The Mackinac Conference
Sirs:
I have read with some surprise the stories of the Mackinac conference. The conclusion of the article in TIME, (Sept. 20) is a fair summary, but the history of the conference given on the first page is so contrary to fact that I can hardly believe I attended the same conference. .
1) TIME says, "Chairman Spangler himself had compressed his postwar domestic plank into on typewritten page of anti-New Deal invective and glowing promises." Th fact is that Chairman Spangler did not desire the Council to adopt any resolution on domestic policy. . . . This did not meet with the approval of the Domestic Affairs Ccmmittee, particularly Governor Dewey and myself. . . I enclose the postwar domestic plank which I wrote Sunday night after learning that none had been prepared by Mr. Spangler, and which I submitted to the committee. . .
2) "California's Earl Warren had sat up all night in a plane," and TIME implies he was dissatisfied by having nothing to do. Governor Warren was urged to serve on the Foreign Affairs Committee, but did not feel that he should do so. . . .
3) "Senator Taft had to hold his committee in session until 3 a.m. to hear all the Governors. He and Harrison Spangler proposed a domestic statement which pleased no one." The fact is that we finished hearing all the Governors who wished to be heard early in the afternoon. The domestic statement composed that night was adopted over Mr. Spangler's opposition to having any such statement at all. It was the work of the entire committee.
4) "Senator Taft threw in the sponge, told the Governors to write the domestic platform themselves."
As to the farm plank, the fact is that when we decided to have separate planks on agriculture, labor and veterans, on Monday afternoon, we invited Governor Griswold (Nebraska) to write a farm policy plank. He wrote such a plank . . . and it was promptly adopted by our committee. . . .
When Governor Warren made a good suggestion about the labor plank, I appointed him to draw up the plank. We adopted his plank, except that I was the one who wrote, and insisted on adding, a guarantee of collective bargaining. I appointed Governor Hickenlooper [Iowa] to write a more extensive veterans plank, and our committee adopted his draft.
The Governors did not split up into subcommittees, nor did they recast the heart of the platform. . . .
With regard to the Governors, it is a complete mistake to say that there was any revolt, or any division between the members of Congress and the Governors on any question of principle either foreign or domestic. As your article states, they all left with a feeling that the party had been unified. . . .
ROBERT A. TAFT
U.S. Senator from Ohio
Washington
> TIME'S thanks to Senator Taft for his informed version of the doings behind the scenes at the Mackinac meeting. TIME agrees that in the considerable progress made at the conference toward Republican Party unity and a forward-looking position on foreign affairs, there is credit for all Republicans concerned.--ED.
King Leer?
Sirs:
Considering Ernest Baker's admirably characteristic portrait of Comedian Bob Hope (TIME, Sept. 20), I am disappointed in the apparent waning of your subcaptioning potency.
A TIMElier subcaption: King Leer.
LAWRENCE DEFOY
Rochester, N.Y.
Sirs:
A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO [JULY 7, 1941] ONE OF YOUR REPORTERS DID AN ARTICLE ON YOURS TRULY THAT BURNED ME NO END. IT FLATTERED ME IN REVERSE AS ONLY TIME USUALLY DOES. AFTER LOOKING AT THE COVER AND READING THE ARTICLE OF THE SEPT. 20 ISSUE AM CONVINCED THAT TIME HAS TURNED SISSY . . . THANKS.
BOB HOPE
Hollywood
Sirs:
Why is it that a mug who looks like this appears like this on a TIME cover?
BANDEL LINN
Sarasota, Fla.
The Andersons
Sirs:
. . . I wish to correct the statement about "name coaches" that have gone into the services (TIME, Sept. 20). . . . Hunk Anderson is not the football coach at the University of Iowa. He is the line coach of the Chicago Bears.
Iowa's football coach was Dr. Eddie Anderson . . . now a major in the Medical Corps. . . .
(S/SGT.) O. J. RAHN
La Junta, Colo.
> For mixing up two star pupils of the late great Rockne, TIME'S Sport Editor ran ten times around the field.--ED.
International Pony
Sirs:
The lightweight edition of your Aug. 2 issue reached me here in the Middle East on Aug. 10! . . . Congratulations! . . .
"God speed the pilots who fly TIME to us on time. . . .
CYRIL J. HANLEY
Douglas Aircraft Co., Inc.
