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Sir: TIME overstated the Wisconsin State Journal's Republican sturdiness in saying that in more than 100 years it had "never supported a Democratic President" [Aug. 28]. Starting with John C. Fremont in 1856, the State Journal has endorsed an impressive list of Republican presidential candidates, but in 1912 and again in 1916 it supported Democrat Woodrow Wilson. At this date, the State Journal has made no formal endorsement for the 1964 election, but last June 22 it said that it "cannot support Senator Barry Goldwater for the presidency."
WILLIAM C. ROBBINS Editorial Page Editor Wisconsin State Journal Madison, Wis.
Philadelphia Riot
Sir: The Philadelphia riot [Sept. 4] was not a "race riot" but simply an infinitesimal part of our Negro community—the rowdy, lawless, hoodlum element—taking advantage of an excuse. There was no issue of black v. white. The Negro community rallied to the support of the mayor and the law-enforcement agencies. Residents opened their homes to police; women prepared free doughnuts and coffee for the weary officers on riot duty; area residents sent telegrams of support to the mayor and an offer to help in cleaning up; a clearinghouse was set up in an area church for people to return taken items. The Negro press condemned the outrage and congratulated the police for their restraint and wisdom.
DELORIS E. GASKINS Philadelphia
The Encyclical
Sir: Pope Paul's first encyclical has been awaited with eager and hopeful expectancy, not only by Roman Catholics but by millions of non-Catholics who have rejoiced at the manifest liberation and revivification of worldwide Roman Catholicism during the "Johannine era." It would serve no useful purpose to mute the fact that the document, released at long last, stirs non-Catholics with dismay and, doubtlessly, "progressive" Catholics with deep if unuttered disappointment. One searches vainly for a single fresh, forward-looking declaration. Even the Pope's offer "to intervene" in the disputes between contending peoples is hardly novel; some of the darkest pages of Western history are stained with papal interventions. Your diagnosis of the encyclical [Aug. 21] was brilliantly acute and accurate—a series of ambivalences dominated by the word "but." But in each ambivalence, the final and decisive alternative is negative, cautious, conservative, in the literal sense reactionary, and above all authoritarian.
HENRY P. VAN DUSEN Union Theological Seminary New York City
Index at Clarke
Sir: As the ever amazed husband of a "Clarke girl," I want to congratulate TIME for pointing out the outstanding training granted to students at Clarke College [Sept. 4]. It was a fine article describing a fine school.
JOHN R. REILLY Commissioner
Federal Trade Commission Washington, D.C.