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German bombings may leave the good people of Birmingham, England comparatively unmoved, but if there is one thing that brings out a cold rage ... it is having their first-class football team, Aston Villa, claimed by Liverpool, as in your issue of Jan. 13.
P. WHETHAM Vancouver, B. C.
> Deluged by dozens of protests in addition to Reader Whetham's, TIME hastily restores Aston Villa (soccer) to Birmingham where it belongs.—ED.
Inspiring Example
Sirs:
Your article in Medicine [Jan. 20] regarding the establishment of Meharry Medical College of Nashville and the six great men, five Meharry brothers and old Dr. Hubbard, is one of the most moving human tales I've ever read. In the midst of the grim necessity of being about to set the world right by force of arms comes this inspiring example of warmhearted, honest and courageous men—the Meharrys.
Also, the way in which the article is set forth indicates your staff has a neat regard for and appreciation of the finer contributions to human progress we all so desperately need. Journalistically the "out of the mud" story is something of a classic. . . .
QUAYLE MUMFORD Evanston, Ill.
Provincial Foresight
Sirs:
Your article in the Books section on the repentant Communist sympathizers [Jan. 6] was excellent, but so gentle as to be almost maternal. It left me wondering how much longer these men, who so belatedly recognized Communism for what it is, must be called "intellectuals?"
Their chagrin today is not due so much to the fact that they made a mistake, I suspect, but rather to the knowledge that the vast majority of non-intellectuals who inhabit the hinterland west of New York City—and whom our "intellectuals" despised for their Rotarianism, their devotion to business, their taste in art and entertainment, their patriotism, their family life, et al.—these same provincials saw clearly ten to 15 years ago that Communism and Fascism were cut from the same pattern and that as governments both resembled Capone's rule of gangsterdom. Such ignorance and lack of discrimination pained our urban "intellectuals," but it was the latter, not the former, who were confounded when Stalin joined hands with . . . Hitler and invaded the Baltic States. Moreover, these same Americans rejected Communism with contempt, saying in effect: "I don't want no bureaucrat telling me what to do." Which statement seems to me not as beautiful but just as enlightening as Lewis Mumford's belated verdict that "the struggle is for the human soul." . . .
HOWARD PECKHAM Ann Arbor, Mich.
* Total 1940-41 appropriations for the Congressional "Legislative Establishment": $23,923,711-