hptime.com
Basic American
Sirs:
Here is a sequel to your anecdote under "Morale" (TIME, Dec. 25), concerning the marines who taught the Jap prisoner to ask "Where I stand on rotation plan?" ... An Air Force captain told me that he and his fellow prisoners of Ploesti taught their non-English-comprehending Rumanian guards to greet them with: "Buy U.S. War Bonds."
T. W. AMES
Atlantic City
What's a Good Teacher?
Sirs:
Your article, "Merit System for Teachers" (TIME, Dec. 11), describing a nine-point rating scale for teachers, which was developed at the University of Washington, presents an interesting problem when applied to some of the world's great teachers. I am surprised to discover that when measured by this scale, Pestalozzi, Vittorino, Confucius, Socrates, and Christ rate shockingly low. They do not seem to measure up in research or in activities. . . .
How about evaluating a college instructor's: 1) sympathy with his students and enthusiasm for their welfare; 2) ability to stimulate, to encourage, and to inspire youth; 3) thorough genuineness; 4) skill in diagnosing social, financial, vocational, educational, and emotional problems of young people; 5) effectiveness in directing remedial programs to correct such difficulties?
WILLARD W. BARTLETT Otterbein College Westerville, Ohio
Impossible Isolation
Sirs:
Your story "Consistent Inconsistency" (TIME, Dec. 18) is a direct warning to stop confusing our lack of foreign policy with conservatism.
As proof that we cannot afford to leave Italy's domestic affairs entirely to Italy, the dead, of Anzio give mute testimony. Several million fighting Americans around the world are proof that isolation is not only impractical but impossible. ... It is essential that the Allies make every effort to stabilize a world gone mad with war and hate.
God grant that the coming peace, for which thousands of young Americans are making the supreme sacrifice, does not find us unprepared.
( PFC .) GEORGE JODRIE Camp Campbell, Ky.
Norway's Bishop
Sirs:
Your cover picture of Norway's great Bishop Berggrav (TIME, Dec. 25) was one of the most deeply moving and eloquent bits of artistry I've ever seen. The lighting, subtly transforming prison wire into the Star of wonder and light, is sheer genius. . . .
JOSEPHINE V. COWIN Lakewood, Ohio
Sirs:
Here at "Little Norway" there is everywhere a close spiritual link with Bishop Berggrav and the church martyrs of Norway (TiME, Dec. 25). I know, for it has been my job (in Public Relations and as assistant to the Commanding Officer of the Norwegian Air Force) for three and a half years to hear the stories of Norway's martyrdom firsthand. At night, in the bare, cold barracks, in darkness except for the light shining on my notebook, I have recorded hundreds of stories that might have inspired such a spiritual as Were You There When They Crucified My Lord? Through one of our flyers there is for me a particularly close association with Bishop Berggrav. We shall call him Johannes Finnsen. In 1941 his photograph was taken by Bishop Berggrav's niece, Kari Berggrav. (She is now with Walt Disney Productions.) This photograph of Finnsen became a sort of trademark of the Norwegian Air Force. And it has been put on a new Norwegian stamp.* To me, and to the young Norwegian flyers here at Little Norway, it seems natural to equate Bishop Berggrav and Johannes Finnsen; they, together with the whole Norwegian nation, are all of one piece, now.
JOHN DARNALL Little Norway, Canada
"Or Will It?" Sirs: . . . Photos of war casualties may make some work harder in vital industries, some gripe less, sacrifice more. But printing pictures of pitiful traffic tragedies (TIME, Dec. 25) will not make kids stop playing in the streets when there is nowhere else to play. It will not make truck drivers or other drivers cease driving as if they owned the streets. It will not make society rearrange its communities so that kids may have ample play space safe and separate from traffic lanes. Or will it ?
George H. Plagens
Los Angeles Two-Bits' Worth
Sirs:
As just another "G.I. Joe" I'd like to get in my two-bits' worth regarding the pros & cons of a peacetime army [TIME, Dec. 18], ...
I would make it mandatory that every young man, when he reaches the age of 18 or when he graduates from high school, enter the service for one year. . . . Not least, I think our young men should do a tour of duty for at least six months as a "police force" in either Germany or Japan. Our secret service should explore every nook and cranny of Germany and Japan so as to make absolutely impossible the building of parts for planes and rockets and other death-dealing machines in small shops all over the nation, to be assembled in a hurry and used to threaten us. This latter point is most important. I can already hear a blabbermouthed German leader of ten or 15 years from now warning the world that unless Germany is given "living room" she will turn loose the two million rockets she has secretly built and with which she could easily wreck New York, London, Paris, Moscow within a few hours. . . .
