Snarled Justice

Sir: Many things are owed to TIME down through the years and not least is appreciation for the Feb. 21 article on court system reform. Several years back, it was apparent that the cancerous growth of unconstitutional power of our Federal Government would have to be attacked from the top down, which President Eisenhower is ably doing. And now comes your article to spot light the necessary second half of the crusade to rehabilitate America from the grass roots up: reform of our dispensation of justice . . .

KENNETH McCULLOUGH Los Angeles

Sir: Judge Arthur Vanderbilt deserves generous commendation for speaking out . . . We seem to be doing something about Communistic subversives, but in the legal field, where the menace to the country's welfare is far more serious, shamefully little is being done to remove dishonest or incompetent judges from office or to stop unethical and dishonest practices by many members of the legal profession. All of which adds up to the fact that litigants are fleeced with no assurance that justice will be dispensed.

J. B. KELLY Boston

The Offended Bulldog

Sir: As an ordinarily amiable English bulldog who has been carrying TIME clenched be tween my teeth each week to my master, I resent the human reporting in regard to the sterling qualities of my breed in your Feb. 28 issue. "Disobedient," "broods," "lazy," "never plays!"--Poppycock! At my present age of six years I will . . outpull any team of horses--in proportion to my weight. As for not playing, my master says I wear out toys more quickly than any other dog . . . . If by "unsociable" you refer to a certain digestive peculiarity that results in a sort of double-barreled halitosis, I may concede that point, but I still should like to "get hold"of your reporter right where it would do the most good.

LUCKY CAVALIER (per Alvin J. Wolff, Master)

Sir: I should be interested to know how your film critic discovered that the central idea of Clouzot's film The Wages of Fear was "hate America" [Feb. 21]. I know this idea circulated in some limited circles here . . but none of the serious critics ever believed it was so. There is an unpleasant oil company in the film; it so happens that most oil companies are American, but your critic is not justified in saying that it stands for America. To us, here, it was just an unpleasant oil company. What should we say, then, when we see your movies, where all Frenchmen are ridiculous, and most French women are prostitutes? . . .

OLIVIER MICHEL

Sir: The review of Wages of Fear is one of the finest pieces of writing I have read in many moon. I had the misfortune of seeing this picture before reading your review, I must agree that ... its message is "hate America" . . .

FLORENCE MACKLER New York City

A.M.A & the Veterans

Sir:

Re your Feb. 21 report on the VA: Thank God for the U.S. Veterans Administration. If it had not been for it, I would have been dead of cancer over a year ago. Two operations by their grossly underpaid doctors saved me ... You speak of a 1,000-bed hospital with only 385 beds in use; every day men who fought . . for their country are turned away to perhaps die because these beds are not being opened to them. How callous can people get? Everyone should know of the surgical wards in some VA hospitals where one lonely nurse and one attendant watch over and minister to the needs of 80 to 100 men through each night. Name any public hospital that would try to cut corners like that.

W. T. FULLWOOD JR. Southport, N.C.

Sir: While the A.M.A. so actively damns the VA medical program, I'd like to mention that there are plenty of us who are most grateful for it ... In this we feel the A.M.A. should be taking the lead to correct a situation rather than condemning the one way out of serious difficulty for some, i.e., Government help . . .

CAROLYN C. WOOD Alhambra, Calif.

Sir: Whenever my father and I would pass the vets' home in Sawtelle, he would point to it, smiling and say, "That's going to be my home some day." I shuddered, with the typical horror of a child imagining her father living in some strange, disconnected place. But when the hospital on these same grounds ultimately did become my father's last home, that horror gave way to a permanent peace of mind. For in no private hospital had my father received such excellent care as was administered to him at Sawtelle.

AUDREY ANDERSON Upper Montclair, N.J.

Ike & Zhuke

Sir: Your Feb. 21 picture of Marshal Zhukov and General Eisenhower (Moscow, 1945) is indeed remarkable. What happened to Ike's ribbons on his battle jacket? Shame on his poor orderly.

