Toe-Stubbers
Sir:
I am one of those readers of TIME who respect the pro-American and intellectual editing of the magazine.
However, I ask you, are some of the adjectives and nouns . . . really necessary? For example, in the Nov. 17 issue there appeared such words as:
rodomontades atelier peripatetic febrile ubiquitous avuncular kickshaw polemical
I have a feeling that a few of your readers (perhaps 95%) might not be able to define some of the words I have listed. In fact, some of the editors of TIME might stub a toe now & then. . . .
WARREN HIMMELBERGER
Grosvenor
Dale, Conn.
>Ouch!--ED.
Oozers Up
Sir:
TIME, Nov. 17: "In Eastern Europe the umbrella took the form of a program to liquidate non-Communist leaders in satellite states." You mean "murder"? Then why the soft word, the wiggle word, the euphemism? "Murder" is clear in meaning, one syllable and three letters more concise than this clumsy circumlocution which with ... a score or more of other obscure terms have oozed up from the quagmires of European political intrigue and diplomatic doubletalk. . . .
GEORGE T. EMERSON
Phoenix, Ariz.
> TIME used the Communist wiggle-word "liquidate" to express how euphemistic Communists are about some things.--ED.
Louisiana Landslide?
Sir:
TIME . . . told the truth about the Louisiana situation [Nov. 24], but it erred in its prediction regarding the outcome of the coming state election in January. It also failed by act of omission to mention the name of the probable winner, the Hon. Robert F. Kennon.
The Kennon campaign is sweeping the state and gathering the strength of a statewide landslide which will smother the opposition in an avalanche of votes in the primary Jan. 20. . . .
It is hoped that TIME, the champion of journalistic accuracy, will correct its failure to mention the name of the winner in the coming Louisiana campaign for governor. . . .
LEO BROWNSON
New Orleans, La.
> See TIME, Feb. 2, 1948.--ED.
Man of the Year
Sir:
Man of the Year: Vyacheslav Molotov, by a walk.
ANN HARE
Milwaukee, Wis.
Sir:
. . . General Francisco Franco--"A Little Guy with Guts." The only guy--little or big--'to pin Stalin's ears back. . . .
E. L. WILSON Waban, Mass.
Sir:
. . . As The Man Who Stood Up to Soviet Russia in a manner the so-called man in the street understands, George Catlett Marshall. . . .
MAURY M. TRAVIS
Houston, Tex.
Sir:
. . . Governor Earl Warren of California. More than being the Man of 1947, Warren may be the Man of Tomorrow. He transcends political party lines by the power of his personal magnetism and a long record of public accomplishment.
WILLIAM L. SHAW
Sacramento, Calif.
Sir:
. . . Our next President, Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio. . . .
DALE D. DORMAN JR.
Graham, Mo.
Sir:
. . . Anyone but Robert A. Taft.
J. D. COFFEE
Kansas City, Mo.
Sir:
His ceaseless efforts for peace through charity and brotherly love, despite rising world secularism, nominate His Holiness, Pope Pius XII, the Man of the Year.
JOHN F. ABRAHAM
Chicago, Ill.
Sir:
. . . Fulton Lewis Jr., who has fearlessly and intelligently enlightened the public. . . .
H. SEATON FRANK
Fishkill, N.Y.
Sir:
. . . Secretary of State George C. Marshall.
LOUISE SMITH
Baraboo, Wis.
Sir:
. . . I suggest the living memory of Franklin D. Roosevelt who, in this third year after his death continues to tower head & shoulders above his political heirs. . . . The echo of his words and deeds makes every one of theirs seem hollow and petty. . . .
F. R. KATTENBURG
Great Neck, N.Y.
Sir:
. . . Will Clayton for his ceaseless efforts on behalf of freer world trade, which is one of the fundamental cornerstones of world peace. . . . He is the guiding genius behind the International Trade Organization and the spiritual father of the tariff agreements signed at Geneva. . . . He typifies that which is best and most respected in an American abroad: unswerving dedication to the democratic principles combined with a truly progressive outlook, ability, determination, diligence, and an idealism rooted in a sense of reality.
HENRY O. MERTENS
New York City
Sir:
. . . Henry Lewis Stimson [for] having served twice as Secretary of War, once as Governor General of the Philippines, and once as Secretary of State, in an unparalleled and extraordinary career.
