Satisfied

Sirs:

Your criticism of the Administration's handling of the war effort is sound as a rule, and no doubt criticism is as necessary as effort. However, we must all recognize a limit, at which point criticism becomes enervating and obstructive. I think you are very close to this limit, as close as you may safely get. . . .

I contend that there has been one really worth-while scandal in the whole war, and that is Pearl Harbor. The offenders therein will face the consequences in good time. Our lack of initiative, our bungling of the home front and our somewhat cheesy solidarity, our handling of the rubber situation, the negative quality of the Atlantic Charter, the mishandling of war information--all these are very minor bungles in a monstrously big job. No government on earth, not even Hitler's so-called model of chill efficiency, could do better, nor should better be expected.

We are winning the war. We are winning it slowly, and we could still lose it, but somehow I feel history will approve the over-all picture of the job being done today. Our armed forces started under a bad handicap, and yet win spectacular, telling engagements. I can see no real failures here at home. There have been mistakes, but one by one they are corrected. We will not run out of rubber. We will not run out of steel, or aluminum, or anything that I can see. . . .

I leave military matters to military men, internal matters to the Administration's selections, and save my grudges for election day. I recommend the practice to others.

JOHN H. REESE

Los Angeles

> To Reader Reese, thanks for an able statement of what might be called "the long view." Certainly, the U.S. cannot be beaten -- in the long run. Meanwhile, as a reporter, trying its best to keep track of the score on many fronts at home and abroad, TIME is unable to share Reader Reese's comforting views about the present or near future. But TIME hopes he will be proved right soon. -- ED.

Sympathetic

Sirs:

Your sympathetic account of Nehru and your fair estimate of the critical situation in India [TIME, Aug. 24] is a model of good journalism and might well be emulated by most of the U. S. press, which shows such a lack of understanding of India and the crucial position of that unhappy country. . . .

CLIVE M. WARNER

Santa Monica, Calif.

Mencken's Law

Sirs:

. . . Perhaps the question of India can be best understood if we refer it to Mencken's law. The Bard of Baltimore annunciated this gem some time ago:

"If A injures or annoys B, on the pretext of saving or improving X, then A is a scoundrel."

ALLEN DRAKE

Edgewood, R.I.

Frank's Friend

Sirs:

Being a "disabled war veteran" recuperating from trouble picked up in the North Atlantic, I have plenty of time to read , and usually read TIME, usually disagree with some of it, and never (until now) write letters to the Editor. But your article on the President's four sons [TIME, Aug. 24] just reminded me of a few things that might be of interest.

I served with Franklin Jr. aboard a "four-stack" destroyer in the summer of 1940 while he was out with us on a short training cruise. He wanted no special favors, nor received any, but pitched right in at whatever was to be done. He stood watch with me and navigated, conned the ship and trained gun crews. The sharpest memories I have are the time he was shoehorned into the forward magazine on a blistering hot day to help stow some ammunition we were receiving aboard, and the time he borrowed my white shoes and a pair of socks so he could go ashore in Norfolk. I remember how he was stripped to the waist in the first instance, sweat pouring off him, and swearing heartily at the vagaries of putting ten shells where only nine should go. In the second instance, he returned the shoes and socks in good shape. He was a congenial wardroom companion as well, and kept us well entertained with stories of the fabulous man, his father. I well remember his devouring curiosity for all things naval, and was pleased to have him come to me with questions, although he was rightly a few months senior to me. After he left to take his bar examinations in New York, although he wanted to stay, the general opinion of the officers was that he would make a fine naval officer if he stayed in the service. I am sure that by now he has justified our predictions. It gives me pleasure to be able to back up TIME'S statement that he has received no special favors, and to say that in my opinion he is the equal of any of the Reserve officers I have seen, and superior to many. In fact, a few years at sea should make him indistinguishable from any naval officer. . . .

____________*

Lieutenant (j.g.), U.S.N.

Denver

Critique of Helping

Sirs:

Referring to your article, "School for Governors" [TIME, Aug. 10], I protest.

In the name of all the peoples of conquered countries, I protest. What a cruel fate awaits them, supposing America shall have set them free, if they are merely to exchange one kind of bondage for another! What reason is there to believe that American engineers, doctors, movie executives and others, after only four months' training and without precise knowledge of the necessary foreign languages, would be fitted to govern countries better than the natives themselves? It is certain that they would not. It is only reasonable to suppose that all the countries now subject to foreign rule are planning exactly what is to be done for their own relief when freedom comes. Time enough then for us to give help if we are asked to do so. ...

What the peoples of other countries will want from us are supplies of food, grains, seeds, farm implements, household supplies, clothing materials and much else. Let us give these in great abundance, but spare them our odious presence as rulers of their lands. . . .

B. S. ALLEN

Baltimore

> Since when have U.S. doctors, engineers, movie executives in foreign countries been regarded as imperialist bogeymen and cruel oppressors?--ED.

Spy-Catcher

Sirs:

Your Aug. 17 issue contained a belated account of the discovery by my son, Ned, and his cousin of a "two-way short-wave station complete with hidden aerial" on Cape Cod. I assume that the basis for your account was my son's letter to me describing the incident which, at the request of OCD officials, had been published in a local newspaper: My letter to you of Aug. 18 raised the question as to the source of your information that this radio station "for months had sent messages to sea-roving Nazi submarines." Certainly no such statement was made by my son in his letter or at any other time.

