Anti-Red
Sirs:
... I agree with other subscribers who criticize your red border. There is enough "Red" in this country without putting it on your magazine. Why not try a good shade of blue ?
E. B. HOPKINS
Wheeling, W. Va.
Yorick
Sirs:
"Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him well" (TIME, April 11, p. 28). One more sad blunder of newspaper Babbittry. If you have a library, and Shakespeare in it, look up the most misquoted line in literature, and reform.
But don't print the correction! A month or two ago you blundered on "pons asinorum." Some half-baked brain sent in a letter attempting to correct you ; the correction was worse than your original error. I sent you a letter straightening the thing out. You did not print it.
But you do print sickly, squeaky letters telling how good you are, flabby droolings from mushy, bigoted monks, and long discussions on doubtful spinsterhood.
C. J. CAREY
San Francisco, Calif.
Vulgarity
.. . / never read a Tabloid, I never hope to read one, But TIME, repeating all their smut, Seems trying hard to be one. This, of course, is mostly in fun. It will bear some thought, nevertheless. Certainly your reference in a recent issue to an "alleged" virgin Queen is about as questionable taste and as vulgar as anything which the tabloids are reputed to have printed. Its cleverness, if it can be called "clever," does not excuse it. ...
H. DEANE PHILLIPS
Director, Bureau of Markets State of New York Department of Farms and Markets Albany, N. Y.
Humbug
Sirs:
... I have no grievance against your custom of designating a man by his title when it refers to his trade or profession. Had you designated Mr. Smith as "Lawyer Smith" or "President Smith," I would have disregarded the whole matter. I am not so narrow-minded. But when it refers to a man's religious convictions, I think it is a gross insult and is deserving of an apology on the part of the offender. Had you referred to Cardinal Hayes or Rabbi Wise as "Catholic Hayes" or "Jew Wise," I dare say that you would have been subject to like censure, and it probably would have had some effect on circulation of your paper. Why not follow the same ethics with regard to us?
My only solution is that your magazine, like most of the others, caters to the wants of the masses. The American people enjoy humbug, and you serve them their favorite dish, instead of opening their minds to the better and truer things of life. I cannot see why the article "Men and Apes" [TIME, June 28] might not have been presented just as effectively had you left out the reference to "Atheist Smith."
"ATHEIST" ALTMAN
Albany, N. Y.
Haskell Flayed
Sirs:
In TIME, April 4, LETTERS, my wife and I found the letter of Robert H. Haskell, Brooklyn, N. Y. extremely amusing.
Mr. Haskell's self-esteem is tragic. However, "Conceit is God's gift to
W. H,
GORDON Pittsburgh, Pa.
Subscriber Haskell concluded his letter by saying: "If you publish my letter, I will continue my sub-scription--provided I don't get too disgusted with the other letters I read,"--Ep,
Surgeons' Hands
Sirs:
On page 22 of the April 18 issue of TIME, you inform your readers that due to the Listerian pronouncement of the germ causation of sepsis "surgeons now wash their hands . . . wear sterilized gloves . . . and even tie gauze masks over their mouths, to prevent . . . con- taminating the entrails of patients."
The first part of this statement is true --just as true as the fact that wood will often burn, or that grass is usually green --but why waste what is just fair-quality paper and reasonably legible print to remark so well-known a fact?
As to the reference to "the entrails of patients," is your medical reporter a dealer in meats, or a herder of sheep, that he selects this word as best describing to him the contents of the human peritoneal cavity ? Does he also intend to deliberately insult the 120,000 ethical physicians in the United States--the Mayos, the Keens, the DaCostas--and the thousands of others, by describing them as persons who do not know the "why" of hand washing, and the use of antiseptics, and who make these steps merely a matter of ritual?
Charity and an appreciation of human frailty prompt me to believe that lack of information regarding the present status of medical education accounts for this astounding statement. If this be not the case, and if your medical reporter must find an outlet for his vinegary disposition and vitriolic pen, let it not be at the expense of the present-day medical scientists, who are striving to prolong and make more comfortable such sorry lives as his.
JOSEPH C. DOANE, M. D.
Medical Director & Superintendent Philadelphia General Hospital Philadelphia, Pa.
Graphic Praised
Sirs:
... I certainly do not wish any more copies of your TIME, which is all the "TIME," picking flaws on others.
