Dead Hog & Roast Pork

Sirs:

. . . I am particularly annoyed by the manner you burlesque or satirize Roosevelt's speech [TIME, Oct. 7], apparently with the purpose of trying to make him appear slightly ridiculous. . . . You can make a person stand in a favorable light or unfavorable yet remain strictly within the truth.

I may say "I ate dead hog for dinner," or I can say "I ate roast pork." In both cases I would be correct. The President could get "scattered cheers," or he could get applause. Both are correct. But "scattered cheers" shows your bias in the matter. In another place, you use the words "My frien-n-nds," as though to deride the President's speech, when "My friends," would do just as well, and carry no sense of a jeer. You will say no such effect is intended, but I am the judge of the effect it produces, not you. . . .

You may as well understand that I am for Roosevelt, and I stick all the tighter to him when I discover that the Press is coloring the news against him, apparently for their own purposes. . . .

SYLVANUS K. POST

West Palm Beach, Fla.

. . .

Sirs:

On p. 14 of your Sept. 30 issue, you have the expression, "his attitude toward that piece of paper." Your article shows you are speaking of the Constitution of the U. S.

There have appeared in some recent issues of your publication things that make us suspect you of leaning toward the Communist's side in government. . . . I believe you pretend to independence and declare yourself on no side. But every once in a while there breaks out in some of your articles things that show rather too clearly that, either in heart or through control, you lean toward the New Deal side. . . .

We do not flatter ourselves that what we write you here will change your course. . . .

A. D. COOPER

The Wadsworth News

Wadsworth, Ohio

. . .

Sirs:

Anyone acquainted with the history of the Tom Mooney case, will recognize your article in the Sept. 30 issue as grossly unfair and biased. Every sentence in it was adroitly written to convey an impression erroneous to the truth. . . . If this continues I shall certainly not renew my subscription to TIME, as I am interested in the facts, and not a flippant sophomorish interpretation of them for the benefit of prejudiced readers.

Back to the Tom Mooney article:

1) . . . were convicted of bombing the local Preparedness Day parade in 1916 with a loss of ten lives.

Prejudicial inference: A true statement, but worded to convey prejudice against Mooney, playing upon the sentiment of Preparedness Day and loss of lives.

2) . . . so often has the militant U. S. Labor movement thrust his case into court.

The thrusting of his case into court was as much the work of interested individuals of non-labor affiliations, as of labor itself.

3) . . . today Tom Mooney has come to think of himself as an important public personage in his own right.

Tom Mooney is an important personage in his own right, since he has become the symbol of notorious injustice. . . .

4) . . . as always, cocked and primed to talk about his "martyrdom."

Obviously a smart alec statement, insinuating that Mooney talked for publicity's sake alone, instead of for a cause in which he sincerely believes.

5) . . . twenty pounds heavier.

Making out that Mooney after all had had an easy time in prison. . . .

6) . . . preparing to rehash all the old familiar points of the case.

By inference, untrue--as though the old points were not important and had not often been disproved by unbiased investigators. . . .

I belong to no radical political organizations, and have no ax to grind in this particular case, but the stupidity of your article prompts me to write this letter of protest.

MARTA LAMAR

Dallas, Tex.

Well aware that one reader's roast pork is another's dead hog, TIME will continue to serve news.--ED.

Dollars on Knox

Sirs:

Overlooked, in your article on Presidential possibility Frank Knox, was the fact that a slice of his Chicago Daily News is owned by a public utility company. Authority for the statement--not denied to date--is George Seldes in his recently published book Freedom of the Press.

Dollars to doughnuts Knox will be Republican candidate in 1936. Reasons: greatest issue will be public ownership of public utilities and extension of present "Yardstick" undertakings. Public utilities throughout the nation are prepared to move heaven and earth in an effort to prevent themselves being subjected to honest competition. Result would be a complete collapse of their enterprises and forced deflation of the dishonest values placed upon their properties and services. . . .

SCHUYLER PATTERSON

New York City

Let Subscriber Patterson beware false conclusions. Author Seldes reported that International Paper & Power owned shares of the Chicago Daily News in 1929. But I. P. & P. disposed of its holdings on Oct. 10, 1929--two years before Publisher Knox acquired the newspaper.--ED.

