Baruch's Biceps
Sirs: Friday evening I read TIME'S characterization, "aging, ailing Financier Bernard Mannes Baruch" [TIME, Aug. 21]. Saturday afternoon I met Mr. Baruch in the park of Saratoga Spa (where he has been for the past three weeks), gay over his physicians' discharge of him as completely cured of the mastoiditis that attacked him four months ago, looking fitter than I have ever seen him in all the years I have known him, declaring that he "felt, and was, better" than he had been in ten years. He flexed his arm, and his biceps were hard as the heel of his shoe. (He works with dumbbells every morning.) I think he'd love a chance to take someone on and show how much of the boxing cunning he has kept from the days when he held the championship of City College.
W. P. BEAZELL Forest Hills, N. Y. P.S. Mr. Baruch was 69 on Saturday [Aug. 19]. >Great is TIME'S delight to learn that Bernard Mannes Baruch, hard-muscled, young-hearted, feels and looks like a Champion again.--ED.
Collective Eyes Sirs: TIME, Aug. 21, states, "The press forgot that Snite and his bride were married by a Catholic priest, that the Catholic Church forbids the marriage of an impotent person" (italics mine, J. C.). Amusing is the thought that TIME'S editors, who have done such a creditable job in reporting news of the Catholic Church, allowed this absurd statement to slip by their collective eyes. Evidently the press knew, and TIME did not, that no Catholic is ever questioned before or after marriage as to his potency or impotency. JOHN M. CONROY
Huntington Park, Calif.
>Every Catholic is supposed to know that impotency is a complete "impediment" to Catholic marriage. A priest may raise the question if he sees fit.-- ED.
No Bombshell Sirs: The Nazi-Communist non-aggression pact [TIME, Aug. 28] did not surprise me. It was not "startling," it was no "bombshell." The reason: TIME has several times in months gone by suggested the possibility of Hitler's coming to terms with Stalin. Chamberlain should read TIME. He would not be so easily shocked. . . . CHESTER WARREN QUIMBY Saxton, Pa.
> TIME had indeed forecast the genuine possibility of a Reich-Soviet Pact but was amply shocked by the exact time and the manner of the deed.--ED.
Miracle, Waterlooed
Sirs:
While western Europe wastes itself in war, Russia will grow rich, powerful and respected, with great advances (thanks to German engineers) in science, technology, education and living standards. Today scornful J. B. and overfattened France grow solicitous of the Bear, who no longer needs them. A year ago these "civilized" democracies (?) discussed using a pound of Bear flesh for appeasement meat. Hitler smacked his lips. The Ukraine! Sick, friendless and with Nippon gnawing his tail, the Bear bid fair to be devoured, and England would have agreed to the death and enslavement of the Russian people in exchange for some juicy trade to enrich England's already-too-rich ruling class.
Stalin, not Hitler, is the No. 1 Strategist.
Miraculously, he has successfully appeased the Devourer by feeding to him the appeasers! Subsequent months will see Stalin acquiesce as Hitler devours Poland and the Balkans, first step in the strangulation and reduction to third-class powers of England and France, with or without war.
H. B. CRISWELL II Ft. Wayne, Ind.
Sirs:
Soviet diplomacy, as demonstrated at the pact negotiations in Moscow, is today the smartest in the world. By one master stroke, Stalin became lord of Europe. Whether through mistake or necessity, Hitler entrusted the destiny of the Reich to the care of the Secretary of the Communist Party, who, with some of the neatest footwork on record, simultaneously avoided becoming a war tool of the British; usurped Hitler's dominance of Central Europe; partly destroyed his Axis (by Muniching the Japanese).
And now Comrade Stalin sits quietly waiting for his inning in history, content that Adolf and Germany and Fascism were Waterlooed in Moscow in A.D. 1939.
ALLAN LEDWITH New Haven, Conn.
Settlement Sirs:
To obtain our cooperation in preventing her imminent rout as the master of Europe it appears that Great Britain must effect a settlement of her huge unpaid balance on the War debt since this unpaid debt apparently makes the Johnson Act applicable to her.
