Fall Painting
Sirs:
Some time ago I was greatly shocked in seeing an oil painting of Mr. Fall, ex-Secretary of the Interior, hanging in the lobby of the Department of the Interior in Washington, D. C.
I wanted to destroy the painting or at least throw it into the ash can but was told the painting was government property and I would be arrested for destruction thereof if I destroyed the painting.
It is an insult to every loyal American to allow Criminal Fall's portrait to remain in the Department of the Interior, therefore I would appreciate information from a legal mind suggesting a legal remedy in this matter. . . .
C. M. HUBER Detroit, Mich.
Custom but no law requires an ex-Secretary's portrait to hang in his old department. Likeliest way to remove an undesirable would be by resolution of Congress. No picture of Harry Micajah Daugherty, discredited Attorney General, nor of Aaron Burr, unpopular U. S. Vice President, hangs officially in Washington. But in the Capitol lobby still hangs Schuyler Colfax, U. S. Vice President (1869-73) who was implicated but not convicted in the Credit Mobilier scandal.--ED.
Capone, Chiang, Hearst
Sirs:
May I suggest that TIME gives to physical characteristics an emphasis entirely out of proportion to their importance. It matters not at all that Capone is sleek and fat, that Chiang is wasp-waisted and shrill-voiced, and that Hearst is big-nosed. These persons' importance is in their relationship and effect on humanity; and this relationship and effect does not arise out of physical characteristics. . . .
A. W. RlECHERS
St. Louis, Mo.
Physical characteristics are an inevitable concomitant of personality. And personalities are the stuff of which history is made. TIME, historian, must continue to notice noses large & small, waists wasp or fat.--ED.
Baltimore's Gangplank
Sirs:
Incorrect is the statement under head "New Gangplank" p. 38, July 13, that the S. S. City of Baltimore out of Baltimore for Havre and Hamburg recently was first transatlantic passenger liner from that port since the clippers.
In 1891 and probably later the Allan line operated at least one steamer, passenger and freight, the S. S. Nova Scotian between Baltimore and Liverpool via Halifax, N. S. and St. John's, N. F.
TIME is splendid but occasionally slips.
ALEXANDER McGiLL
Lynchburg, Va.
Roosevelt Steamship Co.'s City of Baltimore was, as TIME stated, the first ship documented out of Baltimore since days of clippers. "Documented" means flying the flag of the port. Allan Line was an English line of which the home port was Glasgow. It operated between Quebec and Glasgow, using Halifax as a winter port. Its boats all had one word names and there is no record of a Novascotian. In 1915 the Allan Line was bought by Canadian Pacific. Empress of France is an old Allan Liner.--ED.
Potatoes? Apples! Lemons!
Sirs:
Your article U. S. Minister Brodie to Finland (TIME, July 13) expresses only the half of it. Not only does he import spuds to Finland, he at one time imported Oregon apples to Bangkok, Siam.
Minister Brodie represents the finest type of diplomat we have in our foreign service. There is only one thing that disturbs the Ministerial poise--paying for lemons on French liners.
R. W. MEXDELSOX
Albuquerque, N. M.
Tesla & Pigeons
Sirs:
Your account of Nikola Tesla on his 75th birthday [TIME, July 20] was one of the finest things I've ever seen in your magazine. It is all too seldom that Dr. Tesla gets adequate publicity. . . .
Your story interested me especially because I have had a slight acquaintance with him when I was employed in the Technology Department of the New York Public Library and have written a biographical sketch of him for Winston's Encyclopedia.
From his manner of life one might think of him as a scientific saint. His care for the sick pigeons among the flocks roosting on the facade of the Public Library is possibly less well-known than it deserves to be. For this purpose he makes frequent trips up Fifth Avenue in all kinds of weather. All crannies about the portico are carefully peered into. Among some of the loiterers in the entranceway it is known that a helpless bird carried to Dr. Tesla will bring 75-c-. It was Tesla who insisted that the water in the fountains should be kept running, in order to provide drinking water and bathing facilities for his feathery friends. . . .
ELDOR PAUL SCHULZE
Albany, N. Y.
Mirror Man
Sirs:
KNOW POSITIVELY GILBERT DID NOT WRITE MIRRORS OF THIRTY TWO [TIME, July 20] STOP BELIEVE GEORGE PUTNAM DID
F. L. WILSON
Flushing, N. Y.
Clinton Wallace Gilbert denies authorship of Mirrors of 1932, is reported vexed at whatever person "stole" his "Mirrors" title. Publisher George Palmer Putnam noncommittally says he "fathered" Mirrors of 1932 (also Mirrors of Washington), declines to reveal the "mother."--ED.
Burglars & Bankers
Sirs:
Because your reference to a Porto Rican burglar [TIME, July 6] reveals a spirit of contempt for Porto Ricans in general, I do not feel it rude on my part to reveal the following: Porto Rico has for long learned to associate American bankers with criminals and would have rejoiced at seeing them handcuffed to Porto Rican burglars long before this.
JOSEFINA M. DE ACOSTA
Vega Baja, P. R.
Anything but contempt has TIME for Porto Ricans, but it finds them proud, sensitive.--ED.
