Code Plus

Sirs:

May I call your attention to the fact that when your department of RELIGION, TIME, Feb. 28, p. 22, explains the assertion that Christianity is "primarily a way of life" by the inserted note, "i. e. a moral code," it is far from doing justice to the persons quoted. They might without hesitation appeal to the New Testament itself, for when Jesus said, "I am the way . . no one cometh unto the Father but by me," He surely did not mean that He was a moral code. When Paul wrote, "It is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me," he was not, of course, professing indifference to morals, but he was "primarily" emphasizing a spiritual experience which he found more fruitful, in ethics and elsewhere, than any "code" could be.

I trust this letter does not intrude unduly. The courteous welcome you give to correspondents invites these proofs of the attentive reading which TIME deserves and receives.

EDWARD S. WORCESTER

Theological Seminary, New Brunswick, N. J.

If

Sirs: If all of TIME were as bad as some of it is, it would be rotten. But if all of TIME were as good as some of it is, it--well, it couldn't be. Palo Alto, Calif. E. C. OAKLEY

"Peppist"

Sirs:

I have noticed that TIME is a bond between strangers.

Why not have a button to wear in the lapel or on the dress bearing a proper symbol, and representing TIME-readers. I'm sure most of us subscribers would like to know that the man we meet is an up-to-the-moment "peppist," and we would be glad to pay a nominal price for such buttons or insignias.

WAYBREN L. TRACY

Worthington, Ohio

Gorgas, Not Goethals

Sirs:

In your story of Mr. John F. Stevens' recent trip to the Isthmus of Panama (TIME, Feb. 28, p. 10), you say that General Geo. W. Goethals "conquered the greatest foe of his predecessors, yellow fever."

Among those who are familiar with the history of the construction of the Panama Canal, credit for the eradication of yellow fever from the Isthmus is given principally to the late General W. C. Gorgas. It detracts nothing from the honor due General Goethals as a great engineer, a great organizer and a great executive, to give General Gorgas the honor due him, and in the name of the thousands of his fellow countrymen who love and respect his memory, I ask that you will do so.

HARRY D. REED

Judge, Superior Courts Waycross, Ga.

Hiccoughs

Sirs:

... I read TIME from cover to cover, and it helps me in various ways. Recently I had a sudden attack of hiccoughs and after trying several home treatments I suddenly decided to look for the Jan. 24 copy of TIME and on p. 18 I found in the footnotes not only the remedies but also a satisfactory explanation of the causes of hiccoughs.

REV. JOSEPH KAFAFIAN THOMSON

Paterson, N. J.

Debs Not Missing

Sirs:

Here's your check for subscription. After having paid you the money, I feel that I may make one complaint. "All the news" is your maxim. Eugene V. Debs died a while ago and so far as I could find, your paper made not one single mention of him. Wasn't the courage of this man during his lifetime, no matter what you may have thought of his views, a sufficient justification for at least a passing reference to him? Or is TIME'S measure of greatness financial rather than moral ?

DAN B. SHIELDS

Salt Lake City, Utah

Let Subscriber Shields turn to TIME, Nov. 1, p .12; also to NATIONAL AFFAIRS in this issue. -- ED.

More Doctors

Sirs: As you state (TIME, Feb. 28, p. 24) few doctors abandon medicine to become famed in other fields; but your list of those otherwise famed is so inadequate that I'm having the audacity to name a few-- Rabelais, Agassiz, Schiller, Keats, Goldsmith, Steinmetz, John Locke, Mungo Park, Sir Auckland Geddes, S. Weir Mitchell, Joseph Hergesheimer, A. S. M. Hutchinson, W. Somerset Maugham, Henry C. Rowland and now Warwick Deeping. The enumeration might be continued, but these will suffice. THOMAS H. MERKLE, M. D.

Pittsburgh, Pa.

Zweiger Flayed

Sirs: . . . The letter printed in TIME, Feb. 28, under the caption "Ohio's Coal Bin" is no more than oafish drivel. Subscriber* Zweiger's confessed familiarity with the routine of sleeping off a debauch over Sunday doubtless explains why he has never met any of West Virginia's representative citizenship. His amazing inaccuracy is exemplified in his inference that the Ohio River was named for our excellent neighbor state to the north and west. The reverse is the case by nearly 200 years, bat what's 260 years to Mr. Zweiger ! . . .

CONRAD BREVICK Secretary-Manager Bluefield Chamber of Commerce Bluefleld, West Va.

As to Mr. Zweiger's stab at our Sunday laws, I thank God that I live in a State that has the decency to at least observe one day out of the week. We do not have shows, roadhouses and dance-halls going at full swing as in Ohio. Our citizens have a proper regard for the Sabbath. . . . It was in the State of Ohio and the City of Cincinnati that I first saw women drinking in public and I have never yet seen this in West Virginia. . . .

