Pastor's Alehouse

Sirs:

After I had read ''Gamel Oestengaard" in your issue of Dec. 19, I mailed it to an aunt of mine who lives in Valby, asking her to verily the facts in the article.

Here is her answer:

Det Udklip Du sendte mig passer ikke altsammen. Kirken er kun en Kryslitkirke, saa den er hverken ny eller smuk og Kroen ligger heller ikke lige overfor, men et godt Stykke derfra, men ellers er det rigtigt. Det er en af vore gode Bekendte Praesten som har Kroen, han var gift med en So/ster til Murmenster Andersens Kone. Jeg tror nok det har kostet ham en Masse Penge og han kan etc. etc.

And this is the best translation I can make:

"That clipping you sent me is not altogether true. The Church is only a 'Kryslit'-church. so it is neither new nor beautiful, and the inn doesn't lie right across but a good distance away--but otherwise it is right. The priest who owns the inn [alehouse] is one of our good friends--he married a sister of Builder Andersen's wife. I think it has cost him a great deal of money and he does not seem to be able to make it go, and will be obliged to sell it. He is very socially interested and hoped that he might be fortunate enough to draw people away from the evil saloons."

Perhaps it would be wise if some of our Methodist divines would use Pastor Keiding's type of strategy. . . .

Be that as it may. I have put you right on something, and I hope you appreciate it.

HOWARD VAN BOHEMEX

Ridgefield Park, N. J.

$5 Per Week

Sirs:

. . . You mention a number of colleges in which the co-operative scheme of student housing and eating has been or is being developed. Iowa State College at Ames is probably one of the pioneers in this work. In 1924 the first experiment was made in a house caring for 16 girls. The scheme worked so well . . . that one of the regular dormitories housing 65 women was opened on a co-operative basis. The girls did all the work in the hall under the supervision of a housemother. By the fall of 1931 it seemed expedient to open another co-operative hall housing 100 women. The total cost per week for both board & room does not exceed $5.40. This means a splendid fireproof modern hall and in as good a room as the campus affords. Iowa State College has always been noted for her splendid housing facilities.

During the summer of 1932 the college felt the necessity of opening a co-operative hall for men. It has met with splendid success and enthusiasm from the 6,5 residents. The cost is but $5 per week for board & room. Although it was necessary to provide a somewhat larger budget for the food for the men it was possible to reduce j the price of room rent for them on account of the I type of hall used. A woman does the cooking while all other work in the hall is done by the men.

This winter one of the eleven sororities has undertaken co-operative living. The house expenses are being greatly reduced. The members feel a closer fellowship. This same splendid feeling predominates in our four co-operative homes. MRS. MADGE I. MCGLADE

Director of Housing Iowa State College Ames. Iowa

Kingfish

Sirs:

Even in this section where conservatism has been the watchword for generations, people are speaking of the recent filibustering in Washington as "putting a premium on ignorance and its synonyms."

Don't you think that it would be most TIMEly for a brief history of our Honorable Huey Kingfish Long?

FROSTY FURGESON

Boston, Mass.

For a life of The Kingfish see TIME. Oct. 3.--ED.

19th Route Army

Sirs:

Reference is made in TIME of Jan. 16 to the Chinese 19th Route Army, famed for its heroic defense of Shanghai. Could you tell me why it is called the 19th Route Army? Is it because there are routes in China to be guarded and this is the army that is ordinarily assigned to guard the 19th of these routes, or is it because there are armies in China designated "route"' armies in contradistinction to all other Chinese armies, and this is the 19th of the ''route" variety, or why is it? . .

JOSEPH RUUD

Evansville. Ind.

When General (later President) Chiang Kai-shek marched out of Canton in 1926, taking the route or highway north to conquer all China, he was joined by 24 Chinese divisions, each known by its historic numeral and the honorable title Lo Chun ("Route Army"). Most famed is the Sze Chin Lo Chun ("19th Route Army") because of its battle against hopeless odds to defend Shanghai (TIME. March 7 ).--ED.

Empty Cemeteries

Sirs:

Is it not possible to shame France into payment by starting an appropriate slogan and movement? Perhaps the slogan alone will do the trick. It is:

Let the American War dead be brought home. Our heroic dead cannot rest in peace in the soil of the land that dishonors its obligation to their country. Let empty American military cemeteries be eternal monuments of shame.

I was one of the millions OVER THERE, and know how France was actually "shaking in her boots" until the Doughboy got on the job.

