Cards in the Chips
Sirs:
MC BRIDE GROUNDS OUT 4:47 P.M. E.S.T. TUESDAY OCT. IS, TO END WORLD SERIES. UNDER SPORT, PAGE 81, IN . . . TIME, DELIVERED MY HOME HERE YESTERDAY, OCT. 16, QUOTE CARDINALS WON THE WORLD SERIES UNQUOTE. COULD I HAVE JUST A LITTLE CHIP OFF THAT CRYSTAL BALL?
J. D. TITMAN
Binghamton, N. Y.
P:No crystal ball but a mechanical monster did the trick. TIME'S fast-moving printers managed to get the news into 72% of all copies.--ED.
Bee in Boot Sirs:
You state in your Oct. 7 issue that Sam Rayburn got four bee stings on one foot from a bee.
I live down here in Texas and our bees are so big we use 'em for primary trainers at Randolph Field. But sting a man four times? Don't let Sam feed you that! They only sting once, in the orthodox manner, and then quietly die.
LEE E. ECHOLS
Laredo, Tex.
P:TIME promises not to get stung there again.--ED.
A Policy on Religion
Sirs:
In this day & age when churches are pleading, understandably, for a return to religious faith and prayer as the only means of uniting for world peace, I keep wondering why our educational institutions haven't taken steps in this direction. It seems to me that we have been neglecting an important part of our education.
Is there not some way to work out a program for our schools which would teach the history of religion--a non-sectarian course not only analyzing the Bible, but inviting intelligent discussion on all things theological ? We have for so many years simply accepted whatever beliefs our parents held, that most of us have ceased to think for ourselves. . . .
Most of us believe in Christ, but very few of us see Him clearly, because our knowledg is shrouded in mysticism and superstition. How many of our young people shrug off the entire subject of religion simply because they have had no opportunity for clear thinking along these lines? If we could but once separate the dogma of worship from the necessary basic understanding of the origins and growth of religion, I believe most people would begin thinking about it as a part of their own lives.
We speak anxiously of defining more clearly our diplomatic foreign policy abroad. How about a clear self-definition, through intelligent study, of our own policies on religion? . . .
MRS. A. J. SHAFER Shelton, Wash.
Erroneous Impression
Sirs:
I wish to direct your attention to a statement appearing on p. 32 of the Oct. 14 issue of TIME, wherein I was referred to in a vicious and unwarranted manner. Whether a literary wag said it or whether TIME is using that as a cover is immaterial. The printing of such a statement in TIME is inexcusable and the only conclusion that I can arrive at is that it was deliberate inasmuch as I was the only one singled out in such a manner.
At first I was inclined to pass this statement off and attribute it to the writings of some "smart aleck"; however, so many people have brought it to my attention that certainly it must have conveyed an erroneous impression to them, and the mere fact that it is printed under the guise of a "political fantasy" in no way mitigates of the seriousness of the charge.
JOHN EDGAR HOOVER Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation United States Department of Justice Washington, D.C.
P:TIME'S excerpts from this political fantasy did the original (and hence G-Man Hoover) an injustice; for botching the job (and murdering the humor), TIME'S sincere apologies to Mr. Hoover.--ED.
Pros & Plugs
Sirs:
Your article in the Oct. 14 issue on Frank Leahy, Notre Dame, and football in general was . . . read with great interest here on the campus of Notre Dame, and most of the fellows were in agreement that it hit the nail squarely on the head.
The character sketch of Leahy was excellent. . . .
However, the article failed to mention that he also has had a few of his former stars "stolen"--Julius Rykovich, regular halfback on the '43 national championship team; Chick Magglioli, another halfback; Bill Huber, end . . . --all going to Illinois. . . .
JOHN KRAMER Notre Dame, Ind.
Sirs:
ONE MOMENT PLEASE: YOU NEGLECTED TO MENTION THAT THE FINEST HUSBANDS IN THE WORLD COME FROM NOTRE DAME.
MRS. DANIEL CULHANE Washington, D.C.
Sirs:
The cartoon from the Yale Record . . . amused a great many of us Georgia alumni. On the back of the college official talking to the prospective footballer is written unmistakably "University of Georgia." It is obvious to us why the Yale cartoonist picks on Georgia, although the only difference between the recruiting of athletes at Yale and down south is that Yale has more money to spend, and goes about it more subtly. Yale men long ago founded the University of Georgia. Later, they established a pleasant football relationship, with Yale winning every year. Then beginning in the late '20s, Georgia won six out of seven, and it wasn't so nice any more. When Georgia won her fifth straight in 1934, Yale thought it best to sever the relationship. After twelve years, it seems Yale is still sensitive about her grownup offspring.
JOHN F. STEPHENS, M.D. San Antonio
Oldest Publications
Sirs:
I observe as a footnote, in your . . . issue of Sept. 30, the statement that the Encyclopedia Britannica is the world's oldest continuing publication. This leads me to believe that you have inside information in regard to the discontinuing of the Almanac de Gotha which first appeared in 1764 and of the Annual Register, the first volume of which bears the date of 1758. . . .
