Smart Portrait

Sirs:

No oil portrait of President Harding is hanging in the White House because the joint congressional committee on the library, acting on recommendation of Charles Moore, chairman of the commission of fine arts, declined to accept either one of two portraits painted for that purpose by E. Hodgson Smart, a distinguished English artist. One of these portraits, described by Gertrude Richardson Brigham in Art and Archeology as "one of the few great portraits of a president," and considered by George B. Christian, the late President's friend and secretary, as the best painted likeness of Mr. Harding has been purchased by the present owners of the Marion Star and is now hanging in the office of that newspaper at Marion, Ohio. . . . The other Smart portrait of Mr. Harding is in the custody of the National Museum.

CARL D. RUTH The Toledo Blade, Washington Bureau.

Michigan's Twice Three

Sirs: Humbly petition membership in TIME's "Erratum-Noters Club." Your Cabinet Pudding March 11, page 11, presents (in part) college ingredients as Michigan 2, Harvard 2. Enclosed copy of Michigan Alumnus, March 9, claims Lament '91; Good '91; and Hyde '99. Score: Michigan, 3; Harvard, 2. Score, next fall (football not political): Michigan, 40; Harvard, 0; I also hope.

JOHN F. SCOTT, '16 St. Paul, Minn.

Let Erratum-Noter Scott glance again at the Michigan Alumnus, find therein the words: "James Good came to Ann Arbor after securing a Bachelor of Arts degree from Coe College at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, his home." TIME referred to Secretary of War Good as Coe-educated. Also the Michigan Alumnus pridefully noted: "Once before as many as three Michigan alumni sat around a cabinet table. That was when Harry M. Daugherty '81/, Edwin L. Denby '96/, and Hubert Work,'82-83, were all appointed by Warren G. Harding. Dr. Work alone of this trio remained over into the Coolidge cabinet. . . ." -ED.

Born Kings

Sirs: "The first man-child ever born a king," as TIME puts it, probably was not Alphonso XIII, but one of the old Persian or Parthian kings, whose name I am unable to remember, although you, doubtless, can find it. The monarch referred to may have been Chosroes, but, whoever he was, he was born some time after the death of his father, whose demise made imperative the selection of a new king. Since the queen was with child, and since the astrologers said that it was a boy, the crown was carried in and placed upon the queen above the supposed location of the unborn infant's head. In this respect the birth of Alphonso must have been a much less regal event.

FRANK G. PRESNELL Chillicothe, Ohio

Obedient Servant

Sirs: By applying such a word as "cowardly" to the expression of an opinion by Mr. Shaw you merely make yourselves and your publication ridiculous and affect him no more than a cur in the gutter snapping at a passing mastiff. I have long since ceased to buy your so-called "magazine," but from the copies I see now and then in libraries and elsewhere I gather that a cheaply-sensational attitude is its present pose. I am, gentlemen, your obedient servant

MARC T. GREEN San Antonio, Tex.

Of Writer Shaw's courage (TIME, March 11) said: "The husband of Mrs. Shaw recently sold to an English review a cowardly attack on the physicians of George V. He insinuated that they did not employ a certain mode of treatment 'because the inventor was both an American and a Jew.' His courage was such that his insinuations -although unquestionably directed against the royal physicians -were cast in the form of an allegory and entitled An Improbable Fantasy . . ." -ED.

Again, Slaughter

Sirs: A little rumor came to my ears a few days ago that you had printed my letter rebuking you for leaving Maracay off the map of S. A. Evidently my efforts to make it well known weren't appreciated, for the powers that be seem annoyed. No one has seen that copy of TIME [Feb. 11]. I think you have been suppressed. Aren't you flattered? I am. In the event I am asked to leave these parts, I'll come around and tell you large earfuls of lovely gossip that would just sizzle the pages.

GLADYS SLAUGHTER Maracay, Venezuela.

Subscriber Gladys Slaughter originally rebuked TIME for not displaying Maracay as the place where "the original bachelor father," President Juan Vincente Gomez of Venezuela, lives with his "Reigning Favorite . . . and what's more at least 60 of his 84 acknowledged children." To Dictator Gomez a thoroughgoing rebuke, if his minions have kept from Subscriber Slaughter the issue of TIME in which her letter appeared. -ED.

Greater Cleveland Horsemen

Sirs: Packed as the present is with events of absorbing interest, so is TIME, favorite publication of the undersigned. Enjoyed especially your notes in the issue of March 18 concerning Grand National at Aintree, England. Among other horse-enthusiasts off to England is Horatio C. Ford of South Euclid, Ohio, president of the two-year-old Aintree Club of the same address on the outskirts of Greater Cleveland. Horses from Cleveland's Aintree follow trails near, through and beyond beautiful Chagrin Valley, long-hunted country of the Fifth City's riders, past homes of Ambassador Herrick, newly-appointed Air Secretary David Ingalls etc. Among Aintree-of-Cleveland members are Railroaders Frank and C. Farrand Taplin, President E. J. Kulas of Otis Steel Co., K. L. Grennan of cake and cooky fame, Robert Calfee of the Peerless Motor Car Co. and A. C. Ernst of Ernst and Ernst. Head riding master is Joe Glenday, Scotch as the heather, small of stature, lover of horses. New-Aintree also has a junior polo team, winner of local tilts in 1928. . . .

