Two Governors
Sirs:
Many North Carolinians applaud TIME for its item, "Two Governors," in the Jan. 7 issue. However, the comments are misleading. Almost any recent Governor of North Carolina might have done the same thing Governor Cherry did in commuting the sentence of a 14-year-old Negro boy from death to life imprisonment. We elect that kind of Governor. Tolerance, decency and humaneness are not so rare in North Carolina as TIME intimates. . . .
SARAH YODER Lincolnton, N.C.
Sirs:
Cheers for North Carolina's Governor Cherry. But my guess is that you have been something less than fair with Governor Caldwell of Florida in similar circumstances. You make him out a regular Bilbo, mouthing nonsense on lynchings and the race question. After all, Florida isn't that much worse than North Carolina.
CHARLES V. MOONEY St. Louis, Mo.
Sirs:
. . . The utterances of Governor Caldwell are not half so likely to cause additional killings as commuting to life imprisonment the sentences of criminals who commit such heinous crimes. . . .
I have no authority to speak for Governor Caldwell; however, no article will convince me the Governor favors or condones mob violence. I do feel positive, however, that Governor Caldwell does not condone the raping of children and pregnant women anc would be very reluctant to interfere with execution of such criminals. . . .
E. B. WARREN Chipley, Fla.
> TIME was indeed "less than fair" to Florida's Governor Caldwell and, by way of apology, hereby sets the record straight:
1) Governor Caldwell did not consider the killing of Jesse James Payne a lynching because there was no evidence that Payne had been abducted from jail and shot by a mob. Presumably the crime was committed by one man, as yet unidentified.
2) Governor Caldwell did not condone the shooting but denounced it as "a crime" and a "disgraceful occurrence." As a result of his special investigation, he blamed "the stupid inefficiency" of the local sheriff--but "stupidity and ineptitude are not sufficient grounds for the removal of an elected official by the Governor."
3) Governor Caldwell did not say the shooting saved a lot of trouble. He did observe that the ordeal-by-open-court for victims of rape was a problem "society has not found a solution to."--ED.
On Saipan, Waste?
Sirs:
A relative writes from Saipan: ... A few of the boys got over on the beach and watched them dump brand-new tanks, each equipped with a toolbox outfit that left nothing to be wanted, over a cliff. . . . They saw thousands of crated brand-new jeeps being burned . . . and you can't get a jeep to drive with on the island. The orders are: 'Destroy before the civilians get 'em.' They say they're doing a better job of 'burnt earth policy' than when the Japs took over. Maybe they're doing the right thing. I don't know. . . ."
DANIEL ASHLER Philadelphia
Storm over Iran
Sirs:
Your recent article on Iran [TiME, Dec. 17] contained erroneous and offensive statements that were obviously the product of someone's malice, misinformation and irresponsibility.
For example, your statement that eleven million Iranians (that is the total adult population) have venereal disease is preposterous. The reports of American doctors, hospitals and the national Medical Service with whom I have frequently talked do not give the remotest support to such an indictment. The problem is there, as it is here, but in no such monstrous proportions as your article asserts. Equally fantastic is your statement that "most of the adults are opium addicts." A relatively mild form of addiction, originating in poverty and suffering, does exist, but one does not see in Iran the depraved wrecks that cumber the alleys of Eastern Asia, and the Government has made an intelligent and increasingly successful effort to cope with the problem. .
You offer, as a factual appraisal of the quality of the present Iranian Army, a garbled version of a 200-year-old joke (a disbanded battalion asking for a road guard to protect them against bandits), an example of the amusing city rivalry in Persia, which was told about the Kashanis demobilized from Nadir Shah's army at Tabas in 1740. It was originally funny, but is stale now and has no relevance. Whoever cited it as a current fact can hardly escape the charge of dishonesty.
Much more reprehensible is the focusing of calumnies on the young Shah, who, far from being "feckless" or "preoccupied by personal problems and pleasures," is a gallant, industrious man, earnestly devoted to the welfare of his country, with astonishing knowledge of the affairs of government, far out in the lead in his sense of social values, with a liberal program for the amelioration of ancient wrongs, often generously utilizing his own funds for public services when they are impoverished or delayed through governmental red tape.