With that in mind the following solution is suggested: Let Great Britain grant the United States title to Jamaica, British Honduras, Bermuda, The Bahamas, British Guiana, the Falkland Islands, Trinidad, Dominica, Santa Lucia, Tobago, British Leeward Islands, British Windward Islands and all other British possessions in the Western Hemisphere including all Pacific Islands but excluding the Dominion of Canada in complete fulfillment of her financial obligations to us.
In addition Great Britain would grant complete independence to the Dominion of Canada. This last act would be a nice gesture of respect for our Monroe Doctrine and remove one more foreign nation from the Western Hemisphere.
Possibly negotiations can be carried on with France simultaneously.
Yours for an amicable settlement of world problems.
E. P. HOLTON Los Angeles, Calif.
>Would other TIMEreaders vote for this settlement?--ED.
Light on Farms Sirs: In TIME, Aug. 14 is a letter from Mr. R. Wallace Brewster of Uniontown, Pa. in which the writer says, "In our country, where many of electricity's greatest uses have been invented . . . . only one-fifth of the farms are electrified. Compared with the so-called 'backward' European nations in which the use of electricity is nearly universal, it stands as a national disgrace." The writer is evidently misinformed. America leads in farm electrification as it does in all fields of electrification. . . . In percentage of farm electrification it must be compared with areas like Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, South Africa, Russia or China, and it far exceeds any of these areas in farm electrification. If small countries of dense population, such as Holland, Denmark, Japan, etc. are to be considered, they should reasonably be compared with small areas of the U. S. with somewhat comparable density of population. . . . Farm electrification statistics of the various countries are not fully comparable. Foreign farms reported as having electric service are not all actually taking it, since in some cases communities are considered as having electric service if a transmission line comes within two kilometres of the village. I would guess that in one of the countries that has been reported as being over 90% electrified not more than half of the villagers are actually taking the service. . . . H. S. BENNION
Vice President & Managing Director Edison Electric Institute New York City
Sirs:
. . . Mr. Brewster will be glad, I'm sure, and certainly interested, to know that the Commonwealth & Southern System put its objective rate formula into effect in 1932, which was prior to the TVA Act effective in Alabama in 1933, so that's that, and then some.
As a matter of fact, the k.w.h. rate of the Commonwealth & Southern's Northern properties, which I think are largely steam, are slightly lower than the rates of its Southern properties, while their average is the lowest in the country, I believe.
HARRY W. HARRISON Philadelphia, Pa.
Sirs:
... It also might interest Mr. Brewster to know that the 120 million people in the U. S. own and use many more electric appliances than all of Europe's 550 million persons put together. . . .
JOS. RIESENMAN III Franklin, Pa.
Sales Kit
Sirs:
No advertising man, I get my money's worth in TIME (16-c- including sales tax) reading ads. In TIME, Aug. 21, p. 34 you carry Lockheed brakes. Smart Bell Telephone shows its interest in synchronized advertising by using opposite column same page showing Lockheed in classified telephone directory. Then on next page is the new ingenious Willard battery.
I sell Studebaker cars, accent on that marvel low-cost transportation and thing of beauty, the New Studebaker Champion. Items above mentioned are stock equipment.
Into my sales kit today goes current TIME open at pp. 34-35. What a sales portfolio would I and thousands of Studebaker salesmen have in a TIME carrying in one issue the ads of all companies that cooperate with Studebaker in making CHAMPION the great Champion it is. For instance, Firestone Champion tires, Champion plugs, Lockheed brakes, Willard batteries, Timken bearings, Perfect Circle rings, Carter carburetors, and other items.
I would buy at least twelve copies that I might have a fresh one through the year. What would this mean to TIME, to Studebaker, to the companies represented and particularly to Studebaker salesmen? I am asking you.
FRED W. HENCK Merced, Calif.
>Fine business.--ED.
