War in Indo-China

Sir: Congratulations on your April 5 IndoChina report. I am glad to see that America is at long last beginning to realize the enormousness of French sacrifices in the IndoChina war. As a French student in your country, I have been acutely conscious of the reproaches that Americans seem to enjoy making about the "inefficient and incompetent" French war machine . . .

Thomas Griffith, TIME'S Foreign News Editor, is quite right in saying that the IndoChina war "is [still] a colonial war ... in the minds of some Frenchmen . . ." The French government recognizes the undeniable fact that the days of colonialism are dead, and henceforth, French foreign policy must be formed accordingly. France, "the sick man of Europe," is fighting for exactly the same values that America fought for in Korea . . .

Sure, you pay 78% of the bill . . . But . . . until American soldiers join the fight in Indo-China, you have absolutely no right to say that French policy there is halfheartedly supported by a defeatist France. The IndoChina war is just as unpopular with the French people as the Korean war was with the Americans--with perhaps two slight differences: America fought for three years in Korea, France has been fighting for seven in Indo-China; America came to terms with the Communists at Panmunjom; "the sick man of Europe" is still fighting . . .

BERTRAND LEARY Philadelphia

Wright House, Wrong City?

Sir:

If the Mayor of Venice surrenders to the argument that the proposed building on the Grand Canal to be designed by Frank Lloyd Wright will deface the architectural heritage in Venice [TIME, March 22], he surrenders to the principle which makes a city a museum piece and drains vitality from it ... Was the Palazzo Vendramini forbidden because, in style, it did not resemble the Ca d'Oro? Was the Church of Santa Maria della Salute forbidden because it did not resemble San Marco ?

Venice, which is the proud home of one of the greatest salons of modern art, should also welcome architects of our age. The Grand Canal will remain grand for remaining alive, not merely a mausoleum of the Renaissance, as it is nostalgically regarded by sentimentalists.

DAVID A. WILKIE Storrs, Conn.

P: For a recently released sketch of Architect Wright's palazzo (and a view of the building it would replace), see cut.--ED.

Killing Crocodiles

Sir:

TIME'S March review of Crocodile Fever mentions Bryan Dempster as having disappeared and rumored to be "somewhere on [Africa's] Lake Nyasa." I think possibly I am the white hunter to whom you refer, as I have been hunting crocodiles on Lake Nyasa for the past five years. If Dempster had turned up on the lake, I would soon have heard, as news travels fast in the bush . . .

I took up crocodile-hunting after having found big-game shooting nonprofitable. It is an exciting and interesting life. I operate during the six months' dry season each year . . . The crocodile does tremendous damage to the fishing nets and night-lines of the African fishermen, as well as taking hundreds of natives each year . . . There is, therefore, every satisfaction in killing these loathsome reptiles, besides the profit one gets for their valuable belly skins.

There are various ways of hunting the crocodile . . . One can noose, trap, harpoon, or catch them on baited hooks. By far the most successful method is by shooting them from a boat during the night. Even then, one has to be continually on the move, as they do not like being disturbed, and move off to other feeding grounds after about a week's shooting . . .

PAUL L. Poxous

London

Statistics & Christians

Sir:

Re "Catholics into Protestants" [TIME, April 5]: I'd like to tell you why . . . Roman Catholics become "converts" to Protestantism. It's because it's so much easier to lie abed Sunday mornings than go to Mass; because the practice of birth control allows one to spend one's income on oneself instead of on a family; because divorce is so convenient when you're tired of your spouse and fancy a change; because it's nice . . . not to have to fast during Lent. I could go on indefinitely pointing out the discipline and restraint placed on Catholics by Holy Mother Church. I hate to disillusion the Rev. Daniel Poling, but the fact remains: his "converts" are the weaklings, the misfits, the self-indulgent. A Catholic's life is not easy. But then, neither was Christ's.

MARGARET HUGGER Ridgewood, N.J.

Sir:

It is unfortunate that there must be an argument about such an unimportant thing as statistics, but Catholics cannot let the Christian Herald's claim of 4,000,000 converts to Protestantism go unchallenged.

The truth is that an unscientific sampling of about 14% of Protestant clergymen was attempted. Of those who received questionnaires, fewer than 9% replied. The statistics they offered were unscientifically compiled . . . Ignoring rules of statistics and ethics, the Christian Herald projected this into the 4,144,366 figure it released to the press. This figure sounded as if the Christian Herald was offering exact statistics . . . But if there are to be statistics, there are rules of integrity and truth to guide their use.

