Abolish the State Department?
Sir:
I imagine that General MacArthur had Comrade Mao pretty worried until our State Department made it very clear that Mao has absolutely nothing to worry about. What next?
It is surprising that no one has suggested that the State Department be abolished, as in the case of the RFC. Its functions could be better administered by the Army or the Boy Scouts or by me.
E. W. ANDREWS
Seattle
Big Brown Rat
Sir:
Your press roundup of editorial comments on the malodorous suppression of La Prensa [April 2] is the most heartening news in American journalism today. It is good, indeed, to find our otherwise politically diverse press united in the cause of free press.
All over the world there are big and little brown rats gnawing away at the edges of Freedom. To dismiss these gnawings as being distant is unforgivable naivete . . .
RICHARD E. MAGNUS
Brooklyn, N. Y.
The Nation & the Critic
Sir:
Your April 2 account of the Nation's attempt by a libel suit to stop the perfectly legitimate and justified criticism of its pro-Soviet foreign editor, J. Alvarez del Vayo, is typical of the double standard of morality of all "totalitarian-liberals." It was bad enough that the Nation refused to publish Mr. Creenberg's mild letter. But to resort to police methods to prevent its publication elsewhere betrays the hollowness of the Nation's claims to being a liberal periodical. Were the many individuals whom the Nation criticizes on political grounds to resort to libel suits against it, the magazine would have to suspend publication.
Just as the Nation has two different standards of morality in judging the U.S.S.R. and our country, so it applies two different standards of journalism. Its own irresponsible attacks on genuine liberals is legitimate criticism, but a reasoned objection to its Soviet apologetics is "libel." What a comedown from the days of Godkin and Villard !
On its masthead, instead of "editor," Freda Kirchwey should call herself "gravedigger" of the Nation, the late journal of liberal opinion.
Genuine liberals owe the New Leader a note of thanks for printing the letter of Greenberg which the Nation tried to suppress.
SIDNEY HOOK
Professor of Philosophy
New York University
New York City
Cycloramas
Sir:
If Forest Lawn had inquired in Atlanta, it would have found plenty of men, women and little children to challenge its proud claim of having the largest canvas [TIME, April 2].
You could hang two Crucifixions over the Cyclorama of the Battle of Atlanta, and still have a border all round. The Cyclorama is a canvas 400 by 50 feet.
BOYD TAYLOR
Atlanta
Sir:
. . . The canvas at Sainte Anne de Beaupre in Canada, of the death of Christ on the Cross and the aspect of the City of Jerusalem and its environs on that day, is 360 ft. in circumference and 45 ft. high.
ARTHUR A. DRISCOLL
Winchester, Mass.
Sir:
... As for [Forest Lawn's Crucifixion being] "a thoroughly pedestrian work," at least people will walk to see it, and stay awhile -- something that doesn't happen with modern works . . .
CARADOC REES
Los Angeles
Wrong Direction
Sir:
Telling of the death train in Italy in 1944, the story in TIME, April 2, begins: "At the mountain whistle-stop of Balvano, 60 miles southwest of Naples, special train 8017 stopped for water."
I should hope so ! They were smack dab in the middle of it -- the Tyrrhenian Sea.
THEODORE J. KLEINHANS
Geneva, Switzerland
Sir:
Italian tunneling genius must have out-fathomed itself at Balvano . . .
NORMAN F. LACEY
Flushing, N. Y.
P: A TIME researcher let Balvano slip quietly into the sea. -- ED.
Imagination
Sir:
The sick . . . imagination of "Expressionist" Karl Hofer, illustrated by his Houses, is only equaled by [libel omitted]. "Its figures, half flesh and half masonry, seem to be waiting rigid in the dark for an inevitable bomb" [TIME, March 26].
Let us have a little wholesome sanity, even in writing of art. Psychasthenia is not genius.
LAMBERT FAIRCHILD
Committee for Republican Integrity
New York City
A Marine Tells It
Sir:
I have never written to a magazine to fight with anyone or correct anyone, because I always figured that "every man to his own opinion" was a good idea, but this Sergeant Murphy who wrote that pack of lies in your April 2 Letters makes me so mad I could "chew nails."
Sergeant Murphy, I served with the 5th Marines in Korea as a line company (6-3-5) machine gunner, from Aug. 2, 1950 to Feb. 6, 1951. I never saw a marine leave Korea except wounded. (No three-day pass to Japan.) Can't say the same for Army men.
