Have a Coke?

Sir:

I have just finished reading the excellent and inspirational review of Coca-Cola's history, past and present [TIME, May 15] ... I appreciate the manner in which you present the ideas and ideals which made this company an important American institution . . .

DALE NICHOLS Brownsville, Texas

Sir:

I looked at the cover several times and shivered obediently at the dire thought of Red Communism sneaking up behind an unsuspecting world to offer it a nursing bottle of Red pap.

Half an hour later I suddenly realized that the red thing was a bottle top, and the bottle was Coke!

And me with one in my hand at the time! EDITH MOORE JARRETT

Fillmore, Calif.

Sir:

Could your cover . . . signify that the whole world is blue in the face from drinking that well-known "Coke"?

ARTHUR M. SWIFT Grand Rapids, Mich.

P:Let Reader Swift take a longer look; if half of Artist Artzybasheff's world is blue in the face, the other half must be green with envy.--ED.

Sir: . . . Coca-Cola is a part of the constant stream of dead food and drink that modern man pours into his long-suffering stomach ... I would rather die of thirst than drink one drop of this accursed brew . . .

ELSE SONNE NISSEN Iron Mountain, Mich.

Sir:

I like root beer.

N. R. RUTHERFORD

Cincinnati, Ohio

Sir: . . . TIME'S cover story drags out the old clichee of Teddy Roosevelt liberalism: "What's good for business is automatically good for the world." Don't give 'em cake, give 'em COCA-COLA! . . .

One paragraph in the story stands out as if printed in red ink: "Not out of idealism, but out of good American common sense, Coca-Cola is in the business of creating business wherever it goes." In effect, that state ment says, Coca-Cola doesn't give a damn what happens in the rest of the world as long as it makes a buck . . .

ARNOLD W. RYAN Evanston, 111.

P:Let Reader Ryan pull his own muscles in such galloping broad-jumps in logic. TIME'S statement says nothing of the sort. What happens to the rest of the world is a matter of particular concern to those who make a buck abroad, and who show people there how to make two bucks. If common sense and intelligent self-interest put shoes on Cairo ice dealers, would Reader Ryan snatch them off because they are made of leather instead of idealism?--ED.

Sir:

. . . You mention that Coca-Cola insists that its chosen bottlers in foreign lands use water purification apparatus. You could have added that in some places the bottlers will sell the purified water without adding the "sugar and flavoring."

When I had my sailboat in the Caribbean, a couple of years ago, I discovered that the drinking water for the entire American colony of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, came from the local Coca-Cola bottling company. The U.S. Embassy kindly lent me several of its big metal drums (holding 15 or 20 gallons each) to transport water from the Coca-Cola plant to the boat's tanks. To fill my tanks I paid $48.50, but most of this went to the truck owner and the laborers who carried the drums on their heads.

ROBERT TROUT New York City

Sir:

. . .Three days before the magazine reached Bangkok, I had direct proof of how ingrained is the Coca-Cola habit in Siam.

A burglar who chiseled his way into our house, just opposite a police kiosk, took time to drink two bottles of Coke before departing with one typewriter, one sewing machine, four fountain pens, one desk clock and one telephone . . .

ELMER W. LOWER Bangkok, Thailand

Poo ...

Sir:

All residents of the Welsh town of Pwllheli, and the principality it represents, should lodge further appeal against the decision of His Majesty's Court of Appeal to compromise on "Pwellee" as a correct pronunciation of Pwllheli [TIME, May 8]. No combination of sounds represented by the English alphabet will produce the "ll" required here. Try this: lips and teeth slightly parted; tongue curled up and pressed firmly against inside of top teeth; blow out. Sounds like a locomotive letting off steam? That's it! Full word now becomes--"Poo (Steam) helly." Montreal, Canada NO(TM)AN HURST

The Navy's Vibrant Pulse

Sir:

. . . The picture of Admiral Kinkaid "going ashore" from the Enterprise [TIME, May 8] . . . will cause a tug at the hearts of those of us who know the Navy; those of us whose part, small as it might have been, in the past great struggle, was played under the guidance of such great men. We who have known and seen the sweeping force of the powerful weapon that was our Navy in the days of '42-3-4-5 still feel the vibrant pulse of such names as Kinkaid, Nimitz, Halsey, Mitscher, Spruance--and we know the greatness that rings in their sound . . .

R. C. STEEPLE JR. San Francisco, Calif.

Northwest Paradise

Sir:

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the wonderful article on the Northwest [TIME, May 15].

While reading it I was sitting in my living room high on a Portland hill overlooking the entire city, the river, the mountain range (including three snow-capped mountains), and feeling a great surge of pride and appreciation . . .

HELEN BERRY MOORE Portland, Ore.

Sir:

You . . . quoted Sir Thomas Beecham's remark concerning Seattle as an "esthetic dustbin" . . .

To the average Northwesterner the most exquisite symphony, the most masterful literature and the greatest portraits of man are but poor substitutes for the infinite beauty of God's Northwest paradise . . .

SCOTT McKsowN Manzanita, Ore.

Monkey Business

Sir:

"Land of the Big Blue River" slurs a most important trade: you refer to lubricators of automotive equipment as "grease monkeys."

The term "grease monkey" applied to the trade when lubrication was a matter of grease pits and manual equipment. Today's lubricators, with power equipment, not only lubricate, they check for safety factors (brakes, etc.), spot needed repairs. Whether you drive a pleasure car, ship by truck, or ride in a taxicab, your pleasure or business is safe, efficient or pleasant because of the work of these trained . . . "lubrication technicians."

NORVAL C. FAST San Francisco, Calif.

< Brick Trick

Sir:

... It is not surprising that Hunter Ben Lilly could jump farther with a brick in each hand than the U.S. record without bricks [TIME, May 15]. Any standing broad-jumper can jump farther with bricks than he can without.

The trick: standing on the "takeoff" you swing the bricks like two pendulums. On a strong forward swing, you spring. You get quite a forward pull by the bricks. Then you get pounds of forward push by hurling the bricks to the rear . . . It's an old bet-winning trick . .

DON SIMS Berkeley, Calif.

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