Offer
Sirs:
TIME (Nov. 7) reports the offer of the Madison (Wis.) Capital-Times to donate $1000 to charity if Chicago Tribuneman Chesly Manly can prove the truth of his story that the La Follette (Civil Liberties) inquiry was conceived by John L. Lewis, and used to smear and intimidate employers opposed by the C. I. O.
I wish to supplement the offer. In a Tribune dispatch signed by Willard Edwards, printed November 1, purporting to present facts pertaining to my broadcast description of the Dies Committee's methods, this sentence occurs: "Press association reporters who have covered all the hearings corroborated Dies's assertion that Anderson was present at only two sessions, leaving in the middle of the second one."
I will give $100 to any charity designated by TIME if Tribuneman Edwards can prove the truth of that statement to the satisfaction of any judge designated by TIME. More-- I will give $100 under the same terms if I cannot prove, by the evidence of my dispatches published in the St. Louis Star-Times, by the records of the Western Union Telegraph Co., and by the testimony of press association and other reporters, that I attended the five consecutive sessions of the committee from October 17 to 21, inclusive, which covered the testimony on the Michigan sitdown strikes, including the testimony of Judge Gadola and ex-City Manager Barringer that the "treasonable" conduct of Governor Murphy had resulted in "a breakdown of civil authority." We cannot hope to stop that type of reporting in the Tribune, but we may succeed in making it embarrassing.
PAUL Y. ANDERSON
St. Louis Star-Times St. Louis, Mo.
Panic
Sirs:
Blame the CBS and Orson Welles for the panic that was created by the radio dramatic program [TIME, Nov. 7]? I say no! They should be commended for their realistic presentation.
People who were gullible enough to believe that it is possible for the earth to be invaded by "men from Mars" should be kicking themselves instead. They, who jump at conclusions are simple prey for war propagandists and lead others into spilling of blood.
Let Sunday night's thoughtless reactions be a lesson to all sluggish thinkers.
GEORGE MARSCH
Akron, Ohio
Sirs:
Reference: first four lines, TIME, Oct. 31. ["During the recent Czechoslovak crisis the British people scared worse than any other in Europe, and in the panic atmosphere of London . . ."]. Who's scared now?
JAMES M. LEE
Gatineau, Que.
Sirs:
No greater tribute can be paid to the artistry of Mr. Orson Welles and his company, than the fact, that on Sunday evening, for countless hundreds of sane normal people, something as fantastic as an invasion from Mars was reality.
ARVILLA MILLER
Toronto, Ont.
Sirs:
. . . You have my proxy to ballot all voting rights in favor of G. O. Welles. For "the stupidity of the U. S. radio audience," a royal ducking.
HARRIS BALDWIN Erie, Pa.
Sirs:
. . . Has any other radio program ever made so many front page columns? . . .
MRS. FRANK G. PLANTEN
Paterson, N. J.
Sirs:
. . . What board or commission would have foreseen the outcome of that Martian-broadcast if it had been privately presented beforehand? Let's leave the broadcasters the right of trial & error rather than rule and terror. Leave the listening public the right to dial to its own level of intelligence. There are ways for aroused public opinion to express itself against the sponsors of objectionable broadcasts.
If I like low-brow detective thrillers and my neighbor prefers classical operas, what of it? As for the children's programs being terrible, must they be permitted to listen? Or do you want Uncle Sam to shut off the broadcast simply because you have lost control of one of the most important duties of your life, the discipline of your offspring ?
A. HOEFLE
Toledo, Ohio
Impossible
Sirs:
I am not a college professor, nor a critic, but to find what appears to me to be two impossible statements in one issue of TIME magazine, calls for a protest.
[TIME, Oct. 31] describes President Roosevelt driving his car through the woodlands "watching his trees grow." If "grow" denotes progress or movement, as it should, then not even the President could "watch" or "sec" his trees prow, no matter hov slowly he drove. Impossible.
