Tribute to Einstein
Sir:
What a magnificent tribute to Einstein in your issue of May 2 ... Amid the welter of myriad, too-definite theories of God abroad today, how serene and reverent were Einstein's beliefs in the awareness of the Great Spirit in the universe . . .
LUCRETIA E. REMINGTON
Washington, D.C.
Sir: Why did you give twice as much space to Claire McCardell as to Albert Einstein? Surely the father of the Atomic Age deserves at least as much as a fashion designer.
ESTA K. HEMINGTON
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Sir: It was with considerable interest that I read of Father Robert Henle's complaint regarding "philosophizing scientists" [April 25]. It would appear that he believes (as do so many other theologians) only his church can provide answers to the eternal questions of life and purpose . . . Many men, such as the late Dr. Einstein . . . are perhaps better qualified to speculate about the existence of God and the nature of things than those indoctrinated in authoritarian creeds. A study of history reveals that science has pursued truth more diligently than religion . . .
DAVID P. ELMER Boulder, Colo.
Sir:
. . . Only when a person contemplates the nature of the universe can he arrive at anything approaching truth. Dr. Einstein spent his life doing just that . . .
JAMES H. FARLEY Columbus, Ohio
The Man on Formosa (Contd.)
Sir:
I congratulate you for your excellent April 18 article on Formosa ... I hope, however, you will permit me to point out that the report on General MacArthur's "historic blunder" was inaccurate. In July 1950 I was the chief of the Chinese mission in Japan. I accompanied the general to Formosa. There was a heavy fog that day . . . Our President waited in his car. Suddenly, we came out of the clouds and landed. General MacArthur asked me to get off the plane first so that I could introduce him to our officials. Vice President Chen Cheng was standing beside the gangway when the general stepped down. The introduction was duly made and evidently fully understood by both. There were thousands of witnesses present to confirm that there was positively no embracing . . .
Ho SHAI LAI
Lieutenant General, C.A. Chief Representative Chinese Delegation to the U.N. New York City.
P: Other responsible Chinese officials and U.S. newsmen who witnessed Mac-Arthur's arrival say TIME'S anecdote was accurate--ED.
Paintbrush & Sickle
Sir:
The news that Communist-loving Picasso's relations live unmolested in Fascist Spain [April 25] comes as a distinct shock. How long would a famous Fascist's relations live unmolested in Communist Russia?
RICHARD ABBOT Hollywood
Confusion in the Everglades Sir: Re your April 25 Fisherman Nixon item: TIME went overboard on that 18-ft. alligator story. There aren't any 18-ft. alligators anywhere, anytime, in Florida. So good little Republican boys and traitorous little Democratic boys are in no danger of being swallowed . . .
WALTER P. FULLER St. Petersburg, Fla. P: This one ticks like a clock and eats only vice-presidents.--ED.
Let George Do It
Sir:
Permit me to congratulate you on your April 25 article on Georgia's senior Senator, Walter S. George. He is a man who, with much courage and long service to his country, has achieved the status of statesman.
MIKE W. PRESTON JR. Buena Vista, Ga.
Sin & Sweden (Contd.)
Sir:
Shocked almost beyond words, I have just finished reading your April 25 article "Sin & Sweden." Those horrid, lascivious Swedes! LEONARD M. FRIEDMAN Riverdale, N.Y.
Sir:
Your title should be "Sense & Sweden" . . .
MRS. M. P. CERVERA Pasadena, Calif.
Sir:
Bully for the Swedes! . . .
R. C. R. BRASS Rio de Janeiro
Sir:
During my almost seven years of tenure as Ambassador of Sweden, no article of such a vicious nature regarding my country has ever appeared in any responsible American newspaper or magazine ... It is perhaps true that the number of extramarital births are higher in Sweden than in the U.S.--although the perfected Swedish statistics may have something to do with the relatively high percentage. This percentage is not higher than in a number of other Western countries.
To complete the picture of Swedish morality in comparison with that of the U.S., may I point out that, relatively speaking, there are only one-half as many divorces. The same ratio seems to exist with regard to abortions. The laws with regard to legal abortions are almost identical in all Scandinavian countries and very similar to those existing in a number of the individual states of your country. No legal abortion may take place except on the medical advice of two responsible doctors.
Your correspondent's assertion that unmarried mothers are heroines in Sweden is pure nonsense. What is true, however, is that Swedish society is endeavoring to prevent children from suffering from a misstep or misfortune of their mothers. The responsibilities, financially or otherwise, of fathers of illegitimate children are enforced both by legislation and public opinion. This may, however, not be the case in regard to the quotation extracted from a 19-year-old boy who evidently belongs to the category that breeds juvenile delinquents. Juvenile delinquency is perhaps also one of the elements of the sphere of public morality. The Swedish authorities and parents seem in this field to have a somewhat smaller problem to deal with than do their American counterparts.
