Letters, Oct. 3, 1955

(2 of 4)

A. R. CRABTREE

Louisville

Sir:

. . . Your article has left me with two impressions of Lieut. Colonel Stapp. He is apparently a man 1) of exceptional courage coupled with a remarkable devotion to his work, and 2) possessed of shortsightedness nurtured by an emotional chip on his shoulder. Much of his Ph.D. training in biophysics has been wasted if he cannot see that without the basic research ... all of medicine and the applied research to which Lieut. Colonel Stapp is so dedicated would be so much shooting in the dark . . .

Stapp is, perhaps unwittingly, helping to foster an unfortunately prevalent anti-intellectual feeling in this country, one of the manifestations of which has been reallocation of funds toward support of all kinds of applied research at the expense of equally important fundamental scientific investigation.

EUGENE SPAZIANI Los Angeles

Sir: As much as I admire the great and very useful work of Dr. Stapp, I wonder where he feels the medical profession would be today without the pure scientists, the researchers in chemistry, biology, bacteriology, physiology, etc.—those "prima donnas in universities working in their nit-picking ways at academic doodlings to impress each other." Indeed, whom else can they impress? Few, except themselves, understand their work which frequently is at, or beyond, the frontiers of knowledge. Others usually are not interested in such doodlings until they produce results —then they accept these results and use them in very practical ways. The prima donnas then go back to their nit-picking until they nit another pearl.

MILO L. Cox

Lincoln, Neb.

Sir: . . . This country already faces a critical situation in the encouragement and training of future scientists. If Dr. Stapp's views are taken seriously by young men selecting— a career, there may be no one to conceive and design the machines he is preparing mankind for. Nitpickers as well as guinea pigs are an integral part of the complex effort to send man into space.

THOMAS P. CLARK

Parma, Ohio

The Lady & the Jungle

Sir:

Re "The Image of the U.S." [Sept. 12]: I am certainly surprised at TIME'S defense of Ambassador Luce's questionable action concerning the film Blackboard Jungle. Deploring the production of such products for the sole reason that they tend to present a "repulsive picture of U.S. life" smacks of utter naivete. Let us rather turn our attention to eradicating these well-known American injustices no matter how distorted they may seem to the overcomplacent. In the long run, it is better to think well of yourself than to worry about what others think of you.

JACK KISNER Dorchester, Mass.

Sir:

Your article struck a responsive chord. Pictures like The Wild One and Blackboard

Jungle should never have been made. Mrs. Luce showed good judgment . . .

Hollywood has a grave responsibility, as have the press and TV, and if they don't like censorship, they had better show more interest in the fine and inspiring things in our American way of life, instead of being so overwhelmingly concerned with smut and violence and crime.

MARCELLA S. ERNE

Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.

Sir: