Texas & Shivers
Sir:
Your Sept. 29 article on Texas followed the same hackneyed approach that you always take toward my native state--oil wells, millionaires, the Cullen Foundation, and the Republic National Bank ... In the traditional TIME manner your article slides over the surface of Texas politics and finds the tidelands the supreme issue. Certainly the word "tidelands" has been passed about by the politicians, but it is safe to say that half to three-fourths of the people of the state do not know what the controversy is about . . .
In spite of H. R. Cullen and Jesse Jones, Texas is essentially a poor state and backward in many respects . . . The vast majority of our people, the low-income group, are not opposed to New Deal measures other than the attempts to promote racial equality. They have benefited greatly from the Democratic programs, and will probably stay with the party if it promises to continue these programs. The ultra-conservatives are really not typical of the state as a whole . .
PAUL E. ISAAC
Searcy, Ark.
Sir:
. . . TIME errs in calling the tidelands issue only a matter of principle. There will be plenty of money involved too. Royalties and fees from leasing state-owned land in Texas go to pay for the education of Texas schoolchildren. Lured by the economic opportunity mentioned in your article, many aggressive young couples have moved to
Texas from other states. This influx of young couples and their children, plus the population growth encountered with an expanding economy, is creating an acute shortage of school buildings and teachers . . . Any Texan who values the welfare of his children should vote for Dwight Eisenhower.
WILLIAM P. HARVEY
Wichita Falls, Texas
Sir:
This fight in Texas is separating the men from the boys. Governor Shivers, with his million-dollar farms and all, is proving to be just an office boy for the oil cartel and the big rich. The men, like Sam Rayburn and Wright Patman, are standing up for the people . . .
R. N. JONES
Corpus Christi, Texas
Sir:
. . . Some day I hope to see Allan Shivers as President of the United States . . .
RONALD J. BYERS
Austin, Texas
Sir:
Hallelujah! It's about time TIME did something about that stupid Texas myth.
. . . Every Texan is a walking Chamber of Commerce, and there is absolutely nothing to boast about.
I have found them unoriginal people, and that the great fortunes they have are either made by Northerners who have brought their money to Texas, or have inherited it from Northern sources.
I sometimes have the feeling that if you took all means of communication out of Texas the people wouldn't miss it one bit. They are that wrapped up in themselves . . .
ARLENE SHAPIRO
Austin, Texas
Texas v. Ferber
Sir:
Re Edna Ferber's Giant [Sept. 29]: this lady is about as well qualified to write authoritatively on the state of Texas and its inhabitants as I am to do 447 printed pages on the political and social situation, historic background, etc. of Cuba, where last winter I spent 44 days. The last time I saw a Texas "steak topped by a couple of eggs" was in August 1916, at Presidio when doing Mexican Border service with the and Texas Infantry . . .
WILLIAM FIELDS
New York City
Sir:
. . . The author must have spent two weeks in the Shamrock Hotel--probably the cocktail lounge--and a weekend at the King Ranch, and decided she knew all about Texas. I have lived 45 years in Texas--and if I had my "druthers" would still be there--and sincerely wish someone would write about the other 7 1/2 million or so people who live there who don't possess an oil well, a 100,000-or-more-acre ranch or a fabulous hotel. Not that I begrudge the latter one item of what they have. More power to them . . .
DOROTHY Y. FISHER Mentone, Calif.
Sir:
. . . The thing we all are wondering: "Who hurt Miss Ferber's feelings as bad as that?"
ELEANOR W. RINGLAND Alamo, Texas
SIR: REFERENCE EDNA FERBER'S DESIGNATION OF TEXAS MALES AS BRAGGARTS WHO STOLE TEXAS FROM THE MEXICANS, I SUGGEST THAT TIME'S BOOKS EDITOR TRY TO BE IMPARTIAL TO THE EXTENT OF COMPILING THE NUMBER OF CONGRESSIONAL MEDALS OF HONOR WON IN WORLD WAR II BY TEXANS SERVING IN THE ARMY, NAVY AND MARINE CORPS AS AGAINST THE GREATEST NUMBER WON BY SERVICEMEN FROM OTHER HIGH REGISTERING STATES.
AARON MILLER NEW YORK CITY
I New York 34, Texas 32, Pennsylvania 30, Ohio 25, Illinois 23.--ED.
Delicate Matter
Sir:
Belching Stanley Steamer indeed! Re: TIME, Oct. 6.
Some of my best friends are Stanleys and I have yet to see or hear one belch. The main burner may pop back or get to moanin' low if the fire is turned on too soon; she might sizzle, hiss or tick a little as the pressure rises; you might hear a soft "wuff-wuff" as a Steamer passes; there could even be a slight thumping if a pump bearing were worn. But belching! You might better have said "The Silent Stanley Steamer."
