Liquor Question

Sirs:

My thanks to you for your honest reporting of the W.C.T.U. situation in this country. The spectacle of this group trying to exploit our national crisis to enforce prohibition again is to me a nauseating one.

At present there are five men in my family in the armed services, the majority of them having enlisted. . . . There isn't one who would drink while on duty, who would drink while driving a car, or who likes to drink and roll in the gutter. But on their occasional weekends home, they have certainly earned the right to relax as they wish and they will certainly find a drink waiting for them in my home. I'll go further and state that regardless of the success achieved by the W.C.T.U., these men will always find a drink waiting for them in my home. . . .

Let's clamp down on the dirty dives; let's crack down harder on drunken drivers; let's ration our remaining supply of drinkables. And let's quit arguing over prohibition till the war is won and the boys are home to discuss it, too.

EDITH L. THORNTON

Philadelphia, Pa.

Sirs:

We who are in the service are what the politicians love to refer to as "the flower of American manhood." Maybe we are; however, at the moment I do not feel much like a flower. . . . We are pretty well able to take care of ourselves and if not we at least don't want Senator Bilgewater and Congressman Bafflebrain telling us when we can have a drink. . . .

G. A. MACARTHUR

Camp Sutton, N.C.

Sirs:

We have an 18-year-old in our bunch--the darling of the outfit. He's the best soldier we have. The kid's hard as nails. He has character, brains, personality--and more surplus energy than anyone I've ever known. Like all 18-year-olds, he's up against the problems of women and liquor. A flat "No" certainly isn't the answer to those problems. It's a tough stage for any youngster. And I don't think prohibition is making it easier for him to work it out for himself.

Our field is in the center of a 100-mile-square dry area. Translated into practical terms, this means the Army drinks $3-a-pint rotgut. . .

My young friend is a sergeant pilot--making $144 a month. He can afford the bootleg liquor. So he's not learning to drink beer or good whiskey on his nights off--but to drink rotgut straight. As he told me this morning, amid groans, "the stuff tastes so terrible, the only thing you can do is to get drunk as quick as possible so you can't taste it." . .

This letter is, of course, prompted by the resurgence of the powerful dry lobby, and especially its efforts to force prohibition upon the areas surrounding Army posts. I wonder if the much-spoken-for "Mothers of America" really want their 18-and 19-year-old sons to come home used to drinking the cheapest liquor a pint at a time. ... I don't think it's sacrilege to include moderation in drinking as part of the American way. ... At the very least, it's a damn dirty trick to play on us while we're away. . . .

I think it's high time Congressmen, editorial writers and such like started thinking of servicemen as citizens, not wards of the Government. And, for God's sake, quit appealing to the "Mothers of America." There are millions of us and we're all grown-up men, even the 18-year-olds--men good enough to fight and die. We love our mothers--but we cut the apron strings years ago.

S/SGT. CORNELIUS J. DWYER

Lubbock, Texas

Sirs:

... I remember what a dirty trick we all thought it was when we came back from overseas after the last war to find that prohibition had been foisted upon the country without our having a say on it. As it happened, it turned out worse than a dirty trick.

If the boys who want beer and liquor would write to their Congressmen on the subject, it would have a great effect.

Some or many believe that they cannot write direct to their Congressmen. This is not the case as long as the subject matter is not that in which direct superiors can have no interest. . . .

CLYDE C. WAY

Lieut. Colonel, U.S.A., ret.

Carlisle, Pa.

Deciphered

Sirs:

How can you leave your curious public with such a bowl of alphabet soup as is found in the Oct. 26 issue, Science section, page 62, article "Cuckoo"--without deciphering some of it, at least ?

I refer to "the 78-year-old dean of British ornithologists, Edward Charles Stuart Baker, C.I.E.; O.B.E.; F.Z.S.; M.B.O.U.; H.F.A.O.U.; H.F.H.O.U.; F.L.S.; J.P." Phew!

I suspect that the editor who passed that secretly enjoys the fact that he has sent the greater part of your readers fleeing madly to their title dictionaries, there to spend endless hours in (for some) fruitless research.

Pray tell--what's it all about?

FREDERICK SCHALOW

Springfield, Ill.

> Cuckooist Baker's titular kite tail translates thus: Companion (of the Order) of the Indian Empire, Officer (of the Order) of the British Empire, Fellow of the Zoological Society, Member of the British Ornithologists' Union, Honorary Fellow of the Australian Ornithologists' Union, Honorary Fellow of the Hungarian Ornithologists' Union, Fellow of the Linnean Society, Justice of the Peace.--ED.

C. O.'s Objection

Sirs:

In TIME, [Oct. 19] your report of the louse-control experiment carried out with men from CPS Camp Campton (N.H.) treats well (and with a touch of humor) one of the more valuable projects on which America's 5,000 Civilian Public Service men (conscientious objectors) are employed. Perhaps you would be interested to know that the 48 men having taken part included nine undergraduate and nine graduate college students, three college professors, seven high-school teachers, seven businessmen, two insurance agents, two lawyers, three laborers, one farmer, artist, Government employe, social worker, publisher, and newspaperman.

Other CPS men are engaged in work at general and mental hospitals, in studying international administration at Columbia University, in experiments to determine the toxicity of sea water and other research and service work. This number is relatively small, however, and many men are engaged in work which they feel to be relatively unimportant in the present situation. . . .

CPS men have not been able to gain permission to leave the country to join such units as the Friends Ambulance Unit in China; and units organized and trained to do relief work in England and China were forbidden permission to leave at the last minute. Meanwhile, the American Friends Service Committee has had to recruit men for its foreign relief work from those classified 4-D (ministers) or otherwise deferred.

