The Candidates

Sir:

What is an independent voter supposed to do ? I like Ike, but hate Nixon! I am for Stevenson, but can't stand the Democrats! I think I'll go fishing in November.

RODNEY SCHNEIDER Cincinnati

Sir:

After watching the staid, wellrehearsed, self-satisfied delegates of the Republican Convention, I can hardly wait to cast my very first vote with that motley crew of rowdy Democrats.

GRETCHEN WAGNER Columbus, Ohio

Sir:

The Republicans had to nominate Nixon --to have a ready excuse if they lose. They now have a General and a General Nuisance. The Democrats have a thinker and a stinker. I'll vote for Pogo !

SYLVIA H. DORYLAND Walnut Creek, Calif.

Sir:

I have always liked the gag that was circulated during Truman's Administration, to wit: George Washington couldn't tell a lie, Franklin Roosevelt couldn't tell the truth and Truman couldn't tell the difference. And now, the Democrats have decided to Adalai! Apparently the sly manipulations of Roosevelt, the scandals of the Truman Administration and the horsemeat outrages in Illinois when Stevenson was governor are considered by the Democrats to be of little or no consequence.

ROY L. WOOD Wichita, Kans.

Making Time with Adlai

Sir:

Even though TIME wouldn't be very happy to see Adlai Stevenson in the White House, let alone think he has a ghost of a chance in November, you are to be commended for your fine article, "The Other Adlai." It's high time you demonstrated a kindlier attitude towards Adlai because, incredible as it may seem, there are quite a few of us that really love that "egghead."

EVELYN K. DZENGELESKI Quincy, Mass.

Kinsey's Behavior

Sir:

Dr. Alfred Kinsey [Sept. 3] was a great and wonderful man. I shall never forget the wisdom, patience and deep understanding with which he talked to me once when I was deeply disturbed and asked him for help. I doubt that many people outside of Bloomington know of the social ostracism accorded Dr. Kinsey and his family because of his research into that "nasty" subject, sex. I grew up there, and watched parents forbidding their children to play with the Kinsey children, and the Kinseys being "cut" when they attended social functions. What a price for a dedicated researcher to have to pay for personal courage and intellectual honesty.

ANNA E. RICHARDSON Indianapolis

Lolling Lady

Sir:

Re your Aug. 27 story on the American painter, John Vanderlyn: I certainly should appreciate very much seeing his picture of Ariadne, which "shocked his staid American contemporaries."

NORAIR GHELIBOLIAN Caracas, Venezuela ^f For Painter Vanderlyn's 1815 shocker, see cut.--ED.

The Hoo-Ha Hours

Sir:

Concerning your Aug. 27 review of Jean Dutourd's Five AM.: both T.S. Eliot and Jean Dutourd describe subjective and objective symptoms which they have experienced in the early morning hours, such as sweating, fear, fright, and a depressing and pessimistic outlook on life. Your review rightfully states "a man's lifetime is invariably more than the sum of what he thinks and feels in the small, black hour of the hoo-ha's."

May I offer an explanation for these depressing feelings that can come to anyone's mind during the early morning hours from 4 to 6 a.m.? My own research has shown that these thoughts coincide with a fall in the blood sugar level to the lowest point of the day, an abnormal physiologic state known as hypoglycemia. During this state, the entire body suffers a reduced oxygen consumption, and the organ most vulnerable is the brain. It is caused by faulty diet, namely, eating too much sugar (and foods containing sugar) and starchy foods during the night and day preceding.

Hypoglycemia may be chronic and may thus explain why some authors and philosophers have had consistently pessimistic outlooks.

BENJAMIN P. SANDLER, M.D. Oteen, N.C.

The Arthur Murray Party

Sir:

Since TIME has never noticed our TV program during any of the six years it has been on the air, doesn't it seem unfair that you printed John Crosby's 1950 comments in your Aug. 20 issue? Time makes many changes that TIME did not observe. For the past three years ours has been a summer show, and each year we have finished our series with a higher rating than the show we replaced.

MRS. ARTHUR MURRAY New York City

Canal Traffic

Sir:

Your Aug. 27 studied denunciation of Egypt's Nasser reminds me of what the British press must have sounded like in the 1770s about another colony troublemaker--George Washington.

GUNNAR HOGLUND Cloquet, Minn.

Sir:

Despite some "twists" here and there, you could not but admire the man who is so honest with his convictions as to disregard the might of his opponents. It is too bad really that you try to discredit Nasser--the only man who has brought hope in our future.

HISHAM NAZER Los Angeles

Sir:

It should be remembered that a similar position was taken by the Western powers in 1936 when Hitler occupied the Rhineland. Talks and conferences were held, but the occupation went unpunished, which emboldened Hitler to perform more similar acts, eventually leading to World War II.

JOHN DILEY Jerusalem

Sir:

Hooray for Gamal Abdel Nasser, champion of democracy and man of the hour. Having been conquered, exploited, enslaved by the British and French, what a wonderful feeling for the Egyptians to now know that these imperialists are getting back a taste of the medicine they've been dishing out.

JAMES KING Platteville, Wis.

Sir:

Thanks for the good article on the Poor Man's Pharaoh. How about starting a new competition: "Churl of the Year?" My nomination: Nasser.