NETTIE VASS STEELE Bluefield, West Va.

. . . The intelligentsia . . . cannot be pleased with the "Gum-chewers standard" which you set in printing the gutter-like statements of Mr. Zweiger. Such a letter is not news, it is not literature, it is not even rational. . . .

C. H. S. MERRILL Milton, Mass.

... As a native of a state, excelled with difficulty by any other in scenic beauty, commerce, industry and education, allow me to invite TIME'S subscribers to come, see and enjoy the Switzerland of America. Our mountains, rivers, cities and churches will welcome them any day of the week, Sunday included. Visitors from west of the Ohio River will find it safe and enjoyable to park their "gats" at home.

D. N. BARBER, M.D. Owens, West Va.

. . . Subscriber* Zweiger's letter in TIME, Feb. 28 is rather caustic. Though not a West Virginian, I am familiar with the state and with the comparative virtues of its neighbor states. . . . Living only 50 miles from the Ohio River, Mr. Zweiger has manifestly never been up to Huntington, W. Va., a city after which Chillicothe might well pattern her ways. Being myself a native of Virginia, the original mother of these states, it grieves me to see much unwarranted mudslinging. . . J.H. HUFFARD Bluefield Va.

Subscriber* Zweiger, in his letter in TIME, Feb: 28, expresses, not only the most sublime ignorance in his knowledge of this state, but also the most assinine absurdness. Then, too, his knowledge of national affairs is appallingly lacking. 1) Has he ever been asked to leave the State of West Virginia for reasons best known to himself ? 2) Could it be possible that he was in the coal production business in Ohio, only to lose out because of the mighty strides the coal industry in this state, which has left Ohio mines high and dry, in so far as business is concerned? . . . 3) Does he think he is literate? If so, then let him read a little, and find out for himself, the real name of his "John T. Davis." 4) Is Subscriber* Zweiger an American citizen ? 5) How many states have produced presidents? Are all of those who have not, then, to be looked down upon ? 6) Does he know that "his" state ia named for a West Virginia River? 7) Has he ever viewed the panorama from Hawk's Nest, has he ever driven up the New River Gorge, has he ever seen anything in nature in the State of Ohio that can compare with the scenic beauty of West Virginia ? 8) Why he slurred over the request for information as to his feeling towards Ohio's now famous "gang" ? 9) What newspaper in Chillicothe is there that can in any way compare with the Charleston Gazette, or any other newspaper in any West Virginia town near the size of Chillicothe? 10) Did he ever hear of "Stonewall" Jackson? Of Booker T. Washington? Of the man who "carried the message to Garcia?" I am awaiting Subscriber* Zweiger's reply with interest. GENE MOORE

The Charleston Gazette "The State Newspaper" Charleston, W. Va.

. . . Has he [Mr. Zweiger] ever heard of Stephen B. Elkins, John E. Kenna, N. B. Scott, J. N. Camden or W. P. Hubbard? Does he know John Cornwall, John W. Davis or Governor Gore? To quote Mr. Zweiger. Does he not think that they "stack up against Fess and Willis?" . . .

BEN S. BAER

Wheeling, W. Va.

. . . The statement made by George Zweiger in TIME, Feb. 28, is one that makes me write you about such a statement, which anyone who has ever stayed in West Virginia any length of time will know is not true, and those who have not will be lead on the wrong track fearing they will come in contact with such people as stated by George Zweiger in Ohio's Coal Bin.

That statement, "Ohio's Coal Bin," [TIME, Feb. 28] is a credit to any state to have. West Virginia is Ohio's Coal Bin and more states than Ohio. Why? It produces more coal than Ohio can use. Ohio ought to be thankful they have a coal bin close by, and what happens? They don't really appreciate the wonderful gift they have. As far as the Charleston Gazette Times being a paper hardly literate it is by far a better paper than the Chillicothe paper/- ever hopes to be.

CHARLES A. FLEGEL

Chicago, Ill.

Kindly cancel my subscription. I have never seen anything in print quite as foul as the Zweiger letter you so proudly display in your issue of Feb. 28.

H. G. OTIS

International City Managers' Assn. Secretariat : Lawrence, Kan. Office of the President Clarksburg, West Va.

*An error. Newstand Buyer Zweiger is not a TIME subscriber.&151: ED. *An error. Newstand Buyer Zweiger is; not a TIME subscriber.--ED.

/-There are two Chillicothe newspapers-- the News-Advertiser and the Scioto Gazette.--ED.