Charlie's Thumb

Sir:

The greatest service the press has done the public in following Defense Secretary Wilson's antics is to advise us of what an ignoramus the president of General Motors was.

W. C. HELLER

Burbank, Calif.

Sir:

If we had fewer admirals and generals decked out in their panoply of braid and brass (from neck to navel), harassing a rabbitlike Congress for more billions for this and more billions for something else, and a few more "Engine Charlies," the country would be a damned sight better off.

OWEN BALDWIN

Silver Lake, Mass.

Sir:

It seems that Mr. Wilson has yet to understand that in addressing U.S. Senators and Representatives (and even accredited members of the press) he is not dealing with persons, but rather with the sovereignty of the U.S. And unfortunately for the Republican Party, I think Mr. Wilson's "the-people-be-damned" attitude symbolizes for many people the feelings of all powerful and affluent members of the party.

LEON G. HAMBLY

Seattle

Sir:

God bless Charlie Wilson and his big thumb.

MARGARET D. HEYER

Rochester, N.Y.

The Outsider

Sir:

My compliments to the reviewer of Colin Wilson's first book, The Outsider [July 2]. It shows a luminously intelligent study and portrayal of an intense theme as if written by the author himself.

LEWIS T. APPLE

Clayton, Mo.

Sir:

Writer Wilson, who believes the world needs a new religion, reminds one of Voltaire's hint to a young man who wanted to know how to start one: "First get yourself crucified, then rise from the dead."

PAUL MORTON

Toronto

Patriots & Cypriots

Sir:

In your June 25 story on Cyprus, you call E.O.K.A. a "terrorist" group, etc. The term "terrorist" is not a successful one. Applying your way of thinking to the history of the U.S., we have to call all Americans who fought for their independence against the British rule terrorists.

P. J. MARGARITIS

Athens, Greece

Sir:

E.O.K.A. men are no terrorists, but patriots fighting for their freedom.

ANGELO COGEVINAS

Corfu, Greece

u One country's rebel is apt to be another's patriot, but the word terrorist can be properly applied to those who throw bombs into crowded cafes or churches.--ED.

Polio Progress

Sir:

The reference to Dr. David Bodian as a "skeptic" (.June 25] in relation to the approach to vaccination against poliomyelitis, now in use, does not characterize him accurately. He is not so regarded by his colleagues, nor have his writings or utterances so revealed him.

JONAS E. SALK, M.D.

Municipal Hospital

Pittsburgh

Fuss About AFUS

Sir:

Upon reading the letters of protest to a proposed unified armed forces of the U.S. I notice to my dismay that a number of persons are still egotistical and self-centered about their particular service. Wars of tomorrow will require a close coordination of all the services. I hope someone tells this to Pentagon officials.

(A/2C) ROGER E. PEARSON

U.S.A.F.

Aviano A.F.B., Italy

Sir:

I do not suggest that Lieut. Colonel Hugh G. Martin Jr., Infantry, "turn in his suit." He is obviously a dedicated man, and our country needs many like him. However, I am curious to know how many casualties it was the ground forces' "duty to take" as they "took the ground" of the Japanese home islands.

MARK A. CASMUS

Sumter, S.C.

Sir:

To the Marine captain who could say that he "would rather have a daughter in a house of ill repute than a son in AFUS"--you are evidently not deserving to be a parent.

(A/2C) WILLIAM HAGAN II

U.S.A.F.

Parks Air Force Base, Calif.

Sir:

When will Marines grow up ? Having lived with the Marines in troubled times and in the South Pacific in double-troubled times, they are not quite the supermen they like to think they are.

M. F. PAIGE

Boston

Design for Living

Sir:

Your July 2 cover story on Eero Saarinen gives credit to TIME. But do not stop now! We need more articles like this one to help show what good architecture is and, especially, its increasing availability everywhere. Our communities and homes, in fact our national and international welfare depend upon contemporary or modern architecture being brought down from an esoteric steeple where some would wish to save it.

