"Background for War"
Sirs:
Never wrote to an -editor before; may never do so again.
But "Background for War," TIME, May i, is one of the finest pieces of contemporary historical writing I have read. "Clear--curt --complete" -- but above all, timely & dispassionate.
J. M. VAN LAW
New York City
Sirs:
TIME'S anonymous editors certainly rise above plain journalistic style every so often. Your small classic, "Background for War" deserves to be studied by every class in English. It is written in that best and most difficult to achieve of all English language writing -- clearly and simply and apparently without effort. . . .
LESLYE READ
Chicago
Sirs: I do not think that I have ever read any thing so incisive and instructive as your "1,063 Weeks.". . . I wish that I had the knowledge and skill of the fellow who wrote it.
T. N. CARVER
Santa Monica, Calif.
Sirs:
May I suggest a reprint of this article to be placed in the hands of social science teachers throughout the nation.
G. D. ROBBINS Chairman
Social Science Department Stillwater High School Stillwater, Minn.
Sirs:
I wish that it were possible to send to every voter in our country a reprint of pp. 30 to 34 inclusive, TIME, May 1. If widely read this ought to keep us out of a European war. . . .
ROBERT PFEIFFER
Columbus, Ohio
Sirs:
What a story! TIME should be congratulated. . . .
DAVID I. WOLFSTEIN
Cincinnati, Ohio
Racial Discrimination
Sirs:
Mr. Caldwell in his letter in TIME of April 24 is a bit hysterical and conclusion-jumpish about racial discrimination on a trip of which he admittedly saw only the tail-most end.*
When I crossed from Europe on the St. Louis in March the ship's passengers in all classes were preponderantly Jewish. . . .
When I first saw the heavily Jewish passenger list I was in the same frame of mind as Mr. Caldwell--all sympathy and just waiting for a chance to condemn any discourtesy on the part of German passengers or ship's personnel. . . . Instead, they made themselves thoroughly objectionable, with the exception of two charming families who, by the way, did not mix with the others. They stared and made loud comments about fellow passengers, they were rude and demanding with the stewards, they made the decks and public rooms as untidy and dirty as I have never seen them on a German boat, were noisy during concerts and made as free with others' deck chairs and rugs as with their own. It may sound petty, but over a week of constant bad manners gets on your nerves.
Don't forget my sympathies were all with them at the start.
The stewards outdid themselves to be pleasant, performing all sorts of little thoughtfulnesses which was taken much for granted. . . .
I think Mr. Caldwell's warm heart and sympathies ran away with him. Aren't we all rather forgetting that the typical and usual German is a sentimental cheery good soul? Let's judge a little more by the ones we know and meet and less by the ones we only read about in the papers.
RUTH JANE WILLIAMS
New York City
The World Is Mad
Sirs:
I was intrigued while reading your Religion article "For China," p. 41, TIME, April 17, by the statement that $1 U. S. money, would keep a Chinese alive for one month.
Without the slightest desire to discuss the question of armaments, it seems appalling to think that the cost of a modern battleship would keep nearly 4,000,000 people "alive" for one year!
Or, that the sum of approximately $1 from every inhabitant of the U. S., Canada, Great Britain and France, would sustain for six months or more the entire population described by Dr. John R. Mott. Surely the world is mad.
F. A. SKELTON
Montreal, Canada
U. S. Illustrators
Sirs:
Your piece on U. S. illustrators [TIME, May 1] lacked the names of worthies that should have been honorably mentioned. Henry Raleigh and Walter Biggs of my generation have held the admiration and have been an inspiration to contemporaries and students. Other outstanders are James Preston, May Wilson Preston, H. J. Mowat, and that competent Oilman Pruett Carter.
Among the Glamor Guys should be prolific Floyd Davis, Jon Whitcomb, Walter Klett, Gilbert Bundy, The New Yorker's Galbraith, and the Glamor Gal Ritchie (Barbara) Cooper.
Things I never knew till now are that I am saturnine and about to make another mi-lion. Neither is true but the million bucks idea thrills me no end.
ARTHUR WILLIAM (They all laughed when I sat down to draw) BROWN
ARTHUR WILLIAM BROWN New York City
Sirs:
Breathes there a TIME man with soul so dead who never to himself has said how much he would give for an evening with that Petty girl? Or is garrulous TIME too poky to realize women by Petty are not only a No. 1 ware of you know what 50-c- magazine, but also the modern American Dream? Ask your nearest college boy for further details. And remember not to include out of succeeding columns on illustrators a mention of the airbrushed wonder of your days and mine--the Petty girl.
