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A cover-to-cover reader of TIME since the first copy I saw shortly after you began publication, I have composed many a letter to the Editor, but now for the first time put one on paper. Your article Women at Work (Feb. 12) compels me to be one among many, no doubt, to send you congratulations.
This article is an excellent example of TIME'S extraordinary ability not only to report, but also to interpret facts accurately, and thus tell a story, which, while dramatic and colorful, is still true to the situation.
. . . I should guess that there are few people who could write that article. It would interest an old subscriber to know how it was done. . . . Has the principal author lived long in France? Is he married to a French woman?
If the answers to the two questions are both "yes," the article is still good; if "no" it is quite remarkable.
CHARLES T. TIDBALL
Mount Vernon, N. Y.
> 1) Yes; 2) No.—ED.
Steam v. Diesel
Sirs:
On what basis did you make the statement (TIME, Jan. 8, p. 49) concerning low maintenance costs for Diesel power? Where comparative tests have been made between Diesel and steam locomotives, the steamers (God bless 'em) came out on top. Furthermore, the City of San Francisco (S.P-U.P.) is said to be the most expensive train to operate per mile when all costs are considered: i.e., fuel, crew wages, maintenance, interest payments. The last item is roughly four times that of a steam locomotive of the same capacity as based on cost. The fact so loudly touted of the lower fuel costs of Diesels can't be denied, but fuel costs are by no means a major item.
GEORGE B. BUTTON JR.
WALTER G. WELLS
Williams College
Williamstown, Mass.
> Not No. 1 on the expensive list, but No. 2 is S. P.-U. P.'s City of San Francisco. No. 1 is the Diesel-drawn streamliner City of Los Angeles. But according to a 1939 survey of streamline trains by Manhattan consulting engineers Coverdale & Colpitts, the lowest maintenance cost found was the Rock Island's Diesel-drawn Kansas City-Dallas Rocket (5.7¢ per train mile). End of the steam-v.-Diesel statistical battle is not in sight.—ED.
Dies's Illness
Sirs:
Can you insert at no very distant date a few lines in TIME indicating what complaint Martin Dies is ill with? We do not understand why he is always "ill at his Texas home" and yet still head of his committee. Does he attend Congress at all?
V. C. ROBNIS
Palo Alto, Calif.
> 1) Sinus infection. 2) His recent two-month absence from Congress was his lengthiest since his committee was formed.—ED.
SPCLJ (cont'd)
Sirs:
MY SPCLJ MEMBERSHIP CARD IS ENDORSED BY JOHN W. MACNEV, PRESIDENT, WHOM I KNOW TO BE ATTORNEY JOHN W. NEVILLE OF THIS CITY.
JOHN SLATTERY
Detroit, Mich.
Sirs:
Anent Elmer Samson's enquiry on the SPCLJ, issue of TIME, Feb. 19th.
The questionable distinction of being founder and president of this organization is mine, I am afraid. It was little more than three years ago that our cause was first brought to light in your invaluable publication (TIME, Jan. 11, 1937), and I am proud to say that our little group has worked valiantly and tirelessly in the face of discouraging odds. . . .