ALLEN R. ROBERTSON Captain, U.S.A.F. Big Spring, Texas

Characters & Caricatures

Sir:

Please commend TIME Artist Ernest Hamlin Baker for his Aug. 27 cover portrait. It is a change to see a natural and realistic picture of President Nasser instead of the distasteful and derogatory caricatures which seem to be the vogue in the Western press these days.

S. M. WILSON Potter's Bar, Middlesex, England

Sir:

About that cover of Premier Nasser: I must say that he has grown a lot uglier since your last cover [Sept. 26, 1955]. The trouble with you people is that sometimes you discover the ugliness in some characters a damn sight too late.

MICHAEL M. EILAND Jerusalem

Sir:

The double subtlety which Artist Baker has incorporated into your cover is nothing less than excellent, as well as quite deserving.

H. L. CREEKMORE Covington, Ky.

Sir:

The Nasser cover was a good piece of work; he looked like the vital personality he is.

H. H. LAKHANI Durban, South Africa

Marine Court-Martial

Sir:

In her Sept. 3 letter, Mrs. James Wyatt complains that Marine Sergeant Matthew McKeon's sentence was not severe enough for "the drunken, sadistic murder of six youngsters." What would she suggest, that he be hanged, drawn and quartered? She seems much more sadistic than she thinks Sergeant McKeon to be.

NICK PALELLA Chicago

Sir:

Though the sergeant claimed his only interest in going into the swamp was to train his men, he killed six of them through his lack of knowledge of the terrain. A leader is not expected to lead men into a death trap.

FELIX CAYO San Francisco

Further Fuss About AFUS

Sir:

After reading "Fuss About AFUS" in your Aug. 27 issue, I'd like to say that there isn't a marine in the Marine Corps who wears his uniform with any more pride than our airmen. As to the remarks made about airmen "having as much discipline as a kindergarten class and most of the time acting the same," I say "bunk!" If acting self-centered, strutting and being egotistical is their idea of discipline, then I concede that the Marine Corps is certainly a well-disciplined outfit.

ROBERT J. BEARDMORE U.S.A.F. Beloit, Wis.

One-Eyed Beauty

Sir:

Thanks for the wonderful reproduction of the bust of Nefertete in your Aug. 20 issue. You are to be congratulated for choosing one of the most beautiful pieces of art in all history.

JOAN L. RAFIL Los Angeles

Sir:

You say the bust of Nefertete lacks "one rock-crystal eye." That may well be, but Arthur Weigall, in his Personalities of Antiquity (published in 1928), says: "She had suffered the very common Egyptian misfortune of losing the sight of one of her eyes. The sculptor to whom she sat ... had been instructed by the King to execute his work... with the greatest realism, and not to hide any defects." Even s o, she was a beautiful, regal person indeed.

DOROTHY RUSSELL Seward, Alaska

P: Says West Berlin's Dahlem Museum Director Heinrich Zimmerman of the old theory that the statue was made with one eye because of Nefertete's partial blindness: "No, no. That's nonsense!"--ED.

Shannon's Price

Sir:

Congratulations on the clear presentation of facts in your Aug. 27 article concerning Shannon Duty Free Airport. Because of TIME'S reputation for accuracy, I hasten to correct a misstatement in the article for which TIME is not responsible. Because of a typographical error in our most recent camera price list, the Shannon price for a German Rolleiflex camera is shown as $82 instead of $182. The correct figure, of course, still represents outstanding value.

J. G. Ryan Commercial Division Manager Shannon Free Airport Shops Shannon, Ireland

Behind the Lace Curtain

Sir:

Please tell Luis Patricio Sullivan of Mexico City [Aug. 27] that the lace-curtain shanty Irish is not an insulting epithet but a whimsey originating among the Irish, repeated among themselves and to non-Irish friends, quoted by the latter--always with quote marks implied by the intonation. Several years ago an Irish friend told me a more recent ver sion, which classified Irish-Americans into "the clean lace-curtain Irish, and the dirty Venetian-blind Irish."

RUTH R. COLEMAN Chicago

The Mediterranean

Sir:

As a student of international relations and ethnology, I can say that TIME'S Aug. 20 illustrated article on the Mediterranean was a journalistic masterpiece. It is no secret that--even in this international age--Americans have an extremely limited knowledge of the world they live in. The fine maps that accompanied the treatment of each great Mediterranean civilization were excellently suited towards remedying this situation.

M. PASSARIELLO Floral Park, N.Y.

Sir:

This area has major geopolitical importance not only because of the oil-rich eastern lands, but also for its major role in history as a principal western approach to the heartland of Europe.

CLAIR DONOVAN Grand Rapids, Mich.

Fixative Fix

Sir:

Under the headline "Cancer Suspects" appearing in your Aug. 27 issue, you list "Beta-naphthylamine, used as a dye fixative in many lipsticks and chewing gums." As far as we know, and we have checked with all of the important technical experts in the lipstick field, beta-naphthylamine is not used in lipstick at all. Nor is it an intermediate of the various dyes which are used in the manufacture of lipsticks, and accordingly cannot even appear therein as a contaminant.

S. L. MAYHAM Executive Vice President The Toilet Goods Association, Inc. New York City

P: TIME erred. Beta-naphthylamine, although not found in any currently marketed U.S. lipsticks or chewing gums, was formerly used in some British lipsticks.--ED.

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