A Place in the Sun
Sir:
Delightful spread on Florida's Governor Roy Collins [Dec. 19]--a real booster for and credit to his state, which is fast becoming the Detroiters' "second home."
RICHARD P. PETTY
Detroit
Sir:
Though I love Florida's sun and air (which would have made Goethe desert Italy), and I respect its universities and the state's intellectual and cultural life, world travelers agree that nowhere have men so systematically tried to ruin what once was, and still partially is, the loveliest and most stimulating of all combinations of water and earth.
C. M. SELLE Miami
Sir:
I am shivering here and reading stories about those so-called winter paradises, where the oranges may be edible but the people (to me) remain incredible. On behalf of a few million other chilblained citizens in this city, I say that:
Nothing could be horrider than Florida. Unless it's California, which is cornier.
E. MORISON
New York City
Sir:
The presentation of facts concerning his life and his politics contained nothing that was not mediocre and uninspired. As a governor from the Deep South, not even a whispered monosyllable as to his views on segregation.
SILVIA J. RUBIN
Baltimore P:Says Governor Collins: "Segregation in our public schools is a part of Florida's custom and law. I will use all the lawful power of the governor's office to preserve this custom and law. Under our Constitution, that is my duty . . . If at some time later it appears . . . that our position can be aided through legislation, then this whole subject will be reviewed."--ED.
Sir:
The country could use more "regular guy" politicians like Governor Collins, to say nothing of his modern philosophy of government.
RALPH SMEDLEY Watertown, Mass.
Sir:
Your cover story was splendid! You didn't include a little story Governor Collins always tells when he is asked his comments on a certain smogbound Western state. He says C-- -is a wonderful place; he himself spent some time there in the service. Every morning he woke to the coughing of the birds. Others here will tell you that they aren't being disloyal when they display Calif signs. Simply means Come and Live in Florida!
HOMER E. HOOKS Marketing Manager Florida Citrus Canners Cooperative Lake Wales, Fla.
SIR:
FOR 40 YEARS I HAVE KNOWN FLORIDA WAS THE GREATEST STATE. IT IS GOOD TO KNOW THAT FOLKS IN OTHER STATES ARE SMARTENING UP.
MRS. RUSH L. SHEPARD LAKE WORTH, FLA.
Pioneers in Space
Sir:
The Dec. 19 article was the most objective yet seen. Congratulations. Out of fairness, a correction must be made in reference to the Rocket Powered Bell XIA. Although it was indeed the Bell XIA which flew both to 1,650 m.p.h. and 90,000 ft., it was not I, but Major Charles ("Chuck") Yeager, my friend of long standing, who attained this speed (and incidentally, nearly gave his life), while accomplishing always hazardous high-speed research during 1953. Following his flights, and with the assistance of Colonel Jack Ridley, the NACA, and many others, it then became my privilege to be the first man to attain 90,000 ft. as the culmination of 13 unpredictable flights in 1954.
ARTHUR MURRAY Major, U.S.A.F. Paris
Eugenie & Eugene
Sir:
My congratulations on your splendid article about our friend Eugenie, the dugong [Dec. 5]. Eugenie did not survive on a diet of "clams and cucumbers," as you stated. The clams were factual enough, but the cucumbers were a reference to "sea cucumbers," which is a more common name for "trepang," more exactly denned as Holothuria edulis, a sea slug, and a pretty far cry from a genuine cucumber . . .
SIDNEY SEID General Manager Western Carolines Trading Co. Koror, Palau
Sir:
The resemblance between Dr. Eugenie Clark, a research associate in the Department of Animal Behavior here, and her namesake, Eugenie the dugong, is only in the name. I am enclosing a photo [see cut] showing Dr. Clark with a dugong she found while studying the marine life of the Red Sea several years ago.
ROBERT E. LOGAN Chief, Division of Photography The American Museum of Natural History New York City
P:Eugenie the Dugong, who later turned out to be Eugene, died of pneumonia six weeks after arriving in San Francisco.--ED.
Wisdom
SIR:
DEEPLY DISAPPOINTED THAT TIME'S DEC. 26 STORY ON "WISDOM" MAGAZINE WAS PRESENTED TO YOUR READERS WITH SUCH INACCURACY AND INDIFFERENCE. I AM NOT AN "EX-MOVIE PRESS-AGENT." I AM A FORMER SCREEN WRITER AND NATIONALLY SYNDICATED COLUMNIST ; MY LAST FILM ASSIGNMENT TOOK PLACE MORE THAN FIVE YEARS AGO ; SINCE THEN I HAVE BEEN DEVOTED ENTIRELY TO PREPARING AND DEVELOPING "WISDOM" . . .
LEON GUTTERMAN PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER "WISDOM" MAGAZINE BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF.
P:Reader Gutterman's own biographical sketch in the Motion Picture Almanac notes: "Paramount publicity writer 1941-42. June 1942 appointed publicity director Warner Brothers Radio Division."--ED.
Goading a Goddess
Sir:
Why is it that most Americans are always ready to slobber ecstatically over anything French? Take, for example, your Dec. 5 article on the new Citroen, which can only laughingly be referred to as an automobile. I have lived in France for two years and have been here constantly since the duckbilled (and humpbacked, tuck-tailed) "Goddess" appeared. "A million Frenchmen can't be wrong," you say? Man, if that many jokers invested in the old six-place family hearse, that represents a heap of idiocy--which will only be exceeded if a million more undiscerning souls buy the 1956-style Flying Sausage.
ALLEN R. ROBERTSON
Lieutenant, U.S.A.F. % Postmaster New York City
Memorable Sentence
Sir:
Your recollection of the way Ed Lahey brought one of his news stories to conclusion several years ago [Dec. 19] provokes one Lahey admirer to remember how he began one. On the day Richard Loeb was killed in Joliet Prison, 111. by a fellow inmate to whom he had ma.de an indecent proposal, Lahey began his story approximately thus: "Thrill-killer Loeb, for all his fine college education, today ended his sentence with a proposition."
R. RAYMOND New York City
Israel & Islam (Contd.)
Sir:
I have been keeping a close watch for the letters printed in your columns in regard to the Arab-Israel issue. It is, therefore, very unpleasant to read in one of them that the gentiles don't understand and don't care [Dec. 19]. Do the Jews really believe that they are the only ones who have brains and feelings? If the uproar created by the Jews (who do have the means to make themselves heard in this country) should lead us into another war, who would go to fight and die? Thousands of gentile boys! Then, who is getting the "raw deal?"
MARGO NIELSEN New York City
Sir:
I am disappointed when TIME embraces the likes of William Zukerman to help prove that Jews are divided in their sentiments toward Israel. TIME should realize that, today, Jews all over the world are united and committed as never before to the defense of Israel against her enemies.
HYMAN ZETOVITCH
Montreal
Lower Tariffs (Contd.)
Sir:
Your Dec. 5 article says that the U.S. imposes an average tariff of 5.1% on imports, while the figure for Britain is 25.6%, implying that our tariff is five times as high as yours. This calculation takes the total of import duties collected and expresses it as a percentage of imports. But it also includes revenue duties, which are imposed equally on domestic and foreign products, and are therefore not protective. If you exclude these, then the figure for Britain in 1954 would be 3.5%, which makes a difference to the comparison. Tariff levels are certainly important, but surely what counts is the end result. In 1954 Britain bought $12 worth of U.S. goods per head of population, while the U.S. bought $3 worth of U.K. goods per head of population. JOHN W. RUSSELL Director General British Information Services New York City
P:Heavy revenue duties, e.g., on U.S. tobacco, have the same effect as protective tariffs in obstructing free trade. --ED.
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