Letters, Aug. 4, 1941

• Share

No Smoking

Sirs:

Re TIME, July 7, "A Laboratory Flies": I am surprised that the U.S. Army would permit a picture to be taken of a test pilot with a cigar in his mouth. What's the answer?

SADIE EPSTEIN Houston, Tex.

> The Army rule is that there shall be no smoking within 50 ft. of an aircraft, but the rule is constantly and ubiquitously ignored, and Air Corps authorities, who can occasionally compromise

with human nature, accept the situation. Many military planes have ash trays in them. But as for crack Test Pilot Stanley Umstead, if Reader Epstein had scrutinized his picture closely (see cut], she might have seen that his cigar has no ash on it. Umstead smokes a good deal, but often sticks an unlighted cigar in his mouth and simply gnaws it.—ED.

Comrade Stalin's Tea

Sirs:

There is something which always amazes me about TIME, and that is the intimate detail in which you describe incidents which happen in Tokyo, London or Moscow. I will illustrate my meaning with a verbatim quotation from TIME, July 14: "Taking to the microphone with a big pitcher of tea at his elbow, Comrade Stalin saluted his fellow comrades in patriarchal tones." Now what I want to know is how does TIME know that Stalin had a pitcher of tea before him? . . . My question boils down to this: Was that story actually cabled from Moscow or was it made up in Manhattan ? I dare TIME'S Letters editor to publish this letter and an answer to it.

HOWARD J. ARCHIBALD Roxbury, Mass.

> As all TIME stories are, the story was written in Manhattan, but on tho basis of a cable from a correspondent in Moscow, who was standing near Red Square watching the reaction of the crowd as the Red Dictator's words came to them over loudspeakers. During the silence of a dramatic pause in Stalin's speech, the sound of a liquid being poured into a glass near the microphone could be distinctly heard. Tea happens to be the fluid with which Stalin eases his throat when he speaks publicly. He doesn't care much for plain water.—ED.

The Memphis Incident

Sirs:

I have been following with a good deal of interest, not to say disgust, the hullabaloo raised over the action of Lieut. General Ben Lear, in disciplining a detachment under his command, for conduct unbecoming to men wearing the uniform of the U.S. Army (TIME, July 21).

I have known Ben Lear since he began his career in the U.S. Army, as a sergeant in the First Colorado Volunteer Infantry in the Philippines. His rise from such a start to his present position speaks for his devotion to the service, and his qualities as a soldier. Now he has a job to do, and is doing it in his own way, and who should know a better way ? . . . HARRY J. AMPHLETT

F Company

First Colorado Volunteer Infantry

Buford, Ga.

Sirs:

. . . Now, discipline in our Army is absolutely necessary. I hope we all understand that. However, I have a son who is willing and will serve his country in any needed capacity, and when he does, I hope to God he does not serve under a nitwit.

J. C. ZOLNOSKI Casper, Wyo.

Sirs:

... I think that General Lear was trying to show off in front of the women in the shorts. He needs a bigger hat for his big head. . . .