One Who Could Win?

Sirs:

While the Republican Party is trying to find a standard bearer against President Roosevelt (TIME, Oct. 14), the one man who could win is being overlooked. . . .

The man I mean is Associate Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court Owen J. Roberts. I have known him for a trifle over 40 years and am conversant with his distinguished career. . . . He has never been particularly active in Republican circles and he has never been associated with any political clique in that party. . . .

. . . He is a clear thinker and a safe thinker; his feet have always been on the ground: He is a Pennsylvanian but Pennsylvania elected a Democratic Governor and a Democratic lower house and Democrats here think that they may elect a Democratic mayor. The G. O. P. needs the best man it can get and it does not have to go to Kansas or any other section to get [him]. . . .

WILLIAM H. EVANS

Philadelphia Electric Co.

Philadelphia, Pa.

Los Angeles Votes

Sirs:

. . . President and Mrs. Roosevelt were here and received a great welcome from the 225,000 school children who were let out of school and most of the 400,000 who are on relief here, all of whom lined the streets from the station to the Coliseum. The Coliseum was almost filled. The Epic Socialists passed out literature at the Coliseum and Upton Sinclair was in the limelight.

One was forced to the conclusion that Rooseveltian ideas are popular with the majority of voters. The anti-Roosevelt sentiment is universal among business and professional men in Los Angeles but they do not control the majority of votes.

RAYMOND L. CLINE

Los Angeles, Calif.

One for Hoover

Sirs:

DON'T YOU BELIEVE NOBODY WANTS NEXT PRESIDENT HOOVER.

JAMES WALDO FAWCETT

Washington, D. C.

Prospect

Sirs:

A bowl of roses to your editorial staff for their fearlessness in reporting the recent crash of a United Air Liner in Crow Creek Valley near Cheyenne [TIME, Oct. 14]. Why? Because I imagine the U. A. L. is quite a large advertising account but you may tell the executives of the United Air Line I intend to make use of their fine plane service as soon as I accumulate the necessary funds. No single crash can scare me away! . . .

SAMUEL H. BERGER

Chicago, Ill.

To United Air Line's energetic traffic department, TIME presents Prospect Berger. --ED.

Singers' Prices

Sirs:

Referring to the article under Music in TIME, Oct. 7, we, as the leading artists of the San Carlo Opera take exception to the published statement: "He pays his routine singers $85 per week, thus can afford to keep his seat prices low. Even at such wages the singers sing often."

This statement is manifestly untrue and detrimental to our career as we principal artists never have, do not now and never will sing for a price as low as $85 a week, nor do we sing more often than three times a week unless paid pro rata extra. This is a normal number of performances in any opera company regardless of seat price. Regarding the statement "The singing was sure but rarely exciting," we submit for your consideration our past records as shown by audience and press enthusiasm of such large cities as Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Detroit, etc. You always seem desirous of correcting erroneous statements, therefore will you kindly publish our side of the question?

BIANCA SAROYA

DREDA AVES

HIZI KOYKE

AROLDO LINDI

DIMITRI ONOFREI

MOSTYN THOMAS

MARIO VALLE

Detroit, Mich.

Let no reader misunderstand TIME'S reference to "routine singers," by which was meant members of the ensemble, who are paid $85 a week minimum. Leading performers in San Carlo receive $250 to $500 a week, while guest stars have been paid as high as $1,200 a performance (Maria Jeritza).--ED.

Craig's Standing

Sirs:

TIME, Oct. 14, advances the thought that General Craig's "progress after he left the Academy should give hope to West Point's dullards." This is based on the premise that General Craig graduated at the bottom of his class.

Reference to General Cullum's Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the United States Military Academy will establish the fact that at graduation in April 1898, General Craig stood 33 in a class of 59.

J. B. CRAWFOR

West Point, 1911

Fort Leavenworth, Kans.

. . .

Sirs:

Anent your story on the Army's new Chief-of-Staff: That No. 1 man, U. S. Military Academy, Class of '98--how did he come out?

