Smoky Remark

Sir:

Re "The Word That Came to Dinner" [TIME, March 7], permit me to quote a rhyme from the pen of that homely bard--the poet of the people--Uncle Walt Mason:

Great men, beneath some awful stroke

Let loose remarks that fairly smoke,

And we forgive them as we write

The story of their deeds of might.

But little men, who swear and swear,

And thus pollute our common air,

Are foul and foolish as the frogs

That trumpet in their native bogs.

Personally, I do not approve of the type of language that the President used--and I am no Puritan . . .

JOHN F. PALM

Isle, Minn.

Sir:

"Quick, Papa, get the children out of the living room. The President is going to speak!"

PHILIP JOHNSTON

Los Angeles, Calif.

Sir:

. . . Millions of Americans were either shocked or pleased by President Truman's S.O.B. remark. But what about . . . Drew Pearson's reaction? . . . Surely the gentleman has not taken it lying down?

DR. M. B. WIDLUS

Warren, Ohio

P: No, reclining. Wrote Pearson in his column: "When I was young I had a prof [whose] philosophy was: 'If someone hands you a lemon, make lemonade.' The lemon Truman handed me I have squeezed so S.O.B. will stand for 'Servants of Brotherhood.' I am getting up an engraved 'Servants of Brotherhood' membership certificate, and maybe others will join me in enlisting folks who have sacrificed for their fellowmen . . ."--ED.

To Refute Communism

Sir:

Professor Sidney Hook . . . poses the problem of discovering Communist teachers, denning the doctrine, and detecting the "line" [TIME, March 7] ...

A more effective refutation of Communism, and a simpler way to do it, would be for Professor Hook and his fellow professors to offer courses which include specific Communist ideas, labeled as such, and critically analyze them in the light of what we believe to be the facts . . .

J. M. RUSSAKOFF

New York City

Reminiscent Line

Sir:

To add to your fine story on Maurice Boutet de Monvel and his "Joan of Arc" illustrations in the March 7 issue:

Maurice's son, Bernard Boutet de Monvel, is also a gifted artist, particularly as a portrait painter. The fineness of his line and the quality of his color is reminiscent of his father's. Bernard now . . . has painted a magnificent canvas of Ingrid Bergman (see cut) as she appears in the motion picture Joan of Arc . . .

ALFRED VAUGHAN

Sierra Pictures, Inc.

Hollywood, Calif.

None of Whose Business?

Sir:

John Rankin's justification for his monstrous $150 billion veterans' pension bill [TIME, Feb. 28] is that he would rather see the money go to ex-servicemen than to have it thrown down the "sinkholes of Asia, Europe and Africa."

Many veterans became familiar with these "sinkholes" a few years back, and many remained there, because myopic isolationists who talked like Rankin thought the affairs of Europe were none of our business. Aid to the friends of freedom abroad is security for the veteran. Rankin's proposal is not. The Congressman from Mississippi misreads the mind of the ex-G.I. if he thinks we put a bonus price tag on our wartime service.

GILBERT A. HARRISON

National Chairman A.V.C.

Washington, D.C.

Mixed Emotions (California Division)

Sir:

Although your Mobilhome story [TIME, March 7] was substantially accurate . . . Hugh Curran, not "Hugh Kern," is inventor of the Mobilhome method of construction . . .

ROBERT BERESFORD

San Jose, Calif.

Sir:

Your article on Blum's [TIME, March 7] was read . . . with mixed emotions. While we recognized its fundamental accuracy, the proximity of the wording where you say "Last week Fred Levy changed tactics . . . He switched over to machine production" [of cheaper candy] could have had unexpected consequences. We have had to talk awfully fast and earnestly to reassure our customers--such as Godchaux in New Orleans, Chasnoff's in Kansas City, and scores of others--that the change in tactics does not mean that there will be any change in Blum's . . . The new activity, of course, is entirely separate and distinct.

FRED LEVY

San Francisco, Calif.

Four Miles from Newburyport

Sir:

Nowhere in your many interesting columns concerning the life and hard times of John Phillips Marquand [TIME, March 7] do you mention the name of the town in which he resides a good part of the year, votes and pays taxes . . . Why not come right out and say Newbury instead of "four miles from Newburyport?"

Historical old Newbury, which is proud to claim Mr. Marquand as its leading citizen, was settled in 1635 and ... is one of the few towns to have its own flag . . .

EDWARD LEIGH BROWN

Newbury, Mass.

Protestant Persecution

Sir:

Regarding Homer Bigart's report on the persecution of Protestants in Spain [TIME, March 7] ... Although the Pope is powerless to help the situation in Hungary and Bulgaria, he could stop this evil practice in Spain by merely lifting a finger.

LAVERN KIMPLE

Ithaca, N.Y.

Sir:

. . . The Spanish Catholics are at least perfectly logical. If they believe that their church is the true one, all others are impostors and their state has the duty of preventing the spread of error . . . Spain is not the only consistent country in Europe in things of religious belief. The present Norwegian constitution, which theoretically grants religious liberty, still preserves an article forbidding Jesuits to enter the country . . . "

GERARD MACK

San Francisco, Calif.

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