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Since Franklin Roosevelt cannot be reached personally by the Postal System of his great and good friend, Jim Farley, let TIME'S Letter department carry this suggestion in the hope that it be scanned by the Presidential eyes—to wit, that in order i) to quiet nasty rumors that he is busily building up a stream in order not to change horses in the middle of it—through his intervention in European headaches, 2) to assist Democratic leaders in knowing where they stand in the matter of 1940 and 3) to reassure a justifiably jittery business world, Franklin Roosevelt should come out with a clear and candid statement of his decision not to occupy the White House for a third term.
HOWARD I. LEDDEN Sandy Creek, N. Y.
Disgruntled Sirs:
Why don't you wake up. Look at the report of U. S. Steel. The stockholders got not a nickel in dividends, the company lost $7,717,454, they had to pay to this stinking Government $48,842,131 in taxes, in other words $5.61 per share to the damn politicians and the rotten New Deal. He is now trying to force us into war in Europe, and I have not forgotten the late unpleasantness.
I am renewing my subscription, but I am sore as hell, and am making you wait until July for the $8. I repeat, your magazine is a top liner, but you are just an Editor, and they as a rule don't make a dent.
In the future, let's have less of New Deal boosting, try do something to make the economic situation better, and I am sure you will get letters galore praising your efforts. . . .
T. C. BROWNE
Kennewick, Wash. P. S. I went to the Yukon 1897.
Hey Sirs:
From FORTUNE for January 1938 (p. 24) I quote:
"Charlie [McCarthy] was a stock model in the catalogues of the Macks, early dummy makers for whom Marshall worked as chief carver. Bergen bought his first one in 1923 for $23.75, a head and a pair of hands, since he already had a body from an earlier dummy."
TIME, March 20 has other ideas on the subject, and (on p. 28) says:
". . . Edgar Bergen, who 20 years ago, at 16, sketched Charlie's features after those of a ragamuffin Chicago newsboy, paid $35 to have them whittled in wood by a woodcarving barkeep named Mack, and since then has made a tidy fortune speaking his nimble mind through Charlie's lips." . . .
WM. EVERETT BURBANK Westfield, N. J.
Sirs:
We who have given up looking for straight news in our free daily press expect TIME to parry the press agent's succulent blah, as well as the more deadly types of news distortion and falsification.
I am therefore pained by the press photographer's alleged snide in re Bergen. . . .
"Hey," he growled, "get that lug out of there." Please tell me you slipped. . . .
R. CHANDLER Riverside, Calif.
-TIME asked Mr. Bergen for the rights of the story, received the following letter.—ED.
Sirs:
Some time ago an article on Charlie and myself appeared in your magazine. I wish to repeat your statement made in that article that Charlie McCarthy was carved by Theodore Mack of Chicago. If I remember correctly he sold his wood carving shop to a Mr. Cameron, who in turn sold it to Frank Marshall. I did not meet Frank Marshall until about six years after the original head was made.