"This Blessed Bomb"
Sirs:
The remarks of Walter G. Taylor [TIME Letters, Aug. 27], vigorously denouncing our use of the atom bomb, should point out clearly what type of thinking we have to fear in the future.
We know that the Germans came stunningly close to perfecting this fearful weapon and we are told that the Japanese received from them all the information the Nazis had gathered. It was simply a race to see which of us could complete it first, and the Jap trail of bestiality, thousands of miles long, gives us to understand that they would certainly not have hesitated to use this force, had they won the race.
If those who share Mr. Taylor's opinions will look under the ashes of those dead Japs, they will probably see that our strict control of this menace can turn it into the most powerful deterrent to future wars of aggression which has or is likely to come to light. CARTER HOLMES Dallas
Sirs:
... I do not agree that this blessed bomb was developed and used "without our consent !" BERT S. HEINTZELMAN Rye, N.Y.
Sirs:
. . . Let Mr. Taylor learn the fundamental law of war: Kill or be killed. (SI/C) DON HEARD Great Lakes, Ill.
Sirs:
. . . Mr. Taylor has the colossal gall to decry democracy, and to compare us to the recreants who planned the mass murder at Dachau. To this I can only say that thousands of us owe our lives to the "brutes" who devised this bomb, and the "monsters" who had the courage to use it. (RDM2/c) R. E. CODY % Fleet Post Office San Francisco
Sirs:
The dark blotches in the early frames of your atomic bomb sequence [TIME, Aug. 27] are prints of holes in the photographic gelatin, which resulted from what was perhaps the greatest photographic overexposure ever made in motion pictures. The circles of spurious light in the last four pictures are not ghosts from the nonreflecting coated lenses, but light leaks through a hole designed for a clock or other auxiliary apparatus to be photographed through the side of the camera. The hole had a cover proof against ordinary daylight but not against the super daylight with which the bomb engulfed the camera.
The War Department did not accompany its release of the pictures by any written explanation, but I have been authorized by Major General Leslie R. Groves to give you the above information. These pictures were taken under my direction as the scientist in charge of obtaining the photographic records. JULIAN ELLIS MACK Santa Fe, N.M.
Whodunit?
Sirs:
TIME'S cover of Japan's Xed-out sun [Aug. 20] has inspired a heated controversy concerning the artist. As amateur Sherlocks, we have compiled two lists of deductions made from what we could see in the cover. We would appreciate your settling this argument for us.
Captain Harrington: Artist used 5/8-inch brush.
Artist had not dipped brush before on this particular day.
The direct stroke from upper left to lower right was made first.
The stroke from lower left to upper right was made second.
The sun was stenciled before the cross.
The artist was inspired suddenly with his idea and started impetuously.
The artist is between 30 and 40 years old.
The artist is righthanded.
He is above average height, about 5 ft. 10 or 11.
Captain Swift: Artist used 1/4inch brush and cross blown up before printing. . . .
The illusion of crossing out the sun is false, since the sun was superimposed on the cross in the printing process.
The artist was a woman in her 20s.
Since the stroke lacks solidity and uniform width as well as being unbalanced, it would indicate an inexperienced artist.
The artist was short--slightly over 5 ft., indicated by the curve of the first stroke.
JOHN W. HARRINGTON Captain, A.U.S. DONALD C. SWIFT Captain, A.U.S. Camp Wheeler, Ga.
P: TIME'S tall (6 ft.), middle-aged (46), ambidextrous male artist used a tired old 1/2-inch, previously dipped brush to make the unstenciled sun before X-ing it out in the manner correctly described by Reader Harrington. The idea came suddenly, but was deliberately planned before execution. It was drawn to size. Contestant Harrington is the winner. Artzybasheff was the artist.--ED.
Army Behavior
Sirs:
There are a few things about the Russian situation that I'd like to point out to you--the result of observations made during a two and a half months' stay in Austria. Everywhere I heard from the native population the reiterated hope that the Americans would occupy the rest of Austria. The streets were full of homeless people, homeless because they'd rather live as refugees than as subjects of the Russians. When pressed for details, none had anything but hearsay evidence to offer in support of their fears. It made me wonder how much of their fear was justified in fact and how much was the fruit of an assiduously pursued propaganda program engineered by Goebbels. I pass the idea along as worthy of consideration because in your Aug. 13 issue you seem to forget that many Austrians were once Nazi, and quite thoroughly, too.
