"Give Us This Day . . ."
Sirs:
Last December, on the day that the Battle of the Bulge began, I picked my way over and around a sickening mass of debris in front of a devastated, still beautiful Gothic cathedral, just a half hour previously demolished by a V2, and turned into DeBoeystradt in Antwerp. I was on my way to dinner with new-made Belgian friends. . . .
Aperitifs were omitted, being unnecessary. The soup course was dispensed with, for lack of ingredients. The salad was absent, black-market prices prohibiting. The main course, occupying a pitifully small central part of the table, consisted of a medium-sized plateful of home-fried potatoes (perhaps five potatoes in all), a two-inch slice of Spam (for four people), obtained God knows where, and, through the generosity of an Allied soldier, a couple of ounces of spread-on meat. Unappetizing black bread, ungarnished even by margarine, completed not only the course, but the dinner. Coffee (2,000 francs a kilo in the black market) was not for folks whose Government-controlled monetary allotment was limited to 2,000 francs a month for all purposes.
This being a dinner for "company," my friends went at it with relish, despite rattling dishes and window panes, constantly shivered by V-2 and buzz-bomb blasts all around. Their eagerness to share their little with me did more to create the lump in my throat than did the thought of their plight.
When we cry and moan and snivel about food shortages here in America, let us for God's sake remember that people like these also pray "Give us this day our daily bread."
LEONARD P. JENKINS
Ensign, U.S. Merchant Marine
Arlington, NJ.
Sirs:
I am an American housewife. I have lost a son in this war. And I am not going to tighten the belts of my other children to feed Europe! I find my friends, club women, etc., feel the same way.
You say (TIME, April 2): "Empty bellies sharpen memories." Do you suppose going hungry can sharpen their memories so they won't choose leaders in another 20 years who offer them conquest and riches?
I, like thousands of others, donated in the 19203 to feed starving Europe. I was a traitor to my son. Now I say, let them stand on their own feet and work out the problems they have brought upon themselves.
(HOUSEWIFE'S NAME WITHHELD)
Indianapolis
Sirs:
The food situation in Europe (TiME, April 2) presents Americans with their first real chance to prove their seriousness about the war. We had no real choice.in "giving" our men; but it is up to American public opinion to make the decision about giving some of our food--the biggest voluntary contribution we can make.
The sacrifice of men was essential to the winning of the war; the sacrifice of some of our abundant food supply is equally essential in the fullest sense of that much abused word, to the winning of the peace. The choice is clear and inescapable, and future generations will judge us on our decision. Have we the intestinal fortitude to forego a little--how pitifully little !--present comfort for immense future gain? I think, I hope, that most Americans, when they realize fully the situation, will do the wise, the generous, the intelligent thing. Newspapers, periodicals, the radio have a grave public responsibility in educating the public conscience and intelligence in this matter.
EDWARD H. KELLY
New York City
Sirs:
Easter Sunday, in a broadcast from England, Dorothy Thompson said that people in England were writing to their papers asking even further reductions in their rations in order that the food thus saved could be sent to Europe where famine menaces. . . . England, who has suffered so much, asks to help by depriving herself. How can we, who pride ourselves on our generosity, do less?
SARAH F. KUIPER
Cambridge, Mass.
Sirs:
Your article, "Statesmen v. Housewives," should be required reading for every man, woman and child in the U.S. ... If we don't do something quickly, we will come out of this war the most hated nation on earth, and we will have only ourselves to blame. . . . MARGARET C. ROWNTREE Los Angeles
Unemployable Duke?
Sirs:
Your statement (TiME, March 26) that the Duke of Windsor is "technologically unemployable, an obsolete man" shocked many of us in the film industry. We take issue with you on your flip and curt dismissal of a man who is one of the colorful figures of our time. As spokesman for a group of actors, writers and directors, I have today cabled the Duke of Windsor offering to form an independent producing company to star him in a pic-turization of his own life story, or a story of his own choosing, or the post of technical adviser on a film project embodying his own ideas and philosophy. . . . We hold that the Duke of Windsor is a highly employable man and in no sense obsolete.
CHESTER MORRIS
Los Angeles
P: Hollywood has seen some strange sights. But TIME is willing to bet a small Balkan kingdom against the head of Actor Morris' press agent that Hollywood will never see Britain's ex-King Edward VIII as a cinemactor.--ED.