To TIME, this week forgetful, comes a raspberry succulent with scorn.
JAMES FITCHETTE
Montclair, N. J.
Sirs:
The account of myself as the "stolid Philadelphian" in "U. S. Illustrators" . . . was acceptable enough especially when I found my name associated with Daumier and with Forain.
When I had read further I was greatly disturbed by the reference to Mr. Wallace Morgan.
Mr. Morgan and I became acquainted at the International Yacht Races during the 18903. . . .
At that time, I think, neither of us had an advantage in education, training or ability. There was no similarity in the work we did except the inevitable pen and ink of newspaper drawings at that time. From then on we have gone each his separate, individual way.
In Mr. Morgan's work there is a gaiety and lightness of touch which I have envied for 40 years, together with a splendid pictorial sense of things. And I admire wholeheartedly what he has to say in his pictures of what he sees.
F. R. GRUGER
Gladstone, N. J.
Ham
Sirs:
Ezra Pound [TIME, May i] is a ham. Having met the hirsute bard in Italy a year and a half ago I can testify that this is so. One gander at the Latin Quarter hat, the flossy corduroy jacket, the cravat like a bow on an Easter lily--this is all that's needed to "get" this side-show on wheels, a pre-Raphaelite's pet notion of what the well-dressed poet will wear. If my regard for the gentleman was rueful before Rapallo, it was well-nigh spectacular in its disrelish after. . . .
The simple fact is that Pound is a Fascist. Whether because ... he has never gained sufficient maturity to be anything more than a conscientious individualist "pour le sport" remains a moot question. To most Americans, however, reading his silly interview, he has made of himself in public what many have known him to be, personally, for years. . . .
JOHN HASTINGS
Cambridge, Mass.
Noble Message
Sirs:
The thought of any industry having "the same prosperity we did in 1918 and 1919" is most inspiring. [TIME, May 1--"President Roy A. Cheney of the Underwear Institute announced in Philadelphia: 'The underwear industry is prepared and in line in case of war. Several million shirts and drawers would be needed. . . . We will have the same prosperity we did in 1918 and 1919.' "--ED.] However, the distaff side is slightly tense right now and to link war and death with personal gain is a kind of mental sadism. Beware of hysterical outbursts like the following (pardon my pointing, Mr. Cheney):
Dear Husbands, Brothers, Sweethearts, Sons, et al.:
Oh heed this noble message won't you please ? Remember Mr. Cheney is your pal; you shall not lack your share of B.V.D.'s!
Your undies need you and you need your undies. Go forth to war and bring prosperity. Be sure you change each day (including Sundays), and pay your debt to this great industry. If in the muck and hell of futile wars, a few of you might lose your dear-loved lives, your consolation is: you'll die in drawers!
Sincerely Yours,
YOUR MOTHERS, SWEETHEARTS, WIVES
PER Janice Rossi
Sacramento, Calif.
Drinkers' Lives
Sirs:
Help.
In TIME, April 17, you mention the death of Dr. Charles Rupert Stockard, "famed biologist, president of the board of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, long-time head of the anatomy department at Cornell University's Medical College. . . . After a 17-year experiment with guinea pigs, Dr. Stockard asserted that a moderate consumption of alcohol is good for the human race." Now here is an item from another paper: "Dr. Arthur Hunter, actuary of the New York Life Insurance Co., studied the records of 60 insurance companies, involving over 2.000,000 persons, and found that even moderate use of alcoholic liquors shortens life from four to six years. One who drinks to excess cannot be insured. Dr. Hunter figures that every drink costs the moderate drinker 25 minutes of life in addition to his money." What's the answer?
EARL B. HULBURT East Cleveland, Ohio > -Scientists' scientific consensus: that there is much to be said on both sides. --ED.
Springfield's Planetarium
Sirs:
And I thought you knew everything! It's a great disappointment to learn that apparently you are completely unaware of the fact that here in Springfield we have a planetarium of which we are extremely proud. Even if you ignore it as a newsgatherer you ought to know about it as a patriot because the projector is the only one designed and built in this country and it has some features that the Zeiss projectors lack.
