One of the Finest . . .
Sir:
The Jackie Robinson article [TIME, Sept. 22] is one of the finest treatments of race relations I have ever read.
FRANK S. LOESCHER
Philadelphia
Sir:
TIME is stooping pretty low. . . . You can bet my renewal will not mature. . . .
CHARLES ACETO
Camden, N.J.
Sir:
... A great tribute to a great athlete. . . .
ROGER SCHRADER
Fulton, Mo.
Sir:
. . . After reading of the booing my native Baltimore gave Robinson, it's not hard to understand why Baltimore remains a minor-league town while Robinson moves up to the majors.
GEORGE H. BOOTH
Erie, Pa.
Sir:
Your article on Jackie Robinson was just one big sob story. . . .
Last season and this season [Negroes] have been allowed to sit any place in the park, and not just in the pavilion as you stated. . . .
Maybe we are Jim Crowish here, but we are proud of it....
JIM REGGIN
St. Louis, Mo.
Sir:
... A beautiful expression of an attitude of fairness in your magazine. ... I just want to let you know that we Negroes appreciate it.
J. W. E. BOWEN
Editor
The Central Christian Advocate
New Orleans
Sir:
Congratulations on the cleverest cover background design that has appeared on TIME in many months. The contrast of the dark skin of Jackie Robinson and the white surfaces of the baseballs is only a starting point for Artist Ernest Hamlin Baker's ingenious arrangement of the red sewing-lines on the baseballs to lead the eye in & out and roundabout the picture area, and to suggest a celestial dream world of baseball in which the happy First Baseman grins his delight.
FITZROY DAVIS
Eastham, Mass.
Sir:
... I have seen Robinson play, and I think that he is terrific (I saw him steal home against Joe Beggs). But there is another rookie whose record seems even more impressive. He is Larry Jansen, pitching star of the New York Giants. . . .
During spring training he was put out of action until the season was well under way; despite this, Larry pitched 21 victories and lost only five times, for the best percentage in the major leagues. . . . Larry is not on a team which carries on a publicity campaign.
JOSEPH H. WEIL
Miami Beach
Presidential Pollywogs
Sir:
. . . Your article on Truman's initiation into the shellbacks states: "The 350 shellbacks aboard [the Missouri]" etc. [TIME, Sept. 22]. Now, as it probably takes 350 "swabbies" to serve officers' mess alone, and as it was a northward trip, just how in hell did the rest of the crew get south of the equator without crossing it? ...
RON CLYNCH
Seattle
P: By special dispensation of King Neptune himself, assisted by Captain Robert Lee Dennison, the initiation of pollywogs was postponed until the Missouri's return trip across the equator, so that President Truman and his staff might get into the act.--ED.
Morton's Little Girl
Sir:
There has never been a "Morton Salt boy." If Margaret Truman [TIME, Sept. 22] in shoe-length slicker and sou'wester resembled any figure known commercially, it may have been the National Biscuit Co.'s little boy.
Since 1914, the Morton Salt Co.'s little girl has strolled through countless downpours, sans slicker and sou'wester, protected only by a short dress, umbrella, and the fatherly counsel of Morton's advertising manager.
JOHN T. McCUNE
Editor
Morton's Spout
Chicago
P: The writer who muffed this one has just received some fatherly counsel.--ED.
Russia's Advance Guard
Sir:
You are not severe enough with Walter Lippmann when he suggests that if the U.S., Britain and Russia all withdrew their troops from Europe, peace might follow [TIME, Sept. 22]. He takes the narrowest possible view of the Russian nightmare. Surely you have failed to state the most important criticism of his labored theory: namely, that the U.S. and Britain can easily withdraw their armies, that Russia might possibly withdraw hers, but that Thorez, Togliatti & Co., the Russian advance guard which will not withdraw, are the true and abiding danger. In their presence this struggle becomes a revolutionary one, inadequately described by the old notions of imperialism or geopolitics. Against them the Marshall Plan is our best hope.