While we realize that some people do not feel that c.o.s should be given opportunities to do worthwhile work, we do not believe that most people will condone the present inadequate utilization of CPS talents and energy. Nor do we believe that this represents a sincere recognition of the right of conscience. . . .

Ross SANDERSON JR.

Civilian Public Service

Camp Antelope

Coleville, Calif.

"No Kidding, Dad . . ."

Sirs:

Would you or your readers be kind enough to help me and perhaps other American fathers? My 18-year-old son asks me some questions. I will repeat here, as best I can from memory, our conversation:

"Dad, I know you want me to continue in high school in hopes that I can finish before being drafted. ... In one way, I would like to volunteer like you did and not wait to be drafted. In another way, I am not so sure, because I wonder what it is all about.

"Many times you have told me how disgusted you were to come back from France and find practically everybody in this country rolling in dough. It made you think that those who stayed at home profited from the slaughter of your pals. ... I know you favor an honest anti-inflation program, and you have told me that you are the only person at the mill whose pay has not been raised. You say, as general manager, that you will not accept an increase because you will not be put in the position of profiting from the killing of American boys.

"Now, Dad, we kids are not wizards, but at the same time we are not imbeciles. We read the papers, magazines and listen to the radio. We have seen the new tax charts and we notice what a big tax people in your bracket, which we guess is somewhere around $15,000, will pay. So if you don't give yourself a raise to take care of the higher tax, then you are really taking a big cut in salary, and at the same time you will be paying more for food and clothing, just like anyone else.

"Gosh, Dad, it's none of my business, but aren't you just a sucker? Right here in the paper it says that the farmers are getting more money than ever. I've also read that factory employes are working shorter hours and getting more dough than they ever got. In spite of this, workers are striking in order to grab still more.

"It doesn't make much sense to us kids, Dad.

"You are grumpy, tired and fed up, working harder than ever to keep the plant running. You say materials are hard to get, your key men are being drafted into the Army, you are being driven nuts by reports and questionnaires from all kinds of Government bureaus and, now, to top it off, you find C.I.O. organizers in what little hair you have left. You say that the stockholders cannot get rich out of this war because at least $8 out of every $10 of profit will go to the Government in taxes.

"If this is true, and if people in factories are working shorter hours and earning more than they ever earned, then why can they walk out and stop production of war materials in spite of their solemn promises not to? ...

"Everything else has been frozen, Dad. Why doesn't the President freeze union organizers for the duration? Why doesn't he abolish short hours and overtime pay, Dad? Is it unreasonable for us kids to expect all-out support if we're to be sent to fight against enemies who are getting full support from their people? . . . Could it be, Dad, that there are more voting union members than voting managers, and that it is good politics to get the most votes?

"Well, Dad, what is more important--votes or our lives?

"No kidding, Dad, what is it all about? We will fight like you did, whether we volunteer or not, and will die rather than let the Japs and Germans push us around, but, no kidding, what is it all about?"

I will be very thankful for whatever help you can give me in answering my son.

A. G. HEINSOHN JR.

Knoxville, Tenn.

> TIME regrets that it possesses no handy answer to the tough question posed by Reader Heinsohn's perplexed son, hopes that one may emerge out of its cumulative pages.--ED.

No Complaint

Sirs:

. . . Some of your readers may be interested in hearing how the war has affected life in a small oil camp in the tropics. There are only 24 U.S. families in this camp, and we, as well as several other small camps in eastern Venezuela, are dependent to a large extent on food brought by boat from the States; we can get eggs and chickens and sometimes vegetables locally, but there is practically no farming done here, and the supplies of those items usually do not equal the demands.

Since the arrival of boats is now very irregular, we are always having to get along without some staple--at present there is no yeast, and since everyone has to make her own bread, we are resorting to the "starter yeast" used by our grandmothers. Butter is frequently unobtainable; powdered milk is what is used here, and as far as I know, cannot be churned into butter.

With the exception of bananas and small green oranges and occasional pineapples, and a few papayas and melons, we have no fresh fruit--when a boat does bring in fresh apples or States oranges, they are hoarded in our refrigerators for months and only brought out on great occasions. American soap is much sought after, and when any is imported, each customer at the commissary is allowed to purchase only two bars at a time--this in spite of the fact that Ivory is the equivalent of 45-c-, Rinso over $1 and Gold Dust about $1.20. . . .

But no one is complaining and we are all eager to do whatever we can to bring about victory for our country and for our allies as soon as possible. Everyone here is buying U.S. war bonds. And since we are more or less isolated for the duration, we are doubly grateful to TIME for its airmail edition, which arrives here promptly every Monday, and for adhering to its policy of printing all the news without bias and without prejudice. . . .

HEDDY KRAEMER

Quiriquire, Venezuela

"Let Us Now Move Forward . . ."

Sirs:

The decision of Attorney General Biddle to regard all aliens of Italian origin as friendly, and to exempt them from curfew restrictions and other disabilities, is intelligent, humane, and well-advised. . . .

Let us now move forward to extend this wise and benevolent policy to another potentially valuable and highly deserving group in our midst. There are in America hundreds of thousands of aliens of German origin, whose loyalty to our cause is intense and unequivocal. Many of them have better reason to loathe the Nazis and their criminal accomplices than our most patriotic citizens can ever know. They have felt the lash of the Gestapo and the agonies of the concentration camp; they have been despoiled of loved ones, possessions, home, country and citizenship. These people are pledged by every sacred oath, by every claim of human decency and dignity, to a war to the death upon Hitler, Hirohito, and all they represent. . . .

(Rabbi) IRVING F. REICHERT

San Francisco, Calif.

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