The Flying Bridgeman

Sir:

. . . Bill Bridgeman [TIME, April 27] was always the "Old Campaigner," but I guess he is younger than a lot of us. I, for one, would not touch his job with a pole measuring twelve nautical miles. In my opinion it's time that people started to re-examine the value of the tandem bicycle.

RICHARD J. POTTER

Memphis

Sir:

Compliments on your Bill Bridgeman article. I would like to make two minor corrections: I obtained an annulment, not he, in Honolulu in 1949. It was seven years later, not six. Odd, I know.

MRS. PAUL ARSLAN (formerly Mrs. W. B. Bridgeman) Los Angeles

Sir:

Congratulations on your terrific article on Bill Bridgeman and the X3.

Having worked on the ship, it was quite a thrill to see it in TIME and to read your wonderful account of the first flight, which was correct to the letter.

WILLIAM ELLFELDT

Santa Monica, Calif.

Sir:

While attending South Pasadena High School in the early '303 with Bill Bridgeman, five of us invested $1 apiece in the purchase of a 1914 Franklin. That he was without fear I had no doubts after he drove the other stockholders over a slight precipice into a haystack on the estate of the late General

George S. Patton. The hickory-chassis car took the jolt, as did the passengers, but Blood & Guts' caretaker called the law, and Bill was booked for reckless driving, only to have the case thrown out of court . . .

GEORGE W. EGAN

Pasadena, Calif.

Texas' Hobby

Sir:

My outraged nerves, which have been simmering since "Madame Secretary Perkins' " era, have been brought to a boil with the creation of a new Cabinet rank -- and another female to fill it, Oveta Gulp Hobby [TIME, May 4].

A nation dominated and run by women is headed for certain disaster.

I'm sick and tired of silly women -- whether driving a car every which way, buying an equally silly hat, or masquerading as big-shot executives.

C. H. SPARKS Pulaski, Tenn.

Sir:

In another part of the hemisphere, at another time, it could have been Evita instead of Oveta . . .

CHARLES M. COOK Falls Church, Va.

Sir:

. . . Incidentally, Texans don't agree with your contention that Oveta's appointment was a ... plum for the Texas people. Mrs. Hobby's appointment is a plum for Mrs. Hobby.

MRS. B. H. BAKER Bellaire, Texas

Sir:

. . . Mrs. Oveta Gulp Hobby is that new type of Southerner who does something concrete about adjusting relations between whites and Negroes.

As commanding officer of the WAG, Mrs. Hobby tolerated no Jim Crow in training the first class of WAC officers. In fact it was actually through this laudable policy that she becomes the first of the "top brass" to integrate by order . . .

JOHN D. SILVERA

New York City

Garbage Sweepstakes

Sir:

In the garbage sweepstakes [TIME, May 4], I would like to enter Indianapolis. Our city is small compared with New York or Chicago, but we do have some exclusives not generally found elsewhere.

As an ex-New Yorker, I know that housewives there who didn't wrap their garbage were considered dirty and filthy ; in Indianapolis, however, we are proud that no garbage is wrapped -- in fact, we have a law prohibiting it. This is wonderful for the rats . . .

Another exclusive is that each family burns all trash except metal. Therefore, while we do not have the dirt from as many factories as New York or Chicago, we get some from each household practically every day. We also try to keep up with the big cities in another way. We are still using coal furnaces in large numbers -- even in new homes. Every little bit helps . . . Before awarding any trophies to New York or Chicago, do visit us during the heat of July or August . . .

R. G. MALONE Indianapolis Sod's Country Sir:

Concerning the difficulties encountered by Wladyslaw Plywacki in becoming an American citizen [TIME, May 4], we can all condone the action of Judge J. Francis McLaughlin in insisting on Plywacki's taking the oath of citizenship before God. Truly this country had been founded by men of God, through God and for God's people . . . (REV.) FR. DANIEL D. DRISCOLL

Pastor

SS. Peter and Paul's Church New Kensington, Pa.

Sir:

. . . The federal judge overlooked one thing: the Federal Constitution. When the Constitution was framed, the question was gravely argued whether God should be in the Constitution or not, and after a solemn debate a Supreme Being was deliberately voted out of it ... Plywacki would be a U.S. citizen today if Jefferson were alive and could change places with Judge McLaughlin.

