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Sirs:
. . .It's like rain after a drought to read Michael Griffin's straight talk on U.S. morale. It got me. This morning I actually poured the bacon grease into a "widemouthed metal container" instead of just thinking about doing it. ...
ELIZABETH LYMAN Omaha, Neb.
Sirs:
Michael Griffin's appraisal of U.S. morale is ... inaccurate in its conclusions and petulant in tone. . . . He finds the country is going to the dogs because our leaders are incompetent nincompoops.
It seems to me that Mr. Griffin wrote this piece right after eating something in the hash house which didn't agree with him. His stuff is ill tempered. He hasn't caught the spirit and tempo of the American people. He doesn't realize that the American people understand that their leaders are not perfect and are proceeding along lines laid down by the responsible and trained technicians and experts whose business it is to conduct the war for us. ...
A. GORDON New York City
Sirs:
. . . Unlike Mr. Griffin's Louisville, we are without boomtown war activities, padded payrolls, bulging pocketbooks. . . .
We have done everything asked of us, bought bonds, paid taxes, and given our most precious possessions—our sons and daughters—to be sent to all parts of the world. We have done all these things, and will do much more, very much more, without complaint. . . .
. . . Instead of "the people wanting Washington to quit treating them as if they were children subject to tantrums," we want Washington to quit acting like children subject to tantrums.
LAURA PENGELLY Zanesville, Ohio
Sirs:
. . . Which shall it be—to hell with politics or to hell with America?
LYLE BRUNER Knoxville, Tenn.
Smoke
Sirs:
Re your article (TIME, July 13) on Reader's Digest test of leading cigaret brands, you will perhaps be interested in an experiment some of us conducted in connection with this research.
Eight impartial judges gathered in one room and six smoked one of each of the leading cigarets, one smoked a copy of the Reader's Digest, and the eighth smoked a copy of another well-known monthly pocket-size magazine.
We found that Reader's Digest as a smoke had certain definite advantages over all the others, as well as over Reader's Digest as a magazine. Whereas the reading time for the smoker in question had been 3 hrs., 9 min., 27 sec., smoking time was 3 hrs., 14 min.,
38 sec. We found that Reader's Digest contained less nicotine than a combination of any five of the six leading brands, and that throat irritation caused by smoking it was only .1 of 1% of what it would have been had the smoker chosen, instead, to read the magazine aloud.
In view of these discoveries, it seems that Reader's Digest is overlooking an opportunity in offering itself as a publication and should advertise these facts in an attempt to corner the smoker's market.
With those of us who made the test, it's Reader's Digest, 2-to-1.
MENDEZ MARKS JR. San Antonio, Tex.
Fair and Well Judged
Sirs: