Fashion
A fortnight ago TIME said, apropos of a letter from Subscriber Nancy Smolling of Philadelphia suggesting a section on FASHION: "If 100 subscribers write letters to TIME stating that they want a FASHION section, they shall have it."
To date, 49 such letters have reached the editorial offices at 25 W. 45 St., New York City.
Also 32 antiFashion letters, of which the following are typical:
Sirs:
"If 100 subscribers write to TIME requesting" that no 'FASHION' be introduced, will you omit it ? Kindly tell Fashionable Lady Nancy that the newsstands overflow with fashion magazines, from a few selected Creations dites Parisiennes to a mass of Caricatures by Insanes.
TIME is a perfect periodical ... as it is. ...
Being French, I enjoy your FOREIGN NEWS to the fullest extent, and it is a treat to read French correctly spelled, in an American magazine.
Do not bore us with FASHION. Aside a few scientific periodicals, TIME is the only one worth reading. Leave it perfect . . . as it is.
JEANNE R. CHAVANNES
Philadelphia, Pa.
Sirs:
Boy Scouts got the separate heading they deserved. Now appease them thoroughly by giving them a regular page. And, surely, 100 readers among so many would enjoy a regular page or two as a fashion department. Some of us would like at least a page in each issue for baseball news. And some, a page of cartoons. And some, stock quotations. And some, nonpresidential fish stories. And what not?
What is TIME? A hash of special interests, or a reflector of universal news ? If news appears in any department, print it (as indeed you do). Let unnewsworthy space-fillers alone. Your judgment may err, and you may profit from occasional advice, but we trust your good sense of balance to be better than any of us could achieve. Your editorial discrimination, as well as your condensation, is worthy of our praise and loyalty. Avoid "departments."
GEORGE W. WALKER
First Presbyterian Church Margaretville, N. Y.
Sirs:
You "threaten" to add a fashion column to TIME if one hundred subscribers write and request it.
Please raise your petition number to at least ten times that number. I can't help but feel that Nancy Smolling has not yet caught the true spirit of TIME. It has always appealed to the more spiritual side of my being and I forget the more superficial things like Style when I think of TIME and besides I think it would be a selfish column because the men subscribers certainly would not enjoy it and I feel so very keenly that TIME is for all who are interested in people and events and not just in themselves.
Please don't leave such important things as additional columns to a lone 100 subscribers, but rather to your own judgment.
I have been a subscriber for over three years and a reader for a longer period and I agree with Paul Fisher of Dodge City, Kan., that it is far "more a part of my life than any other magazine."
VIRGINIA HANKS
Miami Beach, Fla.
Sirs: Dad takes TIME and we both read it minutely. TIME is a newsmagazine. Why should it contain fashions as suggested by Miss Smolling ? They would be as out of place in TIME as would corn plaster advertisements strewn among Shakespeare's works. Don't spoil the newsy atmosphere which your magazine has.
MARSHALL T. MILTIMORE
St. Johnsbury, Vt.
Sirs:
I view with alarm the proposal of Reader Smolling of the fair sex for an endearing FASHION section in the newsmagazine.
Whither are we drifting when the eyes of intellectual subscribers & newsstand-buyers shall unwillingly strike prints about materialistic woman's ,obes, dresses, patterns?
VIGGO null
Detroit, Mich.
Sirs:
I note request that you add FASHIONS. Please count me as one woman who says "NO" in upper case letters. There are enough magazines making that appeal without wasting any of your valuable space. TIME is good.
(REV.) WENONAH S. ABBOTT
Mattawamkeag, Me.
Sirs:
Let us have no fashion department.
The volubility one associates with fashions has no place in concise TIME.
Instead let Miss Wolling (?) consult worthy periodicals dealing with her favorite subject. The space consumed in keeping abreast with styles (for men and women) could be used to better advantage.
JOHN H. O'HARA
Pottsville, Pa.
