City of God & Man

Sir:

The TIME cover story on John Courtney Murray, S.J., is another memorable contribution. Knowing Father Murray well, I am all the more appreciative for your choice of subject and the way that it was handled.

This has been a real service to the whole world of thought and spirit.

LOUIS FINKELSTEIN

Chancellor

The Jewish Theological Seminary of America

New York City

Sir:

Your article is a useful contribution to understanding, but I have three comments:

Is it not an abuse of language to call "Citizen Tom Paine a soldier-atheist"? He was an avowed deist who wrote The Age of Reason to combat French irreligion.*

Possibly St. Robert Bellarmine was "a human bridge." But he was far less "trampled upon" than himself a trampler. He was connected with the Inquisition which, among its other crimes, was responsible for the horrible burning of the heretic philosopher, Giordano Bruno. It is a terrible sort of separation of church and state that makes it possible for the church to turn over a heretic to be burned by the secular arm.

Neither Father Murray's nor Reinhold Niebuhr's way of distinguishing between public and private morality really meets the dilemma of the Christian, who has a responsibility for moral action even in the service of the state, and presumably might find in the Sermon on the Mount a greater authority than Father Murray's very flexible natural law. I do not write as one who can resolve the dilemma, but as one persuaded that neither Niebuhr nor Murray has explained it away.

NORMAN THOMAS

New York City

Sir:

I have read TIME since TIME began, and in my opinion, "City of God and Man" is one of its liveliest pieces up to now.

John Courtney Murray is constructively provocative. He will be challenged by both Roman Catholics and Protestants. By some he will be condemned. But he will be heard and should be.

He does not have a solution of the vast problem of "consensus," which he defines, and who does? But he does have a formula. Murray the Jesuit is sure there is today no dynamic philosophy for Americans to live by. No consensus. But he is equally sure that there must be again, as there was when our freedom was born and when the Founding Fathers began building this Republic, such a comprehensive dynamic, soul-possessing philosophy--an American consensus.

I, a Protestant, may not accept the particulars of his formula. I turn away from some of his personal loyalties. But this Roman Catholic does have a clear vision of unity, unity beyond present-day divisions, and his consensus includes the physicology of common agreement.

Above all, Dr. Murray makes the case for debate, debate toward disagreement, clear disagreement rather than current confusion. Shall we not agree that disagreement rather than confusion must be before understanding can be? Understanding could open a door into a new era for American freedom and achievement.

DANIEL A. POLING

Editor, Christian Herald Magazine

Seoul, Korea

Paradise? What Paradise?

Sir:

Possibly Wiesbaden is a very good duty station, (I have never been there) but your article leaves the general American public with the impression that we service people are living in the lap of luxury, and nothing could be further from the truth. Most duty stations are dull and drab and economically a hardship on the average G.I. Here is a picture of our plush living here at Misawa. It is of our off-base housing, which we call with deep affection B-Battery.

MRS. ROBERT L. KEARNEY

Misawa, Japan

The Battle of New Orleans

Sir:

Why does the anti-Southern press, without exception, choose to evade the most fundamental issue of all? The issue is: Does the Southerner, be he white or colored, segregationist or integrationist, have the right to have his voice heard and his experienced and mature judgment considered when what the state will do to and with his own child is decided, or doesn't he? If this right can be denied by arbitrary and unappealable federal fiat, than I beseech you, in the name of God, to tell us what human or civil right remains.

ECK G. PRUD HOMME

Fort Worth

Sir:

I shudder for my sex after reading your article on the battle of New Orleans. Is this the Southern womanhood that Southern manhood has sworn for generations to protect? Next logical question: "Would I want my son to marry one?" No, thank you.

CATHERINE C. MCDONALD

Nappanee, Ind.

Sir:

The South merely requires elementary education. Therefore, let the Southern Governors with their legislatures, plus a few howling, heckling Southern females visit our 50th state (Hawaii) ; let them observe how color and race have met for years on common grounds: schools, business, socially. The Southerners will be greatly benefited.

WILLIAM G. BREY

Santa Rosa, Calif.

Sir:

The people of the U.S.A. complain of declining international prestige and wonder why. We of this country realize you have a color problem, but so have we, as we are outnumbered 100 to 1. Even so, I have never seen a European here vent childlike emotions on a small native child. That such a thing can occur in the U.S.A. is sufficient evidence of the immaturity of the people concerned to cause us grave doubts of the fitness of the U.S.A. to be a bulwark against Communism.

K. S. COLE

Kundiawa

Territory of Papua & New Guinea

The Real Nigeria

Sir:

Congratulations on your article about Sir Abubakar and Nigeria. Your description comes far closer to the Nigeria that we, as Americans living here, know than do previous American journalistic attempts.

NICHOLAS G. CARTER

Lagos, Nigeria

Unforgettable Pearl Harbor

Sir:

Re your story on Japanese Spy Takeo Yoshikawa's contribution to the attack on Pearl Harbor: Yoshikawa's eyes and ears were not as all-perceiving as TIME indicates.

Ignored by Yoshikawa, but moored between battleships California and Oklahoma on the night of Dec. 6, was the crack fleet tanker U.S.S. Neosho, as large, new and well manned as any tanker in the fleet. On the morning of the 7th, with 3,000,000 gallons of fuel oil aboard, she rated as a No. 1 priority target. It is not pleasant, even now, to contemplate Neosho and gasoline fueling facilities for the fleet on Ford Island had she been destroyed and Pearl Harbor flooded with millions of gallons of flaming oil.