Gropefully Sirs: Regarding "Intellectuals" in Religion, TIME, Aug. 21 : It would be interesting to have answers to a questionnaire from the "38 intellectuals" as to their familiarity with the Bible and their thoughtful understanding of the teachings of Jesus. Also to get a list from each of five spiritually constructive books they have read in the last two years, such as Henry C. Link's The Rediscovery of Man, Robert Norwood's Increasing Christhood, etc. Never have there been so many wonderful inspirational books written as recently and religion is sensibly, "gropefully" discussed at every turn. Unfortunately we are still impressed as a nation by education meaning "an accumulation of knowledge of facts" rather than education as "a deepening of consciousness." When our braintrusters can be trusted because they have learned how to live wisely themselves instead of trying to impress us with their "Smart Alec" stuff there will indeed be a new era. It seems to me the "writing on the wall" was never plainer than at present, that the only solution to the world-wide mess is applied Christianity. Jesus did not establish dogmas nor creeds, but an example for living. We have wandered far afield and naturally suffer proportionately. MARGARET KEEN BUTCHER Vineyard Haven, Mass.
Moral Fences Sirs:
Having read so much ridiculing Governor Dickinson of Michigan for his utterances, I am prompted to express my feelings. First, permit me to state that I am not a crusader or reformer. I am merely a medical practitioner in a college town of 4,500. It is of no special concern to me whether it be New York or Padooka--one fact is very obvious all about us--we as a nation are becoming extremely calloused, and as Damon Runyon so aptly put it in his column a few days ago, extremely sinful.
My chief gripe, however, is the ridicule that has been heaped upon a man who has the courage to speak his mind. This one fact is the surest sign that we are all headed for a moral disintegration. . . .
Of one thing I am certain. Those who are having their laugh now at Governor Dickinson's expense better start patching their moral fences--if they have any--because men like Dickinson are going to have the last laugh. What this country and world need is a Moral Rearmament.
I hope someone gets a good laugh out of this! O. P. THORSON, M. D.
(Another simple-minded yokel) Northfield, Minn.
>Let no man laugh at morality; but let all men be free to laugh at human posturings.--ED.
Nightmare & Daydream
Sirs:
AFTER READING YOUR ACCOUNT OF THE RUSSIAN-GERMAN TREATY CAPTIONED "NIGHTMARE" [TIME, AUG. 28] I ALSO HAD DREAMS. I DREAMED OF WELL-FED GERMANS FROM STALIN'S WHEAT AND OF STATISTICS PROVING THAT FEW PEOPLE EVER COMMIT SUICIDE ON A FULL STOMACH. I DREAMED OF ARMIES MARCHING BACK TO THE FACTORIES TURNING GUNS AND BULLETS INTO LOCOMOTIVES AND PLOUGHS FOR RUSSIA. I DREAMED OF STALIN, OF ALL THE PEOPLE, DOING THE TRICK AND DISARMING GERMANY AND SAVING THE WORLD FOR DEMOCRACY. WHILE YOU HAD YOUR NIGHTMARES I HAD MY DAYDREAMS. WHICH OF US WILL WAKE UP FIRST?
CHARLES KURT HOFFMAN Syracuse, N. Y.
>The daydream also visited TIME; but quickly retreated in the face of stern facts.--ED.
Deluge
Sirs:
During the past year or two this country has been generously sprinkled with propaganda from the various ax grinders in Europe, some of which must have been obvious to even those unfortunate enough to be deaf, dumb, and blind. And some of us fear that the sprinkling up to date has been only a preliminary to the deluge almost certain to follow with the outbreak of hostilities.
May I suggest that TIME contribute its mite toward helping the American People to retain some degree of fair-mindedness by adding a department to explore and present some of the suspected details each week. I know of no editorial staff in the country more capable of exploding many of the myths that both Nazis and British are going to feed the American Public under the guise of news. . . .
R. W. REYNOLDS New York City >Let Reader Reynolds be reassured : TIME will indeed do its very best to winnow European news from European propaganda, is well aware that in World War II "the lie as a point of policy" will doubtless be employed by other propagandists than Germany's Dr. Goebbels. But TIME reminds all its readers that there is a distinction of importance to be drawn between big lies and little lies. Big lies and big liars TIME will continue to nail, when and as it catches them. Little liars, as always, TIME will not take so seriously. -- ED.
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