I'm enclosing some information about the planetarium which may interest you. The clipping appeared last fall after the planetarium opened for its second year. I cut it out for my scrapbook, but gladly donate it to the good cause of having two of my favorites--TIME and the planetarium--get together. May I suggest Dear Ed, that you visit our "tabernacle of the stars" and see it for yourself.
MARJORIE RAPP WHITTUM
Springfield, Mass.
P.S. Please don't let my faith in you get shaken like this again. It's very upsetting.
> Long may Springfield's planetarium twinkle. But Springfield's projector (TIME, Nov. 15, 1937), a single globe, shows only the stars, might better be called a "stellarium." -- ED.
"Divine Mission"
Sirs:
Being a member of the younger generation who, if not the first year, will certainly be called the second to fight War-mongerer Roosevelt's Second World War for him, I wish to enter my angry protest and express my heartfelt wish that Mr. Roosevelt would "stay in his own backyard" and try to promote conditions in his own country so as to make it more possible for us, the coming leaders of this country to enjoy our "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness." . . .
Why should we hazard our precious and hard-won democracy in an attempt to coerce an alien and unsympathetic Kultur to our conception of life? Japan has a "divine mission" in life. Germany also has one. Do we?
DICK RICHARDS Student
Winchester High School Winchester, Ky.
Sirs:
John Stevenson's letter (TIME, May11) stating his desire to hear a little propaganda against the U. S. entering into another foreign war, instead of constantly being "egged on" by some of our learned statesmen (who would not see any action), is exactly the way that I feel.
I believe that a large percentage of the fellows our age, that is, those of us who would get the first call in the event of war (21-30), are also of the same opinion.
Supposing the rest of the world does want to go to war--why should we get tangled up in it? ...
Not long ago, a World War Vet expressed himself to me on the subject as follows: "Listen sonny, there's two guys that ain't goin' to go to the next war -- me and the guy they send after me."
I sincerely believe that if a poll were to be taken of all the fellows between the ages of 21 to 30, the majority would agree with the above idea as a whole. . . .
BOB LANPHIER
Los Angeles, Calif.
Civilization!!
Sirs:
The following are excerpts from a letter received from a young writer in England. They seem to throw a clear light on the feelings of the potential soldiers of the next war.
"We seem to be getting used to crises regarding European matters just now. There seems to be tension all over--but everybody is quiet about it--and we still get the weather forecast on the wireless before the news.
"The whole thing is ridiculous and I sometimes get quite worked up about it. The whole idea seems to give one the impression that life is futile. What's the good of looking forward if always there hangs a cloud of envy, spite, malice, etc., etc. over countries which are in themselves beautiful and where only man is vile.
"Are we to have to waste generation after generation in getting ready for wars and then getting over them ? Civilization!! There isn't much civilization knocking about nowadays, is there?
"Bitter? Perhaps I am, but Ceil, think how wonderful everything could be if only we would try to aim in the right direction. If only the rotten branches were cut off and cast away--the 'true vine' would then have a chance to thrive. Gosh I have my dreams, I can tell you. . . ."
From a letter sent to
CECILIA W. WELBURY Upper Darby, Pa.
National Health Program
Sirs:
TIME'S reporting of the New York County Medical Society's meetings (TIME, March 27) was anything but factual. TIME stated that "for months [Dr. Kopetzky] has been denouncing the National Health Program as 'a foreign importation,' " when as a matter of fact Dr. Kopetzky has been consistently opposed to Compulsory Health Insurance, not to the Health Program as a whole.
Furthermore, TIME stated that Dr. Kopetzky argued "If doctors were salaried . . . they would not render good medical care, for the desire for money is the greatest incentive in medical practice."
This is wholly untrue as a reading of the Doctor's address will quickly prove. Dr. Kopetzky's high standing in the medical profession is convincing proof of his loyalty to the Hippocratic Oath.
ROBERT H. STERLING
New York City
> TIME'S apologies to high-standing Dr. Kopetzky, whose personal loyalty to his Hippocratic Oath TIME did not question. Dr. Kopetzky said in his speech: "Where recompense is not suit ably graduated for human endeavor, the desire to excel diminishes and finally there is no adequate stimulus for endeavor." TIME further erred in reporting that Dr. Kopetzky had for months been criticizing the National Health Program. The critic was The New York Medical Week (Dr. Kopetzky, editor).--ED.
*Aboard S. S. Caribia bearing German refugees to South America. -- ED.
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