WILLIAM B. DAWSON III Jacksonville, Fla.

Sir:

. Judge McLaughlin's decision is an act of the most despicable bigotry and an insult to the integrity and intelligence of those many Americans who have had the courage to leave behind the mind-dwarfing traditional supernaturalism. The Judge himself has committed a crime against society.

EDD DOERR Indianapolis

The Case of Bucklin Moon

Sir:

The case against Collier's Bucklin Moon [TiME, April 27] is the most exasperating of a long list of outrageous indignities. Do we Americans realize the dire condition of intellectual restraint now exercised in this country of ours? Not only can every crank discredit the object of his disfavor by labeling him a Communist, but it has now become extremely unwise for anyone to go to the victim's defense . . .

M. RAFFEL

Bristol, Conn.

Sir:

It seems that most critics of Senator McCarthy in TIME are from the Eastern states. Is it because most of the Commies are in these states?

FRANK S. POLIVKA Brookfield, 111.

Sir:

. . . This nation's greatest dangers are to be found within its borders, not without. The horrible proof of this is public enemy No. 1, Senator Joe McCarthy.

D. H. ETTER Iowa City, Iowa

Sir:

I wish Ike would wipe that eternal grin off his face and make a few enemies. McCarthy, for instance.

MARY LYNN ARMISTEAD Pasadena, Calif.

Hot Potato (Cont'd)

Sir:

My congratulations on your piece [TIME, April 27] concerning Mrs. John Larson's protest against Roman Catholic encroachment on the public school system, in particular the public school in Johnsburg, Illinois. When a church which fights the public school system invades that very system, then the situation becomes intolerable . . .

W. STANLEY RYCROFT Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions New York City

Sir:

Congratulations to Dorothy Larson . . . No group should be permitted to lead us into any world government under the guise of religion . . .

CAROLINE INGRAM

Monrovia, Calif.

Sir:

Americans of every faith should rally around Mrs. Dorothy Larson . . .

MARION F. OVERTON

Flushing, N.Y.

Sir:

What would happen if the church should close all the parochial schools tomorrow? . . . John Larson and his wife should be grateful.

JAMES J. ADAMS Emmitsburg, Md.

Sir:

... Of course, it is a known fact that not only are nuns usually better teachers, as their life has been dedicated to this purpose, but they receive very little salary, thus keeping taxes very low ... I guess all the Catholics and few Protestants in this small town will now be forced to pay double taxes and build a special school for the Larson children . . .

A. DROUIN Houston, Texas

Sir:

. . . If I know Rome, they will try to make mashed potatoes out of the "Hot Potato," but thank God there are some Protestants who protest!

REV. ROBERT E. McNeiL Pastor

First Baptist Church Horseheads, N.Y.

Toothpaste & Wetbacks

Sir:

Re your article [TIME, April 27] on Mexican "wetbacks" and their reasons for illegal entry into this country: I'll go along with you on these reasons, so long as you stick to the job and wage angles, but when you talk of the "wonders and luxuries to be had in los Estados Vnidos--canned chicken soup, pink nylon panties . . . sweet paste (wonder of wonders) for scrubbing the teeth, and the little brush to squirt it on -- wow! . . .

Canned soups are sold all over the Republic, and are a pretty sorry substitute for the good soups made at home by most families. Panties--silk, rayon,-nylon, in all colors, weights and degrees of ornamentation--are sold in almost every spot where there are prospective customers. Toothpaste and brushes are sold in every village large enough to support the smallest store . . .

PHILIP WELLES Tucson, Ariz.

Sir:

Such "luxuries" are not exclusives of the U.S. . . . Thousands and thousands of American tourists have visited Mexico of late. I wish to ask them: Are we so far behind?

E. NEUMANN Mexico, D.F.

Mamie & the D.A.R.

Sir:

After reading that your President had promised to "tackle" the problem of segregation in Washington, I was disgusted to learn that his wife had joined the Daughters of the American Revolution [TIME, May 4] ...

ANN CHRISTMAS Hamilton, Ont.

Sir:

I'll bet that Georgy Malenkov, when he read where Mamie Eisenhower had been accepted as a Daughter of the American Revolution, turned green with envy.

PAUL J. MILLIRON Lakewood, N.Y.

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