Sirs:
. . . There is nothing more contemptible than a person who seeks to have facts pleasant to all. This applies to publications as well. It is possible that a person or publication attempting to be unpleasant to all would merit as great contempt. Having pursued a course which is at pleasant and commendable variance with either of the above extremes for some years, and having found much profit in it, why not continue "as you were" striving only to make your features as presently outlined ever more worthwhile, readable and informative? Why not, indeed ?
EVERETT E. JACKSON
Somerville, Mass.
Sirs:
Ask Nancy Smolling to subscribe to Vogue, or Delineator, or Pictorial Review or some other magazine if she wants fashions. You are a newsmagazine--can't she read? For goodness sake, TIME, don't bring in Checker Columns, Fashion Forecasts, Funny Columns and all the other things that crowd the news out of the newspapers. "Be yourself!"
Your good friend,
HELEN H. ADAMS
(and I hope, permanent subscriber) Wellesley, Mass.
. . Sirs: . Judging from the calibre and inter ests of your subscribers, there are other phases of human interest which would be more highly desirable : LAW, a larger sec tion on BUSINESS. I realize, however, that a section on FASHION would open new fields to your advertising department, and from lhat point of view (a thoroughly justifiable stand) FASHION may be worth its inclusion. G. S. HAROLD
New York, N. Y.
Resentment
Sirs:
Outside your magazine you print the picture of a benevolent, timidly smiling, white-haired gentleman. Inside your magazine you print the story of Devereux Milburn, aggressive, hard riding, cyclonic captain of the U. S. Polo Team. Which is which? I have seen Milburn, talked to him; watched him play. As a rabid polo fan and a strenuously American citizen I resent your artist, S. J. Woolf's drawing. I enclose a copy of a drawing printed in Polo, which translates the indomitable power of the real Milburn into black and white lines on paper. P. L. FINK
Hempstead, L. I.
Mr. Milburn is truly an intimidating figure when wrought up in a polo game. TIME, abhorring single-sided presentation, wrote about him thus; printed a drawing of him in one of his milder, but no less characteristic moments. Herewith is the drawing (by famed Hugo Gellert) from Polo.--ED.
"Heroes" v. "Bandits"
Sirs -
I read TIME occasionally in a friend library. In your edition Aug. 1, p.13, heading NICARAGUA I can notice upon reading the contents, that the American public is misinformed in regard to the State Department policy in Latin America.
If you call heroes soldiers invading a defenseless country and bandits the natives who raise in arms against the invaders, then the words "hero" and "bandit" should be taken off the dictionary. I think the German never called the Belgian to be "bandits" because they were fighting for their country; nor were you bandits either because you fought the Knglish for your freedom.
I have been living in this country for quite a number of years and was an eye-witness in many occasions of your soldiers' deeds in San Domingo. In less than three years, more than 3,000 natives were assassinated because of simple suspicion of being "bandits." In Nicaragua the U. S. Government wish to get hold of certain rights in order to construct another transoceanic canal in the near future in detriment of the Nigaraguan freedom. A few mean politicians will transact with your Government and then the State Department sends soldiers to back the government headed by these politicians resulting from your influence. In consequence, a revolution starts, and then you call it a "bunch of bandits."
I like TIME a lot; send me a subscription blank in care of the above address. JOSE RAMOS
San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic.
General Advice
Sirs:
If you put any FASHION section in TIME, I QUIT.
Stop using "&" for "and." If you want to conserve space, cut out nine-tenths of your silly MISCELLANY section.
Stop saying "towards." p. 28, TIME, Aug. 29, under "The Legion Abroad," second column, subhead, "Plans." You not only would conserve space by using the word "near" but .... Oh, well, you know why. . . .
Your section on MEDICINE is still laughable, puny. Does not distinguish between the important and unimportant things in the Medical Journals.
Under AERONAUTICS you do not mention the Kansas City to Chicago passenger air service. This started a few weeks ago, and I have not heard of it being discontinued.
F. T. MUDD
Also, please stop using "metres." p. 28, TIME, Aug. 29. Under "Cannon, Woman." Remember TIME is not a scientific publication, that this is America, that most Americans have no idea how far "40 metres"
F. T. M.
Falls City, Neb.
