Rocky Roads to Washington

Sir:

... If the 1952 election boils down to a race between a Hoover-type Republican and a polecat, the race will be close but you can bet on the polecat . . . The Republicans will find victory only if they present to the people a liberal humanitarian, someone who will let the public know they have a friend.

JAMES J. CAVELLA Philadelphia

Sir:

. . . This year the Republican Party has a fine opportunity to oust the corrupt machine that has misgoverned us since 1932. Let us take advantage of this and pick the best man, Mr. Republican, himself . . .

F. JOHNSON Philadelphia

Sir:

Senator Estes Kefauver is doubtless a worthy man. But when, on your cover of March 24, I saw that grin, under those horn rimmed specs, under that coonskin cap, with the coon's little tail adangling, I thought: heaven help us, is that a potential President of these United States? . . . Look at pictures of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Jackson, Webster--any really great American. You don't see those men grinning as if life were a big haha . . .

RUSSELL MITCHELTREE Woodbury, Conn.

Sir:

If you had a Congress full of Kefauvers, instead of the weaseling corkscrews who fill most of its seats and give their allegiance to string-pulling moneybags on the outside, you would have a better country . . .

JEAN THURMAN Nashville, Tenn.

Sir:

. . . Kefauver will never get to first base as a presidential candidate . . .

TOM GUSHING Asheville, N.C.

Sir:

The belittling tone in your Kefauver cover story puzzles me ... [It] has him supporting only "in theory" my "visionary plan for Atlantic Union." Since the Atlantic Union resolution which he sponsored is also backed by more than one-fourth of the members of both Houses of Congress--including such Senators as George, Carlson, Thye--and by such other conservatives as Justice Owen J. Roberts, Will Clayton, Joseph Grew, John McCloy, John Foster Dulles, James Wadsworth, Paul Litchfield, Harry Bullis (to name but a few), I take it that "visionary" is a compliment in your lexicon, and I thank you. But I must testify that Senator Kefauver has supported it not only "in theory," but in season and out--and so vigorously as to take Secretary Acheson sharply to task for holding up this resolution . . .

CLARENCE STREIT Washington, D.C.

Sir:

I fail to comprehend why the American people are displaying such enthusiasm for Eisenhower for President. People know almost nothing of the general's philosophy of government and his stand on vital issues confronting the people at this time. During the war he had a wonderful job in which he had a staff made up of the best military minds . . . No decision, no plan, no strategy can be said to have been that of Eisenhower alone . . .

H. S. JONES Long Beach, Calif.

Sir:

Eisenhower had a difficult decision to make --until the Dixiecrats threw Richard B. Russell's hat into the ring . . . Ike could help synthesize a movement that would end the monopoly of important chairmanships in congressional committees now held by Dixiecrats on a seniority basis. Like "Old Man River," Southern Congressmen keep aruling on--due to Democratic Party control in the South.

A switch to Republicanism in the South could be the most important social development in 1953. The answer is Ike--in July and November too!

LYLE G. SORENSEN Opportunity, Wash.

Sir:

Cicero, in his De Officues 1:72, said: "But those whom Nature has endowed with the capacity for administering public affairs should put aside all hesitation, enter the race for public office, and take a hand in directing the government; for in no other way can a government be administered or greatness of spirit be made manifest . . ." Isn't that a clear call for Eisenhower?

W. T. RADIUS Grand Rapids, Mich.

. . . Both the Republicans and the Democrats should select Eisenhower as the presidential candidate, and each party should nominate its own vice presidential candidate. Thus he could be on one ticket with Earl Warren as a running mate, and on the other with Adlai Stevenson.

The election of the Vice President would evidence the domestic policy decision of the people. Then in choosing the Cabinet members on internal matters, the new President could be guided by the expressed preference of the people.

GORDON W. LEVOY Hollywood, Calif.

Sir:

Has no one remembered that when General Eisenhower takes off his uniform he is going to look like just a man instead of a god? . . .