JAMES HEILBRUN
New York City
O. Henry & Friend
Sir: As stated in TIME [Sept. 22], O. Henry did share honors on his birthday, Sept. n, 1947, with a salve manufacturer, in the opening and dedication of a Memorial Room in the Greensboro Historical Museum--his name, Lunsford Richardson. He was not only famous for his trade name "Vick's" but was one of the South's greatest philanthropists, churchmen, and champion of better race relations. . . .
A. EARL WEATHERLY
President
Greensboro Historical Museum Assn.
Greensboro, N.C.
P: All honor to O. Henry's good friend, Philanthropist Richardson.--ED.
The Arlberg Method
Sir:
. . . Your Sept. 15 issue brings a report from Chile entitled "Schuss in the Andes." Emile Allais rightly deserves all the praise in the world. But--you say of his racing pupils: "They took the slopes the French way--keeping skis always close together, swinging weight to turn. Such teachings are heresy in the U.S. where Hannes Schneider's Arlberg school has ruled for years, and uncounted thousands have angled their skis in stem and snowplow turns."
This is not correct. For many years the Arlberg school has taught its racers to ski with parallel skis, and one of the fundamentals of the Arlberg method is to swing weight when turning. It would be foolish to teach the average skier, especially the middle-aged novice, a racing technique. Every army in the world that trains mountain troops uses the snowplow and the stem turn.
Austria sent three skiers to South America this summer--Edi Mall, Christian Pravda and Hans Rogler. With their Arlberg technique they placed first, second and third in the national ski championships of Argentina in the combined downhill and slalom. Competition was international, including American, Swiss and French racers.
OTTO R. HOLLAUS
Chief Instructor Sepp Ruschp Ski School
Stowe, Vt.
Biloxi Is Doing Business
Sir:
YOUR ISSUE OF SEPT. 29 GROSSLY EXAGGERATES HURRICANE VISIT TO MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST. YOUR STORY, APPARENTLY BASED ON ERRONEOUS NEWS DISPATCHES, HAS ADDED TO NATIONWIDE CONCERN FOR OUR PEOPLE WHO, EXCEPT FOR SMALL LOSS OF LIFE AND PROPERTY LOSS ESPECIALLY TO BUILDINGS IN CERTAIN AREAS SOUTH OF THE BEACH BOULEVARDS, ARE MUCH ALIVE. . . .
WILL YOU PLEASE SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT AND . . . LET THE WORLD KNOW THAT WE ARE STILL IN BUSINESS. . . .
THE BILOXI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Biloxi, Miss.
Home Runs in Wine
Sir:
TIME [Sept. 22] says, apropos of the judging of California wines in Sacramento, that "for 14 different varieties out of the 45 judged, the entries were so poor that no gold medals were awarded. . . ."
As well say that Joe DiMaggio is batting so poorly that 14 times out of 45 times at bat he failed to hit a home run. For, make no mistake about it, a gold medal awarded by a California State Fair jury is a home run in wine, and 31 is a lot of gold medals. . . .
You missed the . . . point most likely to interest TIME'S readers. Four small counties in Northern California--Napa, Sonoma, Santa Clara and Alameda (which includes the Livermore Valley) produce together less than a third of California's annual 140 million gallons. Yet, in the field of table wine, these counties won 19 out of 20 gold and all 23 silver medals. . . .
Thirteen out of the 20 gold-medal table wines, furthermore, are sold under the name of the grape out of which they are made, as Cabernet rather than claret, Riesling rather than Rhine wine. Pinot rather than Chablis or Burgundy, Semillon rather than Sauterne. American wine names are beginning to make some real headway. . . .
FRANK SCHOONMAKER
New York City
P: TIME'S thanks to Connoisseur Schoonmaker for correcting and completing the box score.--ED.
Short Story
Sir:
The illustrated report [TIME, Sept. 22] of my article on the auditory symptoms caused by bite defects, in the Archives of Otolaryngology, was an excellent example of TIME'S efficiency in scientific reporting.
Yours was a concise, accurate and understandable explanation of an involved subject that required 36 pages and 44 illustrations in the Archives. ... It has always been my desire to tell this story in the shortest effective manner. TIME did this, and [the] sketches were better than mine. . . .
DAVID J. GOODFRIEND, D.D.S.
Philadelphia
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