McNutt's Home-Coming
Sirs:
TIME underrates slightly Paul McNutt's home-coming in the eyes of Hoosiers. To us he was a conquering hero come home, king for a day, featured profusely by the three city papers (two of which are Republican). And why not--on a hot day when there's nothing else to talk about ! Synthetic ballyhoo still doesn't blind Indiana's majority to the shallowness of our self-satisfied Adonis.
Just right was TIME'S reception crowd.
Just right was TIME'S associates and backers of McNutt. . . .
Just right. Nice going.
VICTOR JOSE III Indianapolis, Ind.
Sirs:
Of course Jim Farley's grudge against McNutt is rooted in intraparty politics, but my hair is enough like Farley's to help me understand that the grudge is fertilized by a hopeless envy of a head of hair like that.
W. G. FRENCH French Oil Corp. Corpus Christi,Tex.
Times and Roosevelt
Sirs:
In your July 10 issue, under National Affairs, you make reference to the President's having "singled out Felix Belair Jr., correspondent of the New York Times, for a special blast about big newspapers, whom he accused of wishing to see control of the money markets return to private hands." In parentheses you then add: "Next day the Times recalled editorially that in 1922, Franklin Roosevelt was president of United European Investors, Ltd., speculators in German marks."
Please note that no such reference appeared in the columns of the New York Times.
ARTHUR HAYS SULZBERGER The New York Times New York City
> To the Times's Publisher Sulzberger, TIME'S apologies for a stupid slip: the editorial referred to appeared in the New York Sun.-- ED.
Scientifiction
Sirs:
Your article about Science Fiction magazines brings to mind a little-considered result of the now famous Orson Welles Martian-menace-hoax broadcast of last fall. Many of the Science Fiction pulps now on sale owe their success to the publicity given the Martians at that time. Martians, you know, are very essential to Science Fiction.
Competition is keen in this type of pulp, but it is a very friendly sort of competing. The editors concerned are really pals-- probably because they are first fans, and then editors. An interesting item in this competition concerns my own editorial work in Science Fiction. At the age of 17, when I first came into charge of Wonder Stories, one of my competitors, T. O'Conor Sloane of Amazing Stories was in his 80s ! . . .
CHARLES D. HORNIG Elizabeth, N. J.
Sirs:
. . . Most serious error of the Press Editor's is grouping Weird Tales and Strange Stories, and, to a large degree, Unknown, with the science fiction pulps. These are magazines devoted to stories of the supernatural, which have a magnificent tradition behind them, from the Gothic novel through Poe, Hawthorne, Irving, Machen, Wells, Blackwood, Dunsany, Shiel, De La Mare, to Wakefield, Wharton, Freeman, Perkins-Gilman, many another. Discovered by Weird Tales was one of America's finest writers of the macabre, the late H. P. Lovecraft of Providence, R. I. . . . His first collection appears posthumously in December under the title, The Outsider and Others. With Argosy and Adventure . . . Weird Tales shared the distinction of having most stories listed in the O'Brien and O. Henry anthologies each year while such lists were still being published. . . . Even more literate and vociferous are Weird Tales's readers, who number among them many a college professor. . . .
AUGUST DERLETH Sauk City, Wis.
Rocky Mountain Fuel
Sirs:
There are three major points in your article of July 10 on the Rocky Mountain Fuel Co. which are incorrect. . . . The facts are as follows: Bondholders have not refused to take a lower interest rate. The company's plan for modification of bond interest and extension of maturity date of its bonds, sent to bond holders last February, has been approved by holders of over 80% of the bonds, and has been in effect since April 1, on which date interest at the new rate provided in the plan was paid. . . .
The control and policies of the company remain unchanged and I am continuing as president--I have not "stepped out" to keep "R. M. F. out of ruinous reorganization."
In order that the company might benefit from the most efficient and up-to-date mining methods and the most profitable and progressive operating management, I recommended to the board of directors this spring that we contract with Coal Mine Management, Inc., of which Mr. William Taylor is president, for operating and management services. We were fortunate in being able to make this arrangement and it is now in effect. . .
Unionization of the Colorado coal fields was advantageous to all Colorado coal operators because it assured to all producers the same wage scale, thus eliminating to a great extent destructive competition in the industry.
While the Rocky Mountain Fuel Co. in common with the coal industry generally has suffered reduced production and sales tonnage as a result of competitive fuels and abnormally warm seasons, this reduction has not been more severe for our company than for the rest of the industry. In fact, as our annual statement to bond and stockholders last January pointed out, our decrease in production for the very difficult year 1938 as compared with 1937 was 8% less than the loss experienced by the industry of the State as a whole--15% as compared with 23%. . . .
JOSEPHINE ROCHE, President Rocky Mountain Fuel Co. Denver, Colo.
> TIME'S apologies to Miss Roche. Before publication of the story TIME'S correspondent tried to reach her but her office informed him that it did not know her whereabouts. In the course of three days TIME tried seven times to check the facts with other officials of the company and three times with Mr. Taylor but was put off on each occasion. Finally, under the mistaken impression that they did not want to be reached TIME prepared its story from press reports which, although erroneous, had appeared without denial and from apparently reliable information. The facts are as Miss Roche states them.--ED.
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