Margaret's Decision

Sir:

Meg made the only right decision. What true parent would wish his daughter to marry a divorced father of two children, 16 years her senior?

F. C. DENHAM Scotia, N.Y.

Sir:

The eloquent faces of the two young people placed on the rack by the churchmen of England make one wonder if we are not still living in the Dark Ages . . .

MRS. E. B. BENSON Vermillion, S. Dak.

Sir:

We commoners should welcome the "hero of Britain" as a citizen of this country. Here, divorce is a matter of individual conscience, not affecting the security of the state, the church or the people.

FLOY G. APPLEGATE

Whittier, Calif.

Sir:

As a British subject, I am delighted with Princess Margaret's decision. She has shown us she is a young woman with high principles. In this day and age, when so much glamor is attached to the "Hollywood type," it is refreshing to see this example shown by our Princess, who is mature enough to know the importance of duty to church and family. JUNE L. HORNBY Lincoln, Neb.

Sir:

Has not poor Margaret been through enough lately? Why this Koch cover [Nov. 7] to add insult to injury? Without her name being printed in the lower right-hand corner, guessing the identity of this insipid suburban debutante would be impossible. Accept ten demerits while I go on pulling at my smelling salts to get over the bad case of the "uglies" you have given me.

JOHN BEARDSLEY Philadelphia

Sir:

Koch's portrait is charming--fresh as springtime.

D. LEWIS San Francisco

Sir:

Isn't it curious that Prince Philip, who just a short time ago was a penniless young man himself, aspiring to marriage with the most eligible young future Queen of Great Britain, should have been such a fire-and-tongs enemy of Townsend, and of Margaret's marriage. It would be interesting to know to just what extent this man is domineering the throne of Britain and the three women that make up the royal family. I am the mother of two, and believe there were strong arguments on both sides of the Margaret-Townsend question, but I'd hate to think that a modern villain--disguised as a Prince Charming--was wielding unseemly power in Buckingham Palace.

EDITH D. STIMSON New York City

Punitive Measures

Sir:

I have been wondering who wrote your Cinema reviews, and now I am satisfied to see that his face [Oct. 31] goes with the mind. A more supercilious, all-knowing, smart-alecky mien I've yet to see. It seems a shame that a man of his wit and writing ability doesn't remember that constructive criticism is always worth more than destructive criticism.

(MRS.) ANNIS JEROFF

Winnipeg

Sir:

Glad to know who your Cinema reviewer is. I laugh like a loon at his witticisms.

G. ADAMS Chicago

Sir:

I do have some bones to pick with your movie reviewer, Brad Darrach. My wife and I love movies, and practically supported Hollywood singlehanded through its lean years. Darrach has been spoiling pictures for us ever since he took his senior editor's advice ("Sure, sure, but what was the movie about?") so literally.

ROGER L. BUTLER New York City

Sir:

The puns in your movie reviews are not only going from Brad to worse, but are getting so heavy-handed they will probably have to be removed by a Darrach.

BURLING LOWREY Lawrence, Kans.

Problems at the Pulpit

Sir:

Thanks to TIME, Oct. 31 for quoting from the Christian Century article on Protestant paranoia. I wasn't aware that there was at this time a renaissance of Reformation rancor. I thought that Protestantism, after all these years, had crystallized into something more than a negation. The pity is that we haven't learned to disagree without being disagreeable.

This is being written by one of those "fairly clumsy Irish hands."

TOM NEWBURY Tiberton, R.I.

Sir:

Protestants have good reason to get upset. They are faced with a steady and alarming rise in Roman Catholic membership and power in the U.S. Attacking Catholicism is hardly a solution. Instead, Protestant churchmen might try preaching the Holy Bible and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If this were done, Protestantism would again have appeal as true Christianity, and Roman error would naturally be unable to cope with the light of Truth.

ANDY STUDEBAKER Seattle

Double Feature

Sir:

Was Artist Sutherland trying to do in oils what Rodin did in bronze? Sutherland's robed Churchill [Oct. 31] and Rodin's robed Balzac bear a close resemblance--in form if not in feeling.

BARBARA FELIX Redwood City, Calif. P:For famous lookalikes, see cuts. --ED.

How's Your Heart?

Sir:

Your Oct. 31 article on heart disease was excellent, but apt to mislead a good many people in various ways. You make out that our hectic way of life is the cause of it. The reason for our high percentage of deaths from heart disease is that we are very long-living people. The older a person is when he dies, the more likely he is to die of heart disease. You make out that we Americans have the highest percentage of deaths from heart disease of any country in the world. The Australians claim to be the laziest and most easygoing people in the civilized world, but in New South Wales, the most populous state in Australia, 31.46% of all deaths are due to heart disease.

The percentages of deaths from all causes must naturally add up to 100. As medical science eliminates one cause of death after another, the percentages must still add up to 100. That is what confuses people. We all must die of something. There is only one way to decrease our percentage of death: from heart disease, and that is to increase our percentage of deaths from other things. What would you like to have increased?

