The Coral Gables Times

THE Coral Gables TIMES

Established Jan. 15, 1926 Published Weekly at 264 Seville Ave., Coral Gables, Fla. Second Class Postage Paid at Miami, Fla. ROLFE NEILL | Editor & Publisher JOHN T. WATTERS | President Robert M. Slane | Advertising Manager John Mullin | Circulation Manager Maurice Lebelle, Raymond Lang | Reporters Mrs. Irene Stoeber | Classified Manager Miss Helen Reynolds | Society Editor Mrs. Eleanor Newsholme | Office Manager Subscription: $3.00 year by mail anywhere

Meanwhile, All Down the Block Stop the Stop Watch And Start the Brain

Meanwhile, All Down the Block TICK TICK TICK Stop the Stop Watch And Start the Brain You can generally tell when the fog rolls in on a controversial topic for it is then that some foolish things are said and done. Apparently, a dense fog has settled on the Coral Gables parking ticket situation. We now have the spectacle of a meter checker standing by the bumper of an offending vehicle with a stop watch in her hand. On finding a red flag up, the checker waits two minutes and then starts writing. The Times appreciates that the gesture is well meaning. It was conceived with the idea of taking some of the sting out of ticket giving. Here, with an accurately-measured two minutes, there could be no question that a motorist had at least that minimum time should he have forgotten, or gone to get change. The flag could have been up for long periods, of course, before the checker even found it. As the cartoon above suggests, one practical result of this is that other violators may escape. And we suspect that far from soothing ruffled drivers, the sight of a stop watch is much like waving red drawers in front of Ferdinand. Let's approach the parking matter over a different pass. We'll give you the editor's views next week.

Editor:

Congratulations and best wishes to you at this time in the "giant step forward" you have taken with your newspaper. We have been subscribers of the Times for some time and enjoy very much the local coverage. We agree with you that with the growth of Coral Gables, limiting your area to this city alone will produce a better paper.

Your new plant and the splendid change of type in the paper are further signs of progress and we take this opportunity to wish you continued success as you change with the changing times. MRS. W. J. McLEOD JR. 1233 Alegriano Ave. Ah, you warm an editor's heart.

Today's Children's Medicine Off the Rocker: Grandma Reminisces

By ELVA B. CHARLTON Correspondent I WAS watering my roses when the mail came. The sun was warm on my neck. I waited until the mail man put the mail in the box while I left the hose running. I felt so guilty everytime I saw the mail man, because we got more mail than anybody else on the street. But the delay in the letter's arrival from my son and daughter-in-law in Dallas meant only one thing. Somebody was sick. I sat in my rocking chair while I read my mail. The soft breeze wafting into the Florida room smelled of jasmine and cooled my flushed face while I read. "Lori is very, very sick. Her temperature has been so high for over a week, and when it got to 104 I called the doctor again. He said to BRING HER IN. "The next morning, when she was no better, Kerry minded Linda while I took her in. He said it is the worst case of red measles he has ever seen. Linda will probably get it too, he says, since she has been subjected. But he says that is all right, he will give her a gamma-globulin shot and she will have it lightly. "I sure will have my hands full with two children so young (11 mos. apart) with the red measles. "The doctor asked if I would do him a favor. Would I please take Lori over to his house from the office and be sure that his two little girls are subjected to the germ, as he wants them to have it now and get it over with. "I did it, and since Lori has such a bad case of measles, there is no doubt that the doctor's two little girls will have it, too." I rocked faster in exasperation. Poor little Lori, only 20 mos. old, having already two strikes against her. One at birth, a premy because of toxemia, later with a paralizing type of germ, not diagnosed. I could visualize her poor little mottled face in misery while she was being dragged all over infecting other children, instead of being cared for quietly at home. Looking for some one to put the blame on, I couldn't find any. My advice to the parents of my seven grandchildren has always been. "Latch onto a good pediatrician and do exactly what he says." Each one of my three children have different types of doctors, with their own methods of treatment, and my son and daughter-in-law were paying their bills, I hoped. While I tried to take my husband's advice and cool down, I wondered if there was anybody alive to-day who remembered the health and quarantine officers who wasted no time in plastering the doors with yellow signs, even for mumps. And the isolation of the patient which was insisted on so that the breadwinners in the family could go and come. Once, we had three signs on the house at one time, with each patient isolated in different parts of the house. Before that, there were carbolic sheets hung at the door, and the changing of clothes as the nurse went into the sickroom and came out again to mix with the rest of the family. How right you are; medication is different to-day, and more advanced. But I still don't believe in children running around with temperatures, their faces all swollen with mumps, whether this is the mother's fault or the doctor's. And I imagine there are many grandmothers who feel the same way. In Philadelphia when my children were small, a baby's first strangled cry deep in the dead of night signalled a case of the "croup." This called for very fast action from everybody in the house. Mother dashed downstairs to heat water and make a mustard plaster, and heat the camphorated oil to be applied next. Daddy was tearing up sheets, meanwhile which he used to drape over the bed and make a croup tent. Grandma called the doctor, who said he would be right there, then went into the kitchen to squeeze lemons which she mixed with honey, brown sugar and whiskey. She did NOT drink this herself, it was fed to the baby, a teaspoonful at a time to cut the phlegm. We moved furniture to get at electrical outlets so we could set up a unit for heating water with tincture of benzoin in it for the child to breath the steam, all the while playing a game to keep down the child's terror at not being able to breathe. (We did so hear of child psychology in those days; it was a word used by specialists for the exceptional child). Can the vaporizer which is used today do as much for the reassurance of the child? But I know it can, and it is far less work. And who is with me as I remember along with the family doctor, the ice man, the bread man, the truant officer... but they are all stories in themselves.