REV. FRANCIS F. ROBINSON

Akron. Iowa

Facts of Birth

Sirs:

After reading your transcript of Doctors DeLee and Siedentopf "Facts of Birth." . . . I am quite sure that a goodly number of your 400,000 would prefer to remain at home, or perhaps not go through the performance at all. The statement, "Home delivery, even under the poorest conditions, is safer than hospital delivery," has to be taken with more than a grain of salt. I feel it very bad propaganda to unduly alarm the prospective maternal American public as to the safety of hospital delivery. . . .

LANE FALK, M. D.

Eureka, Calif.

Sirs:

. . . The danger of such an article is that it may influence many expectant mothers, desperately in need of the advantages of hospital care, to refuse to go to a hospital, which might mean the life of the mother, the child, or both. Probably, if this matter was carefully investigated, one would find that patients encountered in the pre-natal clinics and in the homes, who present complications, are usually urged to go to the hospital for delivery. Therefore, in the small number of hospital deliveries, there are no doubt a large percentage of complicated cases, as compared with those in the home. Consequently, a higher mortality must be expected. . . .

WALTER S. ATKINSON, M. D. Watertown, N. Y.

Sirs:

. . . The experience of the hospital of which I am Superintendent, is, I think, sufficiently unusual to warrant placing a few statistical comments before you. Between Aug. 30, 1930 and Nov. 17, 1932, in this hospital, were conducted 1,483 consecutive deliveries without a single maternal death, truly a remarkable record. If any other hospital in the U. S. can equal this record for such a volume of maternity work covering over 26 1/2 months without a single maternal death, I should like to hear from it. Another interesting fact is that this work was not done by a small number of highly trained specialists, but represented the work of 116 different doctors, a large number of whom, represent that old-fashioned type whose passing is so oft lamented in the Press--the family physician.

HENRY HEDDEN, M. D.

Superintendent Methodist Hospital Memphis, Tenn.

Foreign News v. Medicine Sirs:

Your issue of Jan. 23 displays a lack of TIME's customary editorial vigilance. Perhaps the editor of Foreign News should avail himself of consultation with the Medical Editor, for he errs in applying the term, antiseptic, instead of aseptic (in the strict sense demanded by proponents of scientific accuracy), as descriptive of Tsar Boris' "surgeon's white gown and red rubber gloves."

However, the Foreign News Editor may have some justification in his failure to seek counsel at the source mentioned, inasmuch as the Medical Editor is guilty of a far greater inaccuracy for, in the same issue, he speaks of "inter-cranial" hemorrhage in place of the correct usage, intracranial.

By & large, TIME is to be commended for its accuracy in medical matters, an accomplishment which the daily press might well emulate. The errors here mentioned merely indicate that, after all, the editorial staff is human.

WM. A. MICHAEL, M. D.

Peoria, Ill.

Situation

Sirs:

I know of no magazine equal to TIME for interest or accuracy, and I read them all.

However, what is most noteworthy about TIME, in my own estimation, is its tremendous following. No other publication on the market today has a more avid group of readers. I state that not only as a result of my own observations, but also by word of friends in other cities.

I cannot afford a subscription myself, and thus am forced to read it in the local library. The situation there is most unusual: one must always wait their turn for as soon as it is placed in the periodical room eager hands seize it, nor do they relinquish it until read from cover to cover. During all of the time which I spend in libraries I have never seen that happen to any other magazine.

EMERY F. BACON

Duquesne, Pa.

Legislator Sirs:

The Arizona Legislature convened on Jan. 9, and one week later had not agreed upon members' pay. Senator St. Charles, Mohave, said, "I have got $4.35, and by sticking to 15-c- meals I can get along for another week.''--from Arizona Republic of Jan. 15, 1932.

These are tough times.

LEE LAIRD Oakland, Calif.

President's Term Sirs:

Mr. White's pathetic anxiety about the killing responsibilities of our Presidents and TIME'S sympathetic comments thereon (TIME, Jan. 23, p. 2), reveal an amazing superficiality of thinking on the part of both.

Excepting our three martyred Presidents and the three who died in office of old age or disease, the average life of the other 24 was 72 years. Surely not an alarming death rate when you reach back nearly 150 years.

By no flight of imagination can Mr. Coolidge's sudden death be traced to national cares, from which he was free for the last four years. His was a charmed life. He lived in quiet dignity and simplicity and he died peacefully and painlessly. What better fate can mortal man wish?