HUGH MORRISON

Mays Landing, NJ.

Sir:

Dr. Page bemoans the fact that specialists seem to have subdivided the human body and that there should be someone who can see it as a whole. The one member of the profession who never ceases to think of the patient as an entity, as a human being and not as a disjointed pathological specimen, is the family doctor--the general practitioner who can ably treat 80-90% of all ills "to which flesh is heir" . . .

EDWIN MATLIN Mt. Holly Springs, Pa.

Sir:

We were all very pleased with the moderate tone and accuracy of the reporting and also the general interest of the article.

IRVINE H. PAGE Cleveland Clinic Cleveland

Down on the Farm (Contd.)

Sir:

Having been active as a sponsor of the Future Farmers of America, I was, of course, tremendously interested in your excellent Oct. 24 article. We all appreciate it very much.

GRAHAM PATTERSON Publisher Farm Journal Philadelphia

Sir:

Why is Joe Moore described as a boy who wears clothes rank with sweat and caked with grease from his tractor? He walks with long steps, and his shoes are half eaten off by manure acids. After dinner he stretches out on the parlor floor and remarks in a corny fashion: "let my eats settle." Is this the true picture of F.F.A.'s Star Farmer? Or is it a rut writers often fall into when describing farm people? You can't have a farm radio program without having hillbilly music; maybe the same has to be in farm articles.

STEPHEN S. ZECHMAN

Columbus, Ohio

The Farmer's Friend?

Sir:

It appears that Adlai Stevenson chose to pledge himself in favor of 90% parity supports not so much for the good it would do the farmer and the nation in general but rather for the good it would do for the Democratic Party. Despite his pledge, there is no indication that Mr. Stevenson is convinced it is a good farm policy.

I feel that anyone who would commit himself to something he does not honestly believe merely for the sake of a few (or even a great many) votes, might do almost anything. Who knows? If he is willing to trade personal belief for votes, he might, if elected, surpass the trading at Yalta. While my vote is not yet for anyone, it is certainly against Stevenson.

ARTHUR PAUL LOPEZ South San Francisco

Why Republicans Can Read

Creighton Merrell will no doubt be happy with the Democratic Digest [Oct. 24]. While unhappily there are more Democrats than Republicans, it would also seem reasonable that TIME might slant its views a little to the party having the greater number of constituents who are able to read. As the old story goes, the Arkansas patriarch stated he was proud of all his nine boys except one, and he turned out to be a Republican--funny thing about him though, he was the only one who went off and learned how to read.

WILLIAM F. QUINN Los Angeles

Sir:

Merrell's letter certainly proves he's a true Democrat; in fact, Harry himself might have written it. I am sure we are all happy Merrell's subscription to TIME expires; the value of such an intelligently edited magazine has probably always escaped him.

MRS. JOE COLEMAN Venice, Calif.

Sir:

Anent Merrell's reference to the Democratic Digest: I have seen that eager periodical, and truly it contains the handwriting on the wall--the lavatory wall.

FRANKLIN COURTNEY ELLIS Hubbard Woods, 111.

Slugging It Out

Sir:

Re that Oct. 24 letter of Robert Potter's: especially satisfying was Potter's pinpointing of some of your pontifical pomposities. But there are three items that keep me bound to your subscription list: 1) TIME is first on the scene to point out and do battle with totalitarians of right and left, and, once involved, it slugs it out no matter what; 2) TIME carries the torch high for human dignity and equality; 3) TIME has consistently had the courage to print the words of its most biting critics in its wonderful Letters column.

MURRAY SHAPIRO Los Angeles

The Gallant Pole

Sir:

Your Oct. 31 report on the death in a Moscow prison of General L. Okulicki, one of the Polish underground leaders lured into Soviet captivity in March 1945, did not identify the Soviet general who guaranteed the personal safety of these Poles with his "word of honor." This Russian officer was none other than Marshal Zhukov. General Okulicki had been a Soviet prisoner once before. He was captured by the Soviets in 1939 (Molotov-Ribbentrop pact). After his release following the Nazi attack on the U.S.S.R., he personally affronted Stalin at a reception given in the Kremlin for Polish officers, released from Soviet P.W. camps, who were then organizing a Polish Army in the U.S.S.R. He later fought in Italy but volunteered for underground action when his son was killed by the Germans. He was parachuted into Poland in 1944. His death in 1946 of "natural causes" in a Russian prison may have some connection with the Kremlin incident, for Stalin is said to have had a long memory.

Z. K. BRZEZINSKI Department ot Government Harvard University Cambridge, Mass.

Turk v. Greek (Contd.)

Sir:

I was simply aghast when I read Mr. Suat Ecer's letter to TIME [Oct. 31], to think that a man of the 20th century could condone rampant physical violence, as was recently witnessed in the terrible calamity that befell the Christian and Jewish minorities in Turkey. ANDREW T. KOPAN Chicago

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.