The Whole Crazy Business

Sir:

Your Jan. 14 article, "The Masked Marvel," has jogged me uncomfortably. I never dreamed that such a fantastic empire existed. Sure, I was aware that there were a couple of dozen highly skilled scientists working out all the intricate problems of atomic research somewhere, and I had heard of the Oak Ridge plant and have been vaguely aware of other aspects of the work, but I never realized that it was such a huge project.

Parts of the article read like something out of the pages of science fiction. Not only is the secrecy fantastic, but the whole crazy business is fantastic, and I can't bring myself to believe that such monstrous things are really going on. The next logical question would be "Why?"--and I don't think anybody could adequately answer that. The old standby, that it's for a bigger and more secure world, doesn't sound convincing any more ... It has become somewhat of a god: Hail, all hail to Baal, Baal, the Hydrogen Bomb. Not by bread alone, and certainly not by bombs alone, do we live.

You were wondering, not long ago, why the younger generation have lost substantial hope in life, and why they quietly and naively seek security. Once they come to accepting projects like AEC as sober realities, what else is left for them to choose?

JOHN DOOLEY Somerville, Mass.

Sir:

. . . Since 1948, the weather in California . . . has become increasingly more severe. More & more property is being damaged by terrific rains and winds each year . . . Notwithstanding any "impossibles" that the AEC brain trust may put forth against the theory that these weather changes are directly attributable to atomic tests ... we did not have the type of weather we're getting, prior to those tests--so let Gordon Dean and his handmaidens come up with some sort of explanation. Better yet, let AEC start conducting their tests elsewhere. I offer the ideal place: Washington, D.C., provided all office doors can be locked, with the occupants inside. Use of that locale would cause no damage to the U.S. per se--and under present mismanagement would actually be a universal benefit.

BERT LEVY Oakland, Calif.

The Unwanted

Sir:

Congratulations ... for the fine article, "The Unwanted," in your Jan. 7 issue. As the director of one of the voluntary agencies which have been doing much of the legwork for the International Refugee Organization and the U.S. Displaced Persons Commission, I am familiar with the size and importance of the problem which remains, now that I.R.O. has ended. The picture your article gives of camp life is not extreme . . . The black market in X-ray plates is certainly a reality, and one for which the unrealistic attitude of the U.S. Public Health Service must assume considerable responsibility . . .

JOHN SCHMIDT The Lutheran World Federation Service to Refugees in Germany Frankfurt

Sir:

Your article repeats the fate of my son, who is facing the so-called "split family" case. His wife and his five-year-old daughter . . . must be separated from him if they are to enter the U.S. as displaced persons.

My son is a Russian 1919-1922 civil war veteran. He ran away from home at 14 to join the army fighting Communism in South Russia. He was twice wounded, once in his neck . . . and through his chest . . . the latter causing a "dangerous dark spot" on his right lung. This has caused him to lose all his chances in this world, to be separated from his beloved people and to be forsaken in an unfriendly country, penniless and alone . .

(MRS.) DARICHAN LESNECK St. Louis

A Judge & a Governor

Sir:

I find the Jan. 14 Personality article on Judge Medina the sort of thing Karl Marx, Henry Adams and Thorstein Veblen proba bly would have enjoyed . . .

CARL C. LIENAU New York City

Sir:

... I cannot understand the way you have devoted space to report in such infinite detail the outward appearance of Judge Medina, instead of reporting the greatness of this man's mind and the good that he has contributed to our nation. Thank God, Judge Medina and all the peoples of the world who respect and believe in their religion are not "embarrassed" to admit that "faith is the fruit of religion" . . .

CLAIRE HELLAWELL Forest Hills, N.Y.

Sir:

Thanks for your Personality piece on Judge Medina, but what I am looking forward to is an article on Georgia's Governor Herman Talmadge ... It is people like the governor who have held the South back and kept it to the opinionated, inferiority-suffering group that it is ...

DOYLE L. McCuLLER Houston

Sir:

If Governor Talmadge of Georgia is so narrow-minded and bigoted as to be shocked and insulted by colored and white people appearing together on TV [TIME, Jan 14], I suggest that he turn his TV set off ...

JOHN SPICKLER Searcy, Ark.

More on Ike

Sir:

So now TIME is backing Eisenhower! . . . Why don't you stick to a good Republican like Taft ? He is a reactionary but an honest and a predictable mossback . . .

RIDGELY CUMMINGS Hollywood, Calif.

Sir:

Many thanks for TIME'S excellent background story, in the Dec. 24 issue, on Eisenhower's fundamental political views . . . One strange inconsistency in the logic of one as brilliant as Ike seems to warrant comment. He praises greater centralization in the governing of Western Europe because of its resultant advantages . . . He advocates a strong federal union for Western Europe . . . In the U.S., however, he attacks centralized control and pooh-poohs the security he thinks so vital in Europe . . . He [has] commended Jefferson for having said that the best government is the least government.

Ike seems to be trying to tell us that what is sauce for the Western European goose is nothing like sauce for the American gander. I can't help feeling that soft, downy Angora is being pulled with gentle tenderness over my eyes; we Americans deserve better from one of Ike's stature.

During World War II, I [served] on the staff of SHAEF and saw, at close range, how Ike forged our victory. His formula was not based on the idea that the best SHAEF is the least SHAEF, but rather on intelligent planning, friendly coordination, and centralized control. These things led to the victory and to the peace . . .

STUART L. SIMON Johannesburg, South Africa

Two Films

Sir:

I have read with the greatest pleasure your Dec. 17 article on my film, Miracle in Milan.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude for such a favorable criticism . . .

VITTORIO DE SICA Rome, Italy

Sir:

. . . was very happy to see that the Japanese writer Ryunosuke Akutagawa was given full credit in TIME, Aug. 25, 1947. Your Jan. 7 issue again pleases me greatly with the fair treatise on the Japanese film Rashomon.

Would you allow me to invite your readers' attention to one fact which you omitted to point out? The film Rashomon is based on stories written by that Akutagawa . . .

Y. TAGA Osaka, Japan

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