WILLIAM WALLACE IRWIN Paris
P:TIME, with no inside information on Joseph Stalin's publishing plans (his troops seized the German Almanac's files last February), slipped on the British Register; it is still going strong, and is senior to the Encyclopedia Britannica by ten years.--ED.
Nerve Tonic for Germans
Sirs:
I read with a great deal of interest your report on the reception in Germany of Charles Addams' priceless skiing cartoon [TIME, Oct. 7]. The reaction is humorous at first reading, but doesn't this highlight a rather dangerous Teutonic attribute? A people who don't just relax and laugh heartily at an absurdity but must attempt to rationalize and explain it, or point out scientifically why it might be considered humorous, must be emotionally fenced in. A big laugh or a good cry has always been good nerve medicine. Can it be that development of a national sense of humor would make Germany a better and less dangerous neighbor?
O. J. RYAN
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Exit C.A.B.--Not Crossley
Sirs:
FOR INSTRUCTION YOUR RADIO COLUMN DISBANDMENT C.A.B. ADVERTISER AGENCY BROADCASTER BOARD [TIME, SEPT. 30] TO WHICH WE
HAD TURNED OVER AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT CONTROL AND PLANNING MOST DISTINCTLY DOES NOT MEAN CROSSLEY EXIT NOR LIMBO BUT QUITE THE CONTRARY. WE TAKE STRONG EXCEPTION FOOTNOTE REFERENCE PRESIDENTIAL POLL AS INSINUATING INACCURACY 1936 IN FACE OF FACTS AND OMITTING 1940 AND 1944.....
CROSSLEY INCORPORATED
Princeton, N. J.
Sirs:
TIME'S Radio Editor has his facts mixed. The Cooperative Analysis of Broadcasting made its "exit"--not Crossley.
It is my guess that Crossley, unfettered by an industry committee that was hesitant about going ahead, will take up where he left off in the development of new and better ways of measuring all phases of radio effectiveness. And as those of us familiar with radio research can attest, manya first in radio research has already gone to Crossley.
So long as ability and experience count,
Crossley will be found at the top of his profession, not only in radio research but in allied fields, including public opinion research.
GEORGE GALLUP New York City
TIME, well aware of Crossley's good reputation and high standing, regrets its unintentionally misleading story.--ED.
Betty's Plight
Sirs:
God bless "Nurse Betty" [TIME, Oct. 7] whose duties you so realistically described. She is the victim of a complex situation which is beyond the control of hospital administrators. Seven thousand of us met last week in Philadelphia (American Hospital Association Convention) to talk about her while she "emptied waste baskets."
Betty's plight is not entirely the result of the mismanagement you infer but also some of the following:
1) The vast increase in use of hospital beds when more hospitals cannot be built;
2) The public's apathy and inability to pay hospital costs which will continue to rise;
3) The refusal of local governments to finance the medically indigent (they only subsidize the pauper). . . .
Most thinking hospital men expect the nursing shortage to continue until we:
1) Make nursing an attractive profession to enter, confining the nurses' duties to nursing only and providing adequate salaries and retirement security;
2) Recruit and train a paid nurses' aid group at slightly lower salaries to handle less skilled assignments. . . .
3) Finance the program by making the patient or a proper agency pay for what he gets. . . .
4) Finance the patient in turn with a compulsory hospitalization insurance program, but without ruining the voluntary private hospital system. . . .
All this will take ten years, and by then Betty will have married a doctor and the hospital administrator will be emptying the waste baskets. Meanwhile, we need the public's confidence and understanding.
PAUL FLEMING New Haven
Sirs:
. . . One must admit that Nurse Betty has a tough job with long hours and short pay, but she might gain some small comfort in considering the conditions under which her nursing sister in England works: a State registered nurse (four years training as compared with three years in U.S.) works a 48-hour week in theory, but in common with nurses the world over she is obliged to work extra hours when called upon (which is often) and without extra pay. She is expected to take everything in her stride from cleaning bed pans to taking charge of wards on occasion. For this she receives the princely sum of from -L-10 to -L-12 per month plus room and meals (in the hospital) plus one month's holiday per year, less shoes, stockings, uniform, etc.
The control over the private life of a nurse is reminiscent of army discipline in the days of Waterloo--if she lives in the nurses' home (adjoining the hospital) she will be allowed only one late (12 p.m.) pass a week; if she wants to stay away one night, she must first obtain a sleeping-out pass, at all other times she must be in by n p.m. If she does not choose to live in the nurses' home, she must obtain permission to live out, and if this is granted she will receive -L-i per week towards payment of lodgings (current cost of lodgings in London---L-2 and up). . . .
C. C. McKINNON
Stanmore, Middlesex, England
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