Letters, Aug. 28, 1939

"Hypocritical"

Sirs:

In TIME, Aug. 7 Paul V. McNutt, replying to Norman Thomas' charges against him, rather seems to gloat over the fact that organized labor raised no protest against his confirmation by the Senate to the post of Security Administrator.

He does not state, as he should if he wanted to be fair, that his confirmation was rushed through within a few hours of the announcement of his appointment. Organized labor had no opportunity to protest.

McNutt's anti-labor record stands out like a sore thumb and his attempt to make it seem to appear that organized labor is friendly to him is hypocritical beyond measure.

Organized labor can never forget McNutt's strikebreaking policy and tactics. Neither does organized labor have any delusions of the leopard changing his spots. . . .

J. R. BUTLER President Southern Tenant Farmers Union Memphis, Tenn.

Batholithic Intrusions

Sirs:

In reference to the letter on Antarctic Coal in TIME, Aug. 14 by Frederick W. Foote and your editorial comment, may I clarify the matter?

Admiral Byrd did not mean, of course, that one seam of coal would provide unlimited resources to the U. S. He was merely stressing the point that coal has been discovered both by the Byrd expeditions and by other expeditions ... in the Antarctic continent. . . . Coal seams up to seven feet in thickness have been discovered . . . and estimates by such men as Sir Edgeworth David and Dr. Griffith Taylor indicate that in extent the coal reserves are possibly second only to those of the U. S. (See Antarctic Adventure and Research by Dr. G. Taylor, Appleton, 1930, pp. 100-101.)

Your editorial comment apparently came from some unauthoritative source, for analysis of specimens at Harvard University indicate the coal is sub-anthracite. Its weathered appearance may have led even men in the field to surmise its quality to be poor. This of course is due to the fact that some of the coal seams have been exposed, and have therefore undergone oxidation and alteration.

It is certainly true that Antarctic coal will not be important to the U. S. in the near future. However, no mineral could be more valuable, in the perpetually frozen country where artificial heat is essential for maintaining human life. . . . There are many contacts between batholitic intrusions and ancient sedimentary rocks which generally are the locations of valuable mineral deposits. No great mineral bonanzas have been discovered to date. However, no continent the size of Antarctica has failed to produce a wealth of mineral deposits.

The present interests of the U. S. in establishing the U. S. Antarctic Service is to make available knowledge as to the potential value of those areas of Antarctica to which the U. S. has logical claims.

DR. PAUL A. SIPLE Geographer to the U. S. Antarctic Service Department of the Interior Washington, D. C.

Factual

Sirs:

Regarding Mr. Axelrod's suggestion that ex-Presidents serve on a foreign relations committee [TiME, July 24] and Thomas Toberty's nai've backslap [TiME, Aug. 14], I'd like to present the problem in a more factual manner.