Coolidge & Lindbergh

Sirs:

Congressmen have flown--and Congresswomen. Cabinet members have flown. Governors fly. Great generals, admirals, bankers and philanthropists fly. The President of Germany flies. Why doesn't Calvin Coolidge go up? Our leader should fly with Lindbergh! Perhaps he thinks it would be too great a loss to the country if he crashed fatally. I think it would be a great loss, but President Coolidge pointed out himself that there are plenty of big men to take his place. As a matter of fact, if Coolidge flew with Lindbergh and they crashed, the loss of Lindbergh would dwarf the loss of Coolidge. On the other hand, the spectacle of our leader joining in on the greatest enterprise of the age (Conquering the Air) would exalt this country far more than anything else Mr. Coolidge could do. If he died, he would die a real hero and never be forgotten.

But dying is out of the question. The remote risk of it is just enough to make a flight by Coolidge, with Lindbergh, a magnificently "sporting" thing for him to do in a country which prides itself on its sportsmanship. There's too much play-safe policy among its public figures. Roosevelt would fly with Lindbergh like a shot--he would have the day Lindbergh got home from Paris! Better late than never.

SIDNEY HENDERSON

Chicago, Ill.

Engineer Hoover

Sirs:

". . . An outstanding international reputation as an engineer." One is constantly hearing that about Herbert Hoover. But what did he do? I ask from goodnatured ignorance, not a heckler's corner. Where is his Panama Canal, his Brooklyn Bridge, his Moffat tunnel . . . ?

L. NASEBY BROWN

Philadelphia, Pa.

The first big job Engineer Hoover had was to introduce U. S. methods in Australia's goldfields. Then, aged 25, he advised on mines and railroads for the late Emperor Kwang-Hsue of China. He introduced U. S. methods to Kyshtym in South Russia, making an oldtime estate of the Romanovs' into a mining centre where young Russian engineers soon pilgrimaged to complete their education. Italy engaged Engineer Hoover one summer to prospect in the Alps for the iron old Romans must have used for their swords.* Engineer Hoover and his brother, Theodore Jesse Hoover (who lives in Swanton, Calif.), perfected and installed a method for recovering zinc from the dumps of Australian lead and silver mines. In Burma, Engineer Hoover bought an abandoned mine and transformed it into one of the world's largest, employing 20,000 men. In 1914, he had the choice of selling out this property or becoming a British citizen. He sold, refusing also a title and a British Cabinet position.--ED.

$10,000 Man

Sirs:

Klansman Milstead said it. TIME, by its attitude towards the Klan, loses one more subscriber.

TIME infers the membership of the Klan to be weak-minded. If a brilliant war record in command of 1,000 men, a salary of $10,000 and a national reputation in his profession indicates weakness of mind, this Klansman accepts the inference.

However, knowing the character of the members perhaps better than TIME, does, he predicts that it will take more than TIME'S feeble attacks to stop the steady progress of the Klan.

When TIME stops catering to the un-American elements in our population it will, perhaps, be worth reading.

C. LOCKHART

Kansas City, Mo.

Monkey, Squirrel

Sirs:

You spoke of Elder Hays* resembling a monkey [TIME, March 26]. Do you mean the way he passed the cup around, or were you alluding to a facial resemblance? His teeth are like those of a squirrel. Perhaps that is why he found so many nice juicy nuts while raising the G. O. P. deficit.

E. J. LANE

Cincinnati, Ohio

Young, Married, No Complex

Sirs:

For Heaven's sake, TIME, if you are going to consider Woman as some peculiar animal, at least be consistent. One week you put all things pertaining to Women under regular headings with those of the men; the next week you select some obscure, uninteresting, and usually unflattering incident about women and place that in a conspicuous space topped by WOMEN. I noticed that when scientists made the statement that investigation had proved a woman's brain capable of the same development as man's, that information was placed under SCIENCE; when a woman was accused of a certain crime the information was placed under WOMEN. Just when does a woman cease to be PEOPLE and become WOMEN? According to TIME, as long as the event is flattering it belongs to men; when unflattering, to women.

