Technology's Tex

Sir: Your [Oct. 4] article on Litton's "Tex" Thornton certainly symbolized the good that evolves from a government ir which men have the freedom to pursue new ideas. The story helped to impress upon me the fact that there are opportunities available in this country to all who wish to make the effort.

BRIDGET M. SLATTERY Washington, D.C.

Sir: I cackled when I read your article on Thornton. Ten years ago when he left Hughes, I researched him, liked what I read, walked into his office cold and came out with a $15,000-a-year public relations contract. Hoping to get a raise from the skinflint that I worked for in Chicago, I phoned the news to get a go-ahead. He said, "Go back and ask for $30,000--he'll never last the year."

Thornton, of course, refused, I quit, and I hope that somewhere in the Tribune Tower someone is flogging himself with old press releases.

PAUL R. SIMQU Beverly Hills, Calif.

Sir: You say Tex Thornton "packed an automatic pistol to deal with any rattlesnakes, bobcats or mountain lions he might encounter."

This puzzled me; it seemed out of character with the man as you described him--a pragmatic, intensely curious intellectual. It was not out of character that he should carry a handgun, but that he should prefer an automatic pistol to a revolver. Knowing your reputation for accurate reporting, I decided you must be correct, though most outdoorsmen prefer revolvers. They are safer; a variety of loads and bullet shapes can be fired through them, including shot cartridges, for use against snakes.

Having spent more than an hour in a traffic jam with nothing else to do but ponder this puzzling paradox, I finally decided he must perforce be using the Smith and Wesson model 41 with the short barrel. This seems to me the only possible weapon consistent with his character.

Am I correct?

JOHN BLEIBTREU New Milford, Conn.

>>No. It's a .32-caliber Colt automatic pistol.--ED.

Sir: I think more mention should have been made of his lovely and talented wife, Flora Laney Thornton. She is a talented singer and has a degree in music from our Texas Technological College here in Lubbock. While here in college, Flora was most generous with her singing talent and was the star of many of Lubbock's musical programs. Lubbock people still remember with pleasure the contribution she made to our community with her lovely singing voice.

BLANCH RENFROW Lubbock, Texas

Sir: A chart used in the [Oct. 4] issue shows that Litton Industries acquired Elliott Automation in 1961. This is completely wrong. I am sure you are aware that Elliott Automation is a large and important company with worldwide interests. Elliott Automation has a subsidiary company, Elliott-Litton Ltd., which is jointly owned with Litton Industries. This was formed in 1961. There is no other connection between the two companies.

SIR LEON BAGRIT Elliott Automation London

>>TIME erred.--ED.

To the Moon Together

Sir: Kennedy's proposal for a joint expedition to the moon with Russia [Oct. 4] is more than acceptable--and right now--provided that the astronauts are J.F.K. and K. themselves.

BERNARD GREBANIER Eze Village, France

Wallace's Alabama

Sir: As a Mississippian, I am constantly confronted with the contemn many South erners hold toward even the name TIME because of its supposed strongly biased commentaries on race. Yet the view of Wallace's Alabama [Sept. 27] is outstandingly accurate and fair.

It is precisely this group who, closing their minds to the true consequences, force their Governor and mine to be an irresponsible absolute segregationist.

VERNON TREVATHAN Lafayette, Ind.

Sir: The article concerning Governor George Wallace of Alabama is very obviously one-sided, prejudiced, and bordering on the sarcastic.

LUCIAN TOUCHSTONE Dallas

Sir: I do not understand Governor Wallace's gripe about the article, since it certainly gave him credit where credit was due, which is much more than anyone else has done.

WALLACE D. DRISKELL Auburn, Ala.

Sir: To us, one of the most disturbing aspects of the Birmingham situation is that 95% of Governor Wallace's mail, according to him, is favorable to his racist stand.

MR. AND MRS. FRANK WESTERBERG Clinton, Conn.

Sir: I know all about George Wallace's favorable letters. I wrote him in June deploring his demagoguery, and he responded with thanks for my wholehearted support. Such a mandate!

JERRY STALLINGS Houston

Identity in Indonesia

Sir: Thank you for being candid enough to call Sukarno what he is--"rabble-rouser"--and for identifying his true reasons for opposition to the formation of Malaysia.

In vain I searched the editorial pages of four leading East Coast newspapers for a similar statement following the latest outrage. Small wonder our foreign policy exhibits a high degree of vacillation. We seem incapable of recognizing an enemy, or determined to hide his identity in a mass of verbiage.

H. W. ANDERSON JR.

Baltimore

Good-Oh

Sir: Re the magnificent report on Turkey in the Common Market [Sept. 27]: TIME is unfair to Goodyear, which has the heftiest U.S. tire factory here. As representatives of Goodyear and Chrysler for nearly half a century, we are proud to report that both factories are going great guns in the Turkish industrial revolution. R. YALMAN Chairman Tatko Co. Istanbul

Man in a Mirror

Sir: It would be interesting to know what Caricaturist Kelen [Oct. 4] sees in his own physiognomy. Has he ever been asked?

ELMO ST. JOHN New York City

>>Yes. He views himself, he says, as "a cross between a monkey and a vulture, in a way playful like a monkey and purposeful like a vulture. I also look like them: my nose and eyes sharp like the bird, and my biting area protruding and the chin receding like that of a common macaque. In nature I am pretty much like that. That's how I draw myself."--ED.

Down, Down, Down in the Basement

Sir: Since I am reputed to spend two-thirds of my waking hours and to purchase every stitch of my wardrobe in Filene's Basement, I very much enjoyed your [Sept. 27] article.

The really astute Filene's Basement shopper never purchases anything until it has reached the bottom plateau of markdowns. To accomplish this, one simply pushes the article to the bottom of the pile, the back of the rack, etc., and then watches the article until it has reached the desired price.

For instance: original price of a pure silk dress from Neiman-Marcus, $29.95--Filene's Basement, $6.99 to $5.24 to $3.49 to $1.74 purchase price; child's suit from Saks Fifth Avenue, $5--Filene's Basement, $1.39 to $1.04 to 69-c- to 34-c- purchase price.

Timeconsuming? Yes.

Slightly ridiculous? Yes.

But bargain? YES.

ELIZABETH J. RICHARDS Boston

Sir: Filene's shoppers consist of Bostonians, Greater Bostonians and Proper Bostonians. There is no such thing as an "ordinary Bostonian."

ETHELYN M. COCHRANE Lexington, Mass.

End, of the Column

Sir: About those Pressies: My boss, Ben W. Strange II, changed the name of Risingsun, Ohio's weekly paper, from the Unique to the Star Route News. However, the previous publisher, the first Ben Strange, was for years Strange, of the Unique.

JUNE MILLER Bloomdale, Ohio

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.