No Joke
Sirs:
It is no joke when I say that TIME deserves worthy mention for the excellent job it is doing in salvaging the best from the terrestrial, the aquatic, the aerial, and the arboreal boiling pot of world news. TIME also deserves much credit for fostering a democratic exchange of ideas at a period when broad and tolerant ideas apparently seem taboo. But still greater praise should be given TIME for maintaining a sense of humor in reporting matters of utmost concern and gravity, for in times like these God himself must surely possess a sense of humor in order to endure some of the stupid statements and unintelligent actions which are taking place in our world.
LOYDE O. AUKERMAN
Valley Stream, N.Y.
Fala
Sirs:
In TIME (April 17) you published a picture of Fala and his birthday cake. The White House must have a surplus of ration points to be able to bake a cake for a dog. . . . Surely, Fala could have celebrated his birthday with a larger portion of regular dog food. . . .
CARL O. HAUCH
Johnstown, Pa.
Considering his position and public interest therein, Fala can hardly be held accountable for his birthday goings-on. Moreover, he did not eat the cake: after sticking his paws in it and taking a couple of bites, Fala was hustled off by a stern Secret Service man to his kitchen bone.
Bedlam (Cont'd)
Sirs:
I was most interested to read your discussion of New York's mental hospitals [TIME, April 17]. I have wondered how the war had treated them, but find it difficult to believe that they . . . have changed so since I spent some 16 months in one as a patient in 1935-36. . . .
Many of the very things your report finds questionable are not so appalling from the inside. An antique, seemingly haphazard, or unintegrated building dating back into the last century is, if anything, much more therapeutic than brand-new, cold-cut steel and brick. It is the minds, the imaginations, the fancies of those treated that is important, not their carcasses. . . .
What the uninitiated do not know and cannot know is that the world in which the mental patient moves is another world. I have thought that it is most like Through the Looking Glass, where all values are present and effective, but reversed; where a pack of tobacco given a fellow patient at Christmas had, he assured me, with moist eyes, but forgiving, "ruined his life"; where Fischbein is called Trelawny by his friends, Throckmorton, Goldberg, by his. In this world, you never can tell. . . .
The photograph you print is a spine chiller. It chilled mine when I first saw the original, and I went into it as I would into the water at a Maine beach. But everything is relative. ... I saw no "callousness." The contact was always human, if not necessarily "humane. . . ." "Nursing methods are not standardized." Neither are complexes, fixations, psychoses, nor the outside world. .
"Worst fault: lack of outdoor exercise yards." I agree. To me the latter-day equivalent of "the patch of blue the prisoners call the sky" was one of the most difficult things. The overcrowding -- even the little of it that I experienced -- was bad. . . .
I should add -- to explain the calm view I take of all this -- that I was one of the small percentage of patients who had a parole card [freedom of the grounds].
In closing let me say emphatically I have no desire to go back.
(NAME WITHHELD)
American Institution
Sirs:
. . . The experience of Pfc. Bovarnick (TIME, April 17) is not at all unusual. I have found at the Field Artillery School here at Fort Sill an institution which is purely and perfectly American and one which proves that there is no need for race friction. ... In my class are 78 men from all parts of the country. White and colored boys live together with mutual respect and friendship. We eat together, bunk together, shower together, study and work together. There has not been one instance of race feeling in eight weeks. Southern white boys do not show any class consciousness . . . and I don't think they feel any. One boy who was voted very near the top of the class for leadership is colored, and everyone considers it a pleasure to drill under his command.
. . . May TIME continue its policy and live long and prosper. Someday America will be the kind of land it was intended to be.
(SGT.) ROBERT M. BALDWIN
Fort Sill, Okla.
Louisiana's Attitude?
Sirs:
In January of this year I cast my virgin ballot in the gubernatorial election here in Louisiana. I gave away wet-eared inexperience by walking away from the poll booth without my certificate. I'd gone about 100 feet, when an "Old Regular" watcher called me back excitedly, saying: "Hey, young lady, don't forget your registration receipt. You'll need it for the Roosevelt election in November." He was quite serious and I was quite amused, for it exemplified Solid Louisiana's attitude as to who the Democratic candidate for the Presidency will surely be.
ELIZABETH A. BLACK
New Orleans
Archbishop of York
Sirs:
As a clergyman and citizen may I express to you my very deep appreciation for the remarkably splendid cover and feature article on the Archbishop of York in TIME [April 17th]. I am particularly grateful for the article's prophetically discerning concluding comment. The Archbishop's character and his biographer's insight closely express the motivation which prompts many of us clergy to pray and work and fight.
WILLIAM JAMES CHASE
Chaplain Maxwell Field, Ala.
Ornery Mavericks
Sirs:
Texans have shared the rays of the kliegs right sma't lately. But some publicity don't suit us. For instance, there are a couple of ornery mavericks on the rampage doing a lot of braying. . . .
We Texans are proud of our sprawling pampas, but not of this pair of political fourflushers. Yes, you guessed it: Pappy O'Daniel and Martin Dies. It's going to take some time to bury the Axis-lovin' biscuit peddler, 'cause he don't come up for reelection 'till '48. But we're going to tie a big can on that witch-huntin' hombre from the Sabine this year. . . .
RALPH G. BRAY
Omaha
Mild & Bitter
Sirs:
TIME (April 3) over-condensed its report on the U.S. blanking Canada (18-to-0) in football at London's White City Stadium. This Coffee Bowl catastrophe for the Canucks followed an American defeat (16-to-6) in the series' Tea Bowl opener. Canadian servicemen await the decisive Mild & Bitter Bowl.
STEPHEN FORD
Toronto
All concerned had better hurry. -- ED.
To Sleep or ...
Sirs:
TIME'S Science [April 17] has reached a new low. Of all the worthwhile science topics available . . . your "science experts" choose to waste the space on the bedroom habits of American homes. And of the 24% who sleep in pajamas, how many, pray, sleep in the tops only? And how many in the bottoms only? And "most women undress more slowly than they dress." This conclusion, gentlemen, is irrational!
JULIUS S. MILLER
New Orleans
Hello, Frisco
Sirs:
Where is "Frisco" (TIME, April 3)? We in California know of no such town.
EDW. L. SPAULDING
Sacramento, Calif.
So sorry. But apt nicknames die hard. -- ED.
Down Under
Sirs :
May I give the Australian version of "April Laughter" (TIME, April 17) ? An American soldier, fed to the teeth with the inefficient activities of the narrow-gauge train on which he was riding, leaned over and said to an Australian soldier: "Do you know what we would do with a train like this in the States?" The cynical Aussie replied: "Well, you'd either eat it, drink it, or put it in a family way."
PATRICIA ALLEN
Pasadena, Calif.
Queen of Battles
Sirs:
. . . TIME, unlike most civilian publications, knows that there's a war on, and tells about it. Your story "Credit for the Doughboy" [TIME, April 10] stirred the ex-infantryman in me. . . . When the war is finally won, there will be no doubt in the civilian mind that the dirtiest, toughest, most grueling part of the job was done by the infantry and artillery and other earthbound forces. TIME, in its straightforward accounts of the fight, has taught this to many, including the pilot and naval officer of your article.
(A/C) MARK HEYMAN
Maxwell Field, Ala.
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