How Humble Can You Get?
Sir:
Why bother and spend money on Election Day? Let's just buy two adding machines, count the times each candidate uses "Humble" and "Humility," and give the presidency to the winner in numbers.
Maybe we should count "Deep Humility" double?
DR. ERIC DEUTSCH
Lynwood, Calif.
Good Clean Fun
Sir:
... I chortled with joy to see the two-page spread of Eisenhower pictures in the Aug. 18 issue, portraying the general as a dignified, firm, glowing gentleman, who smiles benevolently at little children in one picture, and in another seems ready to fight corruption and evil with every fiber of his being. Contrariwise, I am delighted to see the snapshot of Stevenson, absurdly sipping a malted milk, eyes popping, hat set at a foolish angle, and generally reminding one of some of the early movie comedians. This is all good clean fun. In the spirit of the thing, may I suggest shots of Stevenson . . . putting on his long underwear, taking out his false teeth, spilling jelly on his tie?
And then get some pictures of Eisenhower carrying baskets of food to the poor, setting a splint on a poor dog whose leg is broken, and helping an aged and venerable lady across the street.
LOWREY VARNADO
New Orleans
The World, the Flesh and Jelke
Sir:
I think it's time someone arises to defend young Jelke and all the other cafe-society playboys and playgirls . . . After all, just who are they harming but themselves? The men have the money . . . the girls can always use the money . . . Both parties are satisfied and one of them profits monetarily by the transaction. So what's wrong with that? These affairs certainly meet the test of sound economic activity in this cold, commercial world, so why all the furor?
It's about time for a few brave souls to get in the vanguard to strike down the odiously hypocritical attitude which Christianity insists on maintaining towards sex . . . Let the "bluenoses" use their energy towards cleaning up some really important social evils of our time, things like overcrowded slums, teen-age dope addiction . . . disease and want of all kinds . . .
. . . The idea of compartmentalizing sex into the "good" kind and the "bad" kind is utterly ridiculous and unworthy of our modern age. What this world needs is less hypocrisy and more honesty . . .
GILBERT K. SMITH
New York City
The Hallanan Record
Sir:
. . . Now that the tumult and shouting of our national conventions era are over, I feel quite constrained to write you in connection with what seemed to me--and I know to many others--as a deliberate "smear" of my political record when I was selected by the Republican National Committee as Temporary Chairman of the 1952 national convention. This article appeared on page 18 of the June 23 edition of TIME. At that moment there seemed to be no urgent reason for me to protest about the article, because the damage had been done. However, I have been at a loss to understand the motive that would prompt the editors of TIME to go so far afield in their misrepresentation of my political record.
For instance, it is related, quite anonymously as you will observe, that "one of Taft's most important and consistent supporters gave this description of the West Virginian: 'Hallanan was a double-crosser. He double-crossed Frank Knox in 1936. He double-crossed us in 1940. We didn't trust him, but he had a hell of a row with Dewey in 1940, and we thought that would hold him. This time he went through to the last day, and then, when the going got tough, he went over to Dewey with West Virginia.' "
No responsible person is identified in connection with this . . . statement. I assume that it must have been the product of some debased mentality.
The record of the 1936 Republican National Convention, held in Cleveland, Ohio, will show that I made one of the seconding speeches in behalf of Colonel Frank Knox.
I had no commitment to any presidential candidate in 1940 until the Saturday prior to the convention when I joined with a small group in support of Wendell Willkie. I was one of those who actively directed his campaign, which resulted in his nomination for the presidency.
In 1948, I supported Governor Dewey in Philadelphia, although I did not make a public statement in his behalf until the closing days of the convention because I had been chairman of the Committee on Arrangements for the convention, and I did not desire to use this position in any unfair manner.
My support of Senator Taft for the presidential nomination in 1952 was a reflection of the overwhelming sentiment of the Republicans of the State of West Virginia, who felt that Senator Taft was entitled to the presidential nomination. In the State of West Virginia, our delegates are elected in a statewide primary. I announced my support of Senator Taft, and it is a matter of record that I received the largest vote ever accorded a Republican delegate-at-large in the history of our state . . .
It is my feeling that I am entirely justified in submitting this matter to your sense of fairness and to request such apology as you deem justified under all the circumstances.
WALTER S. HALLANAN
Charleston, W. Va.