Your accusation that the Shah publicly brought other women into the Gulistan Palace is false and reprehensible. The Gulistan Palace, by the way, is not a residence but is just used for formal receptions. Conversations with many people in Teheran who would know about such matters, with members of the State Department with their exceptional sources of information, as well as with those actually close to the Shah, reveal these allegations to be without basis in fact. It is always wicked enough to bear false witness against one's neighbor, but it is particularly offensive that such insults and falsehoods should be publicly directed at the monarch of a friendly country in a tragic hour. Overwhelmed with almost unbearable burdens, which he meets with courage and intelligence, deeply anxious about the fate of his country in this confused moment, a country gravely weakened by the heroic services it has rendered to the Allied cause, the young Shah has more than the ordinary right to be spared insult and libel.
Is such an account as TIME published to be the first of a series of articles of the alleged misdeeds of monarchs, based on bazaar gossip and pantry tittle-tattle? Is this an invitation to European journals to publish wild stories about our leading citizens? These are methods that the coarsest journalism has used to promote circulation, of which TIME is in no need.
At the present moment Americans are loudly praising our freedom of the press and insisting that all other nations should do as we do, but if freedom of the press confers the license to misrepresent and antagonize a friendly country, to insult and libel her sovereign, then our version of a free press is likely to invite and deserve both ridicule and resentment.
Obviously, TIME has been ill served by some of its representatives--and not for the first time, as far as Iran is concerned. Previous references to Iran which have appeared in both TIME and LIFE have contained erroneous and unfriendly statements. Such errors are largely the product of ignorance and credulity. Our reporters in the Near East are often shockingly innocent of the background, are generally quite baffled by the complex social and political factors they are called on to describe and appraise; fatigued, confused, prejudiced often by inconveniences, they become the easy victims of cynical and disillusioned residents, exiled for good or bad reasons from their own country nursing personal grievances and frequently, for commercial or political purposes, anxious to inflame resentment against America. Why should Americans play their game?
Because of Iran's constructive and precious contributions to world civilization, which place the whole Western world under her obligation, because Iran and her problems are crucial for the peace of the rest of the world, because in this war she has rendered services saving us life and treasure at a dreadful expense to herself, because she still has a great future and looks to America to help guide her toward fulfillment, she and her young king are entitled to the respect, sympathy and fair dealing that are essential in the American tradition.
ARTHUR UPHAM POPE Director
Iranian Institute New York City
> To Iranophile Arthur Upham Pope, thanks for an eloquent and sincere piece of special pleading. TIME was misled into exaggerating Iran's venereal disease and drug addiction rates, was dead wrong about the Gulistan Palace. While sympathizing with the young Shah's difficulties, both public and personal, TIME believes its information on them may be more up-to-date than Mr. Pope's. TIME hopes that Iran will triumphantly survive its current travail, resume its "constructive and precious contributions to world civilization" too long suspended.--ED.
"Drearie Willie"
Sirs:
Some may take you seriously, but more than a few Canadians are getting a hearty laugh out of your Mackenzie King story [TIME, Jan. 7]. . . .
We turn off our radios when Drearie Willie goes on the air, members of Parliament walk out on him when he gets up to speak, and our troops overseas jeered him off the platform. . . . Need more be said ? . . .
IVAN KIRKHOUSE Toronto, Ont.
> He was recently reelected Prime Minister. You might mention that.--ED.
Footwork in the Antilles
Sirs:
. . . We send you . . . Headquarters Antilles Department Memo No. 2, dated 3 January 1946. . . . "SUBJECT: WEARING OF SHOES
1. ... No single pair of boots or shoes will be worn on consecutive days, but alternate wear will be had with the second pair.
2. To aid in the alternate wearing of boots and/or shoes it is directed that:
a. One pair of boots and/or shoes will be laced diagonally and worn on the odd numbered days of the month.
b. One pair of boots and/or shoes will be laced crosswise and worn on the even numbered days of the month. . . ."
. . . There will be another crisis in the glorious military history of the Antilles Department when the General and his aides discover that the 31st of January and the 1st of February, both odd days, come consecutively. . . .
SERVICEMEN'S NAMES WITHHELD Puerto Rico
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