East of Reno
Sirs:
Your statement [TIME, Aug. 19] that Tony Stralla feels that Angelenos deserve the luxury of his floating gambling enterprise because there isn't a professional crap game west of Reno hardly makes sense. Los Angeles is east of Reno, as every high-school geography student knows.
EARLE A. CLEVELAND
Oakland, Calif.
P: To TIME'S National Affairs Editor, herewith, a map of curvaceous California.--ED.
Twice Promised Land
Sirs:
In one paragraph of your very sympathetic article on "The Promised Land" in your Aug. 26, 1946 issue, you state that "Jews, wherever they were, dreamed wistfully of a return to Palestine."
Nothing could be further from the fact as it refers to Americans of the Jewish faith.
With few exceptions they--whether of the Reformed, Conservative or Orthodox way and even if they call themselves Zionists--think of Palestine as a place of refuge and a homeland for the D.P. s of Europe, and have no thought of returning to the "old country.". . .
And there are, besides, that very considerable, but not so vocal, number who believe . . . that Zionism and the chauvinism that goes with it is not the answer. . . .
They . . . believe that in the U.S.A. they have a true and permanent homeland where, together with their Christian, Mohammedan, Buddhist and atheist fellow Americans they may live, worship and serve as free and equal citizens. They believe that until that condition is possible in every nation, the problem of D.P. s will not be solved. The problem "is only as hard as man's heart."
IRA W. HIRSHFIELD
Stamford, Conn.
Sirs:
May I commend you upon the thought-provoking cover of the Aug. 26 issue of TIME? I would like also to thank the artist, R. M. Chapin Jr. . . .
The modernistic sketch of Jerusalem is so significant. No doubt the positions of the Star of David, the Cross and the Crescent were planned, or were they? From right to left, which is the way both Hebrew and Arabic read, they are chronologically correct. But what strikes me so forcibly, as a Christian, is that the Cross casts no shadow upon the City."" ... I believe both the Crescent and the Star of David will always cast a shadow on Palestine, no matter who was there first or who is there now!
EDNA VOORHEES DAWSON
Summit, N.J.
Blurt v. Blurb
Sirs:
Thank you for clearing the mystery of the missing Mr. Hollenbeck, sometime newscaster for WJZ [TIME, Aug. 26]. If Radio should have a Man of the Year, he has one solid family vote on two counts: superior presentation of the news; and the long-suppressed blurt against noxious commercials, which apparently cost him that job.
We would greatly appreciate hearing that he is back on the air. Can you tell us when and where?
S. W. REED Washington, Conn.
P: He is still out of a job.--ED.
Three Little Words
Sirs:
All through the war G.I.s asked "What's wrong with the Army?" There were eight million answers and some of them were even printed in TIME, with those three little words "Serviceman's Name Withheld" at the end of every G.I. letter. . . . Comes now two letters [TIME, Aug. 19], one praising and one ribbing the brass, one signed by Ex-T/Sgt. So-and-so and the other by So-and-so, ex-Pfc, A.U.S. . . . I tell you, peace, atomic or otherwise, is wonderful!
Ex-S/Sgt. ROGER A. HURST
Newport News, Va.
Solution for Lynchers
Sirs:
We small-country Europeans, whether socialists or conservatives, all look up to America as our benefactor. . . . However, after reading TIME, Aug. 5, I can't understand how any American dares look any Dutchman in the face. . . . The Americans . . . are always shouting about democracy, and as proof of their democratic feelings they murder Negroes. . . .
I'm very sorry to say this but for those Georgian citizens there's but one solution: five years' occupation by Nazis. That would probably show them the resemblance between those Nazi beasts and the Georgian democratic beasts.
H. BIENEN Rotterdam,
The Netherlands
Sirs:
Having just read about the lynching in Minden, La. [TiME, Aug. 26] ... my Southern blood is boiling!
I was born and reared in Louisiana and had a Negro "mammy" to take care of me. . . .
It is time for some decent, civilized, white men to protect the Negroes, their rights, and privileges.
More power to you for reporting the truth. Keep it up. Perhaps more Southerners will realize, as I have, what must be done.
METTA MAE LIRETTE
Shreveport, La.
$1,500 and No More
Sirs:
TIME [July 22] stated that when Madame Ganna Walska divorced Yogi Theos Bernard she agreed to pay him $1,500 a month alimony. That was an error. Believing that Bernard was penniless, Madame Ganna Walska agreed to pay him $1,500 to cover his living expenses for three months until his suit for separate maintenance could be tried. After that payment had been made, it was discovered that he had substantial means and Madame Ganna Walska thereupon sued for divorce. The divorce was granted but did not provide for any cash settlement or for any alimony.
J. F. Goux
Santa Barbara
About That Underwear
Sirs:
Your "People" [TIME, Aug. 26] about the illustrious, beautiful, "neat, sexy, appealing and clean" Anita Loos has caused rising blood pressure in many. You say she threw up her hands at the wild younger generation. She is darn lucky she can still throw up her hands and pad her tummy with steaks and martinis (as she did in the picture you ran), thanks to the "wild younger generation," the generation which spilled blood all over the world for her and others just like her.