TIME, the world has changed since some of you were young. It hurts some of you to see Women doing so-called "Men's work." Better face the music and make the best of it. No doubt many of your subscribers are women, either directly or through their husbands. It does not pay to slight the feminine part of the population for, thank God, they are more and more becoming selfsupporting. We of the younger generation have studied the position of women in the past and we are NEVER going back to utter dependence.

I am young, married, and have no "complex."

RUTH MORGAN NICHOLLS (MRS. A. C. NICHOLLS)

Harrisburg, Pa.

When woman's brain was said to be as capable as man's the news was in the realm of scientific speculation; hence, into TIME'S Science department it went. When "Peaches" Browning and Mlle. Roseray got publicity, the news was of peculiar journalistic interest so those items went into TIME'S Press department. News of many a famed woman has gone into TIME'S People department because their doings were characteristic of themselves rather than of their sex. To be reported in TIME'S Women department, news of women, famed or unfamed, must be illustrative of feminine temperament, ability or activity in public and social rather than private or biological manifestations.--ED.

Progress, Perfection

Sirs:

Some delicious ones in your March 5 issue.

On p. 30 Frank Gonzales is Frank W. Gunsaulus (no Spaniard about him!)

Same page, you say Motley is the first Negro ever to have a one-man show in New York. Better look up Henry O. Tanner, whom I knew in Paris thirty years ago, and who had shows all over the United States (article in Britannica).

Page 38, for Giancialo read Gianicolo--or Janiculum.

Let me congratulate you on TIME'S appearance, and on all the other evidences of its progress toward perfection. I read it when I am too busy to read anything else.

FRANK H. CHASE

Boston Public Library,

Boston, Mass.

Hates and Fears

Sirs:

If I had not read TIME for some three months I would take a subscription to it upon the strength of your letter, and I wish at this time to congratulate TIME upon having acquired the services of such an efficient circulation manager.

However, since what I wish to read is what TIME purports to be, and not the personal animosities, not to say asininity, of the man or men who inject their own personal opinions into TIME, I shall look elsewhere.

I am a great admirer of the personality, courage, honesty and ability of the Honorable J. Thomas Heflin of Alabama. . . .

In TIME, March 5, is an absolutely uncalled for footnote in which appears the somewhat threadbare and boresome "Alabama's Heflin, who mortally hates and fears the Roman Pope . . . ," a statement as malicious as it is false.

History bears out every charge of Sen. Heflin, and since it is quite possible for me to get all of the Roman Catholic propaganda from their own publications why pay more than twice the price to get it from yours?

JOHN H. EDWARDS

Brockton, Mass.

TIME, with Homeric routine, regularly and accurately refers to Senator Heflin as one who "mortally hates and fears the Roman Pope."--ED.

Engineer's Vow Defended

Sirs:

We read with interest your comments on the Engineer's Vow of Service, which you published in a recent issue of TIME [March 5].

To phrase a professional vow in specific terms tends to limit the applicability to a specific period. Justice Proskauer's suggested oath for lawyers may fit the present day and present problems, but it would not have been suitable a hundred years ago and it will probably be inappropriate a hundred years hence. The Hippocratic Oath, in its contents and in its phrasing, may have been suitable many centuries ago, but does not fit present conditions and modes of thinking.

The Vow of Service adopted by the American Association of Engineers is framed in more general terms so as to cover in brief form all phases of the ethical problems of the engineer. Its more general phrasing helps to make it inspirational in effect. My reaction to the suggested lawyers' oath is that it is completely lacking in inspirational effectiveness. The Hippocratic Oath derives its effectiveness only from its antiquity, and otherwise contains nothing of an inspirational nature. It seems to me that the Vow for any profession ought to be framed so as to be enduring in applicability, comprehensive in scope and inspirational in phrasing. On these points, I believe that the Engineer's Vow of Service will stand comparison with the other oaths under discussion.

M. E. MCIVER Secretary

American Association of Engineers, Chicago, Ill.

*He reported that the old Romans had exhausted Italy's unplentiful Alpine iron.--ED.

*Will H. Hays, onetime (1918-21) Chairman of the Republican National Committee.