Letters, May 8, 1939

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Mrs. Roosevelt and the D. A. R.

Sirs:

Does TIME not err in announcing over and over in several recent issues [TIME, March 6 et seq. ] that Mrs. Franklin Roosevelt has resigned from the D. A. R. because it did not allow Marian Anderson to appear at Constitution Hall?

I am not a D. A. R. but in the interest of fairness was Mrs. Roosevelt a member? I understood that she was not. That she was only an honorary member.

Also in the interest of fairness, is it not true that in Washington, as in all Southern cities there is a ruling . . . that no Negro may entertain in their first class halls? . . .

MARGARET GORDON La Grande, Ore.

> 1) Mrs. Roosevelt was a "life member at large" of the D. A. R.

2) District of Columbia officials deny that there is any such ruling. —Ed.

First Lady's Legs

Sirs:

I have been a subscriber to TIME for years, and have thoroughly enjoyed it.

I am disgusted with this last issue, April 17. On p. 21 you speak of Mrs. Roosevelt, the First Lady of the land, whom we all respect and admire as "long-legged." I am ashamed of you.

JULIA M. PECK Pompton Plains, N. J. > TIME reported the facts.—ED.

Defenseless Feeling

Sirs:

I get the jitters every time I read in TIME, or the daily papers, the figures on the numerical strength of the U. S. Army. For example, the Detroit Free Press in a recent issue states that the U. S. has 185,000 men in its regular Army, and reserve forces of about 315,000 including the National Guard, whereas Germany, Italy and Japan have a combined active army of some 3,350,000 and reserves of about 16,000,000.

It is not the status of our regular Army and Navy that gives me that defenseless feeling, it's the lack of reserves, and this worry in turn raises the question of why cannot there be organized in the U. S. a voluntary reserve force?

My guess is that the U. S. could have within one year a semi-trained, citizens' voluntary reserve force of two or more million men at least, if official approval and public encouragement were given to such a movement. .

The social side of such a venture would not be unattractive as it would give married men an excuse for another night out a month, also enable all types of salesmen members to find new prospects and would probably increase the sales of the beer and pretzel businesses considerably. . . .

W. A. SWINGLE Detroit, Mich. > When M (Mobilization) Day comes, the U. S. can throw 1,000,000 men into the field within 48 hours [TIME, Aug. 22]. Backbone of this force would be the much maligned National Guard. —ED.

Suggestive

Sirs:

Re your article, "Hold Barred," included in the Radio department of TIME, April 24, be it known to you, sirs, that song lyrics need not be guilty of lingual tergiversation with a Krafft-Ebing tinge in order to get themselves barred from the Great Chains.

I am co-author of a yearning song titled, You Set Me On Fire. It expresses the excruciating agonies of frustrated love. . . . Its lyrics are no more shocking than love is. ...