WARREN R. PERRINS Rochester, N. Y.
Political Funds (Cont'd)
Sir:
Publication of his income tax returns by Candidate Stevenson reveals a lack of sense of the dignity which should be observed by a man nominated by his party for President of the U.S.
The people are not even morbidly interested in his private affairs, and it is an unseemly act ... Certainly, this is not a time to seek to divert attention to unimportant side shows like the petty personal fling at Nixon, or the quibble over Stevenson's use of private contributions. Must this buffoonery be further prolonged?
SETH MAY Auburn, Maine
Sir:
Re: "Democrats," Sept. 29. It didn't occur to me that Governor Stevenson has sanctioned improper influences on any government officials.
The question relative to appointive and elective officials is an easy one, of which I feel you should have known the answer. The man who seeks the office is, with few exceptions, seeking personal gain and a position. He gets what he bargained for and, only too often, more than he deserves. The man whom the office seeks, conversely, has position and a record of accomplishment behind him.
It is not too much for one to serve his country at a material loss to himself. It is too much, however, for one's country to expect such service as a matter of policy. We have to be as practical in government as we are in business. That is where, I think, Governor Stevenson enters the picture.
EDWARD P. JULIEN
New Orleans
Pentagon Paper Work
Sir:
TIME, Sept. 15 issue, reports: "Foot soldiers took a hard look at Congress' decision (to provide additional pay of $45 a month for combat duty) and groaned." The report states that the Pentagon estimate of the cost of the paper work involved in making payments retroactive to the start of the Korean war alone would be more than $250,000,000.
As a matter of fact, the paper work involved in making these back payments is estimated at approximately $300,000. The figure of $250,000,000 is the approximate total estimated cost of combat pay for all services from the beginning of the Korean war to July 1, 1953.
Concerning your statement that foot soldiers groaned at the prospect of $45 a month combat pay, I put it to you honestly--when in the name of history has a soldier in any army groaned, or complained, at what amounts to a well-deserved raise in pay? . . .
FRANK DORN
Brigadier General, GS Washington, B.C.
Man of the Year
Sir:
Let me be the first to offer Senator Richard Nixon as "The Man of the Year" . . .
L. L. GARY
Columbia, Mo.
Campaign Issue
Sir:
The China fiasco is now history. But, have Acheson, Truman, and now Stevenson considered the difference in distance between Siberia and Alaska, compared to the distance between Europe and the U.S.A.? . . .
Would Russia fight the ground armies of Europe, then endeavor to attack the U.S.A. across the Atlantic? With her incomplete . navy? Or would she, allied with 400 million Chinese, with a tremendous ground force, and with the world's largest and perhaps most effective submarine fleet, attack across the narrows of Bering Strait?
It appears that the present Administration has Mess-merized us into believing that a great giant is waiting to spring upon us from across Europe and the Atlantic. We may soon awaken to find this same giant breathing down the back we have turned on Asia . . .
This is the Presidential Campaign Issue! Do we want more of the same planning by Adlai, "The Democrats' Christopher Columbus," Stevenson, who has just discovered India!
ROBERT L. BROWN Van Nuys, Calif.
450 or 1
Sir:
It is difficult for me to conceive how an article could have been less objectively written than the one, "Missionaries in Rome" [Sept. 29] ... Does TIME favor religious freedom? Does it make any difference to TIME whether 450 people or 450,000 people are involved? How would TIME describe an effort to suppress a Roman Catholic mission in some Protestant stronghold in America?
J. HAROLD THOMAS Bangor, Me.
SIR: HAVE BEEN AN AVID READER OF TIME FOR
MANY YEARS. AM SHOCKED AS I'M SURE ARE MANY OF YOUR READERS AT THE STRONG PRO-CATHOLIC BIAS OF YOUR ARTICLE ON THE OUTRAGEOUS TREATMENT ACCORDED THE CHURCH OF CHRIST MISSIONARIES IN ITALY. THE FACTS ARE TWISTED AND DISTORTED. FOR EXAMPLE YOU STATE THEY HAVE MADE ONLY 45O CONVERTS. THE WORD "ONLY" BETRAYS THE STRONG
SLANTING OF THE ARTICLE EVEN IF THE FIGURE 450 WERE CORRECT WHICH IT IS NOT. THE ACTUAL NUMBER OF CONVERTS IS BETWEEN 1,000 AND 1,100 INCLUDING MORE THAN A DOZEN MONKS AND PRIESTS AND ONE ARCHBISHOP . . .
G. D. COGDELL CINCINNATI
P:According to a Church of Christ minister on the spot, some 1,500 Italians have been baptized, but only 450 have remained true converts.--ED.
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