Land, Breweries, Perfumeries
Sirs:
You will doubtless be amused to learn of some of the business deals which have been offered to me since the story of my Russian business adventures appeared in TIME (Aug. 21). I have been offered land and tracts of timber in almost every state in the Union. Innumerable propositions have been made to me to participate in a great variety of businesses, ranging from breweries to perfumeries.
I have had many offers to augment my collection of Czarist Treasures by acquiring jewels and works of art which once belonged to bygone crowned heads of Europe.
These propositions have not been confined to the mail (which would fill a few good-sized mail bags), but sheaves of telegrams and even long distance phone calls have resulted.
What interested me specially was the fact that there were no letters from cranks as far as I could judge which is a compliment to the TIME-type of readers.
ARMAND HAMMER
New York City
Outraged Assyrians
Sirs:
As a representative body of nearly all Assyrians living in Chicago and vicinity, our Council avails itself of this opportunity to thank you for the very fair and intelligent comment in your magazine of Aug. 28 on the recent Assyrian massacres in Irak. To our knowledge, thus far, your magazine has shown a far more thorough understanding of the underlying evils that produce such outrages than any other newspaper or periodical.
We sincerely believe the best way to prevent such atrocities in future is through continued exposure by such influential periodicals as TIME. May we hope, in the interests of justice and humanity, that your great magazine will continue to inform its readers of future developments in Irak?
JONATHAN S. COLIA
Secretary
Council of Assyrian Societies Chicago, Ill.
Sincere Irak
Sirs:
In your issue of Aug. 28, p. 13, col. 1, I read under the title Irak certain views on the Assyrian incident on which I wish to make some comments.
I find in the article such expressions as "King Feisal, as a Mohammedan, does not greatly object to the massacre of Assyrians or other Christians;" ". . . started a slaughter of all Assyrians he could lay hands on;" ". . . few days of fanatical Mohammedan slaughter."
In referring to a Mohammedan government or people some Western writers seem to find it difficult to discard a view associated with the old Ottoman regime to which they give such sensational expression as is conveyed by the statements "massacre of Christians" and "fanatical Mohammedan slaughter." Such reference is a misrepresentation of the actual prevailing intentions on the part of Mohammedans, people and government, in Irak and other Arab countries.
Irak, of which I am a citizen, is ruled in accordance with Western political principles and practices, and its responsible people believe in, and live up to, the modern idealism of the West.
The Assyrian incident, which was composed in London into a world-redounding episode of horror, is in reality one in which the Iraki government was placed on the defensive by external offending influences.
The Assyrians had been, long before the War, in the service of agencies quite uninterested in the welfare of either Irak or the Assyrians themselves. Many a time during the past eleven years of semi-national rule they proved to be a veritable menace to the national interests of Irak. Notwithstanding the fact that most of them do not originally belong to Irak, the government of Irak has been very generous and kind to all of them. She offered them land and money, but a section of them refused to settle down or give up arms. Armed, they cross the boundary to Syria. The French authorities in Syria take away the arms from some of them, then after some consideration they give them back better fighting arms. Now they cross back, charge a small Iraki garrison after pretending surrender to it, cut three lieutenants to pieces while alive, kill 20 soldiers and wound 45.
The government punished them in a manner that ought by no means to send the alarm of "massacre" and "fanatical slaughter" ringing in sections of the Western press. The government then communicated to the League of Nations its complaint against the way the situation was handled by the French authorities in Syria.
Irak, which is trying to live up to its obligations with genuine wholeheartedness and sincerity, is meeting a bitterly critical Western world when she reservedly and moderately acts to protect its very existence and sovereignty.
SHEETH N. NUMAN
Cambridge, Mass.
For evidence that Western-written TIME does not confuse modern Irak with the old Ottoman regime let Reader Numan read TIME'S account of the life, times and death of Irak's able King Feisal (TIME, Sept. 18).
Last week Feisal's body reached Haifa, Palestine. A throng of 15,000 pious Moslems broke through a police cordon, threatened to topple over the official dais, trampled several people in an effort to touch the bier of a 37th-generation descendant of Mohammed. British planes took the body to Bagdad, where a native newspaper was suppressed for ten days for suggesting that Feisal committed suicide. A hundred thousand Arabs attended the royal obsequies. The crowd was so dense and so excited that police barred the palace gates against them, severed a bridge of boats across the Tigris lest it sink with the funeral procession under the weight of the multitude. King Feisal was entombed near the Parliament Building with a 99-gun salute.--ED.
Sportsman & Trophy Chaser
Sirs:
Your information on Hubert Scott-Paine appearing under Sports, p. 38, issue of Sept. 11, is decidedly inaccurate.
1) Imperial Airways was not founded until several years after the War--1924, I believe. It was an amalgamation of English lines, including Scott-Paine's own Supermarine Airways. running from Southampton to the Channel Islands and Havre. During the War Scott-Paine built Supermarine airplanes and made lots of money.
2) So it was long ere 1921 that he, his brother & Jimmie Byrd built up the Supermarine Aviation Works--not "Motor Co."--at Southampton.