One more thing. Some of our English and American leaders are worried that Germany will not be able to pay reparations unless she is allowed to retain her factories. I say to hell with reparations! I don't want anything they've got!
SERVICEMAN's NAME WITHHELD Camp Roberts, Calif.
Sirs:
There is no more fundamental characteristic of freedomless governments than their compulsory service laws. . . .
If peacetime conscription is effected and I am unfortunate enough to be killed in the war against militarism yet to be finished, I can't help but feel I shall have died in vain. Should I be fortunate enough to live, I will fight it with all the power one small voice can muster, inspired only by a sincere love of freedom.
[SERVICEMAN'S NAME WITHHELD] % Fleet P.O. San Francisco
Pre-McGuffin
Sirs:
The story of the McGuffin attributed to the British in TIME, Dec. 18, is an extreme example of a good story gone wrong.
In the classic story the animal concealed in the basket is a mongoose, to be given to a dipsomaniac who is infested by snakes. "But those snakes are only imaginary!" "Certainly, but so is this mongoose."
FARNUM F. DORSEY New York City
Amateurish Hating
Sirs: TIME, Dec. 25, in an article entitled "The Nisei Go Back" gave some examples of communities venting their wrath on Nisei, including servicemen. I think they are doing a strictly amateurish job of hating.
The Japanese do not have a monopoly on murder. Certainly the Nazis far outstrip them both as to numbers and methods. So why not include the Germans in our hate programs, including those who were born in this country, of German parentage?
The communities that want to do a real job of hating should include all Orientals, such as the Chinese and the Filipinos. Then, too, we should include those peoples whose skin is the slightest bit sunburned, including the Negroes. But why stop here ? As long as we are promoting hatred, we might just as well include other groups--the Jews, the Catholics, the Protestants who go to church, those who don't. Then if there is no one else left to hate, we can achieve 100% efficiency by hating ourselves. There is little use in doing things in a small way. . . .
Personally, I owe my hide to some Fijian Scouts on Bougainville. And the Fijians are not exactly white. As a matter of fact, they are quite sunburned. But all these peoples are fighting on our side to preserve our freedom to hate them.
[SERVICEMAN'S NAME WITHHELD] Chicago
Nerviest Convict
Sirs:
Tom Bost, who runs the Raleigh, N.C., State capital bureau for the Greensboro (N.C.) News has witnessed dozens & dozens of executions. He has seen the souls of convicted and condemned men take flight by electrocution and in the gas chamber. The North Carolina Governor's press conference the other day strayed off to varied things and finally arrived on the subject of executions--by electrocution, gassing and hanging. (Tom has seen hangin's, too.)
It pretty generally was agreed by those on hand who'd seen executions that the victims usually are nervy. And then Tom told about the "nerviest" victim he's seen.
"Well," he related, "the nerviest convict I can remember was one brazen fellow who didn't show a trace of fear while being strapped into the chair. Took it just as calmly. As a matter of fact, he asked only one question. Just before they turned on the juice, he glanced at the official electrocutioner and said, 'By the way, bud, is this AC or DC?' " JOHN HARDEN
Greensboro, N.C.
What Is an Expert?
Sirs:
"To Kuniyoshi, for pleasing the experts: $1,000. To Cox, for pleasing the public: $200" (TIME, Dec. 18).
If our Presidents were chosen on this basis we'd have Harry Bridges in the White House.
By the way, what are the qualifications of an "expert?"
Hi SIBLEY Nuevo, Calif.
P: Definitions vary. Samples: "An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less"--Nicholas Murray Butler. "An expert is a person who avoids the small errors as he sweeps on to the grand fallacy"--Benj. Stolberg.--ED.
Since January 1, 1943, TIME, LIFE, FORTUNE and THE ARCHITECTURAL FORUM have been cooperating with the War Production Board on conservation of paper. During the year 1944, these four publications used 73,000,000 Ib. (1,450 freight carloads) less paper than in 1942. In view of resulting shortages of copies, please share your copy of TIME with your friends. ^
*Famed Photographer Yousuf Karsh also did a series of Flyer Finnsen, captioned The Norwegian Eagle.
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