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Referring to TIME, April 28 [which reported that 17 out of 36 high-school students misspelled "thermometer"]: I wonder if our young students shouldn't really be complimented for no longer cooperating in wasting untold hours of valuable time in learning to spell with letters having no connection with the sound of the words. . . . More power to the students for having the courage to defy the old mossbacks by refusing to carry this senseless load any longer and thereby—we hope—start a movement for spelling reform. . . .
CHARLES M. FARRER
Seattle
Oatmeal Philosophy
Sir:
To Patricia V. Forth [TIME, May 5], and others who consider student veterans' wives a mentally and physically lazy group in danger of boring their husbands to death, a spirited Bronx cheer.
Let me point out to [her] that "Spartan Wives" are learning, not at the college level (as she recommends) but on the my-life-my-belly level, about science (is baby really sick enough to need a doctor? We dine on oatmeal for a week if she is), philosophy (some way must be found to cope with trouble and frustration . . .), economics (obviously), and sociology (living in a factory-hand or trailer-camp community is more enlightening than any text). . . .
HILDA K. FINDLEY
Columbus, Ohio
Down Beat
Sir:
With regard to your article . . . entitled "Like Bix" [TIME, May 5].
. . . When MacPartland does let loose with something like China Boy, Jazz Me Blues, etc., he faintly resembles Bix, but nowhere near enough to warrant the title of the article being "Like Bix." . . .
E. DONALD KAYE
Chicago
Sir:
Jazz music receives three types of treatment from writers today: 1) complete disregard from those who prefer not to "stoop"; 2) lofty head-patting from classical critics who think Louis Armstrong primarily a movie comedian; and 3) intelligent reporting by explorers who know whereof they speak.
It is a pleasure to see TIME included in the very small group of publications which consistently and frequently doses its readers with healthy treatment No. 3. The Jimmy MacPartland story, as many previous such, is right in there. . . .
RICHARD E. MADTES
Meadville, Pa.
Congressman Yamamoto?
Sir:
Re a congressional quote in your issue of May 5 — "Do we want a Senator Yamamoto coming to Washington?"
As a member of a non-Asiatic family, of four generations' residence in Hawaii (sugar planters), I . . . would like to point out to this congressman that Yamamoto is an extremely common Japanese name, and no doubt shines with quiet dignity on the burial markers of more than one member of the Armed Forces of the United States. . . .
JAMES SPALDING BODRERO
Pasadena, Calif.
No Super-Bear
Sir:
YOUR RADIO COLUMN [TIME, MAY 12] STATES THAT A NEWSPAPER CARTOON STRIP CONCERNING BUDDY BEAR IS BEING DRAWN BY THE ARTISTS OF SUPERMAN. I KNOW ABSOLUTELY NOTHING OF ANY SUCH PROPOSED CARTOON FEATURE AND WOULD APPRECIATE AN EXPLANATION. PLEASE INFORM YOUR READERS SHUSTER AND I ARE NOT DRAWING BUDDY BEAR. . . .
JERRY SIEGEL
Superman Theater
Cleveland