Yamato Spirit
Sirs:
''Human Torpedoes"
With reference to the above article on p. 26 of your Nov. 6 issue, I am quite surprised at your wrong information.
I regret very much that you as well as any other foreigners know little of Japanese national traits. ... I, as a loyal subject of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, should like to clarify Japanese spirit and protest to you for the above. . . .
[TIME credited the Tokyo correspondent of London's Daily Herald with scooping a story that the Japanese Admiralty has called for volunteers to man ''Human Torpedoes" and blow up with them in the next war. Point of such a torpedo would be that the heroic steersman could change its course after it had been fired and thus follow and destroy an enemy ship which had swerved in an effort to escape. Apropos of "Human Torpedoes" TIME quoted the ad of a Japanese nostrum "WAKAMOTO --Best Tonic For Health'' which has been boosting sales with an eye-catching drawing of the famed Japanese ''Human Bombs" who rushed Chinese positions at Shanghai and were blown to atoms by the explosives they carried with fanatic heroism.--ED.]
The characteristic of Japanese is the so-called Yamato-damashii--a Japanese spirit which has been kept unaltered since the foundation of Japan about 2,600 years ago and which has also been undisturbed in spite of the introduction of Western civilization into this country. ... It is beyond my poor description to explain what Yamato-damashii is, but I will try.
Our people is like a great family with the Sovereign at their head and every one of them is loyal to the Sovereign ready to give up his life for the cause of the family. You say that the human bomb is the example of fanatic patriotism. Is it fanatic to die for their country? If so, all Japanese are fanatic patriots although their services to their country are rendered in different ways.
This human bomb case is not rare in Japanese history and it is even shown in daily life as well as in war time. This is because Japan has become what she is within only several scores of years. This is because Japanese Army and Navy have been victorious in the past wars with their inferior arms and forces as compared with those of enemies. Victory or defeat is always decided by the fact whether the nation are in high or in low spirits. For instance, just compare the poor physical constitutions of Japanese with that of foreigners. Can they match? No, they cannot match. Indeed, the Japanese are much weaker in constitution but they can match in spirit or better. Such is exemplified in the present human bomb case.
As for Human Torpedoes, which you mention, we very much regret that all the world are given wrong information by a certain correspondent of London Daily Herald. Japanese Navy will never spare money at the sacrifice of human life, or Japanese will never die a fanatic death. His information only show how exactly Japanese engineers discharge torpedoes. It is a proof of the superior skill of Japanese Navy and also of good mechanism of her torpedoes. Our Army or Navy never waste their arms. By one shell they shoot one enemy and by one torpedo they destroy one ship. Such should be the military discipline of every nation. I sympathize with the poor awe-stricken correspondent.
We also regret that Japanese has been misunderstood as a jingoistic nation. They are peace-loving people. They have helped and is still helping the furtherance of the world peace and will do so in the future. The Japanese sword is the symbol of eliminating the wicked and revealing justice. It has never been drawn unless her existence was jeopardized.
Hoping that the above will not offend you and that you will pay much more attention to the Far Eastern affairs, we are,
J. KUNEKO
Kobe, Japan
Imperial Wishes
Sirs:
A short time ago I was privileged to hear an address by Mr. Kinnosuke Adachi who is probably well-known to you. Until that time I considered myself well informed on the Japanese question, and the principal source of my information was TIME. Now I'm beginning to wonder who is right, TIME or Mr. Adachi.
Possibly the most interesting statement he made concerned the military factions in Japan. According to him they do not formulate the Japanese policy, and Araki, who has figured prominently in your reports, and his colleague --who are Ministers of War and Navy respectively, I believe--are merely clerks, subordinate to the wishes of the Emperor. The real leaders of Japan make up a body of three groups: one, individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the State; two, the Elder Statesmen (several of whom have been assassinated); and, three, the House of Peers. The combined opinion of this body is the word of the Emperor, which is final. . . .
JOHN B. MERRYMAN
Bradford, Mass.
Far be it from TIME to disturb Journalist Adachi's serene belief in the divinity of his Emperor. But TIME, unable to write history in that vein, suggests that such a belief is not necessary to the happiness of U. S. Subscriber Merryman.--ED.