To my amazement, your Aug. 24 issue says: "The Navy traced little Ned, found he had dreamed it all up." Never has such an accusation been more ill-founded. I have taken the trouble to obtain definite proof of the accuracy of my son's letter, including, specifically, the camouflaged tent, the hidden short-wave transmitter and the bayonet. Furthermore, despite the retraction currently attributed to the Navy, I quote in full the Navy's letter to him, written on the spot, at the time:

Assistant Captain of Port

First Naval District

U.S. Coast Guard

Chatham, Mass.

15 July, 1942

(9 July, 1942)

Mr. Edward Collins

Bridge Street

Chatham, Massachusetts

Dear Mr. Collins:

We of the Coast Guard wish to express our sincere appreciation for your efforts in uncovering certain unlicensed radio equipment in Chatham last Sunday afternoon.

We hope that you will continue to keep up this fine work in the future.

Cordially yours,

Signed: W. D. Lee, Lieut, (j.g.) (T)

I'm certainly sorry you didn't check further before accusing my son of dreaming.

Yours very truly,

CHARLES P. COLLINS

New York City

> With the best of intentions, TIME erred twice: 1) in overcrediting Ned Collins, 2) in too readily believing accredited military sources, who told TIME they had checked the boy, and had found he had dreamed it all up. The facts are: Neddie, aged 12, did discover a makeshift tent and radio equipment, which he reported to the Coast Guard. Enthusiastic friends added the Nazi, the communication with submarines and general fancy work. To Ned Collins, TIME gives all due credit for an act worthy of any young citizen.--ED.

Regionalist

Sirs:

The publicity given in TIME and elsewhere to the race in New York State between Mead and Bennett is just as damaging to the morale of the nation as the apparent concern of President Roosevelt and Mr. Farley in the outcome of same. If politics as usual are out for the duration, then let's cease giving the antics of politicos publicity for the duration, save perhaps mere mention. . . .

And for that matter, who gives a particular hang about New York politics anyhow? Here in Indiana they grow politicians by the bushel, and good ones, too. New York is just one of 48 states. . . .

We should elect good men now and all the time in New York and every other State, but I doubt if this kind of journalistic haranguing will do it.

THOMAS G. PROCTOR

Elkhart, Ind.

> Whether for good or ill, New York politics bear importantly on the President's larger strategies, hence far transcend parochialism.--ED.

Tokyo Rooting Section

Sirs:

Ten Americans returning home on the Gripsholm who witnessed the bombing of Tokyo on April 18 were interested to read TIME'S and Jimmy Doolittle's accounts of the raid and are anxious to give the American public our ringside impression of it.

The raid, which came at 1:10 p.m., not only upset lunch at our internment camp on the edge of Tokyo, but kept us indoors for the next two days, extinguished the charcoal fires by which we cooked and held up mail delivery for 24 hours.

The raid was not a total surprise as reported. Early in the morning we had an "alert," and later an "urgent" warning. We first knew the show was on when an anti-aircraft battery near the Kawasaki factory district opened up on one of the two Tokyo raiders. A second plane flew within half a mile of our camp and came within an inch of destruction. A Jap battery of eight guns found the exact range at which the B-25 was flying and let go at it. The first shots were a little ahead of the plane, and the second volley would have caught it square if the pilot had not nosed down within a few feet of the ground.

A minute later a squadron of absolutely World War model biplanes took after the B25. These machines were so decrepit that the wind from our bomber was enough to scatter them. After this the American raider flew away unchallenged and disappeared against the side of Fujiyama.

What the pilot of the plane probably does not realize is that during this phase of the show he had the most enthusiastic, if the smallest, rooting section in the world. Our only regrets were 1) that he did not pick us up, and 2) that he did not return with more of his friends.

TOM CRICHTON

On board M.S. Gripsholm

In Defense of Social Workers

Sirs:

In TIME (Aug. 3) in the article entitled . . . "Voice from the Mountain," the last sentence read as follows: "The post-war world was not all a matter of social-worker theory; it would also involve harsh duties, hard work and economic sense." . . .

I recoiled somewhat at the rather "unsubtle" suggestion that social workers are a group of dreamers and theorists. . . . The U.S. Army and the Red Cross together are demanding that trained social workers accompany our troops to the battlefronts of the theaters of war. They are not only in the armed forces along with other professional and nonprofessional men but also assigned to special services similar to those assigned to doctors, dentists and nurses. . . .

As one who worked in this field through the depression of the 1930's in one of the largest cities in the country, I think it can be said that by & large the social workers of the U.S. earned their spurs during that period and demonstrated in city after city that it was both possible and feasible to administer relief on a human, scientific and economical basis. Unless I am greatly mistaken, the reconstruction period following the war will enable him to make an even greater contribution to our civilization than he has yet made. . . .

LEONARD W. MAYO

Dean

School of Applied Social Sciences

Western Reserve University

Cleveland

> May the hard-won spurs of hard-headed social workers long jingle, jangle, jingle. -- ED.

* Name omitted by request.

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