GEORGE W. CONKLIN

New Haven, Conn.

Sir:

Your Eero Saarinen article was read with interest; the list of "20th Century Form Givers" was, however, riddled with omissions. The most notable absentee was Edward D. Stone, whose architecture is characterized by a textural richness and a sense of human scale found only rarely in the work of those mentioned (Wright excepted, of course).

LESLIE LARSON

New York City

Sir:

We have gas tanks designed like Saarinen's Cylinder Chapel and we never once thought of them as great architectural achievements --merely overgrown storage tanks. And they're quite old.

(MRS.) MARGARET B. SCHILLING

Philadelphia

Sir:

To avoid giving a false impression about the winners of the competition for the Smithsonian Art Gallery in Washington in 1939, it was won by my father, the late Eliel Saarinen, my husband, J. Robert F. Swanson and my younger brother, Eero, as a joint venture. Also, it should be clarified that a major part of the planning research and design for the General Motors Technical Center was done by the same three architects before Eero completed the job.

PIPSAN SAARINEN SWANSON

Swanson Associates Inc.

Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

P: First prize for the Smithsonian Art Gallery was awarded to Eliel and Eero Saarinen & J. Robert F. Swanson. Architect Swanson left the firm in 1947. --ED.

Sir:

Having been in architecture as student, practitioner and teacher for 67 years, may I congratulate you on the interesting selection of modern buildings in your color spread? My own opinion is that we are still fumbling toward what will be a genuine style 50 or 60 years from now.

GOLDWIN GOLDSMITH, F.A.I.A.

(Professor Emeritus)

Austin, Texas

Atom by the Tail

Sir:

After reading and reflecting on your June 25 article about atomic radiation, I almost feel that there are more disadvantages of atomic power to the human race than advantages. Maybe power to the consumer will eventually be cheaper, but at what eventual price? What a lovely world we will have with two-headed, three-legged, seven-fingered monsters populating it!

CLIFFORD B. HAUGHTON JR.

Montgomery, Pa.

Sir:

We don't have to have an "Atomic Age." If men had a hard time catching the atom, they are clever enough to also let go of it like a bad fish.

HELEN GOLDENBERG

San Francisco

The Man Who Knew Mencken

Sir:

I fail to see why you persist in covering the pages of a largely readable magazine like TIME with the acrid slop which poured from the mouth of the late H. L. Mencken. I realize that in reviewing Charles Angoff's H. L. Mencken: A Portrait from Memory [July 2] you had to use some of the content of the book, but for Pete's sake! Perhaps the only reason that the prejudice-prone Mencken was so critical of all the great men of our time was that he himself was not of their caliber.

PETER GARRISON

Beverly Hills, Calif.

Sir:

Your critic managed to get his big toe stuck in his ear. It is the most preposterous book I've ever read. I knew Mencken from 1930 to the year before his death and spent many hours with him just listening to his marvelous talk. Everyone who knew him at all well (except this character Angoff) agreed that he was a gentleman, a polite and considerate man. Yet Angoff makes him out to be an ignorant and oafish guttersnipe.

H. ALLEN SMITH

Mount Kisco, N.Y.

Marginal Note

Sir:

In your June 25 Business section it was stated that "brokerage houses . . . were forced to dump it [stock] on the market as ... margin fell below the 70% required by the Federal Reserve Board." Actually, the Federal Reserve regulations determine only the initial margin requirements, currently 70% of the total cost of registered nonexempt securities. The Federal Reserve Board sets no maintenance margin requirements. However, the New York Stock Exchange and member firms establish the minimum to which equity must decline before a margin call is issued. The maintenance margin is well below the 70% initial margin.

JOHN L. ABDALIAN

Hemphill, Noyes & Co.

New York City

P: Reader Abdalian is right. The minimum maintenance margin of 25% is set by exchanges; individual brokerage houses also set their own minimums, which range from 25-35%.--ED.

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