Less Yelping, Please
Sirs:
. . . Only one thing riles me—this demobilization racket. I don't care for myself, but I do for the men. Here is a ship that must be kept in efficient operation at least for a few months longer. . . . I did have 96 men and 9 officers; now I have 77 men and 8 officers, with 16 additional men and two officers eligible for release already. And there are no replacements at all. At least, I haven't been able to find any, nor has anyone else I know.
The thing that riles me is that the 16 men left are the most experienced, highest rated, most capable, and most deserving, yet I have to hold them as "military necessities" because it takes trained machinists, electricians, radiomen, etc. to run these complicated little vessels, not raw draftees out of boot camp. It would be all right if the infernal politicians and radio broadcasters would cease yelping about demobilization and keep off the air and refrain from keeping the men all stirred up. . . .
I guess the trouble is that the average American is too selfish and shortsighted. He wants peace and a big navy and world security, but he wants and expects someone else to do all the work for him. . . . Perhaps we are not a great people essentially, except in our wishes. Perhaps we'll lose the peace. Perhaps we deserve to. ...
(NAVAL OFFICER'S NAME
WITHHELD)
c/o Fleet Post Office
San Francisco
Black TIME, White Wright
Sirs:
I refer to TIME's "piece" [Sept. 24] on the Imperial Hotel of Tokyo, Japan: I happen to be the architect, and the time-honored formula for an untimely finish seems to be already well into its second stage where TIME is concerned. The formula is: first, Success, then, Arrogance, then Downfall. I refer to an all too arrogant falsehood in the piece, which was not only a gross misrepresentation of my sentiments but proving in black & white that TIME can be a reckless liar.
Let my secretary speak. Quote from Eugene Masselink:
"Dear Mr. Wright: TIME'S quotation of your conversation with them ... is entirely false. I was present when you spoke over the telephone to them and in reply to their questions you said: 'No, I have received no request from Japan nor from anyone to rebuild the part of the hotel that was damaged—but even if I were to receive such a request I would have to turn it down because I am much too busy at work building in my own country to go to any other country to build at this time. Besides, I prefer independence to interdependence.' You repeated this statement several times. Eugene Masselink, Secretary to Frank Lloyd Wright."
Now, the term "Japs" is (of course) journalese. I have never used the slang myself and I never will. . . .
Recently, speaking of "NonObjective Art," I suggested that TIME (among others) take a course in "Non-Adjective Writing." But the matter now seems more hopeless. So, I disrespectfully suggest that we, right here and now, drop the whole Art Department of TIME as a malicious libel not only upon the entire subject of Art but all honest artists everywhere.
FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT
Spring Green, Wis.