A single term of four or six years will not lighten the burdens of our Chief Executive nor lengthen his days on earth. At a time when the Congress is overwhelmed with the perplexing problem of how many split decimal points make beer intoxicating, while millions of Americans are asking "When do we eat?" it is unpatriotic to disturb its deliberations with another futile Constitutional Amendment.

CHARLES W. PAFFLOW

Washington, D. C.

Advocated last week by Senator Pittman of Nevada was a constitutional amendment limiting a President to one term of six years. His arguments for such a reform: 1) A President would have two years to formulate policies, four years to execute them without the distraction of seeking reelection; 2) he would be freed from political considerations as to his future; 3) periods of anxious uncertainty incident to presidential elections would be spaced further apart. Senator Pittman predicted such a change "within two years." --Ed.

Praise for Lapps

Sirs:

. . . I feel that in your characterization of the Lapps . . . the impression you give of those delightful people is not at all as I found them during a journey through Lapland in the summer of 1929. . . .

Today about the only bad habit they have is the excessive use of coffee. They are Christians of an extremely puritanical sect, so pious that they even consider photography too worldly. They very rarely drink to excess. . . . The Caucasian Swedes drink many times as much as the Lapps. . . .

While they do have the right to roam over the frontiers of their several countries (politically speaking) without passports, it is the same right which our Indians have to pass freely between the United States and Canada. . . . There was a time, pre-Laestadius, when they fought one another with knives, and perhaps in some cases went so far as to commit the unkind injury with which you charge them. But those times are far away and long ago.

They are a most likable people. . . . I feel that some one should come to their defense when mistaken impressions of them appear in our prints.

HARRY A. FRANCK New Hope, Pa.

Sirs:

. . . As far as Swedish Lapps are concerned, they specialize in Botany and use the Latin names for many plants.

In Swedish Lapland, education has been compulsory for many years, and even when they are on migration, they attend school and receive a general education in portable schools, being taught by highly qualified schoolteachers who migrate with them.

The idea that Lapps keep reindeer just as other people keep cows is ridiculous. Reindeer are still "wild"; the animals migrate regularly to their winter and summer feeding grounds, without asking anyone's permission, and because Laplanders live entirely upon reindeer, they have become nomads of necessity. Reindeer . . . feed themselves; and even when the snow is three feet deep, the animals dig holes in the snow and can be seen eating reindeer moss, standing on their heads with only their wagging tails visible.

The principal occupation of the Lapps during the long winter night, is not drinking and fighting, but reading the family Bible. . . .

Lapps are certainly lousy! but so are Russians! I have lived with both and been lousy with both, but as far as being civilized and literate, Laplanders are away ahead of the majority of the present inhabitants of the U. S. S. R.

Some years ago, when reindeer were introduced to Alaska, a few Lapps were brought to this country with them. Most of them eventually returned to Lapland, but one Laplander settled in Seattle, married an American girl and became a very successful banker! . . .

CARVETH WELLS

Exploring America with Conoco and Carveth Wells

New York City

P. S. As I have read TIME ever since it was born, I think it is about time that I became a subscriber, so please find enclosed my cheque.

For a Lappish description of Lapp quarreling, drinking and reindeer-stealing (most heinous Lapp offense) see Turi's Book of Lapland by Lapland's sole author of note, Johan Olafsson Turi (b. 1860), who philosophically observes "When you will tell of everything you must write both of the ugly and the beautiful."--ED.

Thankful Eaters

Sirs:

Your dramatization of Jan. 20 of Acting Lieutenant Thomas F. Coffey, in charge of traffic death records of the New York Police, in my opinion, did more for safety to children than any sermon ever preached, or book ever published.

I do hope that some firm will have an electric transcription made of your dramatization, as it will do the children more good than all the cowboys and Indian stories ever invented.

I am sure that the parents will feel thankful and they will eat any brand of cereal of any advertiser putting your dramatization of Lieutenant Coffey on the air.

PAUL CIFRINO

President Children's Safety League of Mass. Boston, Mass.

Peace

Sirs:

Did you ever know that TIME is a great peacemaker?

In my family (only three of us) every Friday after dinner--there would be a family scrap (not serious)--who gets to read TIME first-- all solved now--because we take 2 copies of TIME--all happy & peace reigns supreme.

SIMON ROSENAU

Philadelphia, Pa.

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