"Blackest of Lies"
TIME, New York, N. Y.
New York, N.Y Mar. 12, 1925
Gentlemen:
I would have been very glad to enrol myself in the list of TIME subscribers, if it were not for the fact that every issue of the paper carries the feature heading of BRITISH COMMONWEALTH, which is such a LIE that I cannot bear to be faced with it every week for anything. Please do not think that my aversion to that terminology is actuated by any hatred of the British, or any similar tendency. No. I have no objection to the British Empire, as long as that organization remain an Empire. But the British Empire cannot be called a Commonwealth as long as it remains an Empire. And to call it a Commonwealth is a Gross and Shameful perversion of truth, in the interest of creating a favorable impression for an institution that may not command respect otherwise. To put it mildly, it is only a half-truth. And as Tennyson said,:
A truth that is only a half-truth is the blackest of lies.*
Regretting that for the above mentioned reason I cannot join the group of your subscribers.
H. K. REZINO
On a territorial basis, the self-governing Dominions (Canada, Newfoundland, Australia, New Zealand, Union of South Africa, Irish Free State and Malta, all of which are largely sovereign Powers owing allegiance to a common King) have a total area of 7,471,938 square miles, which is slightly more than 55% of the area of all the land possessed in name by King George V, i. e. 13,357,672 square miles. Hence, since a choice must be made, it would seem to fall upon "Commonwealth."-- ED.
Not Irish
TIME, Brooklyn, N. Y.
New York, N. Y. Mar. 7, 1925 ;
Gentlemen:
Under MISCELLANY, Mar. 9, 1925, you inform an interested public of a knifing match following a "jamboree given by the Oberdam Social Club (Irish)." Your logic may be strong but your line of reasoning is most inconsistent. A fight; ergo Irish! But did it occur to you that the Irish rarely use knives in a fight? The club referred to is not Irish. It is composed entirely and exclusively of Americans of Italian blood. Statements such as the above might be excused if made deliberately; but if you are interested enough in the club to write about it, you should know something about it.
Three classes of people annoy me greatly: the Irishman who is anti-English, the Protestant who is anti-Irish and the person who has nothing else to do but write to newspapers and periodicals. Qui potest capere, capiat.
JAMES J. FLANNELLY .
The Club is Italian in makeup, but the men who were hurt were Michael Tierney and Joseph Doyle. The leader of the club, Michael Laura, is Italian; -- ED.
Stirred
TIME Princeton; N. J.
New York, N. Y. Mar. 14, 1925
Gentlemen:
Stirred by A. H. Miles' unjust accusation against TIME on the grounds of grammatical inaccuracy (issue of Mar. 9); I hasten to support you in a matter of vital importance-- whether "broadcast" or "broadcasted" is the proper past tense of the verb "to broadcast."
The verb "broadcast" is a comparatively recent addition to the English language, formed on the adverb "broadcast." It is an accepted rule that coined words should be inflected regularly and, in this case, "broadcasted" would be the regular past tense of a weak verb. "Broadcast" as the past tense is, then, technically incorrect.
Your grammatical accuracy is quite likely to strike the eye of the educated.
G. C. MILES
P S This is no intercousinal squabble-- Mr. A. H. Miles and I are not related.
Daniel to Judgment
TIME Oak Park, Ill.
New York, N. Y. Mar. 14, 1925
Gentlemen:
Your LETTERS afford me many a chuckle. In today's issue, Mar: 9, A. H. Miles writes "broadcasted" is a grammatical error. How could you lose the opportunity to tell him "grammatical error" is quite likely to strike the eye of the educated? A word may be ungrammatical or it may be an error in English, but it could hardly be both grammatical and erroneous.
MARY ADDA READE
Man in Trenton
TIME, Princeton, N. J.
New York, N. Y. Mar. 14, 1925
Gentlemen:
Reading with great interest your account, in the Mar. 2 issue, P. 16, col. 3, of the woman who died, at 40 pounds, of ossification I am anxious you should know of a similar, perhaps, case. A man in Trenton, N.J. went to Philadelphia to a hospital there as his nose was beginning to "turn to stone"; and there they found, by experimenting, a cure for him. I read of this in our Trenton paper, where it can be verified. It was in the State Gazette or the Trenton Times about three to five months ago.
It may serve to help some one in like unhappy case.
LILY BUTLER BUCHANAN
Sends It Along
TIME, Woodstock, N. Y.
New York, N. Y. Mar. 10, 1925
Gentlemen:
I read TIME each week in lieu of newspapers. . . . Last week, coming from the post with my copy, I said (to a friend whom I met): "Why don't you TAKE TIME TO BE WELL READ in the news of the day?
"Why don't you send that in as a slogan?" he returned. So I send it along.
F. GARDNER CLOUGH
Mussel vs. Muscle
TIME, Philadelphia, Pa.
New York, N. Y. Mar. 11, 1925
Gentlemen:
I have supposed that the shoals in the Tennessee River, so much in evidence lately, got its name originally from the fresh water bivalves found there; perhaps TIME can explain why it is called Muscle Shoals? Is it because somebody did not know how to spell mussel? The relation between shoals and mussels is obvious enough, but my ignorance fails to discern any connotation between shoals and muscles.
JOSEPH HORNOR COATES.
Muscle Shoals (as explained in TIME, Dec. 29, SCIENCE) was so named because at that point is found the greatest collection of fresh water mussels or Naiades (80 species and 29 genera) anywhere in the world. In regard to the spelling, Gerard H. Matthes of Manhattan, in a recent letter to Science, weekly organ of the National Association for the Advancement of Science, pointed out that in writings of half a century ago and earlier, it was stated that the name was given because of the "muscle shells" (sic) found there. "Muscle" seems to have been the original form and was applied because of the strong muscle which holds the two shells of these bivalves together. In 1875, a standard dictionary did not give any variant to the spelling "muscle shell," and not until about 1895 was the form "mussel" given preference.-- ED.
Alaskans Disagree
TIME Cordova, Alaska
New York, N. Y. Feb. 28, 1925
Gentlemen:
Your account of the diphtheria epidemic at Nome was, on the whole, accurate and well-put. But there are two geographical mistakes in your article.
You state that Nome is on the west coast of the Alaskan peninsula"; and that Anchorage is on the "south shore of the peninsula, meaning, presumably, the "Alaskan" peninsula also.
The "Alaskan" peninsula begins between the 59th and 60th degrees of North Latitude and extends in a southwesterly direction to Unimak Pass, where the Aleutian Islands begin. Anchorage is at the head of Cook Inlet and is more than 120 miles northeast of where the Alaska peninsula begins; while Nome is situate on the south coast of Seward peninsula, many hundred miles from the Alaska peninsula. Anchorage is north of the 61st parallel of North Latitude and Nome is north of the 64th parallel. If you referred to the great body of land between Cook Inlet and Norton Sound as the "Alaskan" peninsula, you will find on examination that neither Alaskans, maps nor geographers agree with you. In other words, there is no "Alaskan peninsula, while the "Alaska" peninsula is situate as above described.
TIME is good.
HARRY G. McCAlN
*Tennyson's exact words: That a lie which is half a truth is ever the blackest of lies.