Better Mantrap?

Sir:

That's a fine article on the Russian scientists [June 2]--particularly to me, since it refers to my father, A. N. Lodygin [producer of the "Russian sun"--Russia's first electric light]. Although he never completed his citizenship, he was devoted to the U.S. His incandescent lamp foreign patents led the Westinghouse Co. to invite him to Pittsburgh in the '90s. My father always said that he had developed the lamp as an incidental part of his heavier-than-air flying machine, which occupied much of his thought. He died in Brooklyn in 1923 at the age of 75, his last years saddened by the civil war in Russia. MRS. FREDERICK A. FAUST Woodbury, Conn.

Sir:

Why does every Russian want to be an engineer while every American boy wants to be a lawyer, a politician or an advertising man? How many engineers in the U.S. own Cadillacs and have summer homes on Long Island? Damned few. Why burn the midnight oil learning trigonometry ? We should make the engineer the hero of a few films--then he might become fashionable.

ALBERT K. DAWSON Jackson Heights, N.Y.

Sir:

As conscientious M.I.T. students, we eagerly read over your article on the state of Russian science. If "Nesie" can earn 30,000 rubles or $7,500 a month (tax-free), we wonder about the possibility of transferring to the U. of Moscow.

DON SILVERMAN

RONALD AGIONIN

GEORGE M. WALSH

MICHAEL LEWIS

Cambridge, Mass.

Sir:

American educators can concern themselves not only with the problem of whether Russia will build the better mousetrap, but, if the Russians do, will our world beat a path to their door?

Louis H. HAMEL JR. Bradford, Mass.

Long March to the Left

Sir:

It is always a source of exasperation to me when I read about people like Simone de Beauvoir [I The Long March] who extol the virtues of Communism. It is remarkable that she returned to the "dirty" free world after her visit to Red China. Intellectuals of De Beauvoir's school of thought should return to the "lands of enchantment" where Marx is read instead of the Bible and love is superseded by a tractor.

ROBERT M. NORTON III

Los Angeles

Vive v. Volk

Sir:

Congratulations on the May 26 De Gaulle article. You made a forward step to a better understanding of the French leader who, as in 1941, is the only apparent salvation of France. Once again, Vive De Gaulle is coming to mean Vive la France in the eyes of the free world.

D'ARCY K. BANCROFT Winnipeg, Canada

Sir:

Reader Jim DiMiceli (who bought a finned Plymouth after becoming disenchanted with a French-built puddle jumper) erred in expecting good workmanship from a nation unable to even govern itself. Too bad he didn't try a Volkswagen. People who can lift themselves from the 1945 flat-off-their-backs to dominate Europe economically can, among other things, build good cars.

DAVID M. CLEARY Florence, Italy

Sir:

Recently, I've been muttering over an infestation of punning spreading out from your sports and movie columns into the book reviews and even moving into religion. Then the De Gaulle piece opened before me. Here, as so many times in past years, is what I seek to learn. There is a warm and courteous reply to a genuine concern over a disturbing man.

JOHN B. NESBITT Carmel, Calif.

Billy the Kidder

Sir:

As a reader of your Cinema section, I find myself increasingly nauseated by the 21-pun salute which greets each new picture (except, of course, the ones from Italy). In the May 26 Cinema review of John O'Hara's Ten North Frederick, your critic finds it necessary to hedgehop from Pennsylvania, where the picture plays, to Japan, which has nothing whatsoever to do with the picture. By way of samurai and Bushido, he ultimately arrives at that peak of comicality, "O'Hara-kiri." Obviously, we in Hollywood are no match for such devastating wit. Why doesn't he take on somebody his own size? Bennett

Cert, for instance. I suggest a sunrise duel in the old offices of College Humor--with puns at 20 paces. And may the best man wince. BILLY WILDER Hollywood

Sir:

Your movie critic is a chowderhead, stuffed with uncial tarradiddle.

CHARLES BEAHAN

Hollywood

Sir:

He must have to see a lot of movies, and I suppose a film has to be excellent for him to say so. Anyhow, I enjoy his reviews, and he does think up all those delightful words.

(MRS.) Jo ANN MISSEY

San Bernardino, Calif.