(A/3C) FRED C. KOSLOSKE U.S.A.F. San Antonio

Sir: . . . Zhukov looks practically naked! What, only three medals? Those Russian marshals usually spread the hardware over both sides of their chest . . E. ADAMS New York City

Ike's ex-aide Captain Harry Butcher and ex-orderly Sergeant Mickey McKeogh say it was the boss's fault the ribbons went askew that day; they had Ike properly squared away but when he moved he pulled his ribbons out of kilter. Ike's decorations in order were: the Distinguished Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Order of the Bath, the French Legion of Honor, and a Russian decoration, the Order of Suvorov (which entitles the wearer to free rides on the Moscow subway). For ceremonially loaded chests of Ike and Zhukov. -- ED.

Church & Birth Control (Contd.)

Sir: I wish to challenge the statement of the Rev. David A. Reid, in his letter [Feb. 21] criticizing Dean James Pike's recent defense of birth control, that "the Episcopal Church has taken a somewhat uncompromising view of the matter of depriving others of life -- which is the express purpose of birth control" A resolution of the 1930 Anglican Lambeth Conference says in part: ". . . We cannot condemn the use of scientific methods to prevent conception, which are thoughtfully and conscientiously adopted." I should also like to challenge another statement which deprecates the sex act in marriage as a "sacrament of unity" by quoting the authority of the Book of Common Prayer, which says marriage ". . . is an honourable estate, instituted of God, signifying unto us the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and His Church . . ." (THE REV.) LOUIS L. PERKINS St. Andrew's Episcopal Church Burns, Ore.

SIR: IN SAYING THAT MY DEFENSE OF BIRTH CONTROL UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES IS NOT EPISCOPAL, THE REV. DAVID REID HAS APPARENTLY OVERLOOKED THE CONCLUSIONS AT LAMBETH REPRESENTING ALL THE DIOCESES OF OUR ANGLICAN COMMUNION. AS FOR FATHER TUCKER'S SOMEWHAT PERSONAL COMMENT, I AM A FATHER OF FOUR MY SELF, SO FAR. (THE VERY REV.) JAMES A. PIKE CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE NEW YORK CITY

Sir: I found the letters denouncing Dean Pike's defense of birth control far more enlightening and interesting than TIME'S original article [Jan. 31] . . . MARY ELLEN GARRETT Du Bois, Pa.

Sir: Congratulations on your excellent coverage of the moving statement by Dr. Pike ... There is growing recognition that the era of censorship on statements endorsing planned parenthood is over; this message by a leader in one of America's most respected church groups will give new courage and vision to many Americans . . MARY MORAIN

Books Without Gadgets Sir: May I say, in response to your disagreeable piece [Feb. 21] on the demise of book stores, that ... if we are really on our way out, your reviewer can take unto himself a large share of the credit for helping us along.

It is hardly to be supposed that any reader, once he has laid aside TIME'S Books section will feel that anything at all is worth buying . . . and yet, we survive -- without greeting cards, without gadgets, without records: just books. Furthermore, we also make money and, curiously enough, we like to read and, even more curiously, so do our customers. Like the lady in a less noble profession, I guess we're just lucky.

TESS M. CRAGER New Orleans

Sir: ... It is obvious that your reporter did his browsing in the A & P and found Tobacco Road on display with all the cigars and cigarettes. I wonder if he asked the store manager, "What is happening to the old-fashioned U.S. grocery store?" .

EDWARD S. D DANGEL Boston

The Old Masters

Sir: Congratulations on your tribute to the "over 60s" of music [Feb. 28]. I was fortunate enough to be seated near the leader of the applause at the Wilhelm Backhaus concert: the 80-year-old Fritz Kreisler. He applauded first, loudest, and longest !

JAN PEERCE New Rochelle, N.Y.

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