Title V
Sirs:
The report on the provisions and subsequent restrictions due to the passage of Title V of the Soldier Vote Act (TIME, July 10) came as a shock to many servicemen. . . .
In its orientation programs and discussion groups the Army has endeavored to promote thought and interest in current events, postwar problems, etc. . . . And now comes along a Congress filled with frightened partisans who do not want to burden "our boys," or enlighten them, with political topics.
What do they think we're here for? We are here to win the right to read what we wish, elect whom we wish, and to listen to political harangues if we wish. If we're to have those rights when the war ends--and we'd better--why can't we have them now? . . .
Thanks to you, TIME, for keeping us "enlightened."
[ARMY SERGEANT'S NAME WITHHELD] Boca Raton Field, Fla.
Sirs:
. . . If the affair is as pictured in your article, then it is one of the most serious breaches of American civil liberties I have ever heard of. If Beard's The Republic can be banned there is no reason why Plato's cannot also be banned. . . .
(CY) GUY H. RANER JR., U.S.N.R. Fleet Post Office New York City
Sirs:
Can nothing be done about this ridiculous Soldier Vote bill? . . .
The irony of it is that I spend my time teaching students how precious is our freedom of thought, conscience and speech. I've tried so hard to show them that freedom of speech means more than being free to tell your neighbor that the Administration consists of a pack of fools, that it means also the responsibility for being informed, tolerant, and for keeping speech free. I've insisted in every way I knew that they must read and think and vote. So now my boys--and many are in service--are now out fighting for something they dare not read about. . . .
NINA RAE CLEVELAND San Francisco
1948 Slate
Sirs:
I would like to predict that the 1948 nominees for President of the United States will be General George C. Marshall, Democrat, and General Douglas MacArthur, Republican.
[SERVICEMAN'S NAME WITHHELD] c/o Postmaster New York City
P: If they are alive in November, 1948, Generals Marshall and MacArthur will be, respectively, 67 and 68 years old.--ED.
Keats's Grave
Sirs:
"When the Nazis were driven from Rome three weeks ago, it is probable that few among the liberating forces realized that they had liberated, among other things, the grave of John Keats" [TIME, June 26].
In the course of one half-hour's brooding over his grave, situated in a less frequented portion of the city, I saw two American enlisted men, one American Red Cross worker, two plaid-skirted Scottish lieutenants and two Italian girls come to pay their respects.
Artillery fire had damaged several gravestones between Keats's and the pyramid of Caius Cestius, a stone's throw away. Other greats in the same cemetery: Shelley, Trelawny, John Addington Symonds. Keats's name goes unmentioned on his own gravestone ("Here lies one whose name was writ in water"), but is inscribed on that of his painter-friend Severn, buried by his side.
Their house in the Piazza di Spagna is "Off limits to Allied Troops," but the boat-shaped fountain still gushes water, and flowers in multichromed abundance still are sold.
GILBERT GOLDSTEIN Lieutenant c/o Postmaster New York City
Foxhole Radio
Sirs:
In reference to the "Foxhole Radio" in TIME (July 17). I am the orientation man for our Co. While giving a lecture I spoke of the foxhole radio and drew a diagram for the rest of the Co. to see. There were quite a few sceptical ones; so I promised that one would be made to see if the idea was practicable. One was made. It didn't work. . . .
My honor and your magazine are at stake. Does the radio work or not, and why? I will keep to my guns until you reply. Please hurry! There is no time to lose.
(PvT.) THOMAS REES Camp Butner, N.C.
Sirs:
. . . To date we have tried several gauges of coil wire--the article gave no particular gauge--with no success. Should we dig a foxhole?
RALPH COLLETT WALTER GREGORY Norwich, Conn.
Sirs:
I've tried Lieut. Rupert's razor-blade radio. It works! But it takes tops in patience, skill & headphone sensitivity, plus excellent ears. . . .
Selectivity may be gained by adding a variable condenser for tuning, connecting it across the coil if the coil's natural frequency is too high, or in series with the ground wire if the natural frequency is too low. . . .
CHARLES RINDE Lodi, Calif.
Horizon Pushers
Sirs:
The pontifical assurance of your Music department is amusing. The statement "Richard Strauss, of Nazi Germany, whose only rival to the title of greatest living composer is Jean Sibelius" etc. [TIME, July 17] belongs in the raised eyebrow department.
I should say that there were at least three other candidates who have pushed music horizons much further back than either Strauss or Sibelius. Names: Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Varese.
MERLE ARMITAGE LIEUT. COLONEL, A.C. Atlantic City, N.J.
P: Composers Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Varese are indeed horizon-pushers, but most music lovers agree that Composers Strauss and Sibelius are better music-writers.--ED.
Trouble In Cambridge (Cont'd)
Sirs:
. . . I am glad that TIME published the letter which the editors of the Service News wrote to you, but unfortunately this clears up only one important error in the article. It seems too bad that TIME did not make some comment at the time of publishing the letter regarding the inaccuracies and false insinuations in the original article [TIME, June 32].
I want to state that TIME is grossly incorrect in its representation of the position of myself and other officers of the University in respect to the incident described in the article.
The article, after presenting a report of the attack on two Harvard undergraduates along the Charles River, says "Harvard hushed it up." There is no basis for fact in this statement. Neither the police authorities to whom the attack on the two students was reported nor any representative of the press were asked by me to suppress the news. As soon as the attack was known to me and I had seen the students, I telephoned to the police and sent the boys to see the police. Also a reporter from one of the papers talked to me about the incident. I gave him all the facts in detail. If that is hushing up a matter, I fear that I do not understand the English language.
A. C. HANFORD
Dean
Harvard College Cambridge, Mass.
P: TIME stands corrected on Harvard's conduct of this case. Its report was based on circumstantial information which a direct check with Dean Hanford would have proved wrong.--ED.
This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.