The Nixon Fund
Sir:
It is discouraging, when we are trying so hard to send someone to clear up "the mess in Washington," to find that one of the men we hoped could do that service seems to be insensitive to the very thing we want to have corrected ... It is no valid argument that some of the money has been used in a manner to save the taxpayers. We taxpayers are able and willing to pay for honest government in Washington. To call a simple publication of the facts regarding the "Nixon Fund" a Communist-inspired smear compounds rather than relieves the Senator's offense.
GEORGE H. SHULL
Princeton, NJ.
Sir:
... As one of Mr. Nixon's constituents, I should like to protest against a phase of the situation unconnected with the current campaign. In the light of this revelation, I cannot feel that Mr. Nixon represents me or the farmers in the San Joaquin Valley or the people in small northern California towns or many other groups throughout the state . . . I hope Senator Nixon's successor in the Senate will be a Senator from California and not a special emissary from Pasadena.
J. C. SMITH
Arcadia, Calif.
Governor "Soapy"
Sir:
Should you receive letters of criticism because of your article [TIME, Sept. 15] on Michigan's great governor, G. Mennen Williams, pay no attention. You will know that it is a synthetic response, carefully organized by the Republican State Central Committee and not from the heart of the people . . . Governor Williams is extremely popular and will in all probability be reelected.
HOWARD H. CHURCHILL
Imlay City, Mich.
Sir:
The people of Michigan are indeed fortunate to have Williams as their governor. We in Texas would willingly trade our Shivering (Tidelands) Shivers for Soapy Williams.
CHADWICK E. WILSON
Wichita Falls, Texas
Sir:
With my quoted words appearing out of full context as they do, the tone of the last paragraph of your story on Soapy Williams has suggested to some that I, as a close associate in his formative years, have lost confidence in his integrity and even may have abandoned my sincere personal friendship for him. It was certainly not my intention to convey that impression . . .
STANDISH BACKUS JR.
Santa Barbara, Calif.
Sir:
If Williams ever becomes President, I am going to bid America adieu, and set sail for Lower Patagonia on a cake of Ivory soap.
JOSEPH P. FORD
Wolfeboro, N.H.
How Long, O Bogie?
Sir:
In your issue of Sept. 22, I read with pleasure that Lauren Bacall has switched from Ike to Adlai and that she is working on Bogie.
The great issue of the campaign has now been made. All red-blooded American men await the decision! How long can Bogie hold out?
THOMAS B. SAWYER
San Pedro, Calif.
They Like Ike, But ...
Sir:
I like TIME and I like Ike, but I feel as though you are cramming him down my throat.
In the first few pages of the Sept. 15 issue, I note nine columns devoted to Eisenhower and just two to Stevenson.
Aren't you overdoing it?
JANE E. ROMEYN
Schenectady, N.Y.
Sir:
... I like Ike, too, and still expect to vote for him; but such unfair and belittling treatment of an exceedingly able and equally high-minded opponent must unfailingly create a strong underdog sentiment ...
HAROLD H. ARMSTRONG
Detroit
Sir:
Come off it, TIME ! . . . Your persistence in printing in full Ike's pedestrian and platitudinous prose and in depicting Governor Stevenson as a facetious, popeyed monster, if continued until Election Day, may well drive me into casting a Democratic ballot on Nov. 4.
RICHARD LANG
New York City
Neither Sex nor Lust
Sir:
Congratulations to us [the Moody Press, whose "jazzy jackets" made a story in the Sept. 8 issue] for being interesting enough for TIME to look at.
One quote you used bothers me ... If I said that "the image (of a pretty girl) should pull the heartstrings on the cover of a religious story just as much as she does on a magazine cover," then I must have had in mind several provisos. The quotation is okay if we understand that by "a pretty girl" I mean a wholesome, well-clad gal. Sex and lust can never be successful baits for a soul's eternal salvation, and we certainly do not ever intend to use them . . .
KENNETH N. TAYLOR, Director Moody Press
Chicago
Hemingway & the Old Man
Sir:
What's the idea of ruining The Old Man and the Sea for millions of readers? Your review [Sept. 8] is not a review. It retells the entire story . . .
I prefer Hemingway's version, but I'm mighty glad I read it first. That reviewer ought to be used for tuna bait.