Then, after describing the remarkable feat of the docking of the Queen Mary without the help of tugs, you say: "No skipper had ever docked so large a vessel unaided." Can it be that something that never occurred had occurred?
W. W. DEAN
Pecos. Tex.
Reader Dean may not be a college professor but he certainly is a critic. --ED.
Man of the Year Sirs:
FOR MAX OF THE YEAR I NOMINATE ALFRED GWYNNE YANDERBILT. HE FINALLY BROUGHT TOGETHER WAR ADMIRAL AND SEABISCUIT AND GAYE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE THE THRILL OF THEIR LIYES.
FURNELL H. GOULD
Baltimore, Md.
Nominations are now open.--ED.
"Defense Program"
Sirs: I had hardly finished smiling over Mr.
Anderson's letter on the "defense program" for America [TIME, Oct. 10], my pleasure being due chiefly to the thought that in this country such a sarcasm did not risk being taken seriously, so far are we from such an attitude, when the replies to his letter arrived in the Oct. 31 issue of TIME.
My fun is spoiled! The worst of it is those replies sow the horrid doubt in my mind that maybe Mr. Anderson was serious, a possibility that had not even crossed my mind before. Oh dear, what are we coming to!--not Mr. Anderson, but the rest of us I mean--who could for even an instant doubt his intentions, or could misunderstand a compatriot's jibe at manners so foreign to us?
HARRIET LOGAN
Tucson, Ariz.
-- Reader Anderson writes: "It disturbs me somewhat that my satirical remarks were not recognized as such by many of your readers and provoked a number of rejoinders (in dead earnest) which are even more nonsensical than my original proposals."--ED.
Job Wanted
Sirs:
Enclosed, you will find my ''want ad" letter and two letters of reference. . . . Not yet have we been on relief or WPA, we hope always to be able to say that. . . .
WANTED
A business man willing to invest in a young man with ideas, energy, and ambition. A forestry graduate, technically trained, with experience in industry, office work, selling, well acquainted with hard work, I am 29, married, have two small boys. Recently re-leased from the technical department of a rayon pulp mill closed due to the effect of the Japanese-Chinese war on pulp production, I am ready and able to go anywhere that opportunity shows itself. My special interest: the problem of waste in industry.
J. RICHARD KIEBURTZ
Port Angeles, Wash.
Slogan
Sirs:
I recently came across in my reading (Nathaniel Hawthorne's Notes) the following paragraph which struck me as being so apt a statement of the Magazine TIME'S principles that it might almost be adopted as a slogan.
"I dreamed the other night that the world had become dissatisfied with the inaccurate manner in which facts are reported and it employed me to relate things of importance exactly as they happened."
PRESTONIA MANN MARTIN
Winter Park, Fla.
Thank Heaven
Sirs:
Like the majority of Americans you have too much to say, and when you've had your say it hasn't been worth listening to! In your issue of Sept. 26, you say: ". . . absolving those who had already sold out the little Republic." Meaning, of course, Britain and France.
As a native of Holland and an admirer of the British people, the fairest and most courageous in the world today--they do not hide behind Neutrality Laws like your terrified country does--I would take this opportunity to tell you that your statement is scurrilous and unjust. . . .
Mr. Chamberlain, by sacrificing the gangrenous Sudeten areas of Czechoslovakia, has saved the lives of millions of men, women and children. But if it had come to war the invincible British Air Force would have smashed the Nazi and Fascist power for ever.
No man in past or present life ever saved so many lives as Britain's Premier. He deserves the thanks of the civilized world--not your wretched American criticisms.
Too long has the U. S. been in the habit of giving Europe advice which hasn't been worth the paper printed on. We don't want America's counsel.
The American public should bow in shame for they betrayed the world in a manner that has never been equaled when their President planned the League of Nations, then flatly refused to join it.
Thank Heaven the British people exist.
JAN PRETORIUS
Aruba, N.W.I.
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