The People Are Afraid
Sirs:
I was rather surprised by the inference TIME drew [March 18] from the fact that people no longer talk about the atomic bomb. TIME seemed to believe that people had accepted and forgotten it, and had gone their merry ways, changing neither their modes nor philosophies of life. . .
In the first few months after the news of the existence of the [atomic] bomb, I broached the subject to several people. My cousin said, "You'll never know what hit you," and changed the subject. My closest friend said, "What difference does it make?" and changed the subject. . . .
How can we expect a better world when the people of a democracy just sit back and try to repress their anxiety ? The classic joys and sorrows are puny today; the laments of the poets are ridiculous. Men cannot be concerned with the age-old struggle for personal improvement when whole nations of men are face to face with destruction. . . .
No, the people do not talk about the bomb. They do not, because they are still afraid.
D. PURCELL
Los Angeles
Bilbo & Friend
Sirs:
FOR SAKE OF ... POSTERITY, WHICH IS BILBO
[NATIONAL AFFAIRS CUT], TIME, JULY 1?
JACQUELINE McCullough
New Orleans
P: The bystander in the background was, at worst, only a jackass.--ED.
"Mr. America"
Sirs:
Say, after taking one look at the specimen called "Mr. America" [TIME, June 17], I wonder why they can't find something like this as a challenger for Joe Louis. If the muscle and brawn is as good as it looks and this is not just a puffball exposure, after the poor fight Conn put up ... this man looks as if he could revive the old glamor of boxing interest in a very short time. . . .
F. M. FLETCHER
New York City
P: Weight-lifting is more fun than fighting Joe Louis.--ED.
U.N. Flag
Sirs:
In order to create a symbol of world unity, a flag common to all nations is the most effective solution. To that end, I suggest that the U.N. promote the idea of a United Nations Flag, to be displayed wherever & whenever the member states of this organization meet. Surely a "world flag" symbolizing world unity is preferable to a number of national flags which will always recall the diversity (and controversy) rather than the "oneness" of the world. No national flag should have "priority" in man's world-consciousness. . . .
AKE SANDLER
Los Angeles
P: Has Reader Sandler been reading Boris Artzybasheff's mind? Between TIME covers and his numerous other assignments, Artist Artzybasheff some time ago designed his own version of a U.N. flag (see cut). At least one color from each of the world's flags is used in the rainbow--red (the most common color in flags), orange, yellow, green, light and dark blue--on a white field.--ED.
Gigantic Fraud?
Sirs:
I, for one, am heartily sick of this talk of Russia and the democracies not being able to understand each other. Stalin has surrounded himself with as intelligent a group of banditti as ever started out to sack and dominate the universe. . . . They are ... keen of intellect, devoid of truth, moral precepts, ethical standards, and humanitarian motives. . .
In order to ... rid themselves of the dissenters to their fraudulent theory of government, they have murdered millions of their own people. . . . When Stalin therefore proclaims to the Russian people that they must defend themselves against their natural enemies, the democracies, of which we form a large part, he is no imbecile. The imbeciles are all on our side of the fence. What Stalin fears is ... that the Russian people will learn the truth about Communism and the Stalin regime: that they have the lowest standard of living of any people in the world and the least freedom.
For the Allies to demand that Stalin lift the iron curtain is plain stupid. He is not yet ready to commit suicide. If intercourse is established between Russia and the people of the world, that will be the end of Stalin and Communism. The most gigantic fraud in history will be disclosed and its collapse will be certain. . . . Stalin knows the democracies better than they know themselves. . . .
C. M. GARLAND
Chicago
Christian Radical
Sirs:
. . . TIME refers to me as "Chicago's famed radical Catholic bishop," in its coverage of the A.V.C. Convention at Des Moines [TIME, June 24].
The term "radical" has, as you well know, fallen into disrepute today and carries with it a certain distasteful connotation. If anything, I hope my position is progressive, but at all times it is certainly Christian. As such it could not be "radical" in the accepted sense and present-day application of the word.
BERNARD J. SHEIL, D.D.
Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago
Chicago
P: TIME is well aware that Bishop Sheil's position is both progressive and Christian, respectfully points out that it used and will use "radical" as a good old word with a good old sense: "original; fundamental . . . reaching to the center or ultimate source" (Webster). --ED.
