(4 of 5)
I am sorry that Westbrook Pegler let it be known before starting work on his Mrs. George Spelvin that he was just trying to be funny. Who knows but the type of mental case that can see anything beautiful in the Thing pictured in the Aug. 29 issue of TIME might have taken him seriously. It is even possible that his offering might have been chosen in preference to Bufano's Santa Claus Stuck in a Chimney to scare evil spirits away from San Francisco. Although I haven't seen
Mr. Pegler's gear, mouse etc., I am sure that it must be the lesser of two evils.
If some of our would-be sculptors like to amuse themselves by making things that look like a slightly backward 4-year-old's first attempt at a snowman, I suppose it is all right to humor them in their illusions as long as they don't get violent. They might just as well be doing that as to be cutting out paper dolls or dressing up like Napoleon Bonaparte, and their antics are mildly amusing in a pathetic sort of way, but, when it comes to allowing the skyline of an otherwise beautiful city to be cluttered up with a 180-ft. stainless steel scarecrow that will stand for centuries for future and—I hope— saner generations to laugh at—that seems to me like carrying a joke just a little bit too far.
WILBUR J. Down
Madison, Conn.
Insincere Monstrosity
Sirs: On bended knees I beseech thee: Please do NOT fall into the stupid and ridiculous habit practiced by a former so-called news weekly —that of printing the opinions of newspapers regarding events, such as you did [TIME, Aug. 22 ]when reporting the President's Georgia episode. . . .
Give us the facts, good or bad, in favor of or in disfavor of anyone making news, but spare us the inanities of those who have made the American Press the babbling, insincere monstrosity it has turned out to be.
G. E. GLENN
Los Angeles, Calif.
Let Reader Glenn have no fear; TIME will continue to report news rather than comment. Sometimes, however, comment is news. In this instance it was TIME worthy news that Georgia papers resented a Democratic President's speech.—ED.
Spirit of 76°
Sirs:
TIME'S readers in Puerto Rico are grateful for its acutely accurate adjectives, make it their news Bible. Distressed and disillusioned when your issue of Aug. 29 labeled Puerto Rico "hot," they indignantly revert to the record of winters averaging 73°,summers averaging 76°. Surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, Puerto Rico is cooled by constant trade winds. Apt is Steve Hannagan's slogan, the Spirit of 76 degrees. . . . Puerto Rico is not hot. Having sweltered in the States for several months this summer, I sit with relief in my non-air-conditioned but nevertheless cool office, warm with wrath, not hot from humidity.
A. CECIL SNYDER United States Attorney
District of Puerto Rico
San Juan, P. R.
Hillbilly
Sirs:
Just what does the term "hillbilly" mean? In the Aug. 22 issue of TIME, former Governor Eugene Talmadge was referred to as former ''hillbilly Governor" of Georgia.