If a marine's "everyday routine" is so simple, how come the Army couldn't hold the Naktong River twice without them? . . .
Sure there are tough Army outfits, like the 5th R.C.T., but don't tell me or any combat man that the Army overall is as good a fighting outfit as the Marines. Facts, my boy, facts prove different, or are you going to shut your eyes and ears like H.S.T. and shout ''Propaganda"?
(CPL.) THEODORE GOLD
U.S.M.C.
Barstow, Calif.
"The Shame & Glory . . ."
Sir:
I am perplexed by your report on a Navy chaplain's statement of conditions in Korea among Army officers in which you state that the Army was wise in deciding [not to answer] the charges as "ill-considered and irresponsible" [TIME, April 2] ...
Isn't it about time the American people inquired just what is going on, anyway? We are shocked and saddened by the casualty rates in Korea . . . Considering what is expected of the soldiers, isn't it the business of the Army to do a little housecleaning? . . .
H. K. FIELD
Stamford, Conn.
Sir:
Chaplain Sporrer's tale of woe reads like a "Boot's" first letter home! Naturally the services, especially the Army, will deny all of his story; haven't they always denied such stories? . . .
RUDOLPH J. LUEDEMANN
St. Paul, Minn.
P: The Secretary of the Army has asked General Ridgway for a full report on the issues raised by the Navy chaplain.--ED.
Sensible Analysis
Sir:
Mr. Griffith's [TIME, April 9] report, "Britain in 1951," impresses me as being the most sensible and sensitive analysis of the facts I have read. Such honest and clearly stated thinking is of first importance now, when so many of us still do not sense the necessity of our alliance with Britain.. . .
May you always be gifted with Griffiths.
WILLIAM A. CHENEY
Columbus, Ohio
Decay from Within
Sir:
. . . The continuance [of the Kefauver Crime Investigating Committee] is imperative, not only for the improvement of our communities, in which we and our children must be schooled and live, but to preserve the very foundation of our democratic government. As Rene Grousset holds . . .: "In general no civilization (or government) is destroyed from the outside unless it has already decayed from within" . . .
D. COTTRELL BISHOP
Houston
Sir:
... If you want to perform a real patriotic service to your country and capitalize on the best advertising possible for TIME magazine, try to persuade Senator Tobey to appear on the television for 15 minutes daily, Monday through Friday . . .
In all modesty, I believe this to be a brilliant idea for the good of our country . . .
RUTH ALDEN RICHE
Pittsfield, Mass.
Sir:
. . . The publicity given to the Kefauver hearings has pointed up to the whole world how sordid and corrupt our governmental fabric has become . . .
Everyone recognizes now that the criminal elements get out the vote, and as a consequence control many officeholders. The honest citizens just don't turn out at the polls in the same numbers . . .
If ... we required every citizen to show up at the polls on Election Day ... a great many of the evils that now exist would be eradicated . . .
EARL H. ZWINGLE
San Francisco
Sir:
Should we call them "politeers" or "racketicians?"
DANIEL C. OLSEN
Albuquerque, N.Mex.
Sir:
After reading James F. Byrnes's remarks [TiME, March 26], I felt a complete sense of despair and futility regarding the future of this nation.
That a man of Mr. Byrnes's supposed intelligence, a former Supreme Court Justice and Secretary of State, could consider seriously, even for a moment, abandoning the public school system if segregation were to be abolished in that system, is incredible.
What better indication of [our] state of moral decay could we have . . .?
BILLIE C. LE CLEAR Houston
Service
Sir:
May I give your movie reviewer a word of praise? He has never failed me yet. I go to see every movie he thinks stinks. If he likes it, I wisely stay home.
I appreciate the service.
M. HANSON
El Centre, Calif.
Meanest Man
Sir:
Senator Fulbright's comments on morality in the U.S. [TIME, April 9] reminded me of a couplet from James Whitcomb Riley:
The meanest man I ever saw
Allus kep' inside o' the law.
WILLIAM STERNBERG
Omaha
Source
Sir:
TIME'S otherwise excellent report on A Dictionary of Americanisms [April 2] omitted its source, an identification relevant to the validity of the dictionary. The work was published by the University of Chicago Press.
ROLLIN D. HEMENS
Acting Director
University of Chicago Press Chicago
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