ROBERT B. SEARS

Hendersonville, N. C.

No. 1 man in Major-General Craig's class was Frank Cranstoun Boggs, Jr. He served in the Engineer Corps for 30 years, retired as a colonel in 1928, became assistant to the Manager of the Chicago World's Fair. In a Fair pamphlet entitled Centurions of Progress he was described thus: "An unimposing little man in a succession of grey suits, but behind his gentle, systematic manner lies a large achievement: he was purchasing agent of the Panama Canal, a job in which there might have been a magnificent scandal but in which there was none."--ED.

Beard or Brush

Sirs:

In your issue of Oct. 7 I noticed that it was said regarding H.R.H. the Prince of Wales that he "shot a chamois . . . stuffed the beard in his pocket." The statement is incorrect in that the trophy of the Austrian chamois is the brush, consisting of the .hair or fur, not of the head, but of the base of" the spine above the small tail. Not only that, but in the summer when the animal's coat is short, it is not worthwhile to make a trophy out of it, the thin curved horns being the sole memento of the kill.

ANGIER BIDDLE DUKE

Yale University

New Haven, Conn.

Wrong is Socialite Sportsman Duke, according to such authorities as the Austrian National Tourist Office and Abercrombie & Fitch (de luxe hunting outfitters). Besides the horns, a coveted chamois trophy is the gamsbart (beard) which the huntsman has mounted in a holder, and wears in his cap.--ED.

"A Certain Englishman"

Sirs:

I am becoming quite disgusted with you. . . . It seems to me that in your desire to furnish us choice morsels to roll under our tongues, you are including more and more items which might better be left to the regular scandal sheets. Your constant references to a certain Englishman, whom those most capable of judging generally rate as very much of an officer and a gentleman, seem to me to be in rotten bad taste, and as you know that there is practically no chance of a libel action, damned unsportsmanlike. . . .

A. H. McFARLAN

Phoenix, Ariz.

TIME is at a loss to know what Subscriber McFarlan means.--ED.

Fertile Roswell

Sirs:

Your reference to Colonel Lindbergh landing at Roswell, N. Mex. in a cactus-littered desert (TIME, Oct. 7) is certainly misleading. We have 275 blocks of paved streets, more than 30,000 shade trees, hundreds of flower gardens growing dahlias 12 inches across and other flowers in proportion, and 12,000 people who are rather proud of our beauty. You should not lead your readers to believe this is a cactus wilderness. Certainly they would be disappointed if they came expecting it. . . .

CLAUDE SIMPSON

Secretary

Chamber of Commerce

Roswell, N. Mex.

Sirs:

. . . Roswell is one of the most beautiful little towns in the U. S. . . . In fact we have to travel miles to be able to get cactus for ornamental purposes. . . .

MRS. SIDNEY PRAGER

Roswell, N. Mex.

Confusing Bordens

Sirs:

In Milestones (TIME, Oct. 14) you mention the marriage of Penelope Borden, "daughter of the late Milkman Lewis Mercer Borden, sister of Chicago Dramacritic Gail Borden II, great-granddaughter of Gail Borden I, who invented condensed milk."

I am sorry that I have not the honor to be the lady's brother, but only her third cousin. Your error is, however, understandable since the Bordens are a confusing family to any genealogist, almost as much so as the Smiths.

The history . . . is briefly this: Four brothers settled in Texas (Gail, Thomas, Paschal and John). Gail was the milkman (though hardly "Gail I" since his father and grandfather were both Gail) and the great progenitor of Penelope. His brother, John, was the great-grandfather of

GAIL BORDEN

"Chicago Dramacritic"

Chicago Daily Times

Chicago, Ill.

Hollow

Sirs:

Oh TIME, TIME! After all the effort to get people to stop saying "the consensus of opinion is--" you came out with "hollow tube!" (TIME, Oct. 14, p. 46, line 33).

Did you ever see a tube that wasn't hollow?

WILLIAM ELMER

Philadelphia, Pa.

No. Henceforth in TIME tubes shall be tubes.--ED.

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