MAX G. BETTELHEIM
New York City
Sir:
. . . I nominate the Friends' Service Committees of Philadelphia and London, Nobel Peace Prizewinners this year, as the Men of the Year. But as you have always had one man, and--as the Man of Galilee belongs to every age, and as George Fox belongs to the past--if it must be one, I'd nominate Clarence E. Pickett, administrator of the American Friends' Committee of Philadelphia. . . .
(REV.) J. LYON HATFIELD
Philadelphia, Pa.
The 123 Agreements
Sir:
In its issue for Nov. 10, TIME dismisses the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which was concluded at Geneva on Oct. 30, with two sentences. . . .
The 23 nations participating in this Agreement carried on three-quarters of the world's trade before the war; they handle a much larger fraction at the present time. The Agreement covers two-thirds of the trade among the members of the group. It provides for substantial reductions in duties on some products, the binding of low rates of duty on others, and the binding of free entry on still others. It reduces preferences affecting a large part of our trade with the British Commonwealth, and eliminates preferences on a long list of products which we export to the various countries of the Commonwealth. . . .
These concessions are safeguarded by general provisions that . . . insure the application of the principle of most-favored-nation treatment to a major part of the world's trade.
This Agreement includes more countries, covers more trade, involves more extensive action, and represents a wider area of agreement on policy than any trade agreement that has ever been concluded in the past.
It is not correct to say, as you do, that the British led an attack on the U.S. freer trade program at Geneva. . . . It is true that the United Kingdom did not grant all of the requests made by the United States. It is equally true that the United States did not grant all of the requests made by the United Kingdom. The result . . . was a compromise which was acceptable to both Governments.
It is incorrect, too, to say that the General Agreement adds up to more barter and bilateralism and, probably, to a reduced flow of goods. It is true that this Agreement, in itself, will not suffice to reconstruct economies disrupted by the war, nor to correct the serious imbalance that now characterizes world trade. For this, other measures are now being considered by the countries of Western Europe and by the Congress of the United States. Until reconstruction is really under way and the present imbalance in trade substantially reduced, a large measure of bilateralism and even of barter will undoubtedly persist. But there is nothing whatsoever in this Agreement that would operate . . . to increase bilateralism and barter or to reduce the flow of goods. . . .
CLAIR WILCOX
Director
Office of International Trade Policy
Department of State
Washington, D.C.
> All credit to Clair Wilcox, who did all that was possible to clear the way for freer world trade. TIME believes that, despite the 123 bilateral agreements signed at Geneva, the tendency toward trade restriction is continuing.--ED.
High Finance
Sir:
"Texas Eastern Transmission Corp. soon hopes to be pumping 433 million cubic feet of natural gas a day . . . buy gas at an average cost of 7.6-c- per million cubic feet, and sell . . . at 26.7-c-" [TIME, Nov. 24].
Four hundred thirty-three million cubic feet sold at 26.7-c- per million would be a sales volume of about $116 a day. It's going to take some VERY High Finance to get a gross of $30 to $40 million out of that sales volume!!
CLAUDE MORTER
Dallas, Tex.
Sir:
. . . Using TIME'S figures for value of natural gas but on a 1,000 cubic feet basis instead of a million cubic feet gets Texas Eastern back in the black.
E. F. JENNINGS JR.
Parlin, N.J.
> TIME'S Business Researchers' notebook has a brand-new page that says:
per Mcf means per thousand cubic feet, per Mcf means per thousand cubic feet, per Mcf means per thousand cubic feet, per Mcf means per thousand cubic feet, per Mcf means per thousand cubic feet. --ED.
Mayor's Report
Sir:
It appears to be my duty to bring you up to date about the crime conditions here in Indianapolis so vividly described in TIME [Nov. 24]. . . .
Each of the four crimes of violence mentioned in your article, committed during the last month or so in Marion County, Ind., has been definitely solved by the state police, the county sheriff and the Indianapolis police force, with the result that the twelve criminals involved are now all under arrest, all have confessed, and the cases will very shortly be called for trial. . . .
It is true that Indianapolis has been "frightened" during this crime wave, but there appears to be no further occasion for fright, and we think a very good job of police work has been done to meet an ugly situation, which, by the way, is not peculiar to Indianapolis.
GEORGE L. DENNY
Mayor
Indianapolis, Ind.
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