P: The following is the history of the quotation to which West Virginia's Hallanan justifiably objects:
It was given to a thoroughly reliable TIME reporter at the Taft headquarters in Philadelphia in 1948, as part of a long analysis of the Taft defeat the day after Dewey had won the nomination. The man who gave it to our reporter knew as much as any man about the Taft campaign, but required us to hold his name in confidence. It was probably spoken in the heat of angry disappointment. TIME did not use the story in 1948. When Hallanan was appointed temporary chairman of this year's convention, it came to the surface again with background material.
TIME regrets the publication of this statement and accepts Mr. Hallanan's repudiation of the allegations.--ED.
Suggestion No. 44,201
SIR:
ADVISE JACK O'LEARY ["MARATHON HICCUPER" TIME, AUG. 25]: TRY TEN DROPS VINEGAR ON TEASPOON SUGAR.
MRS. E. R. MANN
OAKRIDGE, TENN.
P: After receiving 44,200 suggestions, none of which has worked, Four-Year Hiccup Victim O'Leary now takes all recipes with a grain of salt.--ED.
The Roebuck at Bay
Sir:
A worthy byproduct of sport should be its contribution to moral as well as physical health. That the opposite result is occasionally obtained was demonstrated clearly in your recent [Aug. 18] article, "Afternoon of a Roebuck," which told how German forest deer are lured within gun range of the monstrous little green-clad comic "sportsman." How low can one get! ... This little gem, wherein the degenerate spiritual progeny of Hermann Goring exploit the mother doe's noble protective instinct and the buck's sex instinct to aid their slaughtering efforts, tells us of a new low in man's capacity for evil, to which a few "sportsmen" have been able to descend . . .
MRS. TOM DODSON
Falls Church, Va.
Sir:
. . . For all their old hunting customs, including the occasional tooting of horns and the stag's last meal, I found German hunting customs refreshing (and safe) compared to our frenzied shooting at any sound or movement. Germans have long practiced what Americans may never learn, that game supply must be regulated, that hunters must be educated.
Many times in Germany I have seen hunters lined up on narrow roads, 50 to 100 yards apart, shooting at boar as they crossed the paths. Yet these hunters were completely safe because of their custom-dictated hunting practices. Can we say that our forests, patrolled by trigger-happy, bottle-toting "hunters" are safe? . . .
HENRY B. RUST
Captain, U.S.A.F.
Amarillo, Texas
Sir:
When the late Hermann Goering was late for an official lunch with British Ambassador Henderson, the Reich hunt-master excused himself, saying he had been shooting. "Animals, I presume?" said His Majesty's Ambassador.
JETHRO HATCH
Oscawana, N.Y.
Secretary's Report
Sir:
I would like to congratulate you on the fine article which appeared in TIME, Aug. 25, on my "boss," Senator Richard Nixon. There is one error, however, which should be called to your attention. I have known the Senator for 15 years and during that period I have never seen him smoke a cigarette, cigar, or pipe!
MARION BUDLONG
Secretary
Staff of Senator Richard Nixon
Washington, D.C.
Multiple Merck
Sir:
Your fascinating Aug. 18 story of Merck & Co.'s George Merck and the multiple-million-dollar, modern, miracle, drug industry was thoroughly readable. Congratulations to the man who, with his continuous Merck program of research and production consecrated to helping physicians conquer disease and save life, has enabled us all to live longer and healthier lives.
MAGDALENE MORISON
Merced, Calif.
Your piece . . . will permit the pharmaceutical people and the doctors to extend their power over America by scaring people to death in order to get them to buy pills.
JOHN BUNYAN ATKINS
Birmingham, Ala.
Sir:
Your otherwise excellent cover story on Merck & Co. was marred by an error. In a footnote you stated: " 'Proprietary' drugs are the old patent medicines gone respectable ; no holds are barred in advertising them or pushing over-the-counter sales."
As for the implied lack of supervision this is completely misleading. Two federal regulatory agencies maintain close supervision over packaged medicines. The most important legal safeguard of the family medicine chest is the Food and Drug Administration, which administers the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act. This Act prohibits the sale in interstate commerce of products that are adulterated or dangerous to health. The law also establishes minimum standards of strength, quality and purity for many drugs. It establishes specifications for the labeling of drugs, so as to avoid misbranding. The other regulatory body is the Federal Trade Commission, which maintains supervision over advertising copy . . .
RICHARD T. TURNER
Editor
Pharmacy International
New York City
P: Reader Turner apparently misunderstood TIME'S wrestling reference: eye-gouging, biting, etc. are barred.--ED.
This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.