Index (Cont'd)

Sirs:

Again TIME errs! All of Zola's works are not on the famed Catholic Index of Prohibited Books. A friend of Zola's challenged him to write one book that would not be banned. Zola's The Dream can be read by Catholics--TIME'S statement notwithstanding.

EDWARD J. GULANICK

St. Procopius College

Lisle, Ill.

Many authorities believe that Emile Zola wrote The Dream because he wanted very much to get into the French Academy. It is almost aggressively innocuous, but beside Emile Zola's name in the Catholic Index librorum prohibitorum are the words opera omnia, all his works including his snowdrop among weeds," The Dream. --ED.

From Slot Machines

Sirs:

Shame on you for the use of such terms as "few people ever expected" and "for that surprising purpose" in connection with Wichita's peddling of insurance through slot machines! [TIME, Jan. 24.]

In 1910 you could have procured a similar accident insurance policy from North American Accident Insurance Co. by inserting a dime in a machine issued by the long since defunct International Vending Machine Co. Every station of Hudson & Manhattan Railroad Co. was decorated with three or four of these machines. . . .

DAVID V. MCCAULEY, S.J. Dean

School of Medicine

Georgetown University

Washington, D. C.

No Shenanigans

Sirs:

You made an inaccurate and erroneous statement in your issue of Dec. 27. ... You said: "That the finance companies were not entirely innocent of shenanigans appeared, however, with the revelation that they had hired a onetime newshawk named Harry G. Croy to investigate the personnel of the grand jury."

The finance companies did not hire Mr. Croy. I, as counsel for Commercial Credit Co., appeared before Judge Geiger in the proceedings to which you refer. The record of those proceedings clearly shows that Commercial Credit Co. had nothing whatever to do with the employment of Mr. Croy. Neither it nor any of its representatives knew anything about the matter. Counsel for another finance company took sole and personal responsibility for the employment of Mr. Croy, and he stated to the Court that he had not consulted with any other company when he employed Mr. Croy. . . .

DUANE R. DILLS

New York, N. Y.

TIME, in company with newspapers reporting the trial, erred. Newshawk Croy was hired by Phillip W. Haberman, attorney for Universal Credit, who says he wanted to find out why accounts of the supposedly secret Grand Jury proceedings were getting to the press. But all the finance companies, Commercial Credit included, would have benefited if Newshawk Croy had found out anything.--ED.

Inconsistent Communists

Sirs:

... It may interest your readers to hear that the Chinese Communists (TIME, Jan. 10), who as we know profess not to believe in Christ, issued paper currency and minted coins in Kiangsi dated according to the Christian calendar, thus themselves officially testifying to Christ's advent.

C. LAMBERT

Vancouver, B. C.

Let Reader Lambert reflect that he testifies to the Norse God Thor every time he makes an appointment for Thursday, to other Norse gods, Greek gods and astronomical bodies on other days of the week.--ED.

Boy!

Sirs:

Boy! You made a great stab at spelling the word tatterdemalion in your review of The Buccaneer (TIME, Jan. 17) and I see you fell flat on your pusserino. . . .

BILL McGRATH

Hollywood, Calif.

TIME'S Cinema editor was amusing himself, though apparently not Reader McGrath, by cooking up "tatterdemil-lians" to describe Director De Mille's distinct breed of tatterdemalions.--ED.

Joe College

Sirs:

Your article under Religion, in TIME, Jan. 17, provided a number of interesting facts about Frank B. Robinson's "Money Back" religion. The article, however, left a slightly different impression than I gathered as a result of a number of years in Moscow at the University of Idaho.

That may not be unusual, for most of the university students either are not aware of the existence of Psychiana or do not care. . . . Yet, Doc Robinson is more of a Joe College than any undergrad on the campus, noticeably to the tune of a flashy supercharged Cord sport roadster. . . .

A fact not clearly brought out by your article is that Robinson seemingly makes no effort to propagandize his "religion" too near his own locale. ... To me this avoidance of the home ground is a definite confession of the doubtful character of his cures. .

LESTER WALKER JR.

Boise, Idaho

Midshipman

Sirs :

Referring to TIME (Jan. 17) it was mentioned that Andorra was the "world's oldest republic." A check-up will show that it is not considered even a republic. Since 1278 it has been governed by the French State and Spanish bishops. . . .

R. C. MILLARD

U. S. Naval Academy

Annapolis, Md.

TIME hopes that Midshipman Millard, for his own good, has not used this information in an Annapolis examination. Andorra pays tributes of 960 francs a year to France, of 460 pesetas to the Spanish bishop of Urgel. These are purely feudal dues, amounting at present to about $60.--ED.

Radical

Sirs:

I heard John Reed, Eugene Debs, Lincoln Steffens, etc. turn over in their graves when you referred to onetime Ku Kluxer Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black as "Radical" (TIME, Jan. 24).

STANLEY H. RICHARDSON

South Pasadena, Calif.

Radical is a relative term. John Reed and Eugene Debs were not Justices of the U. S. Supreme Court.--ED.

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