In that same issue you speak of looting. No doubt the Russians are guilty of that. As a matter of fact, their morals in reference to property in a conquered country seem to be no higher than ours. The American soldier of all ranks has looted, and I speak only of things I have seen with my own eyes. . . .
In the matter of rape, it is probable that more Russian soldiers have been guilty thereof than American, but much of the differential can be explained by the apparent predilection the Continental girl has for the American soldier with his K-ration, chocolate bars and cigarets. . . .
I see no fundamental superiority of the American Army in any of its echelons over the Russian Army in reference to the above matters. . . . Inasmuch as so great a part of the world's future well-being depends on the amicability of Russian-American relations, wouldn't it be wise to reserve a less glittering, more thoroughly documented, more restrained style of reporting for use on the Russians, and save your piercing wit for your targets elsewhere? . . .
[ARMY SERGEANT'S NAME WITHHELD] Austria
Sirs: . . . People who read your article will condemn the Russians for being savages and rapists but will not stop to consider the fact that our own Army and the British Army along with ours have done their share of looting and raping. . . . Germany has been picked so clean by our troops . . . that just about the only stores left with anything to sell are the hardware stores, and that is because they did not have much that the men wanted.
It is also common knowledge that American soldiers are persona non grata in the homes of decent girls in many of the liberated countries because of their attitude that any foreign girl is automatically a prostitute. Pick up almost any daily copy of Stars & Stripes and you will find letters to the editor complaining that the girls over here are closing their doors to our troops. This offensive attitude among our troops is not at all general, but the percentage is large enough to have given our Army a pretty black name, and we too are considered an army of rapists.
This letter is in no way intended to be an apology for misbehavior among the Soviet troops. It is merely an attempt to show that the Soviet Army is no different from the American or British Army when it comes to looting and behavior among women. . . . [ARMY SERGEANT'S NAME WITHHELD] % Postmaster New York City
Sergeant Bundenthal Demurs
Sirs:
Receipt of your V-mail saying that my letter would be published in TIME puzzled me no little, but decided to wait for the July 16 issue to see what it was all about.
Well, it got here yesterday and, although some of the statements [praising Germany's women, belittling Britain's, France's, etc.] in "my" letter may have some truth to them, I wish to deny, emphatically, ever having written the letter in question.
Someone is pulling our legs, TIME, especially mine! (SGT.) JAY G. BUNDENTHAL Germany
P: Disjointed TIME apologizes to Reader Bundenthal for unwittingly abetting a hoax, suspects that some brazen G.I. has found a new way of getting even with his sergeant.--ED.
Clammer's Helper
Sirs:
After several years of abounding faith in the authenticity of TIME, I find that I have been duped, taken in, crossed up, and otherwise misled. I read with great interest an article concerning the genus bivalve mollusc, or clam, in your Aug. 20 issue, whereby it would appear some enterprising character named Higgins had revolutionized the time-tested method of clam-digging through the use of a plumber's helper, slush pump, or what have you.
Always willing to try something new, I purchased one of the above-mentioned tools and, with a light heart, set out to show the local clamdiggers how we moderns extract the lowly mollusc from his lair.
Never has more mud been pumped, slushed, squirted and squooshed, and I beg to report that the Connecticut clam is far mightier than the slush pump. Needless to say, it will take many years for TIME to regain my confidence after this disappointing experience.
JAMES S. BROWN III Stamford, Conn.
P:Let Reader Brown see below, and try, try again.--ED.
Sirs: Stephen Higgins & wife are slightly behind the times using a rubber suction plunger for digging clams. In July I went clamming with Frank Hall of Avondale, R.I., who has been using this useful article for the past ten years.
JOHN PURVEY Lieutenant, U.S.N.R.
Westerly, R.I.
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