Letters

"Whole-hearted Support"

To THE EDITOR: . I have just read President Dickey's views on The Dartmouth. Without too much added verbiage, I can only .say that whatever I can add has already been so ably put, and with alacrity, by President Dickey. I extend to him my whole-hearted support and hope a comfortable majority will concur. It certainly will be a dark day in the free world of education when pedagogy must become subservient to demagogy. We need more outsnnken rham Dions of his caliber.

The watchword for this century is "Be Brave." With genuine employment o£ conviction, compassion and courage, how can we go wrong?

Detroit, Mich.

"General Disagreement"

To THE EDITOR: Recognizing certain benefits derived from freedom of the press, and especially the academic press, I still strongly object to the Communistic, as well as to the "pink," angle which has recently been played up in TheDartmouth, according to quotations which I have seen.

This is not in line at all with our graduates who are fighting the Commies, and with those of us who believe in the present form of government in this country, even though it may have faults.

It is with regret that I read of all this in the metropolitan papers, and dislike to believe that our taxes and my extremely small personal contribution to the College are used for the spreading of Commie propaganda, and the belittlement of the College, in the readers' eyes.

My general disagreement with President Dickey's views on this are obvious. I still hope, however, that Dartmouth will not come to be classed with certain other schools where, as a result of Communistic influence, the students and recent graduates are con- sidered for employment with a "tongue in cheek" attitude.

After all, it is the results o£ the capitalistic system which keep Dartmouth alive. Let's do something to keep the name of the College clean.

I can defend a certain part of this recent student attitude, but my letter would be as long as that of President Dickey's and would duplicate many of his thoughts. Let's make it simple and short.

Des Plaines, Ill.

Statistical Scoffer

To THE EDITOR: It is with an extreme sense of depression and failure that I put down the May issue of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE. For have I not read on page 83 the verdict of the Ivy League Alumni Magazines, that either I am a sorry example among Dartmouth men, or alter- natively that Dartmouth men must run a sorry race with the prosperous, dominant graduates of Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Princeton, Penn and Yale?

For 10, though I am nearer 42 than I like to think, I earn far from that $15,128 per year, and stand little chance of getting there soon (the top Civil Service pay is only $14,000). Nor do I carry $37,888 in life insurance. 190 people do not jump at my beck and call, nor in fact do I actually supervise any. And finally, I am short four-tenths of a motor car (I never did like that Crosley).

Am I not then a failure? I am not, among my 137,999 Fellow Readers, even a good, much less an Excellent Potential Customer. Not even an Average Alumnus.

It has, of course, occurred to me, that I (and my 137,999 fellow readers) may again be merely the victims of that persistent school of survey statisticians who steadfastly refuse to learn the proper use of the median as distinguished from the mean, or who, perish the thought, prefer to use inflated figures. I distinctly recall that despite heavy doses of math and economics at Hanover, I spent several years in the wide world in complete innocence of the median's very existence. But surely by now the College, which so fervently schools its students to smell out propaganda, must be on guard to protect both students and alumni from the new perils of statistical propaganda.

Tell me, shall I remain in despair? Or will you contrive to tell me something about my median fellow reader, and perhaps in addition promote a new required course in Sta tistical Hygiene, as a fitting modern substitute for Smut?

Falls Church, Va.

Jungle Surprise

To THE EDITOR: During the past March my wife and I spent four weeks on a United Fruit cruise which included 16 days of sightseeing in six of the Central American countries—Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

One of our great "experiences" was the 197mile narrow-gauge train ride from Guatemala City to Puerto Berrios—making 75 stops (or a stop about every 21/2 miles) and consuming nearly 12 hours of time! As you may imagine, sitting so long in an old day coach one is forced to stretch his legs at many a station.

And as I was "stretching" at a station about 40 miles west of our destination—and just after sunset—l looked ahead to the midget station and saw its name "DARTMOUTH." Where upon I rushed back into our car, snatched up my camera as the train started up and just managed to take a snap from the steps of the moving train as we passed.

It was quite a thrill—as it doubtless has been to many a Dartmouth man—and I suppose it all harks back to the day when Vic Cutter '03 was President of United Fruit and wanted to inject a little of the Dartmouth spirit and color into the jungles of Guatemala, many of which were turned into rich banana planta- tions which today have developed into such a vast enterprise.

And one other note which might be of interest to some of the younger alumni. We spent six days in Panama City and while there met J. J. Vallarino '43, now prospering in the cattle raising industry. He is married to a Hanover girl—the daughter of Professor and Mrs. Sidney Cox. We had a charming evening with them and they took us in their car for a late evening tour of the city.

So, you can see, one of the big joys of traveling around—even 2,000 miles from home—you just get one big thrill after another at meeting some new or old familiar Dartmouth face —or coming up against some incidents to remind you of "the little College on the hill."

Lexington, Mass.