Peace for Our Time?

Sir:

The man on the street, of course, is in a poor position to judge between the original position of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in favor of occupying Formosa, and Secretary Acheson's "tailor-made logic" against it [TIME, Jan. 9], but many of us do remember something of the years that led to Dec. 7, 1941. During those years our skilled diplomats and statesmen continued to give convincing reasons why nothing provocative should be done toward Japan . . .

There [also] comes to mind . . . the "peace for our time" meeting with Chamberlain at Munich.

BENJAMIN KIRSON Holicong, Pa.

Sir:

For many years the U.S. has had a distinct policy that has guided it in its relations with the Far East. That policy was the policy of no policy at all. At least we can say that we have been consistent . . .

A similar weakness in governmental relationships with our world neighbors contributed to ultimate involvement in two world wars. Can't we see yet that temporizing pays off ultimately in catastrophes? . . .

JOHN P. Lozo Woodbridge, NJ.

Sir:

I am Czech, and I had to flee my country when the Communists took over . . .

Since the end of the war Russia has been swallowing up one country after the other; for the moment this process seems to have been stopped in Europe, but is going on in Asia all the time. The U.S. must realize that it has to make a firm stand somewhere in that part of the world if it does not want to see the whole of Asia overrun. Formosa is a unique possibility for the West to show its determination to stop the Communists . . .

JOHN C. BUBELA

Lima, Peru

Irregular H

Sir:

May a Baker Street Irregular correct a type-slip in your otherwise excellent note on the good old Strand magazine [TIME, Jan. 2]? Its editor in the great days was Greenhough (not Greenough) Smith. I'm sure he wouldn't have dropped his h's . . .

Greenhough Smith was a pretty good writer himself ... In an excellent anthology, Great Stories of Real Life, published in 1930 by Cape & Smith, he was represented four times.

CHRISTOPHER MORLEY Roslyn Heights, N.Y.

P: To Author Morley, TIME'S tanks for a good catch. -- ED.

Which Paper D'Ya Read?

Sir:

Your recent obituary on Cinemactor Emil Jannings [TIME, Jan. 9] said . . . that Mr. Jannings was Swiss-born, but Writers Deems Taylor, Bryant Hale and Marcelene Peterson in their book, A Pictorial History of the Movies (Simon & Schuster; 1943), state that he was born in New York . .

JACK NEALON Columbus, Ohio

Sir:

. . . Walter Winchell says [Jannings] was born in Brooklyn . . .

ALTON JACKSON

San Francisco, Calif.

P: Official Austrian and U.S. sources say that Cinemactor Jannings, an Austrian citizen, was born in Rorschach on Lake Constance, Switzerland. -- ED.

Blue Flashes & a Small Beer

Sir:

I was interested in your story of the flying saucers [TiME, Jan. 9]. A prospector, whom I met in a bar, told me a flying saucer had ruined him financially in 1947. He said he was prospecting for uranium with a Geiger counter on the Mojave Desert, and found a rich strike on top of a little rocky knoll. It was about dark, he said, so he decided to wait until next day to file on it.

He had camped about 100 yards from the knoll, and next morning about daylight a saucer flew in and settled over his strike. He said he could see a lot of blue flashes and hear a lot of loud clicking, but before he could run up to where the saucer was it took off. He put his counter on the knoll again, and there wasn't a click in it. The saucer had sucked up every ounce of atomic energy for fuel . . . To prove his story, he showed me he didn't have a dime in his pocket. I bought him a beer.

F. M. HENLEY

Wasco, Calif.

Viva La Scala!

Sir:

. . . While I appreciated your article regarding my American debut [TIME, Jan. 9], I would like to correct the last paragraph referring to the La Scala orchestra. I never meant to say that "it would take La Scala's orchestra six rehearsals to accomplish what the Met's can do in two." All I said was that the La Scala orchestra was not used to performing after only two rehearsals. I would be grateful if you would kindly publish this correction, rendered necessary, I presume, by my poor command of the English language . . .

JONEL PERLEA New York City

Comet's Tale

Sir:

CLOSING SENTENCES OF COMET'S TALE ARTICLE IN TIME, JAN. 2 UNFAIRLY COMPARE PAYLOADS WITHOUT REFERENCE TO RANGE. COMET CARRIES 12,OOO POUNDS FOR PRACTICAL COMMERCIAL RANGE 2,645 MILES. THIS COMPARES FAVORABLY. YET COMET CRUISES NEARLY 500 MILES PER HOUR . . .

GEOFFREY DE HAVILLAND

Hatfield, Herts, England P: If Planemaker De Havilland thinks the Comet has as great a range with as big a payload as the Connie and the DC-6, he should lower his flaps and come down to earth.--ED.

Slips & Changes

Sir:

Despite Nation Editor Kirchwey's protest, TIME neither slipped nor erred in its Dec. 26 account of the Nation's rejection of my article on the Supreme Court. Most of Miss Kirchwey's letter [TIME, Jan. 16] answers itself, and I daresay the editors of the New Republic must be intrigued to learn that they were "irresponsible" to publish--as they did --my "slanderous" and "unjust" remarks. But Miss Kirchwey needs correcting when she denies that her executive editor, Harold Field, told me that my article was rejected specifically because Miss Kirchwey could not afford to jeopardize her personal relationship with Justice Frankfurter by printing in her magazine my criticisms of him.

Mr. Field may say now to his boss (or Miss Kirchwey may misquote him) that he did not say what I clearly heard him say to me on the phone; I had no recording device handy for future proof. But Mr. Field, after talking to me, wrote me a letter to accompany my rejected manuscript. I have that letter . . .

FRED RODELL Yale University New Haven, Conn.

Garbled Voices

Sir:

A STRANGE ERROR CREPT INTO YOUR REPORT OF SIR STAFFORD CRIPPS'S SERMON IN ST. PAUL'S [TIME, JAN. 16]. ACCORDING TO STORY ["VOICES IN THE EXCHEQUER"], NEWSMAN ASKED ABOUT ABSURD RUMOR THAT CRIPPS HEARS DIVINE VOICES, AND CRIPPS REPLIED "l

DON'T THINK SO AT LEAST NOT YET." IN FACT

NEWSMAN YOU MENTION DID NOT, REPEAT NOT, INTERVIEW HIM ON THIS SUBJECT. THE REMARK WAS ACTUALLY MADE BY ONE OF CRIPPS'S ADMIRERS.

ERIC GIBBS London, England

P: TIME blushes; the quotation came from a cable which was garbled in transmission, making it appear that the answer was given by Sir Stafford himself.--ED.

New Mice for Old

Sir:

Geoffrey Hall is not the only person who thinks the world needs "a bowdlerized version of Mother Goose" [TIME, Jan. 9]. Our 3 1/2 year-old daughter has her own version of Three Blind Mice, which is Three Blonde Mice . . . Maybe the children are working for a happier future, too.

MRS. RAYMOND G. RICHARDS

North Hollywood, Calif.

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