Confessional

Sirs:

. . . When, however, he [Rev. Harry E. Fosdick] states that "I am not afraid to recover things the Protestants threw away --beauty of service and the confessional," he shows that he does not know the Lutheran service and doctrine. I, as a layman bedridden for six years, with ten ribs removed under local anaesthesia to collapse the right lung and close to the end on several occasions, wish to inform Dr. Fosdick that the confessional has ALWAYS been a part of the LUTHERAN religion, but entirely voluntary. I inclose a clipping from the Lutheran Witness.

WILLIAM F. DARMITZEL Albuquerque, New Mex.

Whoop

Sirs:

Who gives a whoop whether certain people think Ohio is better than West Virginia or vice versa?

G. J. BEIGGS Cincinnati, Ohio

Otis Flayed

Sirs:

Inclosed please find a clipping from the March 16 issue of the Wheeling (West Virginia) Intelligencer.

OSWALD FLYNN Wheeling, West Va.

The clipping:

Zweiger, "Time" and Otis

The gentleman who canceled his subscription to TIME because it printed an attack on West Virginia, her inhabitants and their customs, written by one Zweiger of Ohio, injures himself in the esteem of the mostly intelligent people who read that excellent weekly. . . .

TIME was well within its legitimate policy in publishing the Zweiger communication of Feb. 28. Not only is that true, but by publishing it, it unconsciously, perhaps, did a very great service for West Virginians and their state. It has brought to the defense not only them, but their friends scattered throughout the United States, and it is most gratifying to see proof that friends and defenders of the "truth about West Virginia" are widely scattered and farflung. We are hearing from them from unsuspected locations.

West Virginians are getting what they want, always--national advertising. ... It is to be hoped that Mr. Otis will, after he has cooled off, withdraw' his--"Kindly cancel my subscription. I have never seen anything in print quite so foul as the Zweiger letter you so proudly display."

But for the liberal policy of TIME in its LETTERS department, the state of West Virginia would not now be receiving $1,000,000 worth of good free advertising."

TIME will send a marked copy of this page to onetime Subscriber Otis.--ED.

Always A Gentleman

Sirs:

TIME, March 9, p. 14, discussing Governor Henry Johnson and his confidential secretary, Mrs. O. O. Hammonds, erred. Knowing your attempt to be fair always . . . I offer you some additional information.

You infer that Governor Johnson made a business of lecturing on the religious aspects of the Ku Klux Klan. As grand master of the Masonic Lodge in Oklahoma, he could not possibly have avoided discussing a subversive movement that almost wrecked Masonry in Oklahoma.

Governor Johnson is a profound student of ritualism, which may be an original sin, but his interest in spiritualism and occultism is only casual.

Mrs. Hammonds never heard of Rosicrucian philosophy until she picked up the Kansas City Star's clever story of "Mrs. Col. House," written by Hartley, brilliant reporter. There is a difference between brilliance, clever writing and accuracy.

Mrs. Hammonds did not suggest the appointment of her husband as state health commissioner, nor has she suggested other appointments, not first recommended by men supposed to be friends of clean government. The resolution [to dismiss Mrs. Hammonds] was introduced by a Senator whose fondest hope is the destruction of the Governor. Only three votes were mustered on the resolution demanding Mrs. Hammonds' dismissal. Then the sensible Senate voted to expunge the ridiculous resolution from the records. Mr. Johnson has many faults, among them a lodge-room belief in the honesty and decency of men. He is learning politics rapidly, however.

Having learned by bitter experience that one can libel by inference, it is your privilege to convince Oklahoma readers that you are always a gentleman.

WALTER M. HARRISON Oklahoma City, Okla.

Paupers

Sirs:

In the section given over to personal letters in TIME, March 7 you make the following statement: Comparatively "poor men" who have appeared on TIME'S cover: . . . Pope Pius XI, Alfred E. Smith, Paul von Hindenburg, Andrew Volstead, Doctor Ray Lyman Wilbur, Admiral Togo, Rene Fonck, Helen Wills, Joseph Conrad, Carrie Chapman Catt, Roy Chapman Andrews, Eugene O'Neill, John Joseph Pershing, Abd-el-Krim, Ramsay Macdonald. If these be poor men then us ordinary mortals must be paupers.

I. C. FRENDBERG Highway Engineer Bismarck, N. Dak.

Book

Sirs:

Despite of references to your too-facetious, almost ribald references to Prohibition and distasteful forms of religion, I no longer believe in the total depravity of TIME. Whoever can perceive the fatuous diabolism of Sinclair Lewis is himself certainly not altogether demoniacal.

I forgive you much for your book editor's drubbing of Elmer Gantry. Lay on Macduff, and--you know the rest.

J. B. ELY Davy, West Va.

I write to help, not to hinder, in kindness, not in adverse criticism. . . .

Defect: Take issue of TIME, March 14, pp. 38 & 39, heading BOOKS and THE CREAM. "All the books here advertised are good." "No room in TIME for the second-rate." Yet under "Cream of this season's literature" you have as Fiction, Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis as the second book in the list. But on p. 38 under heading of "Bible Boar" you have a scathing criticism of the book in nearly four columns. . . . Such a book in any common use of the word is not "good" and should not be considered or advertised as "Cream." Such contradictions hurt TIME by destroying confidence. It hurts the reader by his losing a guide to good books. It hurts the author of the book . . . and it hurts the publishers, who with the authors are trying by all sorts of schemes to get more readers for their nasty, offensive literature. ". . .

REV. EMELIUS W. SMITH Cambridge, Mass.

Subscriber Smith's point is well taken, but how to blink the fact that Elmer Gantry is of "outstanding interest for TIME readers," which is what THE CREAM seeks to include together with first-rate and consequential books? From the newsmagazine viewpoint events are "good" in proportion, not to their moral or aesthetic content, but their prominence in the contemporary scene.--ED.

Wash Out

Sirs:

I feel that your question: "What is an appropriate punishment for a child who uses foul, indecent language ?" and your admirable answer: "Wash out its mouth with soap and warm water," have been worth to me the whole price of my subscription to TIME.

My little grandson Perry has used such language of late; but when I recommended what you suggested my daughter told me I was "old fashioned" and that people don't do that any more. But she thinks TIME is absolutely up to date, and so she washed out Perry's mouth when I showed her what you said in TIME.

VIRGINIA MARY SMUTTS (Mrs. R. Smutts) St. Louis, Mo.

Orchids, Negroes

Sirs:

Your quizz games were a pain to me in spots. Whoever heard of a "high-class bridegroom" wearing an orchid in his buttonhole? I have been to many weddings and have never seen an orchid on any groom. Only Negro grooms could be guilty of wearing such an artificial flower.

ROBERT O. STILLWELL Pittsburgh, Pa.