Great Eccentric
Sirs:
Thanks for your interesting review of Victoria Through the Looking-Glass (TIME, April 2).
When I was a schoolgirl in Boston, over 50 years ago, we wanted to use the name "Jabberwock" for a new school paper. We wrote to the Reverend Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) to ask his permission. He replied that we might use the name, then said that "wock" was an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning "the result of," and we all knew the meaning of "jabber," therefore the paper would be the result of much excited discussion. He also said he would like to subscribe.
In one issue we published a poem which he objected to, writing that if we continued to publish that kind of thing he would discontinue his subscription. We replied that the poem had been written by one of the most eminent ministers in Boston. He did not discontinue his subscription. . . .
ANNE Y. COPELAND
Girls' Latin School, 1892
Hartford, Conn.
Sirs:
Occasionally the characters of Lewis Carroll and Charles Lutwidge Dodgson merged.
My father, the Reverend Walter E. Smith, published a pamphlet on proportional representation. Dodgson wrote him about this, sending a copy of Suggestions as to the Best Method of Taking Votes Where More Than Two Issues Are To Be Voted On. My father replied, pointing out that by Dodgson's method, in certain circumstances, nobody would be elected.
The reply came back on a postcard: "SO MUCH THE BETTER!"
BABINGTON SMITH
New York City
The 17th's First
Sirs:
With a great deal of pride in my old outfit, the 17th Airborne Division, I wish to take exception to your statement (TIME, April 2) which places the 17th in combat for the first time as part of the big push across the Rhine. The division was announced to be in General Patton's Third Army in January and was part of the action which reduced the Bulge in Belgium. I will admit that it was the 17th's first airborne combat.
JOSEPH R. GRUBB JR. ist Lieutenant, Infantry Fort Benning, Ga.
For Better Understanding Sirs: After your fine review of The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (TIME, April 2), it may interest your readers to know that the entire proceeds of the American premiere were given to our Society for our rehabilitation program to aid and teach servicemen interested in a career in the graphic arts.
David Low sent me the following radiogram: ". . . Greetings to my fellow artists in the Society of Illustrators. Good wishes for success of their efforts towards rehabilitation of war veterans. Would say that we drawers of pictures have easiest means of communicating ideas, therefore we have direct educative responsibility in helping our two democracies to grow up in sympathy and friendship. We could make a start to better understanding by ... expressing the fundamental truth that in these days the common man of Britain and of America is pretty much the same .fellow with the same standards and the same wish to live and let live."
ARTHUR WILLIAM BROWN
President
Society of Illustrators
New York City
Release Date
Sirs:
Your story concerning W. H. Donald (TIME, Feb. 19) was definitely off base. Donald was interned with us in Santo Tomas until May 14, at which time he was transferred to Los Banos. At no time did he assume a false name, nor a disguise of any kind. Naturally, he displayed a reasonable preference for anonymity. Why the Japs didn't know of his presence in camp is still a mystery to me.
Your publication of the story on the 19th, together with his photograph, was a breach of decency in my opinion. At that time he, together with the rest of us, was at the mercy of the Japanese. . . . Perhaps the censorship is more to blame than you; nevertheless there should have been some sense of responsibility on your part unless the gathering of news is simply a cynic's pastime.
F. R. FISHER c/o Postmaster San Francisco
P: TIME, which got its information from an Associated Press dispatch, is grateful that China's Donald suffered no ill consequences.--ED.
League v. Federation
Sirs:
U.S. at War (TIME, March 26): "But Harold Stassen, internationalist, has also insisted that any world organization should include provision for peaceful change as it is needed."
Orchids to Stassen and Vandenberg. May their will have its way. Are not wars fought because nations wish to make changes in the existing order ? What good is an international organization if it does not provide for change? . . .
JOHN F. RAAB
Vista, Calif.
Free Enterpriser
Sirs:
Your article under Foreign Trade (TIME, March 19) stated that the Chrysler Corp. valued their Antwerp factory at $1. Hoping to purchase the factory, I mailed the $1 to the corporation and received this reply [from the corporation's secretary]: "Your letter dated March 21, 1945, addressed to Mr. K. T. Keller, President, Chrysler Corp., has been referred to my attention. The one-dollar bill that was enclosed with your letter is being returned to you herewith. I, too, saw the article in the March 19 issue of TIME."
What's happening to the free market in America ?
EUGENE R. GRIESHABER
Appleton, Wis.
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