Letters, Sep. 25, 1950

Icelandic Parallel

Sir:

Regarding MacArthur’s policy on Formosa [TIME, Sept. 4]: I cannot help but think of our entering Iceland in 1941 when we were not yet at war. The parallel is exact today in the case of Formosa.

Anyone with any sense at all knows that if we had not gone into Iceland, the Nazis would have, and would have wrought havoc by air attacks on our North Atlantic shipping routes . . .

If we do not send strong air forces to protect Formosa, the Communists will grab it eventually and use it as a springboard to tie up with the Huks in the Philippines . . .

WILLIAM J. HUDSON JR. Owings Mills, Md.

Propaganda for Peace

Sir:

I presume it is permissible for an original subscriber of your magazine to write a letter to you, about 27 years after. Several times I have been tempted, but I have always put the devil behind me. But age and your fine cover story on Lieut. General Curtis Emerson LeMay . . . have “done me in.”

It is the best propaganda for peace I have seen. Not that Stalin and his confreres are not already aware of these facts, but . . . TIME’S Sept. 4 issue will be read avidly by one and all. Without question, General LeMay and his B-36s and our atom bombs are the principal deterrent keeping Russia from direct war. Which means that if the Soviets have the atom bomb … in finished and deliverable condition . . . they have mighty few.

We should remember that the great American production machine is far superior to the Russian . . . Do not let our Administration and some of our deluded legislators hobble and cripple our potential productive results, which no nation and no people, in our lifetime, will ever approach.

A. J. R. HELMUS Spartanburg, S.C.

Sir:

. . . You do the country a disservice in fostering the myth of a B-36 surefire knockout blitz. The airplane is a weapon, just like a rifle or a ship. It is not an end in itself.

F. P. MITCHELL New York City

Sir:

. . . Grateful thanks for your article on General LeMay and the B-36s. My brother, T/Sgt. William G. Seymour, was headlined last fall as “the first B-36 casualty,” following a crash during a takeoff. It is good to be reassured, as we were by your article, that he was doing some mighty good work . . .

ELIZABETH S. GILBERT St. Albans, W.Va.

Sir:

In view of the world situation, it is most encouraging to an ordinary, bewildered American to know that a man like Curt LeMay is working for peace and democracy . . .

MRS. L. E. DOLLARHIDE Chapel Hill, N.C.

Jet-Propelled Ants

Sir:

Irving Langmuir’s ants need not have drowned [TIME, Aug. 28] had they realized the potentialities of jet propulsion. As a boy in western Washington, I used to toss large black ants into our quarry swimming hole. After a few preliminary struggles to orient themselves to the nearest shore, they would squirt a jet of formic acid from a convenient rear port and be shot six or eight inches nearer safety. Not being streamlined (and rudderless), these insects would re-aim and repeat the process until they were able to scramble out. Perhaps our Western ants are just smarter . . .

E. L. KEITHAHN

Librarian & Curator Historical Library and Museum Juneau, Alaska

Women Who Mine

Sir:

TIME, Sept. 4, in its article on “Little Siberia,” makes a pardonable mistranslation of Bergfrauen as “mountain women,” since the German language can at times be untranslatable. The word Berg, although it means mountain when it stands alone, means mine when it precedes another noun; e.g., Bergwerk—mine, Bergakademie—mining institute, Bergmann—miner. Bergmann, it is true, can mean mountaineer, but only when we are speaking of mountains. In this instance, the term Bergfrauen refers to women who mine.

Having been surreptitiously in the Eastern German city of Aue, the “head of the mountains” in the Erz Gebirge which is a headquarters of the Soviet pitchblende mining enterprise, I should like to report an additional service . . . performed by these Bergfrauen. In the Russian army, as in the late Wehrmacht, commanding officers are authorized to provide bordellos for their commands . . . This aspect of uranium mining (it is actually published in leaflets, which seek to lure workers to the mines) does not seem to have the desired drawing power, however, so more direct methods for the procurement of labor are resorted to …

ROBERT C. PETERSON Minneapolis, Minn.

A Terrible Trap?

Sir:

Although I profess no knowledge of the intricacies of land warfare, and no insight into the workings of the minds of Asians, Russians or politicians, the shape of events in Korea brings the fear of a terrible trap . . .

During the last few weeks various correspondents and military spokesmen have tabbed a half-dozen or so North Korean drives … as the Reds’ “last gasp,” “final major push” … It doesn’t add up. The Reds have a lot of planes. They haven’t used them . . . Why have they held off . . .?

The unpleasant answer could be that the Reds . . . might, not want to push us off the map yet; if they wait a few more weeks, we will have brought to Korea the biggest part of our front-line fighting force . . .Then, a real all-out offensive, in which the enemy commits all his reserves, plus up to 200,000 China-trained countrymen, plus his planes . . . could actually wipe out a major part of our trained and equipped ground forces . . .

A. L. PEAKE Walnut Creek, Calif.

The Maverick Brand

Sir:

You called Samuel A. Maverick a cattleman [TIME, Sept. 4]. He was an attorney. Maverick moved his law office from Pendleton, S.C. to Texas sometime after 1830. He accepted 600 head of cattle as an attorney’s fee, and from this number hoped to breed a much larger herd. His unbranded yearlings fell into the hands of other cattlemen who promptly placed their brands on the cattle. After ten discouraging years Maverick sold his depleted stock for the amount of the original fee …

JAS. B. ANDERSON Greenville, S.C.

¶ Reader Anderson is right. Says A Dictionary of Western Words: “Maverick . . . was … a lawyer and one of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence (1836). He never made any claims to being a cattleman. In fact, his ignorance regarding cattle was responsible for his leaving such a colorful addition to our language . . .” — ED.

Tintinnabulations

Sir:

It’s always interesting — sometimes also humiliating, or infuriating — to read of the life & times of our Congress [TIME, Aug. 28]. This . . . is especially true when we are abroad . . .

It would be edifying to individual members of Congress if they could live abroad a while as private citizens (not as itinerant VIPs) . . and learn the sentiment of people in Europe and the Middle East toward Americans in general. We are valued as a group for our monetary contributions to EGA, relief to refugees, and . . . our technical assistance is sought and appreciated. But as people we are frequently scorned, ridiculed or actively resented … It gets tiresome to be courted for one’s public funds and, at the same time, vilified for one’s public characteristics. Yet, so much of it appears justified — even to an American !

I wonder whether members of Congress have any idea — or really care — how their tintinnabulations resound throughout the world . . . Reading your account of Congress’ mighty mutterings makes an American in Egypt more than a little ashamed . . .

BETTY JANE PECKHAM Cairo, Egypt