ERIK BOHEMAN Ambassador of Sweden Embassy of Sweden Washington, B.C.
Sir: . . . Your boy is going to have nothing but trouble in Europe, and, offhand, I can't think of a place you can send him which will be free enough from the horrors of sex for one of such tender sensibilities. You might try sending him to Philadelphia . . .
ROBERT W. BLAIR, M.D.
Hollywood Sir: Your article may shock Americans, naive and idealistic as they are, but most of your European readers will, I am sure, wonder why you bothered to print it ... I don't doubt that Sweden will have Joe David Brown to thank for an unusually large influx of American tourists this coming summer.
K. J. KRUSE
Oslo, Norway
Sir:
Many thanks for your stimulating article; our business has doubled because of it.
DAVID T. OWSLEY Manager
See Sweden First Club Palo Alto, Calif.
SIR:
THE UNDERSIGNED PROTESTS AGAINST THE WAY IN WHICH TIME'S CORRESPONDENT UNDER CLOAK OF INTERVIEW WITH ME PUBLISHED MISUNDERSTOOD REPORT OF DEBATE AT PRIVATE PARTY. NOTHING COULD BE SIMPLER THAN REFUTING THE STATEMENTS MADE. THESE, HOWEVER, ARE OF SUCH A NATURE AS TO FALL FROM THEIR VERY ABSURDITY.
ELISE OTTESEN-JENSEN STOCKHOLM
Sir: . . . The maidenly squeals of the U.S. regarding Sweden's sex habits are most unbecoming. In a land where that national substitute for royalty--The Hollywood Crowd --has made a game of sex and a mockery of marriage; in a land where the vitality, or much of it, which made this country powerful has trickled down two generations to find itself running cloudily through the veins of foolish old men like Tommy Manville and foolish young pimps like Minot Jelke; where 22-year-old boys slip,cyanide into their parents' champagne; where middle-aged mothers and grandmothers moon like adolescents over a toothy piano player; in a land where sex has become so naughty-fied that its outflow has been redirected to the channel of physical violence; where nice girls are taught early that it is legal to tease but evil to please . . . it might be more discreet to observe a mum respect for the pragmatic, clearheaded and honest Swedes. It might also be revealing to compare their and our records in the above-mentioned areas of crime. For when you come right down to it, we've made a dreadful botch of sex right here at home.
(MRS.) BEATRICE SISK (Irate housewife and mother) Hartford, Conn.
The Church & Margaret
Sir:
It is kind of Jesuit Stowe to be concerned about the affairs of Princess Margaret and the Church of England [April 18 Letters column], though I don't recall any record of Jesus displaying such questionable taste as jeering at any church's problems . . .
V. R. DEBORDE
Omaha
Sir:
Anglicans will not be greatly abashed by Father Stowe's joshing of our "anomalous situation." He seems to accuse the Queen of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury of merciful intentions toward Princess Margaret . . . Nevertheless, we do not consider mercy a crime but rather an obedience to a law which Christ considered took precedence over most others. Perhaps mercy does lead to "logical absurdities." God's mercy to us is not logical. How can God at the same time be utterly just and still merciful? It isn't logical; it just happens to be true . . .
Nor will we or many others be much impressed by his note that "the English Church of 1533 tended to uphold the laws of God a little more briskly." Judgment is brisk indeed when only bachelors may determine and administer the marriage laws of God! . . . (THE REV.) HUGH MCCANDLESS Church of the Epiphany New York City
The Salk Story
Sir:
Detracting nothing from honors rightfully deserved by Dr. Salk [April 25], how about thanks to the little guys with sore left arms and their predecessors, "the stuck west-ends," without whose help the great doctor might not have succeeded so well and so fast.
BEULAH TEMPLE WILD Omaha
Confidentially It Sphinx
Sir:
So two priests have undertaken the mammoth task of bringing the musty treasures of the Vatican here [April 25]. Isn't most of the useful, worthwhile knowledge of the past fairly well represented in libraries throughout our country now? How many people do you think will feel a burning interest in a medieval monk's "musical notation," or even in the 4th century Codex Vaticanus? If there is such value in antiquity, why not transport the Sphinx pebble by pebble (or at least an Egyptian pyramid) and set it up in some suitable bare spot? . . .
N. L. SYKLES Houston
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