MRS. FRED NORTON Findlay, Ohio

The Thud of Adjectives

Sir:

"Douglas MacArthur, in fine, old-fashioned prose . . . [Speaking at Little Rock, Ark.--TIME, March 31]." No wonder it sounds oldfashioned. It's a rehash of an address to veterans of the Rainbow Division at a reunion in Washington in 1935. See Rovere and Schlesinger, The General and the President, page 37:

". . . Ghosts in olive drab and sky blue and German grey pass before our eyes; voices that have stolen away in the echoes from the battlefield no more ring out. The faint, far whisper of forgotten songs no longer floats through the air. Youth . . . strength . . . aspirations . . . struggles . . . triumphs . . . despairs . . . wide winds sweeping . . . beacons flashing across uncharted depths . . . movements . . . vividness . . . radiance . . . shadows . . . faint bugles sounding reveille ... far drums beating the long roll ... the crash of guns . . . the rattle of musketry ... the still white crosses . . . And now we are met to remember."

He has updated it with "the wail of sirens . . . the thud of bombs."

JEANNETTE ELDER Chicago

Scalpel & Chisel

Sir:

Your March 24 report on the fraudulent practices of the 200 or more doctors who sent in phony reports to the California Physicians' Service, in order to collect for services not rendered, is an excellent example of the "white collar" racketeering that is tolerated by an apathetic public these days.

This evidence of the questionable ethics and anti-social values of a sizable group of doctors suggests that it might be profitable to inquire into the membership requirements and standards of the A.M.A., as well as their propaganda techniques . . . The consumer of medical services should have some protection against the dishonest doctor . . .

ROBERT J. DWYER Missoula, Mont.

Sir:

Congratulations on your C.P.S. story. It really is something when a national magazine can "break" such a story, of interest to 850,000 Californians. Where were the "competitive" Los Angeles daily newspapers when this fraud was bared in the [March 6] bulletin of the Los Angeles County Medical Association?

The San Francisco Chronicle picked up your story on March 21, 24 hours after TIME readers had it ...

PAUL BRINDEL Novato, Calif.

Sir:

As the wife of a conscientious doctor, I, too, am shocked by the practices revealed in your article. While hoping that "the guilty doctors will mend their ways," and checking on them as if they were little boys with jam on their faces, can the California Medical

Association continue to sanction them as members of the organization they are trying to sabotage? These subversive agents for socialized medicine surely should get more than a slap on the wrist.

MRS. CHARLES VOGL Ann Arbor, Mich.

"How Old Is Ann?"

Sir:

Re Milestones, TIME, March 3, and R. D. Towne's "How-old-is-Ann?" riddle:

After muddling over the problem for an hour (at college, an English major), I turned it over to my father (M.I.T. '15), who promptly worked out this simple algebraic solution:

Ann's age now = x

Mary's age now = 24

Difference in ages = 24 -- x

24/2=x-- (24 -- x)

12=2 X--24 2x=36 x = 18

HERBERT J. WOSTREL

Waban, Mass.

Sir:

. . . You deserve a sharp slap on the wrist

for having greatly watered down the famous

problem, which is:

"The combined ages of Mary and Ann are 44 years, and Mary is twice as old as Ann was when Mary was half as old as Ann will be when Ann is three times as old as Mary was when Mary was three times as old as Ann. How old is Ann?"

OLIN MILLER

Thomaston, Ga. P:There have been several treatments of Ann's age. The version quoted by Reader Miller was originated by the late Sam Loyd, dean of U.S. puzzle-makers. His solution:

"Mary was 3% years old and Ann was ix, showing a difference of 2X years in their ages. Therefore, when Mary was 5x and Ann 3x, their combined age amounted to 44 years. Dividing 44, which equals 8x, by 8, we find that x equals 5 1/2 years, which shows Mary to be 27 1/2 and Ann 16 1/2."--ED.

Bafflegab: A First Reader

Sir:

I wonder how many of your readers resorted to aspirin after reading your March 24 article on bafflegab in the Business section. As for myself, may I use Shakespeare's appropriate statement: "I was never so bethump'd with words."

DONALD JONAS

Brooklyn, N.Y.

What F.D.R. Said about H.S.T.

Sir:

Mr. Truman should have been more careful with some of his notes [in the book Mr. President--TIME, March 24], especially that one quoting Roosevelt's answer when Truman refused the candidacy for Vice President. "Well," said F.D.R., "if he wants to let the Democratic Party and the country down in the midst of a war, that is his responsibility."

It is revealing that the country is placed after the Democratic Party, but to a Democrat that will seem natural. This party, for the past 19 years, has always come first as much as possible. First by bribing the people with handouts, and now by taking handouts from the people in the form of taxes, retirement funds, etc. . . .

R. SWAIN Los Angeles

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