Red Scourge

Sir:

What a horrible looking face on your Dec. 11 cover. The locusts presented a much more pleasant picture than Red China's Mao.

SOPHIE SEBONIA Chicago

Sir:

Communist Mao Tse-tung and the grasshoppers on your cover have much in common. Probably the greatest differences are the remedies for these scourges. Communism must be remedied eventually by the impact of Christianity, but in the meantime should be checked by every means possible.

J. A. MUNRO Fargo, N. Dak.

Sir:

I would like to take serious objection and express my deep disgust with the cover . . . To portray China and her many people as a swarm of insects represents to me a new low in journalism . . .

In case I misinterpreted the symbolism, I would be very grateful for your letting me know the correct meaning of the "hordes."

THOMAS A. REINER Swarthmore, Pa.

P: Just as China has so often been scourged by locusts, so today is Asia--and the world--plagued by Mao's Red hordes.--ED.

Sir:

Please spare us the ordeal of having to gaze again soon upon Mao Tse-tung or Stalin on the cover of your fine magazine

We, the people of a free and peace-loving nation must look all too often at the faces of infamous dictators on your cover. I, for one, would much prefer to see some of the many unsung heroes of our own land stare back at me from TIME'S cover.

MILDRED GASTON Birmingham

P:See Cover.--ED.

Sir:

Like plenty of your readers, I was stirred by your cover-portrait article on Mao Tse-tung.

For those ignorant, stupid, opinionated and sometimes traitorous stuffed shirts who for years have shaped our foreign policy towards Asia, it was just the Mickey Finn the bartender ordered. For millions of other folk who do not read TIME but will be informed by those who do, I hope it is the political prelude to a deluge which will sweep these sub-mediocrities from office come 1952. That is, if we Americans are still around by then . . .

WALTER OGDEN Los Angeles

Sir:

Your article is truth personified. Our China policy has been a Pandora's box for Asia as well as ourselves . . .

W. N. MORRIS Houston

Sir:

Every Congressman, every Senator should read this excellent story . . .

President Truman and Dean Acheson should not overlook it either.

HARRY BULOW JR. Des Moines

Sir:

Is not democracy, the American way of life, worth cherishing and defending by any means? If so, why all the qualms manifested by Mr. Acheson . . .

Why all this "sitting on the fence" when Nationalist Chinese forces offer to fight in the war, which is much more their war than it is the war of young Americans. If Stalin arms Mao against us, let us arm Chiang Kai-shek against Stalin . . .

HUMPHREY LINES Toronto

Horns & Faith

Sir:

In the Dec. 18 issue you ran a picture of Russia's Vishinsky with the caption "The effrontery was satanic." Did you, by chance, notice the horns that are outlined by the collar of the man in back of our friend Vishinsky?

MILDRED E. BROWNLEE Berkeley, Calif.

P: Reader Brownlee should have more faith in TIME'S editors.--ED.

The Terrific Turk

Sir:

I would like to express my appreciation for the timely piece in your Dec. 11 issue about the heroic Turks in Korea.

As one whose friends and relatives are fighting in Korea, I would like to make an appeal on behalf of the 2,000,000 reserves Turkey can raise in case of World War III . . . America has given almost $200 million to help arm the Turkish army. Turkey itself has spent more than half its budget for military needs for eleven consecutive years. But this is not enough. The 2,000,000 men Turkey will raise tomorrow cannot be armed and singlehandedly defend the Middle East on $100 per person. I urge Americans before it is too late to extend the scope of American help to Turkey . . . Turks are willing to fight. They are good soldiers (ask their enemies) . . . In the last 300 years they have fought the Russians in 13 wars totaling 51 years, one year out of every six! If Mehmet is called again to fight the Moskovs, he must be given a fair chance for the sake of the free world . . .

MUSTAFA TUGRUL UeKE Santa Monica, Calif.

Poet at the Point

Sir:

I question the accuracy of your statement in the Dec. 4 review of Carl Sandburg's Complete Poems to the effect that "Carl Sandburg did pretty well at West Point--for a poet. He lasted two weeks . . ."

There is no record of Mr. Sandburg ever having entered the United States Military Academy, according to the 1950 edition of Register of Graduates and Former Cadets 1802-1950, which includes the name of every young man admitted as a cadet . . . Nor is he listed as a non-graduate of the class of 1903. In any case, at least one poet of note who was admitted to the Academy remained longer than two weeks--Edgar Allan Poe, ex-1834.

HOWARD F. WEHRLE III Germantown, Pa.

P: In the preface to his Complete Poems Sandburg says: ". . . I went to West Point . . . for two weeks--returning home after passing in spelling, geography, history, failing in arithmetic and grammar . . ." The Register does not list candidates who flunk their entrance exams.--ED.

Correction

Sir:

In your Dec. 18 medicine story "From the Discard" you state that diabetes and hardening of the arteries are generally encountered as complications of ACTH treatment. A temporary metabolic derangement resembling diabetes mellitus is occasionally (but by no means always) encountered following the administration of large amounts of ACTH, but the condition subsides when the hormone is stopped.

As for hardening of the arteries, there may be some connection to pituitary and adrenal function, but there is no clear evidence that ACTH therapy, as it is administered, either produces or aggravates the condition. I call this error to your attention because it would be a pity if patients receiving ACTH were unnecessarily frightened by your report.

STEWART WOLF, M.D. New York Hospital New York City

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