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The history (truthful and untruthful) of the causes and results of Edward's historic abdication has been told and retold and quite apart from its diplomatic and political effects, the average Britisher, and probably the average person anywhere in the world, will agree that it was the biggest piece of un-sportsmanship enacted by a nation that has usually been famous for its traditional sportsmanship. . . .
There is an extremely large section of the British public that would like to see the Duke of Windsor at least officially recognized, or preferably welcomed home to a position of something better than degradation.
There has been talk in the press of his being invited to visit the New York World's Fair in the fall and I am sure many people will heartily welcome this: it would be an act of recognition for which my own country fears to be responsible, as a result of which a sportsmanlike Englishman can but hang his head in shame.
KESTON PELMORE New York City
Distinctly Smart Aleck
Sirs:
Just a few lines to let you know I am well fed up with your line of Smart Aleck stuff. Your article on Great Britain [King George VI] in the May 15 issue is about as raw, fresh, uncalled for and unfriendly as anything I've read.
All I want to say now is this. Your magazine contains no news, we read all the news in the newspapers a week or so ahead of your issues. Your comments do not amount to a row of pins, after we have seen enough _of them to size them up. Your attitude is distinctly Smart Aleck and Puffed Up—"Swelled Head," so to speak.
I still have something like a year to go before my subscription runs out. If you are any kind of sports I stump you to publish this letter in your Letters page with your 'Ultrasmart" comments, and send me that issue of TIME. You can then discontinue sending me any further issues. Whatever money you save in the deal, buy something for your staff.
W. B. HARPER
Outremont, Montreal, Que.
> No comment.—ED.
Synthetic Stockings
Sirs:
In TIME, May 8, under People you noted that General Motors' president had presented Princess Ingrid of Denmark with a pair of synthetic silk stockings. Since the Japanese sacked Nanking in 1937, I have worn no silk at all—and the substituted lisle & rayon hosiery are hateful to me. Those synthetic silk stockings sound like the answer to a maiden's prayer. Are they on the market as yet? If so, where, please? If not—who is making them? Surely not General Motors? Whoever is making them can probably use another experimenter to test their wearability as a new product—so if you can give me any information, I will be more than grateful.
MARION LEVINE New York City
> Du Pont's synthetic silk, said to have the elasticity that rayon lacks, is a synthesis of coal, air and water called Nylon, or Fibre 66. Nylon is not yet on the market, but Du Pont has given three girls at the New York World's Fair a pair of Nylon stockings apiece which they have been wearing steadily for the past three weeks. Celanese Corp. of America is also working on a synthetic silk fibre, as yet unnamed. —ED.
Diligent Perusal
Sirs: