The Press: Further Stay Useless

At a recent meeting of the staid Soviet cultural society VOKS, lively protests were loudly uttered by U.S. and British correspondents because, unlike Soviet newsmen, they are not allowed to visit the Russian front (TIME, Oct. 16). The first protesting speech was made by the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Al Kendrick, himself a native of Stalin’s own Georgia and longtime student of Russian history. Only result of the complaints: an embarrassed changing of the subject. Last week, Correspondent Kendrick, fed up with cabling home rehashes of the Moscow papers, suggested that he be recalled. The Inquirer’s managing editor John J. Fitzpatrick agreed, cabled Al Kendrick: “Further stay useless. . . . Come home as soon as possible.”