Letters, Oct. 23, 1939

(2 of 6)

"Boss, I tells you what I thinks about this here war. Germany, some back, she starts a crap game, threw an eight, then falls off. Now she wants her money back and starts grabbing. The mistake was when she first started grabbing not knocking H— out of her.

"Yes sir, Boss, if we fights I go. Ise rather be a slave to my folks than to the Germans."

MARY J. PHILLIPS

Darien, Ga.

Alone

Sirs:

To The Isolationists:

Dare you shackle the arms of Saint George

and Sainte Joan,

Fighting to keep all freemen free?

Who will be with us when we face, alone,

Their destiny?

H. C. N.

Hanover, Pa.

My Say

Sirs:

Your sister publication, LIFE (Sept. 25) reports that 83% of the American people want the Allies to win the war, while 1% want a German victory. I belong with that 1% so please let me have my say.

I want Germany to win the war, but at the same time, understand, I want the United States to stay out of it. So does Germany. Hitler knows the United States will be the deciding factor in a world war, and he also knows we cannot fight on his side, for that reason he wants us out and he is right. . . .

Once Germany is established as the first nation in Europe there can be peace in Europe. Until then, never. Those who know Germans know they are a peace loving people, but once take away from them what they think is theirs, and you'll see the best fighters in the world. The German race is the greatest of our civilization. Compare them with the English and you'll find that in art, in war strategy, in every occupation Germans are superior. I believe Shakespeare himself was of German origin, was he not? Correct me on this. I would like to know. . . .

Now about the U. S.—why our country is so goddam pro-British is more than I can understand. I fear our present sentiments would cause Washington, Hamilton and Patrick Henry to blush with embarrassment. We licked the damn English once, now why the hell do we have to pal around? If we do go in again it will be a bad mistake. One man can keep us out. I think most of us are willing to admit now that Franklin D. Roosevelt is our greatest president. If he keeps us out of this war, he will go down in history as the greatest leader of men of all time. If he does not, he won't.

Who the hell am I to say all this? Well, I'll tell you. I'm an American of German origin. Like Hitler I'm a poet, and no editor pays any attention to my manuscripts. But I'm German enough to keep at it until I've had my say and then I'll quit.

In TIME (Sept. 25) you admit being stumped as to an equitable solution to the European situation—given an Allied victory. Of course there is none. But with a German victory there can be a solution. You may not like to believe it, but it's the truth and to risk a banality—the truth hurts.

RICHARD MANLEY

Passaic, N. J.

>The truth about William Shakespeare's ancestry is that it was English. —ED.

Contribution

Sirs:

I trust that you will consider this a TIME-worthy contribution to International etymology: