Gastropod? Pal!
Sirs:
Under the title-heading of "Compleat Conchophilist" [TIME, Sept. 16], I am happy to find that others enjoy and appreciate as much as I the joy, interest and advantages of "snail-watching," but regret the sense of levity with which you handled the subject.
I am an industrial and management engineer and have, for many years, made it a practice to study and enjoy the movements of the Helicidae when confronted with a knotty problem in original research which would not work itself out with just logical and scientific thinking--and thus required creative thinking or inspiration.
As opposed to the general concept of a snail's life and locomotion . . . I have found that the snail is in actuality a fast-moving animal in relation to his sphere and the relativity of distances. . . . Considering the great heights to which he can lay his track, the rough terrain over which he can glide, the obstacles which he tackles and surmounts . . . . the tenacity of purpose in achieving his goal, and a total lack of the all-too-human traits of indirection and lassitude--the snail is to be considered among the higher of the living animals.
After early-morning or early-evening studies of this gastropod friend, I have many times returned to my study and my problem, refreshed and free from the fogs of unrelieved cogitation and too intense research. . . .
M. V. M. GODDARD
San Francisco
Christian Unify
Sirs:
Your quote from Christian Century [TIME, Sept. 16] gives readers a distorted impression of the Episcopal position in regard to church unity.
It is the conviction of many of us that the Episcopal Church is in itself only a part of a far greater body of Christians, the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ. . . . The Catholic Church is not divided but within the Church are tragic schisms.
The persistence of pan-Protestants in regarding only those of the Roman obedience as Catholic Christians is unfortunate. The Orthodox, Eastern, Old Catholic and Anglican Churches are all communions within the Catholic Church. . . .
True union means not the "virtual absorption of all other Christians into the Episcopal Church" but the return of all Christians to the faith and practice of the Apostolic Church.
STANLEY T. EDDISON
Albany
Sirs:
In commenting upon the proposal for union between the Episcopal and Presbyterian Churches in the United States, TIME'S religion editor might well ponder upon the difference between mating (which produces merely offspring) and marriage in the Christian sense (which produces a family), and better understand the justifiable caution with which many in both churches approach the issue.
ROBERT R. SPEARS JR.
Mayville, N.Y.
Little Joe
Sirs:
Psychologist Joseph Banks Rhine's PK crap-shooting [TIME, Aug. 19] has made more than a few of the veteran crapshooters here smile.
Psychokinesis (no doubt his trade name for a hunch) is a--little inane, a great deal beyond ordinary, garden variety crapshooting. Miss Dale's figures showing 171 hits better than pure chance out of 31,104 rolls, rather than proving PK, could just as well be 171 hits worse than pure chance.
One could just as well say the fall of dice is governed by astrology, or the weather, or by blowing one's breath on the dice. I personally have had good results by saying, "Little Joe, the man that picks the cotton! Pick all that cotton, Joe!" However, I take the straight 2-to-1bet against a 4.
BERNARD L. TRIPPETT
University, Miss.
One World
Sirs:
Student Federalists appreciated TIME'S coverage of our week-long national convention in Chicago [TIME, Sept. 16]. We regret, however, that you were unable to present the newly written Student Federalist Charter, which explains the exact stand that the organization is taking in working for world government.
We think that you will be interested in the following resolution adopted by the organization. The Charter reads: "We support the U.N. as the primary existing international organization attempting to achieve some of these aims [social and economic foundations of a world community] of world government. However . . . it will not be adequate until it is capable of making, interpreting and enforcing world law."
Student Federalists pledged themselves to the following program:
1) Stimulate thinking on the urgent need for federal world government.
2) Educate our generation in the principles of federalism.
3) Find, train and organize the necessary leaders.
4) Support all proposals which embody the minimum essentials of federal world government.
At Chicago we united "in our determination to achieve federal world government in our time."
COLGATE S. PRENTICE
President of Student Federalists
New York City
Pained Request
Sirs:
Your article [TIME, Sept. 2] relating to my Hollywood Bowl appearance pained me considerably.
Your facts were not only untrue but were vulgar to the extreme. Why did you burlesque me with beer drinking? Although I do not dislike the beverage, I did not at any time make reference to drinking gallons of it. I was misquoted throughout the entire article, especially the part which said: "They want to show those films through the colonies and say 'Look what we have done for Dunbar' -- but it is not the British who have done it for me, it is the Americans."
I request that you make an apology, and if you are decent enough, you will publ'sh this letter.
RUDOLPH DUNBAR
Washington
>Conductor Dunbar herewith sees his letter, but no apology. -- ED.
