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Regarding California's old-age pensions, the frosting on the cake is a lot thicker than your article tells. Some time ago I listened to a county welfare official explain that the $3,500 in real property and the $1,500 in other assets over & above the car, furniture, jewelry, etc. refer to assessed value and are not even remotely connected with market value. I believe there are some counties in California where market values are as much as ten times the assessed values . . .
HARRY L. APPLETON Paso Robles, Calif.
I am a voter, taxpayer and lifelong resident of Washington state. I voted for assistance to the aged and blind people in this state. I did not do so "with something of the attitude of a nightclub sot," as you say. I am not a recipient of old-age assistance. You are a damn liar.
L. V. Ross
Tacoma, Wash.
¶ Reader Ross either needs new reading glasses or has an itchy typewriter. What TIME said was: "The average citizen in California, Oregon and Washington voted for pensions with something of the attitude of a nightclub sot listening to Mother Machree—it was hard to be critical because the words were so sad."—ED.
Non-Folding Experiment 9
Sir:
Thanks for your Sept. 5 report of the Macon News experiment [in headlineless, departmentalized news coverage]. During years of unfolding, refolding, reunfolding and rerefolding papers, I have yearned for such a one. The b.eef reported, "You have to read this paper to find out what's in it," was delightful. I do that with TIME and, really, I don't mind.
JOHN K. H ANN AY Seattle, Wash.
Birds at Bat
Sir:
I'll admit that I'm an avid Cardinal fan and that Stan Musial is my favorite player, but even if all that weren't true, I'd still think Ernest Hamlin Baker's Sept. 5 cover one of the cutest and cleverest I have ever seen.
EVELYN B. THOMAS Poplar Bluff, Mo.
Sir:
As I look out over the baseball field (over the catcher's head), right field is to my right. So, it seems to me, Stan Musial squares off on the right side of the plate, not the left as you say.
CHARLES N. PRESNAIL Mansfield, Ohio
¶ Reader Presnail's point is one that has long stumped the experts. Many of them contend that the whole field should be called from the catcher's point of view. Just as many more insist that the batter's stance is an exception and can be rightly viewed only from the pitcher's box.—ED.
Sir:
. . . Although he perhaps is not as fleet-footed as Musial on a straightaway course, the old veteran Enos Slaughter, the captain of the team, surely is still the outstanding baserunner of the 1949 Cardinals . . . Stan The Man makes & breaks the fate and fortunes of the Cardinals, but for fleetness on foot where it pays off in the pennant race—that is, around the bases—give me Enos ("Country") Slaughter . . .
KARL H. STRAUS New Rochelle, N.Y.
¶ The Cardinals, including Manager Eddie Dyer, would rather have Musial; others might outrun him on a straightaway but not around the bases. Slaughter has slowed down this year.—ED.
Coffin Tacks
Sir: