Baldwin-Anderson

Sirs: You quote Earl Baldwin of Bewdley as saying in two long paragraphs and 175 words (TIME, Aug. 28--Education) what Maxwell Anderson made Washington say better in the play about Valley Forge in 15 words: "This liberty will look easy by and by--when nobody dies to get it." JOHN J. LIPSEY Colorado Springs, Colo.

The better it is said (TIME, Dec. 10, 1934), the truer it is.--ED.

After a Famous Victory

Sirs: Mention of Robert Southey's The Battle of Blenheim in your geograpnic Background of War brings to mind 141-year-old lines that are becoming all too current. Peterkin's grandpa should have been nonplussed when he recalled

"With fire and sword the country round

Was wasted jar and wide,

And many a childing mother then,

And newborn baby died;

But things like that, you know, must be

At every famous victory.

"They say it was a shocking sight

After the field was won;

For many thousand bodies here

Lay rotting in the sun;

But things like that, you know, must be

After a famous victory."

Should there be another Blenheim we, like grandpa, must conclude

"And every body praised the Duke

Who this great fight did win.

'But what good came of it at last?'

Quoth little Peterkin.

'Why, that I cannot tell,' said he;

'But 'twas a famous victory.' "

RAY E. NELSON Gering, Neb.

Lid Over Panama

Sirs: Everyone is hearing a lot about building extra locks for the Panama Canal in case a lock was destroyed by air-attack from bombers [TIME, Aug. 28]. Could not the extra lock be put out of operation just as easily as the present one, if not the same day, the next day? Then, why not put a lid over the present locks and make them bombproof? This could be done by building a number of bascule leaves over the locks, making the leaves as near bombproof as possible, and adding further protection by having ten or twelve-foot standards supporting heavy chain-net ten foot above the floor, similar chain-net as used by battleships as a protection from submarine torpedoes. When the leaves were put down, nothing would be in sight, all mechanism being underground. When vessels were sent through the Canal, the leaves could be raised in less than five minutes. Mechanical operation could be electrical with remote control. In fact, the leaves of the bascule-type bridge could be so camouflaged and with an imitation lock close by that I doubt very much whether the real lock could be located from the air. I suggested this to the Secretary of War, who referred it to the Chief of the Panama Canal Office, Washington, who said the "suggestion was interesting and would be brought to the attention of the proper officials for consideration." . . . H. C. CLARK Delaware City, Del.

Teddy

Sirs: I have often wondered whether Miscellany is intended to be taken seriously and whether these believe-it-or-nots are verified with your usual care. In particular, being seriously interested in the homing instincts of birds and animals, I did not miss in the issue of TIME dated Aug. 14, the items labeled "Mother" (fleet Italian swallow) and "Toad" (Boston or Bust). Does the Miscellany editor have a pending file that will remind him to find out whether Teddy actually gets home again in April 1941? (Such a smart toad might reason that he is better off in California--his master would just take him to some outlandish place again.) Please. R. T. GRIFFITH Pittsburgh, Pa.

> Items for Miscellany are gathered and checked with care. As for Teddy, he got home to Boston last month, having hitchhiked from Oakland, Calif, (where his trusting owner, retired Chiropodist Fred Sidney of Harvard, Mass., turned him loose). Thanks to fellow travelers' assistance, smart Teddy had made the 3,272-mile trip in only 26 days.--ED.

Darnell's Age

Sirs: Referring to TIME, Aug. 14, under Cinema. Linda Darnell's age is given as 15. Louella O. Parsons' column in the Aug. 20 issue of the Chicago Herald & Examiner, gives her age as 17. The studio for whom she works gives her age as 19. Which is it? ETHEL WAX Kenton, Ohio

> Cinemactress Darnell, as TIME reported, is 15.--ED.

Chrysler Earnings

Sirs: Sorry old man but you slipped up on Chrysler earnings. See p. 54 of TIME, August 28. If Chrysler paid $8 per share, their quarterly dividend should be at least $2. It seems that I have lost money on that basis. I have only received $1, $1.50, $1.50 for the last three dividends on Chrysler stock. Maybe these weren't quarterly dividends but I think so. Even so it's a damn fine corporation.

JOHN J. LUHRMAN

Detroit, Mich.

Sirs: In the issue of TIME dated August 28, under the section concerning Business and Finance, I find as a part of your highly incandescent report on the affairs of the Chrysler Corp. the following statement: "Meanwhile, Chrysler common (currently selling under $80, paying at the rate of $8 a share), yields 10%." How nice. But in the course of my usual search in the back pages of the magazine for reading material among the advertisements, I come across the following notice: "The directors of Chrysler Corporation have declared a dividend of one dollar and fifty cents ($1.50) per share on the outstanding common stock, payable September 13, 1939. . . ." I am a novice at economic matters, and I am confused. ARTHUR B. LOGAN Parkersburg, West Va.

> No wonder Reader Logan was confused; so was TIME, which herewith apologizes to the Chrysler Corp. for inadvertently rouging its already healthy complexion. The declared dividend of $4 reported by TIME covered a nine-month, not a semiannual, period. If Chrysler's fourth quarter dividend is the same as its last two quarterly declarations, its stock (at current levels) will have yielded about 1% for the year.--ED.

Hitler's War

Sirs: Suggest you name this Hitler's War. Give him his due. . . . PHILIP KIND Jenkintown, Pa.

> To give Hitler his due, he did not want this war--he certainly would have preferred another Munich.--ED.

Sirs: . . . WHY CALL IT WORLD WAR WHEN IT ISN'T QUITE A EUROPEAN WAR? FRANK C. WHITMORE State College, Pa.

> Because every nation is involved economically, most nations are already involved sympathetically and, with the British Empire at war, the sun cannot set on any continent or any sea on which there are no belligerents.--ED.

"War or No Munich"

Sirs: Your article "War or No Munich" on p. 14, issue Sept. 4, is superb. One of the finest I have read in about ten years of outstanding "TIMEly" articles. . . . CRANDAL W. BISBEE St. Louis, Mich.

"Background for War"

Sirs: Your articles "Background for War" have been carefully read and enjoyed by myself, and have been passed on to men and women from many parts of the British Empire resident in this island. . . .

MARION MOORE Antigua, B.W.I.

> To Reader Moore has been mailed a reprint of TIME'S "Background for War" series. For any TIME subscriber, on request, a free copy is now available. Others may buy copies at newsstands, at 5-c- each.--ED.

Press Services

Sirs: In your story about the California decision regarding the sale of Oakland Tribune stock held in the Dargie estate (TIME, Aug. 14), you said that no report on the matter was carried by the press services. Fact is, both Associated Press and United Press carried it, although few newspapers--among them the Oakland Tribune--picked it up.

JOHN F. ALLEN

San Francisco, Calif.

> To A. P. and U. P., good reporters, TIME'S apology for a bit of bad reporting by itself.--ED.

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