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If the eye of Custis Knapp (retired) strikes this page, let him read below. TIME is unable to locate Mr. Knapp who, on July 30, addressed a letter to TIME on letterhead of the Drake Hotel, Chicago. Mr. Knapp (newsstand buyer) has never registered at the Drake; is unknown to Mr. Drake and to Drake employes and to frequenters of the Drake lobby. His letter (mailed in New York) prompted H. C. Wood of Germantown, Pa., last week to write:
Mr. Custis Knapp (retired)
Care of TIME, 25 W. 45 St., N. Y. (Please forward)
Dear Sir:
Seeing your letter in TIME, replying to (not answering) that of Kingsley Leeds, about the Boy Scouts, I cannot refrain from saying that if you should happen to meet "little Leeds" as you call him, you would do well to speak to him respectfully. I happen to know "little Leeds" who is quite a youthful Hercules though good tempered. He might spank you and send you home. Truly yours,
H. C. WOOD Germantown, Philadelphia, Pa.
Leeds Thanks Knapp
Sirs:
Please be kind enough to print this letter in TIME or to forward it to Custis Knapp of New York.
I would like to thank Custis Knapp for agreeing in his letter to TIME (Aug. 8) that an article about Boy Scouts should not be put under your ARMY & NAVY heading.
I am sorry that the Scout way of learning to be helpful to others by doing a "good turn" every day does not meet with the approval of Custis Knapp. Surely the Boy Scout organization would be willing to receive constructive suggestions on how to better its teaching of helpfulness.
I have been brought up in the doctrine that a Christian cannot fight, because he cannot hurt those whom he loves. Jesus, in his Sermon on the Mount, said, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you" (MATT. 5:44).
Surely Jesus did not mean, "Be too proud to fight," but rather, "Be too loving to fight."
Nevertheless I respect any man who sincerely believes in militarism, but I do not agree with him!
KINGSLEY B. LEEDS. Germantown, Philadelphia, Pa.
Knapp Rebuked
Sirs:
When some of these narrow-minded, biased men, who claim that the army is "for men only," even he does not deserve to belong to the army. I am a Boy Scout and I object to Reader C. Knapp's letter [TiME, Aug. 8] on three points.
First, does Reader Knapp realize that when he makes light of the Boy Scout movement, that there are close to one million Boy Scouts doing a Good Turn da'ly? Does he realize that these boys will be the men of the future generation and that because of their training there will not be any such catastrophe as the World War, in which millions of men were killed? If Reader Knapp can recall 365 good deeds, in any year during his boyhood, he surely would be more broad-minded than he is today.