DALE FRANCIS Bureau of Information National Catholic Welfare Conference Washington, D.C.

Sir:

Apropos the Christian Herald's quasi-sensational statistics: I am reminded of the Frenchman who left the Roman Catholic Church and was asked by a woman acquaintance whether he had joined any of the Protestant sects. "Madam," he replied, "I have lost my faith; I have not lost my reason."

JOHN J. McHALE Westminster, Md.

Ike's Trophies

Sir:

Your April 5 color spread on the Eisenhower Museum was enjoyed by everyone. Please continue this article and print more pictures from this museum . . .

KENNETH J. CRIMMINS Keyport, N.J.

Sir:

Unless my two exhausting years of Russian have been spent in vain, General Eisenhower's Russian banner . . . reads "We have won," and not, as your caption has it, "We shall win."

Let's not read too much into the statement.

TOBY CITRIN Cambridge, Mass.

P: TIME oshibsia.--ED.

Debonair Dominie

Sir: That "debonair, grizzle-headed Scot"--Dr. James T. Cleland [TIME, March 29]--completely won the hearts and profoundly impressed the minds of churchgoers here . . . with his sincere Christian logic, his lovable Scottish burr and his lively anecdotes . . .

Through an unintentional slip of the tongue, Dr. Cleland was introduced at our club luncheon as ''a graduate of Union Theological Cemetery." He heartily joined in the laughter that followed and admitted that the designation might be considered appropriate, since the seminary's president at that time was Dr. Coffin.

ORSEN E. PAXTON Asheville, N.C.

Sir: . . . Preacher Cleland suggests a "new" beatitude--''Blessed are the debonair." Every Frenchman will snort that this Scot's knowledge of the French language is "na' gud enough." A French child will gladly repeat the third beatitude as:

Heureux les debonnaires, car Ils heriteront la terre. [Matthew 5:5].

GEORGE R. MATHER Princeton, N.J.

P: Says Preacher Cleland: "To translate debonnaire into debonair is a sign of eisegesis."*--ED.

Boring Masterpieces

Sir:

Bless TIME [April 5] for picking up such choice tidbits as the New York Herald Tribune's readers' list of the ten most boring musical masterpieces. It's a good list. Scheherazade should be played at least once every ten years, Franck's Symphony every five years, Bolero should be played once, period . . .

But Beethoven's Ninth, Wagner's Tristan and Tchaikovsky's Fifth all have moments in them that easily outweigh listening to the more tedious parts.

WILLIAM L. ROBERTSON Oreland, Pa.

The Bricker Amendment

Sir:

In its Feb. 8 account of my activities, TIME accurately discloses that I favor the adoption of the Bricker amendment and that TIME is opposed to its adoption. Beyond that point your article contains an assortment of misrepresentations . . . During the four years that I have been actively supporting the principle of the Bricker amendment, I have never made "intemperate attacks," or any attack, upon any person who opposed that principle. The Bricker amendment raises a serious and involved question of constitutional law. I respect the honest opinions of those who disagree with my conclusions on this subject . . .

TIME might have ascertained that the 78 federal-aid programs are appropriately grouped into approximately 16 subjects or projects suitable to the combined approach of study committees and staff research. The score, therefore, should not be kept in terms of 78 separate studies. Some of the programs are comparatively modest in relation to the others . . .

CLARENCE MANION

South Bend, Ind.

Closing in on Polio Sir:

Congratulations on your fine cover article concerning polio and the forthcoming vaccine trials [TIME, March 29]. As one with more than a passing interest in polio, I was pleased by your accurate coverage of a subject still not well understood by most people. To those of us whose lives have been altered by paralytic polio, the question of whether the new vaccine is the best that can be developed seems somewhat academic. If further improvements can be made, fine, but meanwhile, let's put Dr. Salk's vaccine to work at the earliest possible moment to halt the human waste of this devastating disease.

JOHN KIDDER Ronan, Mont.

P: For Polio Patient Kidder's story, see TIME, January 26, 1953.--ED.

*-- Eisegesis, according to Webster: "Faulty interpretation of a text, as of the Bible, by reading into it one's own ideas."

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