(3 of 4)
The Naval Academy, committed to the maintenance of the physical power of America, demands the plant of St. John's College for expansion; the latter needs it. St. John's, with its Great Books course, works to free the mind of every man through discipline, seeing a man's mind as sort of a paralytic who, through proper exercise and acquaintance with how other paralytics have succeeded, will arise and be free.
Through their representatives, Americans make the choice of who gets that land, Plato or the Fleet.
The Fleet can settle elsewhere. If St. John's is kicked out, we shall know that the more apparent freedoms will be the next to go. . . .
ROGER CALLENDER
South Bend
"Ruptured Duck"
Sirs:
As you probably know, the design of the present discharge button is not popular (G.I.S know it as the "ruptured duck"). It's made of plastic; gets upside down in the lapel, and nobody recognizes it anyway. So I went into a little research to see what "inspired" it. It was copied from a design by a German, Franz Sales Meyer (Handbook of Ornament).
RAY BETHERS
New York City
¶ Who copied it from a bas-relief originally in Trajan's Forum in Rome.—ED.
Barbarous Americans?
Sirs:
. . . The letter of M. Donald Coleman [TIME, Oct. 1] provides a good analysis of the discord between our soldiers and their French hosts. But Pfc. Coleman says that mutual misunderstanding has created the problem. This is not so. . . .
The American stupefaction at the French mode of life is the awe of the barbarian before the Parthenon; the American resentment of that mode of life is the spite of the barbarian at being unable to destroy it. No worse insult can be growled than, "'They're dirty; they'd rob ya blind,'" for the only cleanliness a Puritan knows is the cleanliness of the body, and the only honesty he knows is the honesty of commerce.
Barred from maturity by the kindly offices of their Puritan elders, our soldiers could hardly be expected to react differently than they have. But they can be suspected of learning from their contact with Gallic civilization, and the very few who have will try to return to France as soon as possible. The very many who have not will remain forever in America, where they will bait Jews, repress Negroes, ban books, and agree with their German confreres on everything except the right of Germany to dominate mankind. True Americans know that this right belongs unquestionably to themselves.
BERT L. CARLSON
Berkeley, Calif.
Arsy-Versy
Sirs:
In our efforts to find arsy-versy [TIME, Oct. 1] in the dictionary, we have been turned absolutely arsy-versy. Or have we?
LIEUT. (JG) J. M. VANLANDINGHAM
LIEUT. (JG) R. B. MOORE
c/o Fleet Post Office
San Francisco
¶ Definition, according to Webster's New International Dictionary: Backside forward, topsy-turvy. Synonymous phrase: arse-over-teakettle.—ED.
Patton's Hind Legs
Sirs: