Dominican Democracy?
Sir:
As a citizen of the Dominican Republic, and in my official capacity as Consul General in Ottawa, I am not only disappointed but I must also strongly protest your distorting article concerning President Trujillo [TIME, May 12]. . . .
If you or your correspondent would study properly the political philosophy and practice of President Trujillo, you would know that his main purpose is to educate the people of the Dominican Republic in the highest and best democratic manner. . . .
JULIO A. RICART V. Consul General Dominican Consulate Ottawa
P: TIME disagrees.--ED.
Distortion Point
Sir:
Among newly patented inventions [TIME, May 12] you mentioned a plastic, strapless [brassiere] as having "distortion point 310DEG." As an engineering student who is eternally reminded to pay particular heed to units of measurement, your statement leaves me guessing. Was it in angular or temperature units? . . .
NICHOLAS M. JACKSON Rice Institute Houston, Tex.
Sir:
We students of engineering and physics . . . comprehend and appreciate the statics of the system, but we are at a loss to account for the phrase "distortion point 310DEG." Does the 310DEG refer to angular measure and if so, is the plane of distortion horizontal or vertical? Or does it refer to temperature, and if so, is the scale Fahrenheit, Centigrade, or Kelvin? If the scale is Kelvin, we look with breathless anticipation to certain conditions to which the system must eventually be subjected. . . .
MICHAEL BESSARAB DONALD C. HART DON MORECOMBE LEE HUNDLEY JACK MUHLHAUSER Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, N.Y.
P: Relax, boys; reference is to temperature and the scale is Fahrenheit. (For nonscientific readers: 1) 310DEG K = 98.6DEGF; 2) that is body temperature; 3) a distortion point of 310DEGK would mean that the plastic cups would lose their shape at body temperature.)--ED.
Presidential Footnote
Sir:
You state in a footnote [TIME, May 12] that only Presidents W. H. Harrison, Taylor and Buchanan took the oath of office after reaching the age of 64.
I should like to call your attention to the fact that President Andrew Jackson was born on March 15, 1767, and was therefore eleven days less than 66 years of age at the date of his inauguration for his second term, March 4, 1833.
TERRELL W. HOPPER New York City
P: That's solid, Jackson. TIME'S National Affairs editor is embarrassed.--ED.
On Riga Beach
Sir:
With regard to the scruples of a certain lady about the nude bathing on the Riga Beach [TIME, May 12] . . . may I inform you that the Riga Beach lies behind a natural wall, about 20-30 feet high, formed by sand dunes covered with Scotch pine--Pinus sylvestris.
Thus the nude bathers--men from 8-10, and women from 10-12 a.m.--enjoyed full privacy and protection from peepers.
The policemen, usually elderly family heads, could be trusted, and their duty was to watch the approaches this side of the dunes.
No incidents ever occurred.
However, I don't know what the conditions are now under the Bolshevik occupation. There are rumors that the beaches are declared prohibited military zones, in order to eliminate flight by the Baltic Sea. Even fishing boats are watched carefully by escorting speedboats supplied during the war to the Bolsheviks under Lend-Lease. I don't think that at present there is any bathing at the Baltic Riviera, drenched with blood. Who could enjoy it?
DR. ALFRED BILMANIS Latvian Minister Legation of Latvia Washington, D.C.
Border Skirmishes
Sir:
Reader Menin's point of view on science and religion is unfortunate [TIME, May 12], and serves only to emphasize the point of TIME'S article on religious illiteracy. . .
Anyone acquainted with the scientific method knows that pure science has no place for morals, ethics, or for any of the teachings of love and charity which should mark a Christian's behavior. These things, which constitute the essential content of religion, have never been, and never will be, products of scientific research. . . .
Science and religion are not opposed, but are complementary. Admittedly, there are small skirmishes along the border, but this is no cause for war. At the present time, science is feeling the heavy weight of responsibility in having developed weapons too powerful for man's moral stature. Religion is getting behind. If it is to catch up in time to prevent disaster, its importance must be realized. There is more need for religion now than there ever was before.
RAY W. JACKSON Montreal
Daly Dally
Sir:
Trainer Smith to Jockey Guerin [TIME, May 12]: "Get on that Duffy." TCH! TCH! . . .
The phrase is, "Go out on the (Bill) Daly"--after Father Bill Daly, whose instructions (to the jockey) usually were, "Go to the front and don't look back."
BILL BOONE Fillmore, Calif.
Sir:
. . . Has something new been added to race-track parlance? . . . Twenty years ago every trainer on the continent used "Bill Daly." It was supposed to stem from a "bullring" jockey whose technique was to "get the hell away and get the hell home." . . .
JAS. H. GRAY Ottawa
P: Let Readers Boone and Gray get off their old grey mares. "On the Bill Daly" is older, better known and more widely used; "on the Duffy" means exactly the same thing. Nevertheless, TIME erred in quoting the phrase from a news story; Trainer Smith's actual instructions to Jockey Guerin were more practical than picturesque: "Go right to the front--try to get a breakaway at the gate, and nurse him all the way along."--ED.
Thanks to the Senator
Sir:
It's time that TIME paid tribute to our foremost American, a great lawmaker and true American--Senator Vandenberg. Your brilliant cover portrayal and biographical sketch [TIME, May 12] . . . do just honor to the man.
Thanks to the Senator, the U.S. can now put teeth into our foreign commitments for checking Communists in Europe. . . . From an isolationist in favor of the Neutrality Act and against the League of Nations, Vandenberg did a turnabout for U.S. interference in international affairs. His benediction of Truman's aid to Greece and Turkey raised him above party interests and sounded the death knell of spreading avaricious totalitarianism on the rest of the globe.
A few more apostates of Vandenberg's kind and the U.S. will have that unified, clear-cut foreign policy we are waiting for.
JOHN C. BAIMAS Fitchburg, Mass.
A Living Memorial
Sir:
In reference to your short note about returning the war dead [TIME, May 12]. . . . With the U.S. beginning to spend millions of dollars on this project, it is time that the veterans expressed their views on the subject. . . .
I would suggest that the money should be used to build well-equipped, modern orphans' and widows' homes . . . provide necessary medical and dental treatment; provide each war orphan with an adequate education; build bigger and better-staffed schools for all people; and give a larger pension to the widows and orphans.
Let us build the greatly needed domiciliary homes for our disabled war veterans, and provide them with larger pensions that will come nearer to meeting their real needs.
Let the Congress authorize the building of large blocks of low-rental housing to take the place of the slums of our large cities today. Let them use the money in a way that will help the greatest majority of our poor people in America.
We should finance youth centers, no matter what they cost. It would save money in the long run by cutting down juvenile delinquency in the U.S. and making better future citizens. . . .
I am positive that if our war dead could speak, they would say: ". . . It little matters if I lie in a grave in the United States or in the land I fought to free, but it matters greatly if what I fought for is lost in poverty, crime and 'isms' of our present-day world. Make me proud of the men of our state and the youth of our people by building a living memorial dedicated to the American way of life."
JOHN EDGAR WILLIAMS JR. Boise, Idaho
Disrespectful Thought
Sir:
I believe everything I read in TIME, but I lately had a minor difficulty moving Eboli from the vicinity of the Gulf of Salerno to the vicinity of the "blue Gulf of Taranto" [TIME, May 5].
I briefly considered the possibility that you were in error, but I overpowered such a disrespectful thought, and I have changed my map accordingly.
MAURICE D. KELLOGG Lawrence, Kans.
P: Change it back.--ED.
Cars at a Price
Sir:
You state that Kaiser-Frazer sold in 1946 11,753 cars for $11,504,443 [TIME, May 12]. That means average selling price of $978.10.
We, as Kaiser-Frazer dealers, were billed net, excluding all items such as federal tax, etc., at $1,354 for the Kaisers and $1,449 for the Frazers.
Do you care to comment on this discrepancy between your figures and factory billing net cost?
E. J. GREENWALD Degnan Motors Inc. Los Angeles
P: Dealer Greenwald was not swindled. TIME got its figures from Kaiser-Frazer's report, which failed to show that the Frazers (some 4,000 of them) were turned over to Graham-Paige at cost. The net sales listed were only the Kaisers sold to dealers.--ED.
Wolf's-Eye View
Sir:
Sculptor Yucca Salamunich [TIME, May 5] is quoted as saying, ". . . Passionate women always have long straight noses."
Not knowing by what authority Chiseler Salamunich speaks, I can say from my own experience of wolfing around Broadway, the Midwest, California, and (in the Army) India, Burma, China, and North Africa, that near-sighted women have seemed to make up the vast majority of women whose passions easily rise to the surface.
PHIL WASSERMAN Brooklyn
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