Feat
Sirs:
. . . Your description of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra as an "anemic and rickety organization" (TIME, Dec, 18) is either malicious or carelessly unkind; very probably the latter.
Perhaps you are not aware that the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra is the backbone of the San Francisco Opera Association, the Summer Symphony, of the charming San Mateo Philharmonic outdoor concerts, which have been led by some of the world's greatest conductors, and of countless radio broadcasts. Should the orchestra disband the entire superstructure of music in northern California would collapse. No pink-tea affair sponsored by "white-gloved ladies," as you infer, the organization was created and developed over 20 years ago by leaders in all walks of the city's life, including hard-headed business men, and has been kept alive by a gallant struggle ever since. Considering present conditions it has been a remarkable feat to hold the organization together, and not the least of its many benefits is the continued employment of the musicians, many of them brilliant performers.
The Symphony has been carefully trained; although lacking the volume of such large orchestras as the New York Philharmonic, its performances are classical, sincere, and sometimes inspired. It is very dear to the hearts of music lovers all over the Pacific Coast, many of whom would feel spiritually and esthetically starved without it.
ELSA R. WIEL
San Francisco, Calif.
To San Francisco's Symphony, best wishes for a year of lusty growth.--ED.
Insurance
Sirs:
Is the patent contradiction that appears on p. 54 of the Dec. 18 issue of TIME the result of a coincidence, or is it purely accidental?
The advertisement of the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company of Boston appearing on this page, after referring to the post civil war financial debacle, a contributing factor of which was the "greenback inflation of the currency," continues:
"The New England Mutual Life Insurance Company--organized for protection, not for profit--the resources of its policyholders invested with ultra-conservatism, came through this deflation unscathed."
Flanking this advertisement, under the heading "Insurance Assembled," I find what purports to be a timely report of a recent meeting of Life Insurance presidents, supplemented by the following editorial comment:
"But insurance men last week were worried by something which threatened the very institution of life insurance--Inflation."
Which version of "The Big Bad Wolf" (re Inflation) is the correct one?
EDWARD H. LANGE
Laredo, Tex.
Extreme deflation would ruin insurance companies along with most everything else. Extreme inflation, ditto.
Most big insurance companies have come safely through four deflationary years. For which, let millions of policyholders be thankful. But today insurance-men, like all sober businessmen, are, in varying degrees, fearful lest "controlled'' inflation should become uncontrollable. (Greenbackery, for example, would be taken by many to be a sign that demands for inflation might become uncontrollable.) Uncontrollable inflation would reduce the value of all existing insurance policies to the vanishing point, would therefore ruin the "institution" of life insurance.
Hence, insurance men, proud of their survival of deflation will not be without worry until all fear of wild inflation is also passed.--ED.
Most Clever
Sirs: The Des Moines Register and Tribune's face should be red! They omitted my name from the list of tycoons in their questionnaire of your recent issue (TIME, Dec. 11). At least my friends think so, for they consider me a tycoon, a young hard-working youth who spends $5 on a subscription to TIME in these days when your dollars stand 3.60 to 1 in your favor!
The editors of the Iowa paper can have a whole week of my time for $25, but they can also be sure that I consider their advertisements as the most clever I have ever read and that they catch my roving eye faster than some of TIME'S contents, and that is saying something! (Don't get sore, TIME!)
If any one of the listed tycoons has not had his eyes caught by your ads, he should be fired!--Register and Tribune. The one about the "Bull" in TIME was a masterpiece!
Now if all the readers in TIME get as much of a kick out of your ads as this fervent one, the Register and Tribune should worry about his d.a. as much as Jean Harlow worries about her s.a.
ALFONSO GOMEZ PALACIO JR.
Durango, Mexico
Hired Man
Sirs:
A feature of the corn hog program that I have not seen mentioned in any of the papers will be the cutting down of farm help needed. Here in southwestern Iowa there are many farmer-and-sons units and by signing up they will be able to dispense with one hired man. I am opposed to buying up the deserted land by the government.
It is better for a family to be on their own with a cow, a couple of sheep and a few chickens out in the open country than living on charity in the finest city in the nation.
We must have the offspring from these families, from which to get our statesmen, and to replenish our cities.
A. B. VARLEY
Stuart, Iowa
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