Letters, Nov. 14, 1949

Boston for Bostonians

Sir:

Your article on Mayor James M. Curley of Boston [TIME, Oct. 24] was a masterpiece of subtle sarcasm. However, I fear that if you had any idea in mind of influencing the electorate of the city of Boston, your efforts were futile.

In Boston, you are either fanatically devoted to Curley, or violently opposed to him. There is no middle ground. And, while respecting your right to comment, may I frankly suggest that you mind your own business . . .

J. R. CARTER

Boston, Mass.

Fitting Tribute

Sir:

Congratulations on the Oct. 24 cover story honoring Judge Harold R. Medina. It is certainly a fitting tribute to an eminent American who . . . patiently endured humiliation, vilification and abuse . . .

STANISLAW R. J. SUCHECKI

Dorchester, Mass.

Sir:

… In an age of disharmony, uncertainty, political plums, and atoms, it is heartening to know that public servants still exist who serve the public.

NEAL DAVIS

Omaha, Neb.

Sir:

CONGRATULATIONS . . . JUDGE MEDINA’S CONDUCT OF THE RECENT TRIAL, IN WHICH FORCES WERE PLAINLY AT WORK TO CRAMP AND PARALYZE THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE, WAS AN ENNOBLING INSPIRATION TO ALL FREE NATIONS OF THE WORLD. IN MARKED CONTRAST WAS THE TRIAL OF JOSEF CARDINAL MINDSZENTY IN BUDAPEST. IT TOOK THE KREMLIN THREE DAYS TO IMPOSE GUILT ON THIS INNOCENT MAN, AS AGAINST THE 169 DAYS ALLOWED IN JUDGE MEDINA’S COURT TO OVERTHROW THE LEGAL PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE AND IMPOSE GUILT ON GUILTY MEN. JUDGE MEDINA’S . . . COURT GENERALSHIP … RECALLS TO MIND JUSTICE CARDOZO’S WORDS: “THE PROPHET AND THE MARTYR DO NOT SEE THE HOOTING THRONG. THEIR EYES ARE FIXED ON THE ETERNITIES.” ALL AMERICA SHOULD HONOR JUDGE MEDINA FOR GIVING THE HOOTING COMMUNISTS AN EXAMPLE OF AMERICAN JUSTICE, DIGNITY AND PATIENCE.

CECIL B. DEMILLE

Hollywood, Calif.

Sir:

. . . Judge Medina’s charge to the jury is a masterpiece of Americanism. Every person in this country and in all democracies should be given the chance to read it. I sincerely hope that you have included it in all the foreign issues of this date.

WILLIAM M. SCHIFF

Miami, Fla.

¶TIME anticipated Dr. Schiff’s hope. —ED.

Sir:

. . . You may be interested in the following excerpt from a letter which I received from Harold Medina:

“If only the churches would dig in and do their job, there would be no need for such trials as the one over which I am now presiding. Perhaps we shall some day give Christianity a tryout.”

WILBUR LA ROE JR.

Washington, D.C.

Sir:

. . . This proves that in the presence of an honest and intelligent man, the processes of democracy cannot be used successfully to destroy this Republic. Thank God.

(REV.) E. W. PERRY

Presbyterian Church

Ridgefield, Wash.

Sir:

It was a fitting tribute to Judge Medina—not to color his picture!

BENJAMIN L. CARROLL

Camp Hood, Texas

Sir:

Our Government has made a grave mistake in prosecuting and imprisoning the eleven bosses of the Communist Party of this great nation. The Smith Act of 1940 was never meant to be so misused as to restrict and virtually outlaw the belief and teachings of any free-thinking American political group. This action by bigoted Americans may well establish a malignant precedent of outlawing (or of purging) all individuals or groups of individuals who show disfavor with or oppose the political leaders of this land. . . .

J. L. BALDWIN

University of Arizona

Tucson, Ariz.

¶As Judge Medina was careful to point out, the U.S. Government was prosecuting a criminal conspiracy against the Government, “not the political belief of any free-thinking Americans.”—ED.

When the Sun Is Down

Sir:

You betray a pitiful lack of experience when you tag as sugary and overripe prose [Novelist A. B. Guthrie Jr.’s], “And it came on toward night, and the sun was down and the fire of its setting dead, and the coyotes were beginning to yip on the hills and the stars to light up, and there was the good smell of aspen smoke in his nose” [TIME, Oct. 17].

It is merely descriptive prose of what happens out here in the West. I suggest that you arrange to arrive at Quaking Aspen Meadow in the Sierras when it comes on toward night, and the sun is down and the fire of its setting dead, and the coyotes are beginning to yip on the hills (very, very eerie) and the stars to light up, and there is the good smell of aspen wood smoke in the air—and nose.

It is a wonderful experience, which perhaps is appreciated most in retrospect . . .

MRS. JOHN R. LONGLEY

Porterville, Calif.

Guinea Pigs & News Pictures

Sir:

The story of the police reporter who took the picture of the victim of an accident instead of helping her [TIME, Oct. 24] was, to this reader, blood-chilling . . .

KATHARINE BRAINARD

Berkeley, Calif.

Sir:

As a newspaperman I would like to send along a chorus of boos to Police Reporter Paul Presbrey . . . Apparently people, per se don’t exist for Reporter Presbrey—they are just guinea-pig subjects for a snapshot . . .

R. SPERRY

Denver, Colo.

Sir:

Maybe wild-eyed Paul Presbrey’s conscience keeps him awake nights, instead of his nerves.

D. G. McGINNIS

Atlanta, Ga.

Yank at Oxford

Sir:

. . . The oceanic calm of Oxford remains undisturbed by my article in Isis magazine [TIME, Oct. 24]. Americans write me, however, and urge me to “give the Limeys another smack.” They are determined to picture me as a wholesome American youth pointing the finger of shame at drunken, decadent Oxford. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am no youth, and Oxford is not decadent.

Like most Rhodes scholars I like it here, enjoy my work, find the English hospitable and kind. The Rhodes scholarships, to my mind, are the best use to which diamonds have ever been put.

I do believe that England is going through a collapse which is one of the most subtle tragedies of our time, but the courage of the English, sensing full well the shape and extent of the collapse, is awe-inspiring. My article was not designed to offend a worried and overworked host, but to entertain.

EUGENE BURDICK

Oxford, England

Kunshi (Cont’d)

Sir:

Here is a footnote to your article on Doctor-Missionary Curtis Hepburn [TIME, Oct. 31]. He was my great-grandfather’s brother. I saw him once when he was 90-odd.

Sixteen years later I turned up in Tokyo, an itinerant free-lance writer, broke and badly in need of a job. By chance I met a member of the faculty of the University of Tokyo. When my professor-acquaintance heard my name, he asked if I were related to the “great” Doctor Hepburn. I explained the relationship. The next day I was offered a position as “Professor of English Conversation” at the Imperial University . . . Wherever I went in Japan doors were opened wide for me because I was a descendant of the great Doctor . . .

ANDREW H. HEPBURN

New York City