The Shrinking Dollar Sir:

We hear a great deal of how a tax cut will improve the recession, but every tax dollar the Government collects is put back into circulation almost immediately, therefore what difference will result if the tax is cut and the taxpayer spends that dollar instead of the Government? I can see only one result: there will be no increase in the dollars spent, but there will be a decrease in the dollars collected as tax by the government. Inflation is much more dangerous than a recession.

RUSSELL P. DANIELS Tulsa, Okla.

Brower for Everything

Sir:

I would like to nominate Charles Brower [June 2] for President, for Man of the Year, for Bardot's leading man, for Premier of France and to head the motion picture industry and anything else he wants. He has exposed the recession, which is undoubtedly not economic but comes from a spiritual goofing off of American ideas and imagination.

WALTER WANGER Los Angeles

Not Such Good Feeling

Sir:

When the Rev. Gustave A. Weigel, theologian of a Maryland Jesuit college, says that Catholic church attendance is up, that increased attendance is due to the superior liturgy service, that Protestants visit Catholic services to see how it's done, he's talking sheer nonsense. Catholics are conditioned to attend church virtually from the cradle, much as Pavlov's dogs were conditioned to salivate at the ringing of a bell. The good reverend might be more concerned to explain why Italy and France have the largest Communist parties in the West. If it weren't for Protestant America, both these countries would probably have long since been taken over by the Reds and the Vatican itself put out of business.

J. R. HEILBRON Los Angeles

Sir:

"Era of Good Feeling?" I admit it is a good question, but so long as the Roman hierarchy has a strangle hold on the minds of 36-plus million (I wonder about the validity of their count) Americans, this hoped-for good feeling can never exist.

ART KUCINSKI Oneonta, N.Y.

Man of Mobiles

Sir:

Thank you for your fascinating article on Alexander Calder. Some years ago I tried my hand at making mobiles, and after careful study of an excellent Calder in our City

Art Museum, concluded that there was nothing to it. After a month of experimentation I was astounded at the enormous complexity of his creation. Like many another art form, it's easy until you try it.

JOHN GOLDSTON

St. Louis

Sir:

Re Calder's Whirling Ear: it is not modern art but the titles that confuse me. I would have guessed Calder's work should have been called Modern Whale Taking a Dive, Seal Refusing to Abandon Sinking Ship, or Mismatched Objects Smooching the Hard Way. CARL E. SCHULTZ St. Joseph, Mich.

Buy Now

Sir:

It has been a pleasure to note the ever-increasing space that TIME has devoted to its section on art and in particular with regard to contemporary American painting. The color reproductions that are presented each week, I believe, are a tremendous stimulus. The fact is, a painting (Blue Landscape by Lawrence Calcagno) that was reproduced in the April 21 issue of TIME so impressed me that I bought it.

FRANCIS FOWLER Los Angeles

Earth Man, Go Home

Sir:

I read with interest your May 26 account of the necessary conditions the brave voyagers into space must encounter. One can only imagine the emotions of the reception committee of the selected planet, as they behold the incoming group. Clad from head to toe in plastic suits from which they have not emerged for some time, nourished on a diet of sugar water, paper towels--and that algae. Who could blame the committee if, to a man, they cut loose with, "Why don't you go back where you came from?"

MARGARET O. EBINGER Monticello, N.Y.

Sir:

Enjoyed your article, but somehow I've lost all my desire to do any space traveling.

MICHAEL SLOAN Lilly, Pa.

Assets for Scholarship

Sir:

The most refreshing item I have read recently was TIME'S Letter from the Publisher [June 2] on Teacher Levine and her class at San Leandro (Calif.) High School. I wish I could be present at the class and enjoy this wonderful method of developing young minds. The appalling lack of interest shown by both men and women today in what goes on around them and in the world is no end frustrating. And what is even worse, the art of social conversation has been forced to yield to the lure and fascination of TV.

NAN RUSSELL Fern Park, Fla.

Afterthought

Sir:

In regard to Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt's suggestion [May 26] that Adlai Stevenson ("the historical knowledge and the quickness that are needed") and Auto Union Boss Walter Reuther ("toughness and acceptance of new ideas") are needed to handle the "ruthless, very clever, and very, very slick Russian leader": Perhaps Mrs. Roosevelt should have made this suggestion to F.D.R. before Yalta.

ERNEST A. NEWMAN Portales, N. Mex.

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