KENNETH ANDREWS
New York City
Classic in Mahogany
Sir:
For one of the finest pieces of tongue-in-cheek writing I have ever come across in book criticism, may I nominate the anonymous writer who reviewed Kathleen Winsor's The Lovers [Sept. 15] for top honors.
His synonymous description of the "primal" urge--"the impingement of polished mahogany upon silver flakes"--was classic. . .
"SCOTTY" TAYLOR
Barrie, Ont.
Sir:
. . . Really, he should write a book!
IRENE HANENBURG
Lynden, Wash.
P:He has: A Sea Change (TIME, Aug. 22, 1949), by Nigel Dennis.--ED.
Sir:
. . . The review was wonderful--mahogany, etc. Hope to see the review and not the book listed under Recent & Readable next week.
BLAND D. AUXER
Amarillo, Texas
Sir:
... I am still holding my sides. I imagine the avid interest for reading about "the impingements of mahogany" will garner many new readers for Miss Winsor.
MARILYN KNEEDLER
Coffinsville, Ill.
Sad Latin
Sir:
I was saddened by the educational news which appeared in TIME, Sept. 15 under the heading "Vale, Pueri." I was also saddened by that Latin. If one were addressing one boy alone, salve and vale would be used, but as several pueri were addressed, the hail and farewell should have been salvete and valete respectively. I trust Mr. Solomon was misquoted.
CATHERINE GIBERT
Greeley, Colo.
P:TIME offers its sincere apologies to Mr. Solomon, who was indeed misquoted and may be gratified to know that Reader Gibert is only one of 20 who wrote within the week to correct TIME'S Latin.--ED.
Shining Examples
Sir:
Your two articles on the "Knights of the Church" and "Humanists, 1952" in the Sept.1 issue seem to indicate that because the former director general of UNESCO, Julian Huxley, is an ardent humanist (as defined in your article), UNESCO is following in its activities principles which are contrary to Catholic moral theology (e.g., birth control). May I point out, as a Catholic member of UNESCO, that Dr. Huxley, while director general of the organization, carefully avoided mixing his personal views--which he always freely professed--with the official programme and gave a shining example of objectivity, tolerance and fair play . . . The 800-odd workers of UNESCO, professing most divergent religious and non-religious creeds . . . while adhering firmly to their faith, unite in carrying out a common programme (which, incidentally, does not include introduction or teaching of birth control methods contrary to Catholic principle) for the benefit of humanity, without offending anybody's ideological background. I hope the Knights of Columbus will understand this just as the Pope seems to have understood when he appointed the Apostolic Nuncio in Paris as his permanent representative in UNESCO.
DR. ALEXANDER WOLSKY
Jakarta, Indonesia
Snollygosters I Have Known
Sir:
As any resident of the Maryland countryside can tell you, snallygasters are strictly supernatural, nocturnal creatures given to scaring unwary travelers at night. Possibly some of these sprites have also invaded neighboring states, as would appear from the President's mention of them in his Parkersburg speech [TIME, Sept. 15].
. . . Snallygasters (and this is the correct spelling) are direct descendants of the Wild Hunt of ancient German folklore, and their name must be etymologically traced back to "schnelle Geister" (swift spirits).
WERNER J. FRIES Baltimore
Sir:
. . . The name has long been familiar to me as the name of an animal known in the cypress swamps of the Southern states.
J. P. AUSTIN Seattle
Sir:
. . . The old word for "spook" used to be "Snarly-Ghost," and naturally the person who told us kids spooky stories was a "Snarly-Ghoster." I believe that the word "snollygoster" is a degeneration of this expression . . .
FRANK E. NELSON Warrington, Fla.
Douglas on China
Sir:
We have been enthusiastic TIME readers for many years, including several in postwar China until the Bamboo Curtain grew too rigid . . . [But] can you find me anyone who knew anything about China from the inside or outside who did not report in 1948 that "Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist regime was 'tainted by corrupt and reactionary elements'; it had 'lost the heart of the people,' who had turned to Communism as their only hope?" In fact, those are very mild descriptions of the situation, and would be accepted by businessmen, military officers, missionaries and diplomats . . .
To praise Chiang's very recent housecleaning on Formosa may be wholly valid; I accept Justice Douglas' report [TIME, Sept. 15] more readily than many others. But that in no way whatever denies or whitewashes the Kuomintang mess of 1947-9 ...
CREIGHTON LACY
Waterbury, Conn.
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