(3 of 4)
Is it true though that night fell over Russia because no "gilt-edged landlords" are feasting any more in Petersburg? What actually went on in Russia was as unknown then as it is now. I wonder whether it is always realized that Russians aren't a hand-picked people like the Americans, that they consisted in '17 of a great mass of illiterate farmers plus a handful of masters and intellectuals, that at the time of the Gettysburg Address their serfs were fed to the dogs when their masters had a bad day. It is not probable that real Western democracy would have worked there.
The Communistic night doesn't look darker to me than the Czarist one.
H. KONIGSBERGEN
Amsterdam, Holland
Engineers Do It Too
Sirs:
... If one more famous airplane is suddenly pulled out of nowhere and sketched on the back of an envelope [TIME, April 15], I think I will blow a gasket. Why don't we get together and work real hard in compiling a list of airplanes that were hastily sketched ... on an old potato sack, on the back of an uncashed check, in an unglamorous pocket notebook—or even possibly ... on the drawing boards" of the engineers who actually worked out the design?
MAX KARANT
Managing Editor Flying Magazine New York City
Lloyd's & Gouzenko
Sirs:
I refer to the article ... in which the Montreal Herald forecasts a gloomy future for Igor Gouzenko, due to the refusal of Lloyd's of London to insure his life [TIME, April 15]. It is suggested that the following not-so-secret information be passed along to your worthy Canadian colleagues: Lloyd's (as you have indicated) will insure almost anything—one exception being the underwriting of-life insurance.
S. C. GREIDANUS
Upper Montclair, N.J.
¶ Lloyd's does not give ordinary life insurance; it has taken short-term risks against death on hazardous trips.—ED.
Mr. Downes Did So Go
Sirs:
"The New York Times did not even send a critic to Carnegie Hall I to cover Maryla Jonas' debut]."
This statement, which appeared in TIME of April 8, is entirely incorrect.
The Times sent its "second stringer," Roger Lafferty, to the first concert, and the Times's "first stringer"—that is to say, the undersigned—reviewed her second concert, at greater length and in stronger terms than any other review of Miss Jonas' art which appeared in any other New York newspaper. . . .
OLIN DOWNES
New York
¶ TIME'S thanks to First Stringer Downes for setting the record straight. —ED.
Strolling in the Park
Sirs:
. . . You made it quite clear to Stateside readers that we have nothing to do but make love to Japanese women [TIME, April 1].
I live in the heart of Tokyo and I spend a lot of time in Hibiya Park taking pictures, watching the people, and enjoying the beautiful flowers. I have never seen G.I.s "lolling amorously on the grass" with Japanese women, nor have I seen them strolling "arm in arm" along the Imperial moat.