Letters: Jun. 14, 1963

Pope of the World

Sir:

I just received my copy of TIME Magazine [June 7], and I couldn’t believe my eyes. Is it just a quirk of fate or coincidence that Vol. 81 No. 23 has on its cover Pope John the 23rd, who died at the age of 81?

JUDITH WEBER Milwaukee

Sir:

Pope John had become the Pope of the world, not just Christ’s Vicar on Earth to us Catholics. This wonderful man in his short reign became a loved figure; his death has cast a gloom over mankind.

FINBARR SLATTERY Killarney, Ireland

Sir:

Why mourn the passing of John XXIII? Shouldn’t we rather thank God for lending him to us for over 81 years? I do. And I am not a Catholic or even a professed Christian.

E. A. FRANTZ, D.D.S. Cedar Lake, Ind.

Sir:

The American Jewish Committee is persuaded that Pope John’s brilliant spirit of humanity and fraternity that made such a difference in the world of public affairs will continue to radiate in the relationships between man and his fellows for many years to come. May his memory continue to be a blessing.

A. M. SONNABEND

President

The American Jewish Committee New York City

Grand Old Game

Sir:

I only wish there were a Republican presidential candidate [May 31] who could speak with quiet authority.

Romney strikes me as coy, Goldwater as bluffing, Rockefeller as shrewd, crude and lewd. I cannot abide Kennedy’s policies, but I give him credit. He continues to sell himself personally, as he did over his infinitely better qualified opponent, Richard Nixon.

ANN WARDLAW Madison, Wis.

Sir:

Under no condition would I now vote for Governor Rockefeller if he ran for President-or anything else!

Give us Barry Goldwater and we’ll vote for him the way we voted against the wheat program.

WILLAH M. WEDDON Stockbridge, Mich.

Sir:

I would never consider Governor Rockefeller’s divorce and remarriage as factors in evaluating his desirability as President. What I do regard as relevant is the question of honesty, which the evasion of New York’s laws raises. He showed he lacks the political honesty to attempt to change a law he disagrees with, and lacks the personal honesty to abide by a law he is sworn to uphold. If he were President, one can only wonder which laws he might use his wealth to evade.

JOSEPH J. JUDGE New York City

Sir:

Well! It looks as if Senator Goldwater’s chances for the Republican presidential nomination in 1964 aren’t dead after all [June 7]. Governor Rockefeller’s supporters are finding it tough to bury Barry.

KENNETH A. LUND Chicago

Take a Sherman

Sir:

My friends and I are puzzled by the expression “to take a Sherman” [May 31]. Would you explain?

RUTH WADLEIGH Westboro, Mass.

>It derives from General William Tecumseh Sherman’s famed turndown to a supporter at the 1884 Republican convention: “I will not accept if nominated, and will not serve if elected.”-ED.

By the Light of the Moon

Sir:

Vice President Lyndon Johnson asks [May 31], “What American wants to go to bed by the light of a Communist moon?” Well, that is 239,000 miles away. Would it be any worse than letting the Communists get permanent, irretrievable control of an island 90 miles away?

CHAS. HAMILTON Lansing, Mich.

Sir:

I agree with Mr. Weaver that a whole generation of young scientists and engineers could be better employed in more practical fields than in the man-on-the-moon project.

Just think of the precious time that has been lost in the bee field. With a larger crew of technicians working around the clock, we could have learned the bee dance in 1957. While we’re wasting talent and money on the moon project, the Russians are probably teaching their bees to count.

MRS. W. BANDEMER Clairton, Pa.

Sir:

It grieves me to take issue publicly with Warren Weaver, but it grieves me more to see his list. He expressed $30 billion in terms of foundations, medical schools and colleges. The list has no direct relevance to the pros and cons of the space program, nor is it a serious alternative program.

The list is heavy on education, but it is modest compared with the total cost of education: we spent perhaps $200 billion on education during the 1950s, and some of us viewed the results dimly. We will spend more during the 1960s, perhaps $300 billion, and we want better results. Now the space program is a fire to temper the education system. The cutting edge is being improved-more trained youngsters and knowledge-by the heat of Sputnik and the subsequent space program.

J. D. WILLIAMS The Rand Corp. Santa Monica, Calif.

Sir:

Mathematician Weaver’s most serious error is in his estimation of the motivation of the scientific mind. You simply cannot interest these highly trained minds in slum clearance or social work, chiefly because the variables there are so ill defined. They can, however, be interested in weapons systems and were rapidly sharpening the world’s knives with their intellect before space became fashionable.

LEE C. THOMAS

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Mass.

Matsutaro Shoriki

Sir:

Mr. Shoriki feels quite honored to have TIME report [May 24] on his activities. We noticed, however, two grave errors:

First, if you should check the records, you would find that Mr. Shoriki had passed the higher civil service examination in 1912. Furthermore, because of his outstanding service, Mr. Shoriki won promotion after promotion at a speed unprecedented in the history of the Board.

Second, Mr. Shoriki was never a supporter of Tojo, either before or during the war. It is true that under wartime conditions Mr. Shoriki was compelled at times to follow the orders of the Tojo military clique. But as the records of his activities show, he had actually fought the military clique in order to preserve the freedom of the press.

After World War II, the Allied Occupation authorities decided on the policy to remove the then leaders of the Japanese press. The Occupation released all Communists from Sugamo Jail and encouraged them to hold strikes at newspapers. As a result, the heads of newspapers resigned overnight from their posts. Only Mr. Shoriki fought the Communists in his company, and after two months he suppressed them. As a result he fell into disfavor with the Occupation authorities, who put him in Sugamo prison on the pretext that he was a war-crimes suspect.

With Mr. Shoriki removed, the Yomiuri Shimbun fell immediately under the control of Communists. The Occupation authorities then changed their policy and began to clamp down on the Communists. FUMIO KOJIMA Managing Editor The Yomiuri Shimbun Tokyo

Hitler & the Danes

Sir:

While properly denigrating Eichmann and his barbaric culture [May 24], you cast an unfair shadow over the Danes. Any “autonomy” Hitler granted the Danes was due more to his need for their agriculture and his desire to demonstrate a “model” occupation than to the political complicity you imply.

EUGENE R. HINKSTON 1962 Fulbright Teacher in Denmark Woodland Hills, Calif.

What’s Waf

Sir:

The recent heads of state conference held here in Addis Ababa [May 31] may well be remembered in history as a significant event in world, not just African affairs.

The fact that 30 African heads of state agreed to gather together is a major accomplishment in itself. That they were able to draft a charter for the Organization of African Unity; contribute for the liberation of Africans still under colonial rule; that the finance ministers of the 32 African governments will soon meet in Khartoum to discuss setting up an African development bank are indications that the Africans are serious about African unity, however different their ideas about this may be at the present.

THOMAS A. GRANGE Peace Corps Teacher Prince Makonnen School Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Sir:

What you call wat is what Ethiopians eat as injera. Wat is a kind of curried stew made of lamb, beef or chicken and liberally seasoned with red pepper and other spices. The injera is served with the wat-usually for dipping.

MRS. URIEL YARDEN Thornwood, N.Y.

Inside Castro’s Prisons

Sir:

The facts set forth in the OAS report on the Cuban prisons have long been known to all who have had relatives and friends in Castro’s power.

Since 1960, to my knowledge, delegations of wives and relatives of the political prisoners have protested to the Red Cross, to the OAS, and to every agency they could think of, trying to make known to the world the plight of these men and women. Up to now their efforts have been to no avail.

Even now your [June 7] article is the first complete report of the OAS findings that I have come across.

JOSEFINA OBREGON New York City

How Many Caesareans? Sir:

Re the article on “Obstetrics” in the June 7 issue of TIME, may I make some slight objection to the views of one Dr. Paquin. In some ways, perhaps I, too, am an “up-to-date” obstetrical surgeon, for I, too, routinely use the “New Cut.”

The article has, however, overlooked the transcendingly important fact that no matter how we slice a pregnant woman, she nevertheless becomes an obstetrical “cripple.”

Despite improved statistics and meticulous surgical skill, there is still a small incidence of weakened uterine scars and extensive postoperative adhesions that might make further pregnancies undesirable and dangerous.

LEVON BEDROSIAN, M.D. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Albany Medical College Albany, N.Y.

Good Old Pure Oil

Sir:

Your June 7 Indianapolis “500” article was, in the usual TIME-like fashion, the greatest-bright, interesting and informative, as no other magazine can be. But that “good old Esso pump” from which the Lotus race cars “got their nourishment” had a Pure Oil Company sign on it and Pure Firebird Gasoline in it.

J. C. BRADFORD Pure Oil Co. Palatine, 111.

Nelson Algren’s Boyhood

Sir:

When you talk about the struggles of Nelson Algren’s childhood in tough old Chicago [May 31] you’re making a liar out of me to my wife. “Swede” Algren and I were close friends from the time we were 13 until after college, including a memorable Depression summer when we hitchhiked down to the lower Rio Grande valley in Texas.

It’s true that he worked his way through the University of Illinois, but generally Swede and I had a pretty carefree time in our teens. The point is, the Nelson Algren I grew up with had an ordinary boyhood without hunger, fear or deprivation. He’s a great writer without the hoked-up background.

BENTON CURTIS Milwaukee

Clutching Clio

Sir:

My commercial for Harvey’s Bristol Cream Sherry won a Clio at the American TV Commercials Festival.

My boss was happy with the recognition. My client was happy with the honor. My children were happy with the statuette. My wife was happy with her husband. Even I was happy just being one of “the poor geniuses who think up commercials.”

Then I read TIME, May 31.

I really can’t explain why, but somehow I’m still happy.

MITCHELL J. EPSTEIN New York City