As for the bobby-soxers, I think they are cute and I'll bet they wash their underwear.
HENRY E. MALCOLM
Peona
Chirico Y. Chirico
Sirs:
In your Aug. 26 issue, you report the latest gunfire from a man who seems determined to assassinate one of the most brilliant youths in the history of recent art. The man is Georgio de Chirico, living Italian painter; his intended victim is himself as a young man.
You report that De Chirico has recently received a copy of my book, The Early Chirico, dealing with his paintings of 1910-17 . . . [and that] of 69 pictures reproduced, he denies two, one of them The Double Dream of Spring. However odd it may seem for a critic to insist that a man painted a picture which he says he did not paint, I disagree flatly with De Chirico. I think he painted The Double Dream of Spring, and I plan to publish the lengthy evidence for this assertion in a new edition of the book.
May I add that a consuming belief in the young De Chirico, as one of the greatest creative personages of our time, prompts this letter? I hope to go on defending him against all comers, including his aging, naked, grandiose, disgraceful, his rather wonderful self.
JAMES THRALL SOBY Farmington, Conn.
Dreadful
Sirs:
". . . He [H. G. Wells] was forced to realize that . . . either he or the human race were, somehow, dreadfully wrong" [TIME, Aug. 26].
This forces at least one reader to realize that either his old English grammar or TIME'S foreign editor were, or are, dreadfully wrong.
JOHN E. GILBREATH
Chattanooga
P: Reader Gilbreath is dreadfully right.--ED.
Animal Sacrifice
Sirs:
While reporting on the campaign against heart disease [TIME, July 22] and recording Reader Elaine Denman's "great feeling of thanksgiving and satisfaction" [TIME, Aug. 19], why not remind the readers that the surgical conquest of congenital heart disease was not achieved without the sacrifice of many a dog's life.
The public is perfectly aware that medical science cannot progress without animal experimentation . . . but must become conscious of the fact that medical scientists and teachers are continuously heckled by self-styled humanitarians. These people feel free to pass judgment on the value of experiments about which they know nothing and understand less.
The danger of legislation preventing animal experimentation arises periodically . . . Let the American public beware of the sensational press, and realize that unless public opinion, supported by the serious press, demands proper legislation, the enemies of medical progress may delay forever the discovery of such things as the cure for cancer and infantile paralysis.
PIERO P. FO.A, M.D.
Associate Professor of Physiology and Pharmacology
The Chicago Medical School
Chicago
No Sitting Duck
Sirs:
. . . Let's convey some much-needed facts concerning the ill-appraised defeat in the Battle of Savo Island [TIME, Aug. 19].
. . . You say the Captain of the Vincennes saw the possibility of an attack and passed the warning to his command, whereas no such warning was given aboard the other ships. As a member of the crew of the old U.S.S. Chicago I can clearly remember the word "being passed" concerning the task force leaving Bougainville. . . .
About 2 a.m. we were alerted to General Quarters . . . . At the same moment the lookouts on the bridge sighted three torpedoes bearing dead on us, and though we were immediately hit by one in the bow, our Captain managed to outmaneuver the other two. Within a few seconds our batteries were exchanging blows with the Japs. . . .
After this initial exchange of blows we made a circle off the transports at the "Canal" and when we returned ... an enemy ship was blasting away at the Australian cruiser Canberra. . . . Captain Bode made a fair and cool decision when he decided against entering the engagement, for he saw his duty was to protect American boys on the unguarded transports lying in the harbor. . . .
[We] who were aboard the cruisers that fateful night have been rightfully indignant at being referred to by the press as the "sitting duck cruisers" (we were steaming at 12 knots as specified by naval defense plans), but the crux of all insults was the inference in your article that the men in command of the individual ships were not of the caliber to hold such responsibilities. ... If there was ever an unreasonable martinet, a Captain Bligh of the U.S. Navy--Captain Bode was it, but when it came to naval warfare, logical thinking, cool judgment and action, he was all the Navy and its traditions could boast. Later, for reasons unknown to us, he found it necessary to take his life, but in the early stages of the war, when there were but a few of us and little glory, Captain Bode and the U.S.S. Chicago served their country well.
RICHARD D. MILLER
ex-Chief Storekeeper, U.S.N.R.
Seattle
Too Many Cars?
Sirs:
I note, under National Affairs [TIME, Aug. 12], that our recent Congress has allocated $30 million to buy automobiles for amputees. Swell, I certainly am in accord with the idea. What I would like to know is, isn't that a rather excessive amount? Figuring $1,600 to a car, it would mean . . . that there are 18,750 amputees to receive cars. Are there that many amputees?
JOHN CASWELL
Greensboro, Vt.
P:No--only some 14,000 (including partly paralyzed veterans). Congress just voted $7,000,000 too much.--ED.
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