SAMUEL T. WELLMAN Cleveland, Ohio.

For a TIME-worthy report, all thanks to Subscriber Wellman. -ED.

In France, Dung Heaps

Sirs: In your issue of March 11, in your Column of Letters, is a contribution of E. Petrie Hoyle of Chester Springs, Pa., regarding farm relief and comparing the American farmer with the French agriculturists. We are enclosing herewith a reply which we wish to make to the Hoyle letter which you published.

J. J. KRAETTLE President Board of Trade, Kansas City, Mo.

The Kraettle reply: Although French agriculture is apparently on a prosperous basis, it is largely at the expense of the country's prosperity as a whole. It is generally known that France's depreciated currency -(the franc is now worth about one-fifth of what it was before the war) -is largely due to the fact that the country's revenue from taxation was not sufficient to meet its expenditures. However, it may not be common knowledge, but it is at least well known to those familiar with France that this lack of revenue was caused not by any failure to tax manufacturing industries, but by failure to tax agriculture in proportion to the burden placed on other industries. I do not know whether Mr. Hoyle considers the lot of the French farmer ideal, but any member of the A. E. F. can testify to the hardships of French agriculturists. If our farmers, together with every member of their families, male or female, had to work as hard and as long hours as the French farmers do, then although there might be cause for complaint, they would have no time to air their grievances. To compare the lot of the American farmer who owns a house fitted with every convenience including radios, victrolas, electricity, etc., and who undoubtedly owns an automobile, with that of the French farmer, living around the dung heap, is the height of a preposterous comparison. Mr. Hoyle also stated that the tenant of his "place" was required to "sell his wheat for $1.25, and the moment that wheat got into the four walls of the grain merchant, it was worth, and could not be bought for less than, two dollars. This is a gross misrepresentation of facts and if Mr. Hoyle will take the time to ascertain the market price on the grain exchange on the day that this grain was sold he will find an unusually small differential in price between values on the farm and in terminal centers. Foreign farm organizations and representatives of European government and industry long have been impressed with the highly efficient methods employed in the system of grain marketing in the United States, as indicated by the number of commissions sent here to study the handling of grain in this country. Grain is handled on the LOWEST MARGIN OF COST OF ANY FARM COMMODITY.

Sliteyes

Sirs: In an article on China, you speak of the Japanese Marines as "tough sliteyes." Need anything further be said?

ARTHUR RARIG Seattle, Wash.

No. -ED.

Atlanta's Medalist

Sirs: As a close and regular reader of TIME, I note with surprise the omission of the name of the Hon. Jack J. Spalding, of Atlanta, from those upon whom the Laetare Medal has been conferred.* The 1928 award was made to Mr. Spalding before a brilliant gathering of friends at the Atlanta Woman's Club in Atlanta, Ga., on Thursday evening, June 14, 1928. . . . Col. Spalding, in addition to being one of the most devout and prominent Roman Catholics in the United States, is also one of the leading lawyers of the country, and, at present, is President of the Atlanta Bar Association. I believe that Col. Spalding is the third Southerner to whom this award has been made; the others being, the late Chief Justice Edward Douglas White, of the Supreme Court of the United States, and Admiral William Shepherd Benson. We of the South are proud of Col. Spalding in this award, and I feel sure that the omission was one of inadvertence.

ERNEST E. DALIES Johnson-Dallis Co., Atlanta, Ga.

Yes, regrettable inadvertence. -ED.

Christ to Peter

Sirs: Under the heading "Papal State," I notice the quotation: "No earthly recognition can add to the divine commission of the Papacy. The independent sovereignty which is rightfully hers and which has finally been restored to the Church will but evidence to the world the supernatural and supernational mission with which the Visible Head of the Church has been commissioned since Christ spoke to Peter. Does this refer to Matt. 16:23: "But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me Satan: thou art an offense unto me:. . . ."?

BOB LYLE Biloxi, Miss.

No. Reference is to Matt. 16:18, 19: And I say to, thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shall bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shall loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven. -ED.

Little Peep

Sirs: I get a kick, a real live kick In human intrest touches That make all other news but TIME go hobbling 'round on crutches. 'Twas worth a year's subscription For just that little peep Of Hoover in his favorite bed Enjoying well earned sleep.

KENNETH N. WESTERMAN Alpena, Mich.

* Highest U. S. distinction for lay Catholics, conferred annually by Notre Dame University. -ED.