Letters
Herewith are excerpts from letters come to the desks of the editors during the past week. They are selected primarily for the information they contain either supplementary to, or corrective of, news previously published in TIME.
"Unfair"
TIME San Juan, Porto Rico,
The News-Magazine Sept. 30, 1925.
Sirs:
New York mails get here on Tuesdays. So every Wednesday morning I make it a point to reach my office early enough to enjoy a half-hour treat from TIME before work starts.
Your lucidness and thoroughness are making TIME enthusiasts all over the world.
Your Sept. 21 issue, Page 13, under the heading FRANCE, bears an account of a successful landing of 16,000 Spanish troops in Alhucemas Bay. SPAIN is allotted a narrative of a frivolous jazz party, which would undoubtedly be better placed under a domestic heading.
Is this fair ?
The landing in Alhucemas Bay, any military expert will tell you is the biggest success yet attained in the Riff War, and it should be properly accredited.
As an American citizen, descendant from manly Spaniards, I protest against the prejudice you have shown in this instance.
PEDRO A. PIRO
TIME'S action in tabulating the great victory at Alhucemas Bay under FRANCE instead of under SPAIN was indeed unfair. Heretofore it has appeared to the editors to be efficient to list all the activities in the Riff under a single nation head. Henceforth, in deference to Subscriber Piro, SPAIN and FRANCE shall share the listings.--ED.
"Not News"
TIME Buffalo, N. Y.
The News-Magazine Oct. 7, 1925.
Sirs : I suppose it would be a very nearly impossible thing for TIME, or any other publication, to adhere at all times to "just news." But as I understand it, that is, supposed to be TIME'S business. However, TIME sometimes publishes statements as news that are anything but news. In your issue of Sept. 28, Page 30, Column 2, you say that a contemporary of yours, The Independent, is "a very dull and amateurish sheet indeed." This isn't news; it is simply . . . opinion . . . The present writer has for several years been a reader of The Independent, and he regrets that he cannot agree with your editor that this paper is either dull or amateurish.
JESSE A. JEWETT
"That Makes Two"
TIME Los Angeles, Calif.
The News-Magazine Oct. 2, 1925.
Sirs: In the Sept. 28 issue of TIME, Page 23, I note you have, under the classification PRESS, stated that "every newspaper in the country with one exception shrieked in huge disaster headlines the record of the Shenandoah disaster." The "one" was the Miami Herald according to your comment.
If you will take the time to look up a copy of The Christian Science Monitor of Sept. 4, you will find that it carried complete and authentic news matter concerning the accident under a single column head. That makes "two" newspapers in the country which did not shriek with disaster headlines.
WILLIAM B. HOLT
Douglas Belittled?
TIME Douglas, Ariz.
The News-Magazine Oct. 6, 1925.
Sirs: In the Sport Column of the Sept. 21 issue of TIME we note an article with the heading "In Douglas." . . . We would be very pleased to know whether the intention of the writer was to belittle the Chamber of Commerce and Mines of Douglas, Ariz., as an organization. . . . Or was it the intention to be recorded as in favor of further punishment of the three outlaw baseball players, who have been sentenced and served that penalty for the crime that Judge Landis said they committed? Whether these baseball players were guilty or not guilty is no concern of ours. However, we do know that they have paid the penalty for the alleged crime committeed. . . .
"Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise." Therefore, we shall not attempt to prove to you that gamblers, saloonkeepers, dance hall girls and honkey-tonks do not exist in Douglas or in Agua Prieta, the Mexican city immediately across the Border.
After reading the article under discussion, we are certainly glad that we do not live in the effete East. We are glad that we live in a community where a man is rated, not by the size of his bank account or what he may have done yesterday, but rated and received for what he is today.
In conclusion, may we ask, why the article? What did Douglas or the great Southwest ever do to YOU or yours? Why should YOU object to Hal Chase, Chick Gandil or Buck Weaver making an honest living in the only manner that their education permits ?
Hoping to be favored with an early reply, we beg to remain
DOUGLAS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, L. A. HERRING, Secretary.
TIME, which never comments editorially, most certainly does not "object" to the presence on the Douglas baseball nine of Hal Chase, Chick Gandil and Buck Weaver (famed "outlaw" players). TIME merely stated facts: the outlaws have been playing baseball in Douglas, and very good baseball, at that; the members of the Douglas Chamber of Commerce and Mines (who pay the ball players) are glad that the outlaws are playing there. These facts seemed to be of sufficient general interest to warrant publication. No disparagement of anyone was intended. The full text of the article can be found on Page 31 of the Sept. 21 issue.--ED.
"Mr."
TIME Marshall, Tex.
The News-Magazine Oct. 2, 1925.
Sirs: I have just read in your issue of Sept. 28 and notice on Page 2 that Mr. Barlow Henderson had complained of your using the word "Mr." in speaking of Negroes, and that in your reply you say: "TIME will, however, continue to employ the 'Mr.' in referring to men who lack other titles."
It seems to me that you do not practice what you preach, for on Page 5 of the same issue I notice you speak of William W. Russell, Jerry Shea, Edwin Denby, William V. Hodges and C. Bascom Slemp without using any other title and do not prefix "Mr." to their names. So, you lay yourself liable to the imputation of not using the "Mr." in speaking of other persons.
You also state that Mr. Henderson would not care to be styled plain "Henderson." I cannot see why he should object to that because that is the highest dignity. We do not speak of Mr. Shakespeare or Mr. Byron or Mr. Washington and Jefferson, but simply use their names.
F. H. PRENDERGAST
The "Mr." is employed in TIME only where the untitled surname appears without the Christian name. Sic: "C. Bascom Slemp"; but "Mr. Slemp."--ED.
"Ignorance"
TIME Syracuse, N. Y. The News-Magazine Oct. 5, 1925.
Sirs: Under LETTERS in your issue of Sept. 28, your answer to Mr. Barlow Henderson's letter regarding the calling of a Negro "Mr." is really funny. The first paragraph of Mr. Carl E. Guthe's letter (on same page) seems to fit your case quite adequately : "where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise."
The omission of "Mr." where the Negro is concerned is a custom as old as the Negro problem itself -- so why affront we Southerners by sticking it under our noses? You are never too old to learn, so why not stand corrected?
B. J. EDWARDS
"Courage, Decency"
TIME New York, N. Y.
The News-Magazine Oct. 2, 1925.
Sirs: Do not worry about losing Mr. Henderson's subscription. You will gain more readers by your courage and decency than you will lose. Certainly I will do everything in my power to induce more intelligent readers to subscribe to TIME because of your reply to Mr. Henderson.
WALTER WHITE Assistant Secretary of the N. A. A. C. P.*
"Oldest Subscriber"
TIME Yarmouth, Me.
The News-Magazine Oct. 7, 1925
Sirs: I am enclosing check for TIME'S second year. It has been a source of great interest to me. I have wished the Book Reviews were more extensive and was very glad to find so good a review of A. Edward Newton's new book, The Greatest Book in the World, in the Oct. 5 number, Page 17. We spend our winters in Florida and our summers in Maine. I will send the Florida address as soon as we know where it will be. Don't let me miss a number, as happened last year when we made a change of residence.
Wishing you still greater succes, I am very truly yours, probably your oldest subscriber, (nearly 90).
VIRGINIA D. ROBIE
*National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.