Letters, Aug. 20, 1951

Ike’s Parties

Sir:

A. E. Cornell calling for “Independents for Eisenhower” [TIME Letters, July 30] is hereby seconded.

Let’s polish that Philadelphia Bell for a clean, clear ring heralding “Ike” for President.

ROBERT J. BIRCH Arlington, Mass.

Sir:

Who will nominate Eisenhower for President? Is he Democrat or Republican? We know he is committed to the defense of Europe from Communism, but does he favor keeping Communism out of America? What is more to the point, does he favor the Fabian Socialism of the New Deal, or the Fair Deal? Or does he believe in preserving the capitalist system? . . .

There is but one logical man for President, Bob Taft . . .

RAY SHELDEN Ekalaka, Mont.

Oops, Surrey!

Sir:

You say in the July 30 issue that “Len Hutton, playing for Surrey, joined the select group of 13 cricketers who have made their 100th century.”

Len Hutton does not play for Surrey but for Yorkshire. It was whilst playing against Surrey at London’s Kennington Oval that he scored his 100th century.

H. A. TOMALIN Victoria, B.C.

Sir:

. . . Gad, sirs, your error is almost as bad as making tea without warming the pot first, or expecting the beer here to be cold . . .

ROY PETERS Bristol, England

Sir:

The incomparable Len Hutton—”White Rose Wonder” and “Pride of Pudsey”—a Surrey cricketer? . . . After such a howler I should scarcely raise an eyebrow were you to assert that Joe DiMaggio plays for the Boston Red Sox.

Nevertheless, congratulations on an amusing and sporting excursion into the realms of the mystic.

J. B. FALLER London, England

¶ To Yorkshire’s Pudsey and to Pudsey’s pride, TIME’S apologies.—ED.

Washington’s Store Teeth

Sir:

You discuss in your July 23 issue the presence and absence of Washington’s dentures in Gilbert Stuart portraits of that famous statesman. To settle an argument, please let me know what Washington’s dentures were really made of …

EMMI COLTON Hendersonville, N.C.

Sir:

My grandfather told me that [they] were made [from] the tusk of a sea lion . . .

EDWIN MECHEM Las Cruces, N. Mex.

¶ Of the three known sets of George Washington’s false teeth, one was wooden (they pricked his gums with splinters), one iron (which port wine discolored) and one—a natty set—of ivory.—ED.

Clean Sport

Sir:

As an amateur female cyclist, one of the few, rare and odd species of animal known to man, I wish to praise, commend and cheer your brief but wonderful July 16 article on the beginning of the Tour de France.

Articles on this magnificent sport are so few and far between that, with cyclists, they have become collectors’ items . . . Cycling is a clean, untouched and exciting sport, and with some aid can be American . . .

PHYLLIS H. RISSE New York City

Pushing Water Around

Sir:

According to your July 30 report, “Endless Frontiers,” the Bureau of Reclamation plans to shuffle and redeal all the rivers of the West, with lordly disregard of natural obstacles, economics and state boundaries . . . There are many reasons why this Buck Rogers enterprise is unworthy of serious consideration . . .

No land, however fertile, could pay out if charged its proportionate share of the cost of such developments. Here in the San Joaquin Valley, the most productive farming area in the U.S., irrigation districts which have contracted with the bureau for supplemental water have taken on a financial burden it will be impossible to carry, if a general and substantial decline in farm prices should occur …

California, Oregon and Washington have repudiated these schemes to divide up their water and let the bureaucrats play Santa Claus with it. In the West, water is just as valuable as land or money in the bank, and we regard schemes to divide up our water exactly as we would regard a plan to confiscate our money or real estate . . .

CHARLES L. KAUPKE Fresno, Calif.

Sir:

. . . Oregon will vigorously oppose the use of its water resources in the manner described in your story. Many sections of California oppose the bureau’s plan . . .

ROBERT W. SAWYER Bend, Ore.

Sir:

. . . We have about 17,000 acres of developed pump irrigation farms around the middle of the project region which, with the U.S.B.R. experimental farms, are proving the versatility, fertility and adaptability of the soil and climate. You have one of the best articles we have seen, but we groan to think of the flood of land inquiries pending.

OMAR L. BIXLER Moses Lake, Wash.

Submarine Soundings

Sir:

Re the pronunciation of submariner in your July 30 Letters column: If you mean by submariner (second syllable accented) a mariner of second class standing, I’ll buy it.

But if you mean, as General Bradley used the word in A Soldier’s Story, one whose occupation is working on or commanding a submarine, I’d prefer accenting syllable one . . .

PHILIP M. WOOL WORTH Cassopolis, Mich.

Sir:

. . . The word submariner is accented on the third syllable; British pronunciation on the second.

GRACE M. WARNER Hartford, Conn.

Sir:

In a recent issue of All Hands, the Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin, appears the following:

Members of the Navy’s undersea forces have their troubles also, when it comes to pronouncing the word “submariner”. Do you pronounce it subMARiner or submaREENer? The Navy’s submariners held a conference and settled the matter themselves. It was announced they would prefer to be called submarEENers (accent on the third syllable), and this pronunciation has been officially adopted. They objected to the pronunciation subMARiner on the grounds that it might connote a mariner who is below par . . .

ELIZABETH BOWMAN Chicago

Bombay’s Current

Sir:

In your May 28 account of Prime Minister Nehru’s attack on part of India’s press, you mention four Bombay “sensational” weeklies which attacked Nehru’s domestic policy and “scurrilously attacked the U.S.”

It is regrettable that TIME cannot distinguish between our paper the Current and the others which were mentioned. Current has never scurrilously attacked the U.S.

D. F. KARAKA Editor The Current Bombay, India

¶ TIME regrets its misreading of a cable dispatch, apologizes to the Current.—ED.