Everybody's Business

By Rolfe Neill Baby Limas Ever noticed how far a single package of lima beans can go in a stew that otherwise contains your favorite vegetables? Seat Mates At the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce banquet last week I sat across from Dr. and Mrs. Robert Strain. He is on the medical school staff of the University of Miami and a neuro-surgeon (brain specialist). Several interesting things turned up. Among them: The Strains recently received a letter from Doctor Taylor, a friend in Ireland who told them that shortly his sister, who was in the theater, would be coming to America and would visit them here. As it turned out, the Strains received a phone call only a few days after the letter. The woman on the phone identified herself as Pearl Rogers. Mrs. Strain thought this a bit odd, since the doctor's name was Taylor but presumed that being in the theater, sister Pearl had taken an assumed name. The conversation turned to the theater itself — thoughtfully guided there by Mrs. Strain—and Pearl showed no interest in talking about it. This, too, puzzled Mrs. Strain. It was becoming difficult to make conversation. When finally she worked around to trying to reconcile what the letter said and what this visitor represented herself to be she got a surprise. Pearl Rogers wasn't related to Doctor Taylor at all. Neither was she in the theater. In Ireland, she explained the chief nurse in the operating room is called "sister" while the room itself is called the "theater." Dr. Strain has Harvard in his background and just before President Kennedy was inaugurated, he took his young son up to Palm Beach to meet the next president. The ride was by helicopter and the boy seemed more impressed with that than meeting Mr. Kennedy, his daddy says. However what really got the Strains was their son's report to his class at school: "Mr. Kennedy seemed a bit nervous and ill at ease when I talked to him." Investigator I was surprised to see realtor-financier Fred Hartnett dig down in his pocket last week as he approached a woman on the sidewalk on Ponce de Leon Boulevard. As she drew near, Fred pulled out his hand and opened it, displaying coins. Seems that he always does this for Mrs. Pauline Ford, who collects coins and periodically spots a rare one in Fred's small change. As far as I know, he accepts no commission.

The President's Idea Is A Puzzler

By PHILLIPS RUSSELL Correspondent President Kennedy has introduced a new conception of news and the publication of news. He says news must be judged in terms of the national interest. Thus at one stroke he has doubled the perplexity of newspaper editors, who had thought their task was already complex enough. The President's dictum raises several questions. Who is to be the judge of what constitutes the national interest? Does such a criterion apply to local as well as state and national news? What allowance is to be made for errors of judgment? What is to be the penalty for violations, witting or unwitting? Florida is much interested in these questions because events at Cape Canaveral are decidedly involved. Would President Kennedy forbid the publication of failures and mishaps at the Cape on the ground that the nation's prestige is thereby damaged? Would he have the people of the country believe that there are no failures and mishaps in rocket, missile and space vehicle launchings? If so, what would become of necessary criticism on the one hand and praise on the other when success is attained? Lord Bryce, when British ambassador to the U.S., was wont to say the biggest failure in American political life was to be found in municipal government, with its inefficiency and occasional corruption. (It should be noted he was not acquainted with municipal government either in Miami or Coral Gables, which have both overcome tremendous obstacles.) But where sloth, graft, or muddling was discovered in any city, would President Kennedy prevent the newspapers from uncovering it, on the ground that other nations might have a lower opinion of the United States and its cities? To determine what might be the national interest in any particular case, a judge or arbiter would have to be set up. Such a person might easily evolve into a censor. Most of the larger newspapers already have a self-appointed censor, who watches for libel, error and doubtful statements. But a censor who had an official status might act like a meataxe. His power to include or exclude would make him the acting publisher, arbitrary and permanent. He could slant the news at will, even for private or political purposes. Thomas Jefferson believed the final judges and arbiters in everything should be the people. But he insisted they must be an informed people — informed fully, promptly and accurately. There are orators and writers who declare democracy has been a failure because it is based on the rule of the majority. Would minority rule be safer? What minority? How selected? President Kennedy has launched a new idea. Will it stand the test of time and use?