Beasts & Fools
Sirs:
Naomi-Margret Sevetson was not original in her ideas when she told you that "men are beasts" [TIME, June 24]. What would be original would be an explanation as to why women are willing--sometimes anxious--to attach themselves to such beasts. The obvious reply from many female breasts, would be: "Because women are such fools!"
EARL B. HURLBURT
East Cleveland, Ohio.
Sirs:
. . . "Men are beasts," she writes, "chained to primeval instincts." Well, I'm chained, at least. . . . Move over, Gargantua. Here I come.
ERIC E. TYLER
Newburgh, N.Y.
Mama in the Waiting Room
Sirs:
... As a result of this short notation [advising mothers not to hover over their children in dentists' chairs--TIME, May 27], I have been severely taken to task by a San Antonio mother, judged rather harshly and fatherly by a Los Angeles fellow dentist . . . and lastly . . . taken to task by many of the parents of my young patients. . . . They seem bewildered at the stated change in my temperament. . . .
The quotation ascribed to me ... is far from being correct or flattering. "Mama should stay the hell in the waiting room" is neither a true quotation nor good English. . . .
WALTER C. MCBRIDE, D.D.S.
Detroit
P: It was not a quotation. TIME said that Reader McBride's advice was "forcibly implied"--and implied it in forceful American.--ED.
No Varsity "Blue"
Sirs:
In the generous article [TIME, June 24] you list me among the American Rhodes scholars who have earned their Oxford "blue." It is pleasant to be placed in such company, but I must regretfully admit that, as an athlete, my enthusiasm far exceeded my prowess. I played rugby for my college (Queens) and was a member of its Athletic Club (track team), but the chasm between a mere college "color" and a varsity "blue" was far too wide for me to leap.
C. J. DURR
Commissioner
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C.
P: TIME'S apologies to Reader Durr for raising the check; no forgery intended.--ED.
Advice from Germany
Sirs:
. . . You report of the vast scheme of national defense and of its astronomical cost of about $10 billion a year [TIME, Feb. 25]. And you raise the question: is it American? May I, one of the few German anti-militarists, give you an answer? Surely it's not American. It is pure Prussian militarism. . . . Generals and admirals are not in the habit of retiring willingly from their gilded honors into grey civilian life. The American people were able to create within two years the finest and most powerful army, navy and air force ever seen in history, besides stuffing their Allies with war materials. What then is the use of maintaining a national defense in peacetime at an annual cost of about $10 billion, a period which we all pray will last, if not forever, at least for a few generations? Americans! Beware of militarism!
WALTER POLTROCK
Pocking, Bavaria, Germany
A Modest 32
Sirs:
Your article calling attention to the infants' milk crisis [TIME, June 24] was indeed gratifying to one who has flown in the face of local convention to nurse four normal babies--the last ones twins now four months old.
But let's not give mothers-to-be the impression that to produce two quarts of prime milk is possible only to a mother of such brave porportions as Mrs. Joell. That is my present production figure, and between babies my measure is a modest 32--my profile as flat as a table.
(MRS.) ELIZABETH B. WORSWICK
Albany, Calif.
No Moral Obligation?
Sirs:
It is true that our food here in England is dull, uninteresting and inadequate. It is true that it becomes sickening to live for years on 7 oz. of fat (including all butter, margarine & lard) and less than 1 Ib. of meat a week. ... It is even true that over a period of years our diet is inadequate to maintain proper fitness and resistance to disease. Add to this fuel rationing, sky-high prices and acute housing shortage, and you will appreciate that for a victorious (sic) nation our position is not pleasant.
What does, however, infuriate me (and many others) are those people over here--more vociferous than numerous--who whine that your country has some sort of moral obligation to provide for us and for the rest of the world. If you have wealth and comfort and luxury foods (relative to our standards), you have earned them. Your ancestors had the courage to leave Europe and start hard and dangerous lives in a new country. You are a wealthy nation today because of your work, your healthy individualistic philosophy, your courage, your scientific achievements and your unmilitaristic foreign policy. You deserve all you have got and you owe us nothing. . . .
PETER H. PECK
Flight Lieutenant, R.A.F.
Bray, Berkshire, England
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