Political Feasibility
Sir:
TIME [Aug. 7] told how Senator Kenneth Wherry introduced some giggling Nebraska girls to Senator McKellar and U.S. military chiefs, gathered for private hearings of the nation's military needs . . .
As the father of two veterans of the last war ... I would like to inquire . . . just when our "leaders" will find it politically feasible to buckle down to the serious business of what promises to be an all-out war?
E. R. KILCOYNE New Orleans, La.
How to Smooth Out
Sir:
Lexicographer Eric Partridge [TIME, July 31] has either been given a bum steer or someone is conning him along.
A goof ball is not a marijuana smoker (weed-head, viper, tea-hound, herb). A goof ball is a nemmie (from Nembutal, trade name for a certain barbiturate), Geronimo, bomber, or any other barbiturate or sleeping pill.
As used by drug addicts to a great extent during the World War II scarcity of narcotics ... [a nemmie] helped them to smooth out the rough edges when the yen (from yen-shee, the scrapings of the inside of an opium pipe) for a "fix" or shot became strong. By "goofing off or going on the nod they entered a state ranging from mild intoxication to complete unconsciousness.
Besides drug addicts, there are the usual thrill-seekers who take goof balls instead of marijuana, quite often ending up as confirmed addicts of the opium (hop, brown stuff) derivatives, such as morphine (M), heroin (H, horse, white stuff), or the coca-leaf extract, cocaine (C, Charlie, snow), which combined with heroin is injected as a "speed-ball."
SHERMAN S. WILLSE New York City
Hangman's Hope
Sir:
In an Aug. 7 article, "Hangman's End," reference is made to Master Sergeant John C. Woods "of San Antonio" . . .
Sergeant Woods was born in Wichita, Kans. . . . After he was assigned [as official U.S. hangman in postwar Germany], he was afraid his wife might worry about his safety. As a result, he listed his address as San Antonio in the hope that . . . she would not identify him as an executioner. [And] Mrs. Woods did not learn of her husband's activities until after the hangings at Nuernberg prison ...
He always liked to needle someone into asking him what was the biggest disappointment he ever had in his life. Then, with a wide grin, he would reply: "When Hermann Goring committed suicide. He's the one I wanted to hang most of all . . ."
ERNEST A. WARDEN Wichita, Kans.
Brass Bands & Security
SIR:
YOUR AUG. 14 ACCOUNT OF MY HANDLING OF THE STORY ABOUT THE ARRIVAL OF FRESH TROOPS IN KOREA IS SO INCOMPLETE AND MISLEADING IT REQUIRES THE STRONGEST POSSIBLE PROTEST . . .
THE FACT IS THE ARMY . . . DECIDED THERE WOULD BE NO PROTEST OR REPRESENTATION OF ANY KIND WARRANTED, AND VOLUNTEERED NONE EITHER TO ME OR MY OFFICE . . .
ALSO OMITTED FROM YOUR ACCOUNT WAS THE COMPLETE STATEMENT I MADE ABOUT BRASS BANDS ... IT HAPPENED THESE PARTICULAR BRASS BANDS PLAYED IN A TOWN WITH PERHAPS 75,000 REFUGEES, MANY OF WHOM WERE LOOKING ON AND MANY OF WHOM WERE ARRESTED BEFORE OR SINCE WITH RADIOS AND OTHER MEANS OF TRANSMITTING INFORMATION TO THE ENEMY. THESE REFUGEES MIGHT NOT HAVE KNOWN THE UNIT'S NUMBER (IDENTIFICATION) OR SIZE SO I PILED NEITHER . .
THE UNIT'S OWN PIO (PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER) TOOK ONE LOOK AND TOLD CORRESPONDENTS THERE-- "GO AHEAD AND FILE" . . .
HOWARD HANDLEMAN Far Eastern Director International News Service Tokyo,Japan
P:TIME does not agree with Newsman Handleman that its story was misleading. The nub of TIME'S story, so far as it dealt with Handleman, was that he had broken a correspondents' agreement to wait for an official GHQ release before reporting the arrival of new troops.--ED.
On the Hook
Sir:
Re TIME'S Aug. 7 intrepid angler who caught "both fish & foul" [he claimed that a fish grabbed one hook and a bat the other]:
The alliteration is tempting but the bat is not a fowl, it's a mammal.
HARRY GANZ Detroit, Mich.
P: That was no mammal, that was a puny little pun.--ED.
Martin Luther, Too
Sir:
In the list of dates which . . . my cousin, Dr. Roland Usher of Washington University, claims are an "irreducible minimum" for one interested in European history [TiME, Aug. 7], he makes two serious omissions . . . Oct. 31, 1517, when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg, and April 18, 1521, when Luther appeared at the Diet of Worms and made his great declaration: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, God help me. Amen."
. . . These two dates influenced European and American history far more than the Investiture Conflict or the Golden Bull . . .
S. RALPH HARLOW Smith College Northampton, Mass.
P: In Dr. Usher's complete list of 46 most important dates in European history, Cousin Harlow will find Luther properly recognized.--ED.
Surprise
Sir:
A book reviewer's disclosure of the denouement of a mystery novel--whether it be called a detective story, a novel of suspense, or merely "an enigma"--has always been generally regarded as a cross between torn peepery and violation of a blindman's cup. Turning to the last page of any book requires no great critical acumen . . . Yet surprise is the mystery writer's stock in trade ... To rob him of this stock in trade by wholesale revelation in a review is not only unethical but actually damaging ... I am surprised, therefore, that TIME'S reviewer has stooped to do just this to E. C. Bentley's Elephant's Work [TIME, Aug. 7] ...
LAWRENCE G. BLOCHMAN New York City
P: It never occurred to TIME'S reviewer to regard so transparent a book as a mystery.--ED.
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