Is Not
Sirs:
I write to make a correction in the statement made in TIME, Aug. 29, on p. 10 in regard to Professor Ellen Hayes. Miss Hayes is not, and never has been, the head of the English department at Wellesley College. She was for many years Professor of Astronomy and Applied Mathematics but retired on the ground of age in 1916 and has not been connected with the College since that date.
ELLEN F. PENDLETON
Office of the President Wellesley College Wellesley, Mass.
50 Years Ago
Sirs:
In TIME, Aug. 22, there is a letter from a teacher in Chicago, to which you have attached this caption: "Obvious Distinction," and answered in your usual admirable manner. It recalls to my mind a little incident of my girlhood, 50 years ago. A miss of 12 or 13, I was having breakfast in the house of a friend of my own age. During the course of the meal, the other girl sitting at her father's right hand, and probably pondering a Sunday-School lesson, asked quietly: "Papa, what is a concubine ?"
Quickly the mother said under her breath: "Will explain that later," while the father, a wise and scholarly dominee of the Dutch Reformed Church, replied with equal quietness and promptness: "An unmarried wife."
No one was embarrassed. I wondered a little, that my friend should ask such an obvious question, being more of a reader than she was. No doubt father and mother both explained afterward.
It seems to me that a modern child's question could be met similarly. ELIZA W. WARD
West Tisbury
Martha's Vineyard, Mass.
Ranch
Sirs:
An old timer here wants to correct you concerning the Alberta ranch of H. M. S. Prince of Wales [TIME, Aug. 22]. The ranch in question belonged to old George Lane whose brand was EP on the left flank. Therefore his holdings became known as the EP ranch. . . .
I don't know whether it's the fault of our educational system or not, but U. S. people are generally poorly informed concerning the provinces to the north. As one lady asked of an Albertan:
"Is Calgary very near Alberta?"
Answered the Canadian :
"Oh yes, very close indeed."'
F. J. CLIFFORD
Grants Pass, Ore.
TIME said: "Few U. S. citizens know that E. P. stands for Edward, Prince . . . and very few persons indeed realize that E. P. Ranch is not a princeling's toy but a strictly paying livestock invest-ment."--ED.
"Mr." Knapp
Sirs:
The records of the War Department tail to show a Custis Knapp, either active or retired.
The records of the Navy Department fail to show a Custis Knapp, either active or retired.
If Custis . Knapp is (retired) he is not retired from Army or Navy.
JOHN W. LANG
Major, U. S. Army (Old Subscriber) Washington, D. C.
Sirs: Reference letter of Mr. Custis Knapp regarding BOY SCOUTS [TIME. Aug. 291 I would suggest that you enquire of tl Official Army Register. Jan 1, 1927, as to his Army status; and if you find, as I have done, that he has no connection with the Army I request that you so state in your department of LETTERS. I would further suggest that this bit of research should have been done prior to publishing Mr. Knapp's letter. In the event that the Official Army Register is not among your works of reference it can be had from the Superintendent, of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., for one dollar. J. W. COTTON Captain, Infantry ( Subscriber ) Columbus, Ga. "Fat an Apple" Sirs: Why all the letters concerning Mr. Knapp and Boy Scouts? Why bother to associate the two [TIME. Aug. 29] ? Every one knows the fineness of the Scout movement. I would suggest that your readers who are quibbling over Mr, Knapp's letter eat one apple and then go to the movies. RICHARD V. NOYES Boston. Mass.
* Subscriber Mudd states, inaccurately, "This [Kansas City to Chicago passenger air service] started operating a few weeks ago." TIME stated, accurately, "There are eight passenger airways now operating." TIME indicated in its story that passenger air lines are somewhat ephemeral; purposely omitted the Kansas City-Chicago route because it was not yet a fact. Sept. 1 was its date of earliest operation.--Go. *The city of Calgary, as everyone knows, is in Alberta.--ED.