Dear Editor

...His manipulation of road-building contracts and his juggling of the road budget during the campaign have been the subject of considerable speculation...

...France, the country of Descartes, values doubt as a method and discipline which can lead to sound, firm conviction...

...The French, however, have something more which makes them shudder at the very The New Leader welcomes readers' comment, regardless of point of view...

...thought of war: first-hand experience of what it is...

...DEAR EDITOR Reader Notes 'Bright Spots' In Recent 'New Leader' Issues I am most impressed by the bright spots in-recent issues: Anatole Shub's good piece on France [July 26], Charles W. Thayer's cool reportorial tone on the emigre meeting [August 2], Reinhold Niebuhr's provocative critique of Lewis Mumford [August 2], and Richard Dev-erall's "Mr...

...3. Mr...

...Danish also says: ''A whispering campaign was started to the effect that Johns had been Klansman...

...Lawler that front-runners in Florida runoff elections seldom miss victory—regardless of what also-rans might do by way of "throwing their support...

...This editorial united front, may I remind Mr...

...In Florida, he suggests, it was just a case of good government fighting upstart Charley Johns and his sinister cohorts...

...Indeed, it stems from our decision to fight against Communism in the souls of men...

...He lost Dade County (Miami and Miami Beach) and the Tampa area, with their huge minority populations, because of this smear...

...While on the subject of disavowals, has anyone, before or during last spring's election, heard Senator Collins disavow his role in supporting Florida's "right-to-work" law...

...Lawler, speaks the language of the same press interests in the Deep South which for years have fought their typographers to a standstill and, in the majority of cases, still refuse to recognize their unions...

...For space reasons, however, we prefer letters under 300 words...

...In the Struggle for Freedom As a Frenchman, I was deeply interested in the conflicting views presented by David J. Dallin and Anatole Shub in the discussion, "Is France Our Ally...

...Lawler is annoyed because I failed to mention that Odham threw his support to LeRoy Collins...

...In my recollection, Johns's disavowal consisted of successive statements that he had voted that way because (1) Bradford County wanted him to vote that way, (2) "the bill didn't go far enough," (3) "it was a very dangerous bill," (4) "he had made a mistake...

...New York City Matthew Low Holds France Complements U.S...

...Big Business fight...

...From personal contact with scores of persons, before and after the vote, I am convinced that Johns was beaten by this vile whispering job...

...Lawler is unhappy with my description of the primary as a farmer-labor vs...

...Conceding that Odham's alliance with Collins did Johns little good, even a casual acquaintance with his state's political statistics could inform Mr...

...Dallin says that 90 per cent of France's policy is taken up with the German problem...

...4. It is no accident that the "big press'' in Florida lambasted Johns, graduate from a railway caboose and member of the Trainmen's Brotherhood for more than 30 years, while it applauded Collins...

...Few of us have any hatred for the Germans, but we have seen, heard and felt them as very few of you have...

...But he never mentions Johns's record as Acting Governor...

...he is merely dissatisfied with the Acting Governor's frank and complete denial...

...As for France's refusal to cut the Communists off from the rest of the nation, this is not a result of our "indecision"—which you have observed with dismay and impatience, but with a generous effort to understand us...

...Tallahassee, Florida Eugene L. Lawler 1. Mr...

...Even more heartening than the latter's expression of sympathy for France, however, is your magazine's apparent belief in the positive value of honest disagreement...

...Natsukawa and His Working Girls'' [August 2], which is the type of colorful topical journalism you need...

...Lawler does not deny the existence of a vicious whispering, and later open, campaign against Johns...

...Johns lost for more cogent reasons, which I briefly pointed out in my story...

...This is aimed at the very heart of the state's trade unions and was strongly opposed by Johns when he was a State Senator...

...And 1 think that this battle, fought in the belief that truth will prevail, is a useful contribution to the cause of freedom...

...The Acting Governor's summary dismissal of the appointees of Dan McCarty, whose death gave him the Governor's chair, has been bitterly resented by a number of people...

...The only hint of this is his accusation that the "big press'' portrayed Johns "as an evil political genius in charge of a ruthless state machine...

...Well, what is so wrong or misleading about that...

...Danish describes Johns as a representative of the farmer and laboring man, while he pictures Collins as representing the large corporations and utility companies...

...The rest of his article, however, is hardly an accurate account of the recent primary...

...Americana have given sufficient proof that they are not militarists and have a sincere love of peace...

...We feel— and history bears us out—that rearming the Germans can only lead to war, particularly because they do not accept their eastern frontiers...

...Lille, France Rene Frechet Claims Florida Primary Report Gives Inaccurate Impression Max D. Danish ["Why a State Voted," The New Leader, July 12] started off on the right track when he said that Florida's Governor-designate, LeRoy Collins, was elected by group which could "pass anywhere in the East or the North for middle-of-the-road Republican outfit...

...I think it would be more accurate to say that we doubt the wisdom of using high explosives as a protective wall against fire...

...While our countries have common goal, they differ on the dangers which threaten its achievement...

...This is the usual backwash of campaign froth and fury, which no reasonable person, regardless of party or faction, takes seriously after elections are over...

...But he does not indicate that the third party in the race, Brailey Odham, threw his full support to Collins with the statement that "he could not in good conscience vote for Johns.'' Here on the Florida Stale University campus, Collins was heavily favored to win immediately after May 5. Mr...

...How complete can a disavowal be...

...His sale of insurance to the state has been severely criticized...

...In the case of Germany, for example, the French are not suffering from an inferiority complex...

...2. Mr...

...All that he manages to produce in substantiation of Johns's misrule is some dark hints about "considerable talk" in Florida regarding the way the Acting Governor "has handled state affairs...

...I contend that France is America's ally, not simply because she fought several times for America's causes, but because she complements America in the fight for freedom: The United States is "young, powerful, impulsive nation...

...It was based on his [State] Senate vote, some 10 years ago, against a 'de-hooding' bill—a vote which he had long since completely and frankly disavowed...

...May I suggest that it takes lot of guts for anyone campaigning for Governor in Florida to state publicly that he had erred in voting against the "de-hooding'' bill a few years ago...

...Danish says that "[Charley] Johns's labor partisans found the May 25 runoff all the harder to swallow because their candidate had led a three-man field by some 35,000 votes in the original May 5 primary and figured to be an easy winner...

...This experience should prove useful in our alliance if we are accepted in the role of an ally, which we are ready to play...

...The New Leader, July 26...

...Mr...

...Miami Max D. Danish...

...Regardless of whether this is true, he should know that there has been considerable talk around Florida about the way in which Johns has handled state affairs...