% Postmaster
New York City
Sirs:
The August 2 issue of TIME reached me somewhere in Iceland today [Aug. 12]. . . . This new Pony Edition arrives abreast of the very latest news, and makes me feel that the States, which I left a year ago, are almost close enough to reach out and touch. . . .
T. R. PRITCHARD JR. 1st Lieutenant, FA.
% Postmaster
New York City
Sirs:
. . . Even more perhaps than you can realize, it is cause for deepest satisfaction and appreciation to be able now to get TIME in India by first-class mail. . . .
GRENVILLE BEARDSLEY
Major, A.U.S.
% Postmaster
New York City
Sirs:
. . . As a returned sailor from way down under who expects to go under soon again, I think the idea swell. Your magazine means a lot out there to us. . . . I was once the delighted recipient of 17 copies of TIME in a row. After being thrown out of the Philippines, the mail service was damn bad. Everything finally got straightened out in Australia, and my favorite relaxation in the afternoon while resting up from two war patrols in an "S" class submarine was to get into the bathtub with a bottle of scotch and a copy of TIME and go to town. I did, 17 days in a row.
The only thing we miss in the new edition is the advertisements. They are a fine and moving picture of the American way of life, but I guess we can't have everything. . . .
H. G. MUNSON
Lieut. Commander, U.S.N.
U.S.S. Crevalle
Sirs:
. . . Here in South America . . . it's not "I see by the paper," but rather "I see by TIME."
Please try to convey my appreciation to all hands of TIME for this thoughtful development.
(Y I/C) JOHN J. BROWN, U.S.N.R.
% Postmaster
New York City
Sirs:
. . . Want you to know how much all of us appreciate the new size and the speedy delivery.
When I say "all of us," that is no unpremeditated lapse into an editorial We. . . . A copy of TIME, either size, goes a route here in the Aleutians. . . . Limp and dog-eared, they probably end in some hut's trash, but that happens only after months and after all the maps and stray glamour pix have been scissored for pinups. . . .
The last issue took less than two weeks to find an isolated isle in the Bering Sea . . .
(Y I/C) J. L. RAGLIN, U.S.N.R.
Kodiak, Alaska
Sirs:
My first issue of TIME arrived a few days ago. . . . In Sicily, Africa or any other faraway spot . . . it is necessary to put a lock and chain on every incoming issue if one wishes to read it before its pages are mutilated. . . .
J. WILLARD JARVIS
Captain, A.U.S.
% Postmaster
New York City
> No new development is TIME'S Pony Edition, which has been plane-delivered overseas since November 1942. But worldwide first-class mail delivery was not begun until last August.--ED.
Huisvrouw
Sirs:
In your issue of Sept. 13 your news item . . . states that Her Royal Majesty Queen Wilhelmina spent a Hausfrau's day at home with Prince Bernard on her 63rd birthday.
I believe that all your Netherlands readers will be shocked over the fact that you had to use a German word in this particular item. . . .
Was there no suitable expression in the English language available?
LEONARD H. FABER
Consul General of The Netherlands
Trujillo City Dominican Republic
> A sinkful of dirty dishes to TIME'S housewife-checker for not knowing that in Holland she would be a huisvrouw. --ED.
Pro Kusaka
Sirs:
Osaka-born Schuichi Kusaka (TIME, Sept. 20) has my vote for a permanent position at Smith College, or any other institution that has the foresight to hire him--and I'm being trained to shoot, stab or chop Tojo's men first and talk afterward.
. . . I've no doubt but what the "two American Legionnaires" who stupidly objected to the appointment of this Japanese-born scholar were typical. . . .
On my return to civilian life (what the hell, I'll take a chance while still a sailor), I'd like to engage Legionnaires John Gare Jr. and John E. Boland with tomatoes--preferably rotten eggs--at 20 paces.
(S. 2/C) WARREN W. BURNS
Williamsburg, Va.
Slang & Cant
Sirs:
In the review of the movie Mr. Lucky (TIME, Sept. 20) mention is made of a "new brand of double talk (sample: 'Lady from Bristol' for 'pistol'). . . ." Rhyming slang, of which this is a specimen, has long been current among certain classes of English-speaking people, and the matter has been pretty thoroughly covered by students of slang, cant, etc. . . .
WILLIAM G. SULLIVAN
INDIANAPOLIS
Indianapolis
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