Trading, Selling & China

Sir:

You have done a real service to reproduce portions of the warning from the "Committee of One Million" against admission of Communist China to the U.N. [June 10]. Would the Foreign Policy Association have asked in 1938: How long can the U.S. effectively attempt to bar the admission of Manchukuo to the League of Nations? Would Harper's, Atlantic and the New Republic have insisted on doing business with Hitler, Tojo and Mussolini in the name of coexistence with Fascism? Liberals would have us adopt policies toward de facto Communist states which they vehemently opposed when applied to de facto Fascist states in the '30s.

ANTHONY T. BOUSCAREN Associate Professor Marquette University Milwaukee

Sir:

The liberals (whitewashed socialists) are ready to sell out free China. They want to trade with and seat Red China in the U.N. Vets and Korean widows take note.

C. ROBESON Harrisburg, Pa.

Sir:

We Americans sold millions of Chinese to the Chinese Reds. Why should we be "most disappointed" if the British decided to sell them a few tractors, locomotives, etc.?

STEVE JACKSON Toronto, Ont.

Sir:

"Communist China, even more than Russia, shrouds itself in secrecy to keep the West ignorant of its internal weaknesses." These words have a strange ring at a time when Red China has invited U.S. reporters to come see for themselves and when U.S. policymakers are bending every effort to prevent this.

PRISCILLA JOHNSON New York City

Sir:

To offer legitimacy to as evil a regime as Red China would mean a new low in the moral degeneration of American principles. JOAN THOMPSON Washington, D.C.

New Mona?

Sir:

You said in your May 20 story "New Leonardo?" that "in the U.S. only two purported Leonardos exist, both of doubtful authenticity." I am not qualified to pass judgment on them, but since 1797 we have had in our family what we are confident is an original Mona Lisa. We do not believe it is "purported," although some people may. We have adequate proof by an outstanding art critic and others that it is by the hand of Leonardo. It is known as the "Vernon Leonardo."

MRS. W. B. VERNON New York City

P: Reader Vernon's family says the painting (see cut) was given to an ancestor, William Henry Vernon of Newport, R.I., by Marie Antoinette not long before she was beheaded in 1793. It hung until 1833 in Vernon's collection at Newport where it was listed as "A Nun, a finished picture by Leonardo da Vinci." In recent years the Vernon family has kept it in a bank vault in Manhattan.--ED.

Art Is Where You Find It

Sir:

How could you sink so low in your June 10 issue to further the business profits of Los Angeles Art Dealer Martin Lowitz, a man using a lot of copycats who copy the works of another for profit and who obviously have no talent to create, or are lacking in ethical standards? FRANK O. HAMILTON Belvedere, Calif.

Sir:

Lowitz has succeeded in a grand manner where we art dealers have been able only to make minor inroads in awakening 20th century Americans to 20th century art. ERNEST RABOFF Los Angeles

Sir:

Mr. Lowitz says he has been criticized for "selling his paintings too cheaply." Don't you listen, Mr. Lowitz; you've got cheap work there, and it should be sold cheap. JACK SQUIER New York City

Sir:

Let's not be too harsh with "Art" Peddler Lowitz. This is the Dingbat Age, in which anything can happen. J. F. HARRINGTON Los Angeles

Worker Priests

Sir:

I am mightily amazed at TIME'S [May 13] coverage of the recent meeting of the Catholic bishops of France. Where did your reporter get his information on the assembly's discussion of the priest workers? Was he in Paris? Did he dream it up? The priest-workers topic was not even on the agenda. Responsible church officials in France state that the matter was "not brought up a single time in the course of the assembly." I can usually go along with TIME'S reporting of facts. I am surprised at such a mixture of fact and fiction in reporting such an important meeting.

(THE REV.) JOHN E. KELLY Director National Catholic Welfare Conference Washington, D.C.

P: TIME'S Paris correspondent got his information from firsthand observation and from notable churchmen present, including two bishops and a monsignor whose reliability is beyond question. The Worker Priest topic was not on the agenda, but it was discussed in a full report made by the Archbishop of Bourges under the title "Les Grandes Orientations." This part of the archbishop's discussion will not be published officially for the same reason that the topic did not appear on the agenda.--ED.

Decisions at Midway

Sir:

Your June 10 "Battle of Midway" article was succinct, important and still personal. Our thanks are also due to those who helped crack the Japanese secret code, thereby initiating an enlightened, successful campaign. WARREN C. WAGENSEIL St. Petersburg, Fla.

Sir:

Can those responsible for breaking the Japanese navy's code be singled out? RICHARD BAKER Toledo

P: The U.S. Navy says no, period.--ED.

Sir:

As an ex-marine who was not at Midway, as I recall, there was a marine or two ashore who did some mentionable shooting. At least this instance is not so bad as were some personified by one of the stanzas of Bless 'em All:

The communiques all issue

On Douglas' thin tissues

Of the marines he has nothing to say

His buzz boys he praises with elegant phrases

When the marines have just saved the day.

JAMES W. HOFSTEAD Nashville

Girard & Justice

Sir:

In reference to the Girard case: may I offer my congratulations to Girard's Stateside lawyers, who seem more interested in gaining publicity than in gaining the best trial for their client; to braying Congressmen, who are more interested in "grassroots" support than in the welfare of their country. Finally, my morale will suffer not one whit if Girard is turned over to the Japanese courts. My pride in my country will, however, if he is not.

SAMUEL L. BAUMAN Lieutenant, U.S.A.F. Tokyo

Sir:

If the American public was shocked to hear of turncoats in Korea, then they should be doubly shocked to hear of turncoats in our own Government who would toss away all the rights of G.I. William Girard by feeding him to a Japanese court. RICHARD M. WILDS Lansing, Mich.

Sir:

This reader hopes that Girard will be tried by an armed-forces jury. Perhaps in this way he will be dishonorably discharged for disgracing the uniform of the American Army and casting a shadow of ill-feeling from the Japanese people upon thousands of American G.I.s still serving in Japan. JEAN SHERMAN Hyattsville, Md.

No Love for Sergeants

Sir:

Charles Allen states in your June 10 letters that it is the practice of the top sergeant to give the dirtiest job to the men with the most education. Is he right? Hell yes! But I question one point. He said the average IQ of top sergeants is 50. Come now, Charley--it couldn't be that high. JOHN WOLOCK Lima, Ohio

Doctrine v. Dream

Sir:

I will deeply appreciate your allowing a foreign missionary to say a word in your excellent publication, which is a source of consolation to me--even in the rugged highlands of Formosa where it, and my Bible, are sometimes my only literature. I am a Doctor in Theology from the Northern Baptist Seminary in Chicago. I came to Formosa in 1950 and had 38,000 converts that year. Your June 10 issue refers to Professor Paul Tillich. Tillich is typical of those supposedly advanced thinkers who place human theory above the plain statements of Scripture. Must I, along with my beloved Chinese coworkers, now forsake the New Testament doctrines in order to lie on Mr. Tillich's psychiatric couch, dreaming sweetly of a Christ who just fancied he was raised from the dead? Don't make us laugh--or weep. HENDON M. HARRIS JR. Taipei

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