The unimaginative pilots of Japanese planes, by exercising minimum independent initiative, might not have been able to change the course of history by successfully attacking Neosho, but certainly they could have delayed U.S. victory and saved the Japanese air force a major headache before Neosho, having served with distinction as workhorse of the Pacific Fleet, finally sank under overwhelming Japanese force.

D. A. SINGLETON

Commander, U.S.N.R. (ret.)

Tampa, Fla.

Sir:

Ironically, Japan's master espionage agent Takeo Yoshikawa was never honored by his country with promotion or decoration for his extraordinary service in setting up Pearl Harbor for attack. Some time later he respectfully inquired why his coup had gone unacknowledged, was coldly informed that in the Japanese navy, promotions and decorations were reserved for combat officers only. Since Yoshikawa had never served in combat, he remained an undecorated ensign consigned to oblivion until my Japanese-speaking brother Norman Stanford, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S.M.C., laboriously tracked him down and persuaded him to tell his story.

DON STANFORD

Paris

Housewife's Plea

Sir:

Thank you for your good article, "The Need for Quality." I have had some sad experiences with new appliances. The worst was with my electric stove. From the first day I had it, it caused trouble. The heating element dropped down to the bottom of the oven and had to have its legs straightened whenever I used it. Heat escaped from the top of the oven and broke the glass over the clock and oven gauge. I had them replaced.

They broke again. The heat control on the oven does not work right, and the covers (which are supposed to be glass but aren't) over the OFF, ON, HIGH, LOW, etc. are melting away.

I bought a new singing teakettle--steam escapes under the handle and burns my hand.

I have a refrigerator I've had for 15 years.

It still works as good as new, but the lower part defrosts itself and the upper doesn't. I would like one that does--but am afraid of the new ones.

JENNIE CLINTON

Hobbs, N. Mex.

The Eye of the Beholder

Sir:

Bravo on a fine review of Raphael Soyer's paintings and art standards. Several years of drip, spatter and other neurotic forms of painting featured in TIME have given the public the wrong impression of American art.

ALLAN A. DAVIDSON

Brookline, Mass.

Sir:

Regarding Raphael Soyer, who is an excellent realistic painter, I would say that he has arrived where Picasso began. I wish Mr. Soyer and his narrow-minded school would have respect for the sincere artists who are searching for truth--and snap pretty pictures with their cameras.

DEVERDA DIAMOND

Brooklyn

The Bomb: The Political Argument

Sir:

During the recent campaign, Mr. Thomas E. Murray wrote letters to the candidates urging a resumption of atomic bomb tests, and four nuclear physicists have questioned his technical competence in respect to the problem. He has replied, questioning the competence of the scientists to express their views on questions of policy, and has pointed out that errors of judgment on technical questions have been made by some of them in the past. The whole argument revolves around the questions of the development of nuclear weapons and of an international agreement to discontinue bomb tests. We have accepted such a discontinuance without inspection and have adhered to the agreement as the whole world knows, but we suspect, with justification, that the U.S.S.R. has not. During this time, France has exploded a bomb, and it is predicted that China will do so in the near future.

Dr. Teller and Dr. Bethe, both brilliant men, spend their time trying to devise foolproof bomb-testing methods which cannot be detected or in trying to devise foolproof methods of detecting bomb tests. But the problem lies elsewhere. If the U.S.S.R. or any other country does not wish to be policed, then no technical skills can be devised which will do so, and if the countries of the world do wish to accept policing, then it is now possible to prevent the manufacture of bombs and the means of delivery of such bombs, and this has been true ever since the end of World War II. All the argument about technology is beside the point. The problem is a political one. The political conditions for satisfactory policing do not exist. Hence the proper question to consider is how such political conditions can be secured.

The Soviet Union since the war has been building the central nucleus of a world government of its own kind with great determination and with considerable success. It has extended its ideological expansion steadily and now has bridgeheads to the Americas and Africa. The U.S.S.R. and China are not in complete agreement but may settle their argument as to who is the dog and who is the tail. And during this time the Western democracies have tried in no effective way to establish an effective nucleus of a world government of their own in spite of their great common interests, their generally common religions, common literature, and very great similarities of government. Does any serious, thoughtful person think that the Western democracies are going to be able to stand up to this Eastern quite-tight coalition for a long time by means of its incidental temporary loose agreements applied to rather hazily conceived and understood ends? "Divide and conquer." We are divided and they are united, and they believe that they can conquer us and brazenly state this belief.

Murray v. Rabi, Wiesner, Bethe and Inglis may make interesting controversy, and the military strength of the U.S., which is being considered, is very important indeed. But bombs are not the only source of strength needed, and we should remember that the bomb negotiations are likely to fail. (In my opinion, they are certain to fail.) It is my contention that the U.S.S.R. will only negotiate seriously when they must do so, and they do not think they need to do so now. A firm political union of the Western democracies would surely impress upon them the desirability of a revision of this estimate.

What is needed is a world government with laws prohibiting the manufacture of atomic weapons and the means of delivering them, and the attainment of such a government should be the long-range objective of our Department of State. But the immediate problem is a union of the Western democracies in order to maintain sufficient political and also, alas, military strength to maintain our common political and cultural institutions against the greatest threat that they have faced since ancient times.

HAROLD C. UREY

La Jolla, Calif.

P:Dr. Harold Urey, Nobel prizewinner who helped develop the atomic bomb, is presently professor of chemistry-at-large at the University of California.--ED.

* Wrote he: "I believe in one God and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life ... I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church."

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