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On behalf of the young men still in diapers, of this and other countries, who will do the fighting and dying in World War III, I extend sincere encouragement and hopes of good luck to Messrs. Stimson and Hull.
STELLA JOHNSON KING Washington
Sirs: . . . If America permits the Germans to keep their heavy industry, we shall have no right to be surprised if we shall read in TIME of Sept. 14, 1964:
"The robot bombs, which through their simultaneous attack on 89 American cities have brought this national disaster, were assembled in German factories of agricultural machines, locomotives and other industrial establishments which in 1944 were considered harmless."
Let the victims of 1964 thank those who, in 1944, were too refined to be fanatical Naziphobes.
K. KAUFFMANN-GRINSTEAD New York City
Sirs: By this stage of the game it should be apparent to any American, with either foresight or memory, that there can be no hope of a free, peaceful world without a strong, independent, democratic Germany. The Allies would find the role of oppressor as difficult as did the Nazis. . . . As long as men are dominated there will be Hitlers to take advantage of depression and chaos. The only reparations that we could extract from a defeated, devastated Germany are the dividends of a peaceful producing nation's commerce and trade.
After fighting so long for freedom are we to destroy freedom in the moment of our victory? Are the indiscretions of Versailles to be rejuvenated after all these years?
(PVT.) MIKE McELRATH Seal Beach, Calif.
Parson Weems Again
Sirs: Was it not Parson Weems (TIME, Oct. 2) who invented or at least popularized the equally famous lie about Washington saying his prayers in a snowdrift?
R. SANDS
Grand Rapids
¶ Lie—or legend—it was Parson Weems. Wrote he: "In the winter of '77, while Washington, with the American Army, lay encamped at Valley Forge, a certain good old Friend, of the respectable family and name of Potts, if I mistake not, had occasion to pass through the woods near headquarters. . . . As he approached the spot with a cautious step, whom should he behold in a dark natural bower of ancient oaks, but the commander in chief of the American Armies on his knees in prayer?"—ED.
"We Three"
Sirs: We three "unimaginatively dressed" British women take great exception to the account from your correspondent in Paris (TIME, Sept. 11). After five years of war it is a little tedious, to say the least, to pick up one's newspaper every day and to read of and see pictures of "elegant" Parisiennes, who have not apparently been limited to 48 clothing coupons a year, as we have.
It may interest your readers to know that the average British woman's life during the war has consisted of working sometimes for twelve hours a day six days a week scrambling for busses and trains, getting meals, housework, laundry, mending, shopping.
. . . Perhaps even your correspondent and the "elegant" Parisiennes would not feel imaginative after a night in an Anderson shelter, emerging the next morning probably to find that they have not even any "unimaginative" clothes left.