Hot Dogs & Dust Bowls
Sir:
Your excellent article on Minnesota's Senator Humphrey [TIME, Jan. 17] leaves some hard questions unanswered. Assuming that he is "too cocky, too slick, too shallow, too ambitious, a brain-picker rather than a scholar, clever without being wise," is he not just another Senator Claghorn with a "new look"? Is modern statecraft so simple an art that it can be mastered by one who learns his economics from South Dakota dust storms, and campaigns by visiting all the county fairs and eating hot dogs until they "come out of his ears"?
In the same issue of TIME, the Spanish philosopher, Jose Ortega y Gasset, may have explained the rise of Senator Humphrey--and many another modern politician. He assures us that the world is "suffering from a 'vertical invasion' of the masses." It has been "taken over by the commonplace mind."
GLENN E. HOOVER
Oakland, Calif.
Sir:
. . . There was one item about Humphrey's life which I failed to find out. He was quite a busy little man during the early forties, and perhaps he was not aware that we had a war from 1941 to 1945. Most of our youth his age laid aside personal ambitions for two or more years during that period.
If I am unfair in my conclusions, I shall be glad to be corrected.
(MRS.) H. A. HELSCHER
Sigourney, Iowa
P: Let Reader Helscher stand corrected. Humphrey was 4-F (for double hernia); he was rejected for enlistment in the Navy in 1944, by Selective Service in 1945.--ED.
SIr:
Permit me to answer the question posed on the Humphrey cover: "What did the people really want?"
The people want constructive action coupled with campaign promises. In the personality and record of Hubert H. Humphrey the people of Minnesota saw the dynamo of action needed for the fulfilling of their dream--the human-welfare state . . . They wanted a clean-up on the housing mess, the health problem, the tax situation, the labor snarl and half a dozen other national stumbling blocks . . .
What was good for the country yesterday is not necessarily good for the country today . . . The people seek leaders who will speak for their ideas without compromise. They want leaders not only for the people but from the people. Robert A. Taft may have silver-spoon grandeur but Hubert H. Humphrey has dust-bowl guts . . .
LAWRENCE W. HESTER
Dallas, Tex.
Sir:
Success stories are always stimulating. Yet if the requirements of American politics make it necessary for a man to have only 25 dinners at home in three years . . . when he has three growing sons and a daughter, then we had better re-evaluate our ideas of success in the American scene . . .
RAYMOND M. VEH
Harrisburg, Pa.
Is Tipping Democratic?
Sir:
As a rule I don't agree with Russian viewpoints, but Lieut. Colonel Kotko is right when he says tipping is un-Marxian [TIME, Jan. 17]. I believe it is also undemocratic. I wonder whether all these people, the barbers and waiters and cab drivers, realize that by expecting so eagerly to be tipped, they place themselves in a servile position towards their fellow citizens . . .
E. T. TERRY
San Francisco, Calif.
Reconversion in a Round World
Sir:
The case of William Purcell Witcutt [TiME, Jan. 17] is interesting even from an academic point of view. It so happens that all truth is as rigid as 2 times 2 makes 4. If he is logical, rejecting the Roman Catholic faith on account of its "rigidity," he will have to deny all truth. The poor man will have to reject the fact that the world is round, that the common housefly usually has two wings--to cite only a couple of examples.
Louis A. VAN DANE, M.S.
La Salette Missionary College
Milford, Iowa
Sir:
While our Roman Catholic brethren will tell you that they did not like your article about the reconversion of William Purcell Witcutt to Protestantism, I like it very much.
It is interesting to see in print the well-known fact that converts to Catholicism do not always find what they expect.
REV. NELSON WARNER
First United Presbyterian Church
Lincoln, Nebr.
For the Opposition
Sir:
Many commentators on the political scene are taking the stand that the G.O.P. needs to "liberalize" . . . I demur. What the country really needs is . . . an honest-to-goodness opposition party . . .
The rank-&-file of the Republican Party is essentially rightist, conservative, believes in state rights and the responsibility of the individual; decries New Dealism in all its forms; looks with dismay on the growing interference of the Federal Government in business, and with foreboding on the pandering of the Government to the labor unions . . . .
The G.O.P. will never win by becoming imitation New Dealers, but whether it ever wins is a minor consideration. What is important is that the nation have a genuine opposition party, a conscientious, hard-slugging, conservative party whose leaders are not afraid to explain to the voters the very real dangers to democracy that the so-called "liberal" policies are breeding.
Would Churchill be a greater statesman if he . . . embraced socialism just because socialism now has the upper hand in Britain?
ROY A. WILEY
Santa Rosa, N. Mex.
Ideological Windmills
Sir:
Regarding the denunciation of German musicians Furtwaengler and Gieseking by Messrs. Rubinstein, Heifetz, et al. [TIME, Jan. 17], it should be apparent that if these men are prevented from performing in this country, the far greater loss will be ours, not theirs; the cause of music in America will suffer more than the personal fortunes of these men . . . It is curious to observe with what seeming fervor some people insist on tilting with ideological windmills long after the cause in question is supposed to have been won . . .
FRANK B. JOSSERAND
Galveston, Tex.
Sir:
It has generally been the American custom to assume a person innocent unless proven guilty. From all that I have read, Mr. Furtwaengler was cleared by a court which I must assume had all the records, and it seems a pretty sorry business that a group of musicians high in box-office estimation feel that they know better . . .
America is a free country. It was free to Messrs. Rubinstein, Horowitz, et al., when they came . . .
MARION BROWNE
Laguna Beach, Calif.
Sir:
About a year ago I remember being startled at the news that this country had willingly opened its doors to some highly skilled German inventors and research scientists, who had devoted their lives to building up the efficient Nazi war machine. No voice of protest . . . was raised against such a move.
Again I am startled and puzzled by the attitude some citizens of the artistic world have taken toward a great musical conductor, who cannot give us any good tips on how to improve our war machine, but to my mind has something much more worth while to offer . . .
DORA HOWE
New York City
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