Kansas' Sacred Cow
Sirs:
Orchids to TIME for your splendid article on Kansas Prohibition [TIME, Sept. 9]. . . . Kansas dry laws are as big a farce as Mississippi's Bilbo. In Wichita one can purchase a fifth of Schenley's, Seagram's, or even Old Granddad for only $8. . . .
Louis B. JENDRUSCH JR.
Wichita
Sirs:
While our three children have been growing up, we have lived 23 years in Kansas and five years in Missouri. We saw a great deal more drunkenness in Missouri in five years than we ever thought of seeing in Kansas in 23 years.
Admitting that some Kansas Republicans drink as much as some Kansas Democrats, nevertheless because of our "sacred cow," our children can go to school, to church, to the corner drugstore, the park, or grocery store (the ordinary places that ordinary people go) without having to pass open taverns or run into the liquor industry's product, either before or after consumption.
ROSE GREEN ANDERSON
McPherson, Kans.
Sirs:
For 50 years we have been hearing how the drought-smitten Jayhawkers were poisoning themselves on bootleg rotgut because we couldn't get decent liquor. Now you tell us that we have access to rare brands that are not obtainable in the open saloon states. Truly, here is something new under the sun.
HAROLD H. HUNGER
Manhattan, Kans.
O!d & New
Sirs:
Your article on the Cornelian Corner Movement [TIME, Sept. 9] as a culmination of many articles on breast feeding in women's magazines has aroused us to reply to the implied charges of being hardhearted, vain, self-centered mothers. We agree that breast feeding is more desirable and of course much less bother, but feel these articles are unfair to us mothers who wish desperately to nurse our babies but for physical reasons are unable to do so. We go through pregnancy intending to nurse our babies, and then for various reasons we must put them on a formula. This is a frustrating experience in itself, and is not aided by articles citing all sorts of dangers to the baby who is not breastfed. . . .
In the future when a statistic of merely 5.6% of women nursing their babies is brought forth let us not jump to the conclusion that the remaining 94.4% have willfully neglected their duties of motherhood.
ORA GROFT BUCKO
JANE GROFT KRINER
Greencastle, Pa.
Sirs:
Granted, by nature, all babies should be breastfed. However, the majority of bottle-fed babies are bottle-fed because the mothers do not want to take the time to breast-feed them. That same attitude of the mother toward the child is carried through infancy and adolescence, thereby giving the child a sense of insecurity.
In my experience babies, bottle-fed by conscientious mothers who do try to nurse and are unable to do so, do not have a disturbed psyche. The attitude of the mother is the major factor in the child's development mentally & physically.
EDGAR H. MACKINLAY, M.D.
McConnellsburg, Pa.
What Is a Front?
Sirs:
I have read an article in TIME [Sept. 16] which . . . draws certain conclusions that are in error. It would seem to be in order to set the record straight.
I am not a member of the Communist Party, nor am I an apostle for Communist causes. . . . I am a free American citizen who has spent over 30 years in the armed services fighting in defense of the right of American citizens to enjoy life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and the four freedoms. . . . I am now retired, as a result of wounds received in action, and I am exercising the right, common to all citizens, of expressing my opinions and working for those objectives which I am convinced are beneficial to my countrymen and humanity. . .
In my 50 years of living I have learned to draw a sharp distinction between words and action. I do not often speak of my religion, but my associates know that I subscribe to the precepts enunciated by Jesus Christ, especially in His Sermon on the Mount. In my opinion, however, it is not sufficient for an individual to profess a faith; actions alone mark the believer. During my last trip with the Chinese Communists I carried a copy of the New Testament and read the Gospels daily, with a view to comparing the precepts of Jesus with the pattern of life I observed around me. My conclusion at the end of the trip was that the Chinese Communists were practising, Christians, though they did not profess that faith.
I choose now to work for peace. . . . I accepted co-chairmanship of the National Committee to Win the Peace, with Paul Robeson, because the objective of the group is to provide a national forum for the discussion of issues affecting peace. . . . Membership is representative of all strata of American life: religious, educational, labor, management, veteran. . . .
In 1927, when Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang were anathema to most "foreigners," I supported them, for I felt the facts indicated they were improving the people's welfare. It was not until my last trip to China, in 1940-41, that I became convinced that the Kuomintang would never bring democracy and its benefits to the Chinese people. On the other hand, I was convinced as early as 1938 that the people in the Communist-controlled areas were benefiting by the social-economic-political pattern that was being developed there. . . .
One final point I must clear up is the statement that I resigned from the Marine Corps in 1939 to push my crusade. It is well known that I resigned to be free to tell the American people the facts about the rising Japanese threat and to urge them to demand an embargo on the shipment of war materials by many businessmen of this country to Japan.
EVANS F. CARLSON
Brigadier General, U.S.M.C.R., Retired
Escondido, Calif.
This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.