The First Tow

Sir:

In your superb story, "The U.S. on Skis" [Feb. 9], you say that the first rope tow, key to the U.S.'s ski boom, was installed at Woodstock, Vt. in 1934. The first rope tow was installed there in March 1933, and was the invention of Douglas Burden, the late Thomas Gammack, and myself.

The three of us cajoled our landlady into providing the device we had in mind. She told us it would cost more than we could afford, but reluctantly agreed to go ahead after we put up the cash in advance. When we returned the following Saturday, sure enough, there it was. It drew enormous crowds, and caught on like wildfire. The total cost was $75--which came to $25 apiece, net.

BARKLIE McKEE HENRY

Princeton, N.J.

P:Reader Henry's original tow consisted of an ancient Chevy, a tripod of two-by-fours and a length of rope. The Chevy, reduced to three wheels, sat at the bottom of the hill and provided the motive power. The rope ran around the car's tireless rear wheel, up the hill, around the fourth wheel which was mounted on the tripod, and back. By the following January, the tow had been refined by the addition of idler wheels and the substitution of a Ford tractor as power (see cut).--ED.

Men Around the House

Sir:

I was tremendously pleased to see the picture of my father, Representative Howard W. Smith of Va., on the cover of TIME [Feb. 2]. However, I am weary of the same old adjectives used to describe this wonderful, complex man. "Dour," "doleful," "lanky," "bushy-browed," "wintry-eyed," and sometimes worse! I think it's time the public knew the other side of Howard Smith's nature.

"Patriotic," "kindly," "gentle," "sweet" and "generous" are the words that his family and friends use. His children know that he can be tender, for we have seen him rock each of his twelve grandchildren in turn, singing their favorite song, Frog Went a-Courtin'. Won't that surprise some of his colleagues on the Hill, who think he eats cactus for breakfast ?

VIOLETT SMITH TONAHILL

Jasper, Texas

Sir:

Your story of "The House & Its Rulers" convinces me that the U.S. Congress is a luxury we can no longer afford. All we have is a group of seniority self-perpetuating, conniving egos that have built a monument of 285 billion reasons why they have failed.

G. L. WALKER

Jackson, Mich.

Sir:

After a look at your cover of Feb. 2, I shudder that the affairs of our nation are in the hands of these men. Before learning their identity, I thought that in view of the oncoming baseball season you had dug skeletons out of the bleachers of old Ebbets Field.

C. RAY HANSON

Fresno, Calif.

SIR:

DELIGHTED TO SEE SOUTHERN OKLAHOMA'S GOOD FRIEND AND NEIGHBOR, MR. SAM, GET THE NICE TREATMENT HE SO RICHLY DESERVES. HOWEVER, OUR OWN CAPABLE CARL ALBERT, MR. SAM'S COUNTERPART JUST ACROSS THE RED RIVER, CERTAINLY IS ENTITLED TO MORE THAN JUST A CASUAL LINE ABOUT HIS BEING THE HOUSE WHIP. IN OUR CITY AND THROUGHOUT OKLAHOMA'S THIRD CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT, CARL ALBERT IS REGARDED AS BEING ONE OF THE ABLEST MEN ON THE HILL, AND IF YOU THINK THIS IS A BIASED OPINION YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT.

JOHN EASLEY RIESEN

PUBLISHER

DAILY ARDMOREITE

ARDMORE, OKLA.

Afflicting the Comfortable?

Sir:

I read with interest your article [Jan. 26] damning with faint praise one of the greatest of America's trial lawyers, Melvin M. Belli, and deploring the amount of present-day jury verdicts. Certainly jury verdicts have increased in modern times. The basis of our economy shifted from the ox plow and the cave to the industrial revolution. Why should we have gaslight verdicts in the atomic age?

Melvin Belli, with his massive learning and ability to persuade, has achieved a judicial toleration of a legitimate liberality on the part of the jury in dealing with such terrifying intangibles as disfiguration, excruciating pain and suffering, and all the other serious sequelae of severe and disabling injuries, and we of the plaintiff's bar whose mission is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable are compelled to acclaim him as a savant.

WILLIAM R. FORD

Law Offices of Crawley and Ford

Kosciusko, Miss.

Sir:

The insurance industry is beset by individuals like Attorney Belli who seem to operate on the assumption that, so long as the insurance companies pay, who cares. His actions require that someone pick up the tab, and I might suggest that you get out your automobile insurance policy and a mirror and you can see the one who does.

WILLIAM H. CRIMANS

Crimans Insurance Agency

Elwood. Ind.

Solid. Like Nothing. Dig?

Sir:

In regard to your article on Beatniks Ginsberg, Orlovsky and Corso [Feb. 9], I am sick, sick, sick of oddballs who equate nonconformity with talent. Pretty soon youngsters will think that all you need is unintelligibility, an unhappy childhood, and a sneer at the world.

ORRIN JONES

Newark

Sir:

Re Ginsberg and other Beatniks: even a square has shape; these guys aren't even blobs.

HARRY R. DAILEY, M.D.

Bloomsburg, Pa.

Sir:

Bravo Ginsberg! Hurrah Corso ! Holy Orlovsky ! But why must they either appear in San Fran or N.Y. areas--never in Midwest?

RON PADGETT

Tulsa

Sir:

So they got shabby rags, mussed wigs, and poetry. Solid. Like nothing. Dig?

A. W. ASTIN

Lexington, Ky.

The Lesson

Sir:

In a letter to the editor [TIME, Feb. 2], a Mr. B. R. Chibber of Nairobi, Kenya said: "The success of the Russian moon rocket should teach you Americans a lesson. Concentrate more on science and less on jazz, Hula Hoops, and the almighty dollar.'' Now I ask you who has contributed more to the advance of civilization--Russia, with moon rockets, NKVD, Siberian slave labor camps, and Communist world conspiracy, or the U.S. with jazz, Hula Hoops, almighty dollars, Salk vaccines, CARE packages, and economic aid ?

LAURENCE W. BRITT

Norwood. Pa.

Sir:

The failure of colonization in Kenya (ask any Mau Mau) should teach Mr. Chibber a lesson. You should concentrate more on your own backyard and less on our missile technology, afternoon tea and the almighty pound.

DONALD D. TIGGELBECK

Morgantown, W. Va.

Very Still Life

Sir:

We female art students were most disappointed that the name of the only woman prizewinner in the Corcoran art show was omitted in your article [Feb. 2]. Not only a very adept painter, Mrs. Leta Hess [whose Still Life won fourth prize] is also our most helpful teacher.

JUDY CRAIG

PENNY CARLSON

MARY LOU WILLIAMS

Columbus Art School

Columbus, Ohio

P: See cut.--ED.

Man & Law in Cuba

Sir:

I think that the new Cuban republic is going to fall flat on its face in the coming years. This reign of terror now in Cuba may lead the government into Communism.

PHIL WOLFF

Great Neck, N.Y.

Sir:

When people who have been treated like animals suddenly take power, they can be expected to forget such ideas as due process of law. Their actions may be unjustified, but they are certainly understandable.

RALPH R. MOORE

Lawrence. Mass.

Bear & Bull

Sir:

The now-famous bull on the cover of your Dec. 29 issue elicits the fact that comparatively few people here know how the expressions ''bull'' and "bear" came into use.

H. CLYDE PURNELL

Montreal

P: The terms, which were first recorded in early 18th century England, are of unknown origin. One theory: ''bear" for short seller grew from an old saying about "selling a bear's skin before the bear is caught''; "bull," describing the speculator who has bought shares of stock in anticipation of a price rise, is thought to derive from the characteristic upward toss of a bull's head.--ED.

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