Forecast of Growth

Sir:

Artist Artzybasheff can retire on the merits of the Gromyko cover alone (TIME, Aug. 18). The significance of the worm, Veto, devouring the fruit of the olive branch, hit me right between the eyes.

While it is impossible to restrain a smile at the sight of this comical little monster, one wonders how many will smile when the worm, having ravaged the fruit, will have attained the proportions of a dragon.

DONNA H. SOLIN Inglewood, Calif.

The Devil & Mr. High

Sir:

So Mr. Stanley High is unhappy because the Protestant Church has offered him the right hand of fellowship when "what I am in greater need of is a kick in the pants" (TIME, Aug. 18). I should like, humbly, to offer my foot as a substitute. . . .

He praises the Catholic Church for having not only a living God but also a live devil, who, he thinks, might be just the type of agent to scare him into salvation. . . .

Would he spread democracy by threatening the world with Hitlerism and Stalinism rather than by making democracy attractive? Would he try to solve the world's problems by fear rather than by freedom from fear? . . .

We who like the idea of Free Choice grant Mr. High his personal right to go to Hell, Heaven or Purgatory in his own way. ... I prefer to try to grow better and happier . . . through thought rather than threat.

DON MOORE Chicago . . .

Sir: ...[High] has put his finger on the sore spot of the professional church today. Protestantism seems to want psychologists, sociologists, philosophers, etc. filling their pulpits, but not preachers of the Gospel which Stanley High claims he needs.

As High has said, the people are waiting for a return to the pulpit of the man who will give them a few kicks ... but the theological schools don't train them that way any more. . . . ROBERT L. WENDT

Sprague Community Church Sprague, Neb.

Sir:

. . . Every trace of bitterness, anger, clamor, malice, idolatry, deceit, apathy in man's character is sufficient manifestation of a live devil for most discerning Protestants. . . .

The answer is more love, not fear!

DOROTHY STANLEY Los Angeles

How Del Monte Went Navy

Sir:

In the Aug. 11 edition of TIME, you have an article entitled "The Duke's Heaven," in which I figure quite prominently. ... I would like to correct one great error. . . . The idea of turning Del Monte into a postgraduate school for naval officers originated entirely with the naval authorities and the matter came to me without any direct or indirect promotion. Incidentally, it is not a "Little Annapolis." Del Monte was selected only after the most careful survey of innumerable sites in various parts of the country. . . .

S. F. B. MORSE Del Monte, Calif.

Stays & Armor

Sir:

As the foremost newsmagazine in the world, why not help the sane and intelligent women of our country to stop this new fashion trend (TIME, Aug. 18) ? . . .

We have been taught not to bind our bodies so tightly for fear of offending nature. . . . Are we now going in for an era of fainting? . .

For years we have aimed at being natural, and the result has been more attractive styles and better health. Why spoil it with grotesque changes? ... In our generation has anyone really liked hips?

Let us stay as we are--nice to look at and so very comfortable.

HORTENSE C. WORDEMAN

New York City

Sir:

Our modern women are demanding equality with men in almost every field of activity these days, but they will never be respected as intellectual equals as long as they allow money-seeking style-mongers to dictate a complete change in wardrobe every few years. . . "

C. C. MOORE JR.

Washington, D.C.

Sir:

... If all husbands refuse to plunk down their hard-earned dollars for these backdated, repelling suits of armor, I'm sure the money-mad creators of fashion will once again create as we desire. I for one could not stand to see my lovely little wife turning blue as she gasped for air in a laced vise, nor would I enjoy the clank and clatter of new form-building pads as she tripped lightly by. Let the unshapely change their forms at will but I like my wife as is and prefer dresses that show it. ...

HERBERT H. SCHISLER JR. San Dimas, Calif.

Writer of Songs

Sir:

Re: Fred Fisher, the composer of the current hit song Peg O' My Heart [TIME, July 7]. ... In view of your ever-conscientious attempts to report the pertinent facts as honestly as possible, it would seem important to clear up the rather glaring m's-statement "Sick and no longer able to turn out hit tunes, he hanged himself five years ago." At the time when he was no longer supposed to be able to turn out hit tunes, his song Whispering Grass was having great success in this country, later becoming a World War II hit in Great Britain and the Continent. And at the same time of his illness, he had the top hit song in England, She Wore a Little Jacket of Blue, for which he received the ASCAP award for the top song in that country."

He was composing music up to the very day of his death. . . . Fred Fisher could turn out hits as easily as he could brush his teeth. It was five operations and three years of cancer that turned my father inward to the decision that led him to end his suffering.

DAN FISHER New York City

Thinning Threads among the Bold

Sir:

We write in somewhat belated ire on your article "The Fleet's In" [TIME, July 28]. ...

That [U.S. midshipmen on summer cruise] were "downy-cheeked" and the younger brothers of wartime servicemen came as a distinct surprise ... to the men (numbering greater than 50%) who saw wartime service with one or more of the four services; to those who resigned themselves to shaving their "downy cheeks" seven or eight years ago and have for the last three or four years been grimly viewing a receding hairline. . . .

JIM REDDICK JR. & W. S. PARR JR.

AND 76 OTHER MIDSHIPMEN

U.S.S. New Kent

P:To Annapolis' blue-jawed, balding, postwar midshipmen, TIME'S ensign is dipped in apology.--ED.

Bonanza or Bribe?

Sir:

TIME may consider that "the 80th Congress had done all right by its 18 million veteran-constituents" [TIME, Aug. 18]. Some veterans do not share your enthusiasm for the work of the recently adjourned Congress.

We do not consider the so-called "bonanza" of some $200,000,000 to be doing all right by us. We prefer lower prices, adequate housing, a VA free of politics, an FEPC, an increased minimum wage, and a guaranteed annual wage. . . .

We are not bribed so easily, and we may have longer memories than we are evidently given credit for.

JACK C. BUCKLE JAMES A. GITTINGS Huntingdon, Pa.

Sir:

. . . What the hell happened to all the proposed measures to house veterans and their families? I'd say the 80th Congress showed more allegiance to the real-estate lobby than it did to the veterans. It's time they forget the obscure measures and face the real issues.

TED LOEFF Beverly Hills, Calif.

Sir:

I object to the use of the word "gift" in the sentence, "the biggest single gift was the law permitting 8,500,000 ex-enlisted men to cash in $2 billion worth of World War II terminal leave bonds. . . ."

Wages for services rendered are not in the category of "gifts." . . .

EDWARD G. DUCKWORTH Denver

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