Big Bugs' Talk
Sirs:
A very limited number of the employed and unemployed citizens of these United States have any conception of the true inwardness of all this pother over reparations, moratorium etc.
They know that something is going on and that a lot of big bugs are doing a great amount of talking. I guess about 50 persons have asked me "what's it all about?" Thanks to TIME I can put these people straight! My answer to their questions is as follows: "Buy a copy of TIME, July 20 issue and turn to p. 20, and if you don't know all about it after reading three pages, then it's too bad (for you)."
Whoever made that summary did a splendid job, and I want to thank him, for many reasons, in this public manner. . . .
R. C. GORDON
Lafayette, Ala.
Detroit's Frauds
Sirs:
Twice I have read, among other inaccuracies in TIME, accounts of Detroit's politico-economic situation written by or obtained from persons either deliberately unfriendly to Mayor Frank Murphy, or ignorant of the facts.
In TIME of July 20 you say that fraud and embezzlement were found in the dole administration AFTER Ford Motor Company officials cited hundreds of dole getters who were also drawing Ford pay. Additional facts are necessary to give the truth. The first and only significant embezzlement was discovered by two young bankers who became suspicious of the sudden wealth of one Alex F. Lewis, a clerk in the welfare department, who through an ingenious fraud obtained $207,000. He fooled not only the welfare administration but the Detroit Yacht Club which admitted him to membership and the Ford Motor Company, which permitted him to buy an interest in a Ford agency with his stolen funds.
The Lewis embezzlement was the signal for an attack by the Ford Motor Company on Mayor Frank Murphy who had refused to use his influence in setting aside a city tax levy on a $2,000,000 Ford tunnel. The chief of the Ford Motor Company police department was chosen as the Ford spokesman. He hurled charges wild and vague, finally narrowing them down to 329 specific cases of "apparent fraud" in which Ford workmen accepted city welfare. To date less than 100 of these cases have been shown to be fraudulent--100 cases out of 30,000. . . .
You say that as a result of the fraud disclosures welfare expenditures in Detroit have been limited to $300,000 a month. This is definitely untrue. By Councilmanic mandate poor relief expenditures (doles) have been limited to $400,000 for July, August and September. When this $1,200,000 has been spent, $5,700,000 will be provided by Common Council for poor relief in the next nine months. . . .
Detroit itself is ill-informed on the subject, because two of its newspapers deliberately misinform their subscribers and the third paper (Hearst) while making an honest attempt at being fair succeeds only in making itself a little silly by ineptness.
JERRY H. BACON
Detroit, Mich.
No Detroit Syndicate Sirs:
In your July 20 issue of TIME, p. 17, article referring to the dole system used in Detroit, I beg to advise that you have been misinformed with reference to a syndicate being formed, consisting of the Chrysler Corp., Packard Motor Car Co. and Fisher Finance Corp.
This statement appeared also in the Detroit papers, and was immediately contradicted by Alvin McCauley of the Packard Motor Car Co. and Mr. Fisher of the Fisher Finance Corp.; also the controller of the Chrysler Corp. stated that he had no knowledge of any such syndicate. It seems that the statement had its origin with the Detroit City Controller Roosevelt. However, the later editions of the paper stated that no such syndicate had been formed for the purpose of lending Detroit $59,500.000.
A loan of $5,000,000 from Henry Ford, however, is authentic. . . . WALTER F. STEBENS
Detroit, Mich.
TIME thanks Reader Stebens for a correction which did not catch up with original news reports from Detroit. Last week Controller Roosevelt was talking about raising $53,000,000 for Detroit on short-term notes.--ED.
Who Knows Turtles'?
Sirs:
It seems that I am always trying to tell a better one, which is, at the most, a common human trait. This time it is about turtles--your turtle which climbed down four stories (p. 40, TIME, July 20), and one I know of which returned to the fold after 39 years.
Edward Birdsall of Yorktown Heights, N. Y. was a small boy in short pants in 1892. He wandered about his father's farm on Croton Lake and did the things that boys do. He picked up a small box turtle, carved his initials, E. B. 1892 on the shell and let it go. On July 15, 1931, Edward Birdsall, farmer, was mowing hay on his farm at Croton Lake when a turtle crossed the swath. He picked it up and saw the initials E. B. 1892 on its shell. His old friend had returned, no larger, no quicker and seemingly no older, after 39 years. He showed the "prodigal" to family and neighbors. Then he let it go again to wander another span of years, perhaps to be picked up once more by Birdsall, or by Birdsall's son, Edward Jr. who also carves turtles. Who knows?
WALTER E. HUELLE
Mount Kisco, N. Y.
Happy Salesman
Sirs:
They are picking on you a lot these days, aren't they? Evidently you need it. Probably keeps you in line. Here is another one:
That article on "Jobs" a short time ago [TIME, June 15]: "Selling things on commission (insurance, etc.) among the least attractive jobs." You made a statement. On what do you base your expression of opinion of the insurance job?
Many of your readers know that the insurance business has held up better than any other during the past two years. During 1930 when other lines were going down and down, the insurance business broke records. My own case is typical of hundreds. 1930 was my record year. So far in 1931, my income is ahead of the same period of 1930. I am not worrying about my job. Can you beat that? . . .
EDWARD F. WOOD
New York City
This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.