3) He certainly did not sink his whole fortune in his 1922 Schneider Cup entry which, piloted by Capt. Baird, won that year at Venice. His fortune was too large for that, and in 1923 he was quite prosperous to my personal knowledge. One does not win a fortune with the Schneider Trophy. However, he did personally finance the 1922 Supermarine Sea Lion and it was a fine sporting gesture and kept the Trophy alive, as Italy then had two of the three wins necessary for permanent possession.
4) Neither did he successfully defend the Trophy in 1923, when it was won by Lieut. D. Rittenhouse, U. S. N., one of a team of U. S. pilots led by the writer.
5) And I am sure that he has been interested in speed boats for years--has built previous fast ones in the Supermarine airplane plant--has tested the Mapleleafs & others built at the Saunders yards at Cowes across The Solent from his Southampton home--and like most well-to-do residents of Southampton has long been accustomed to fast water travel.
He hated to see Jim Beckett--whom he had known for years--lose to Carpentier in 1923 when the former was knocked out with two punches.
A true sportsman & trophy chaser--Gar Wood should look to his laurels. In 1923 as the U. S. team was sailing home on the Leviathan with the Schneider Cup--"The Flying Flirt"--Zephyr Kissing The Waves--Scott-Paine patted her fanny and said: "I'll be over after you next year, old girl." But next year, 1924, his ship crashed, and also in 1925. Thereafter the R. A. F. took over England's high speed flying, and Scott-Pairie turned to speed boats.
F. W. WEAD
Los Angeles, Calif.
To Lieut. Commander Wead, U. S. N. retired, who has written successful cinemas (Dirigible, Hell Divers) since the stairway fall which broke his neck and ended his flying career, thanks for an interesting account of the career of Sportsman Scott-Paine.--ED.
Apes on a Rock
Sirs:
In your issue of Sept. 4 under the heading Animals you had a short article on the apes which inhabit the Rock of Gibraltar.
This article was of particular interest to me due to the fact that during the World War as a sailor on the U. S. S. Buffalo I was stationed at Gibraltar for some months. At that time there were about 35 apes on the Rock, which seemed to be in two separate groups. Each group was led by a magnificent bull ape, who seemed almost human in intelligence.
The street tale which tradition had handed down regarding these apes and why they were cared for so carefully by the British was that during one of the numerous engagements between Great Britain and Spain when Spain was making an attempt to recapture the Rock, the sentry who was guarding the approaches from the Spanish side fell asleep. While he was asleep at the post, the Spaniards started on one of their surprise moves to regain the Rock. This would have perhaps succeeded had not one of the apes. in looking around for something to eat, found a pot of beans which the British soldier had put in what he considered a secure place. In trying to get the beans from the pot, the ape overturned it. causing it to fall with a clatter. This awakened the sentry who, upon seeing the Spaniards advancing, gave the alarm and the surprise move was foiled.
This is one of the most interesting of the various stories told about the apes and was firmly believed by the British artillerymen who were stationed on the Rock during the World War.
L. S. MITCHELL
Tampa, Fla.
Love & Nothing
Sirs:
.. I wish to ask omniscient TIME a queson arising from the fact that tennis is international, I, provincial. This summer, Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not feature stated that the tennis ero score "love" originated as an Anglicized pronunciation of the French words l'oeuf, meaning egg. Do non-English speaking tennists call he zero score by the English word "love," or by their native words for: 1) love, 2) egg, 3) ;ero?
JOSEPH T. OWENS
Kansas City, Mo.
Best authorities agree that playing a game "for love" means playing for nothng, hence in 18th Century racquet games "love" signified no score.--ED.
Tid-Bits
Sirs:
... I have a sample copy of a magazine dated Aug. 3, 1889, which was published by the rime Publishing Company, 237 Broadway, New York. The outside front cover has a cupid with wings, peaked hat, sandals and bludgeon. The youngster holds a large scythe which is attached or else about to cut a string which leads to the earth's globe. The slogan appearing below this illustration reads, "Folly shall not go dully by U. S.--Shakespeare."
Is your present news digest a more serious evolution of the former mirth sheet?
FREDERIC D. MERRILL JR.
Lynn, Mass.
An illustrated weekly called Tid-Bits was published in New York City in 1884, changed its name to Time in 1885, was merged with Munsey's Feb. 22, 1890. TIME, founded 1923, has no connection with defunct, cupid-covered Time.--ED.
Harvard Danas
Sirs:
... It was not the Sun's founder who left Harvard College because of faulty eyesight, but Richard Henry Dana Jr., a member of a distinguished Boston family. He shipped before the mast, while an undergraduate of Harvard, to cure a weakness of the eyes which threatened to spoil his career. On his return he graduated from Harvard and became an eminent lawyer. Two Years Before the Mast, a book he wrote describing his voyage, made him famous.
FRANK E. PLUMLEY JR.
Belmont, Mass.
TIME did not confuse its Danas. Publisher Charles Anderson Dana entered Harvard in 1839, left in 1841 because of poor eyesight, did not return. Author Richard Henry Dana entered Harvard in 1831, left in 1833 because of eye trouble, returned in 1836, graduated in 1837.--ED.
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