologies for a complete error based on faulty reporting.--ED.

Literary License

Sirs:

Re your review of Cry Havoc in the Nov. 2 issue of TIME.

1) There were no bomb shelters in Bataan --only foxholes for nurses.

2) There were no women doctors--and particularly no "hardbitten doctors," no "tough-as-leather assistants"--no "henbrained," no "vengeful" ones; and no burlesque queens or Fifth Columnists in the Nurse Corps on Bataan.

3) These angels of mercy did not "grow jittery" or "quarrelsome."

4) The Japs did not drive any nurses out of any kind of shelter before, during, or after Bataan fell, as General Wainwright had all of the nurses evacuated to Corregidor prior to Bataan's fall.

5) With all of the misinformation current about Bataan it makes my blood boil to read about this play which slanders the heroines of Bataan.

6) I left Bataan five minutes before its capitulation and during its entire terrible struggle I saw these wonderful women serve their country with heroism and fidelity. They were truly angels of mercy--dirty, underfed, overworked but always cheerful. They deserve individual medals for their heroism and devotion to duty, rather than to be depicted as they are in the play you reviewed and the play should return to its former "setting" and cease its slander of the wonderful nurses of Bataan.

GEORGE S. CLARKE Colonel, Infantry Atlanta

Symphony Creator

Sirs:

I can swallow and relish the spiciness and occasional acidity of your articles even when my native city and its pet orchestra are involved. However, I cannot excuse omission in detailed account of the Duluth Symphony Orchestra [TIME, Nov. 9] of the name of its conductor from its infancy through its tenth anniversary last spring, Paul Lemay.

At considerable financial sacrifice Lemay resigned as assistant conductor of the Minneapolis Orchestra, guided the orchestra through the formative stage, knit its 90 mechanics, doctors, professional musicians and amateurs into an enthusiastic, loyal, harmonious whole and skillfully led them to noteworthy musical excellence.

At the same time, Lemay organized and trained a creditable chorus of 250 voices and a Junior Symphony of 90 members. Duluth feels the orchestra would have died a natural death in Flaaten's barn except for the enthusiasm, patience, tact, humor and musical ability of Paul Lemay. . . .

An ace in the Canadian Flying Corps in World War I, Paul Lemay last spring offered his services to his country and is now an officer in the Air Force. The directors of the Orchestra Association picked the best available man they could find to take his place, Tauno Hannikainen. The first concert justified the selection and assured the permanency of the orchestra but there would have been no orchestra without Paul Lemay and Duluth still thinks of it as his creation.

F. RODNEY PAINE

Former President

Duluth Symphony Orchestra Asso. Duluth, Minn.

"Blessed Would We Be . . ."

Sirs:

I have noted with keen interest your article relating to Eddie Rickenbacker in the Nov. 2 issue of TIME. Eddie was here in June and received an honorary doctor of science degree and was our guest during that time.

He gave a splendid address which was transcribed and copies of which we plan to put into print. I think one of the most significant statements he made was:

"Today the most valuable form of transportation and the scarcest of all is air transportation. We today can well afford, and blessed would we be if we had, 10,000 big four-engine cargo planes that we could supply our forces in the Orient instead of running the hazards of having them sunk on the seas by enemy submarines. If we could carry the millions of tons by air across the Atlantic, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, instead of shipping it on the high seas, the losses would be almost nil, and it would be carried there in hours instead of days or weeks."

JAMES ELLIOTT MOONEY

President

University of Tampa Tampa, Fla.

Assistant Plus

Sirs:

That was a very fine article (Nov. 2) on General Vandegrift with the exception of the implication that he is by nature the assistant type. True, he is efficient in that line, just as he is efficient on his own, as he demonstrated in command of Marines in North China and as senior officer of foreign troops guarding the diplomatic quarter of Peiping. General Vandegrift also commanded and trained the brigade, prior to taking command of the division, which he further trained, and which now fights so gallantly under him in the Solomons.

General Vandegrift has had duties as an assistant because senior officers recognized his well-rounded makeup. His assignments in this respect were such important assignments that a one-sided assistant would not have filled the position.

P. M. RIXEY

Colonel, U.S.M.C., retired Alexandria, Va.

For Want of a Word

Sirs:

In reference to the article on Chile in TIME, Nov. 2, there is an error in the comparison of infant-mortality rates in Chile and the U.S. TIME states "In 1939 Chile had the highest infant mortality rate in the world (250 per 1,000 live births), a death rate twice that of the U.S." The U.S. infant mortality rate for 1939 was 48 (48 infants died under one year of age for every 1,000 live births). The infant mortality rate reported for Chile in 1939 was 225--almost five times as high as the rate in the U.S. . . .

The U.S. infant mortality for 1940, 47 per 1,000 live births, was 22% lower than the rate in 1934. The U.S. maternal mortality rate for 1940, 37.6 per 10,000 live births, was 36% lower than the rate in 1934. . . .

EDWIN F. DAILY, M.D.

Director, Division of Health Services

U.S. Department of Labor

Children's Bureau

Washington

> TIME'S facts were carelessly phrased: and "and" instead of a comma would have made clear that the second half of the sentence referred to the separate fact of Chile's overall death rate.--ED.

On the Nose

Sirs:

When the news of the second-front attack on North and West Africa broke last night I got out TIME of Oct. 12 with its African map on page 28. Your story hit this whole show on the nose.

TIME'S primary reason given for such action was that U.S. combat forces together with Allied troops, navy and air force would be used simultaneously against Vichy and North Africa and coordinated with an attempt to turn back Rommel in Egypt and Libya.

Your reasons for this are important enough to recapitulate: 1) cut off Rommel's forces in their rear; 2) bar the Germans' way to complete conquest of North Africa; 3) restore Allied control of the western Mediterranean; 4) assist a thrust into Germany's southern Europe.

THOMAS E. HOLME Bridgeport, Conn.

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