This letter comes from a very small place but even so there are some here who read the Graphic, and think both it and Mr. Macfadden are all right. At least the Graphic is interesting and that's more than I can say of TIME. You are too assured, too self-satisfied to see yourselves as others see you. It seems to me as if you were sitting on a pedestal and watching Mr. Macfadden, even reading his Graphic yourselves to find out something to comment upon. Do you ever joke? There isn't one joke in TIME, or even one laughable story. We do not see one paragraph on "How to Live and Live Well" as in the Graphic.
You may slander Bernarr Macfadden and the Graphic. But you won't put it out of business for I would rather pay $5 00 or $500.00 for the Graphic than one cent for TIME unless it changes most awfully.
The public likes exciting reading and news that is written in a glaring way-else why does every one read the enlarged
print first? It takes the eye. And even though you condemn--still everyone reads-- and most everyone will stand by the Graphic. You had better take a few lessons from it and make your magazine as good.
MRS. J. HOWARD BAILEY
Falls Village, Conn.
Blessing
Sirs:
I was hit with a car and had both legs broken, was in the hospital for a year, am still a cripple, have a nurse, but am back now to my room in the Winchester. I cannot tell you what a blessing TIME has been to me. wanted my children to have it too. . . .
MARY W. SHERMAN
Springfield, Mass.
Mothers
Sirs:
"Mother of fivE . , . Mother of five ," your Sports Editor repeats that three times before the name of Mrs. George W. Wightman, and seems to think it a great feat that she has been five times a mother yet has won three tennis titles
Published weekly by TIME, Inc., at The Penton Building, Lakeside Ave. and West Third St., Cleveland, Ohio. Subscriptions $5 a year. Entered as second-class matter Aug. 25, 1925, at the postoffice, Cleveland, Ohio under the act of March 3, 1879.
(TIME, March 28). Let me tell you TIME, that almost any woman in North Carolina can have five children; and furthermore almost any of our women who has proper care taken of herself while she is having five (or eight) children can play tennis afterwards as if nothing had happened.
I have no doubt that the smart, rich city people you pretend to know (and maybe do, for all I care) feel like pinning a medal (or at least like hanging a rope of pearls) on any of their women who manages to have a child and not give up the ghost.
Our race is getting soft in its cities; but you ought to see some of the mothers I could show you.
AMANDA MAY SPAULDING
(Mrs. Chas. T. [Mother of six]) Aiken, S. C.
Fish
Sirs:
I've learned to look forward to the arrival of my TIME each Friday. It seems as inevitable as FISH and oh! "such a much" more delicious !
Till someone can improve on the excellent provender you're providing, please pay no heed to the nincompoops who criticize you. . . .
THOMAS H. MEILKE, M. D.
St. Francis Hospital Pittsburgh, Pa.
"Fresh Meat"
Sirs:
Please note inclosed editorial from the Star & Herald, Panama, R. P. which ties onto your comment (TIME, March 21, p. 13) regarding the Panama Canal Zone as "one of the chief headquarters" of the international traffic in "white slaves." Control of this traffic at the Canal Zone comes under the Quarantine Officers who are just as diligent against "white slavers" as they are against yellow fever and bubonic plague, and the records at Cristobal show that last year (I quote from a note from the Quarantine Officer, Dr. C. A. Hearne) there were deported "26 modistes or modistas and 18 of the kind of men who accompany such women." The profession of dressmaker, "modiste" for the French, and "modista" for the Spanish, has been claimed so often by these women that the word has been taken into the language locally as having, in a more limited degree, the meaning of "madame to which the French journalists objected. You may also be interested in knowing that in "white slave" circles the Panama Canal is referred to as "the sieve," and "slaves" are known as "fresh meat." . . . C. H. CALHOUN
Balboa Heights, Canal Zone
Pie
Sirs:
I am going to tell you something about TIME in an allegorical way, so if you don't understand at first read right on and you will.
TIME was like an apple pie when J first subscribed. Now it is like a mince pie; and so I am asking you in this letter to cancel my subscription. Do you understand what I mean ?
An apple pie is good for all stomachs, sweet and just tart enough. So was TIME, once.
A mince pie does not agree with lots of people, it's too spicy, and highfalutin'. So is TIME, now.
GERTRUDE T. VERRILL
Philadelphia, Pa.
In Porto Rico
Sirs:
I read in TIME of Jan. 31 under PROHIBITION: "Manufacturers (of cigarets) have not yet published advertising with pictures of a woman smoking."
We have here in Porto Rico such advertising, with this legend: "Fume el tabaco que su tierra produce" (Smoke the tobacco your land produces).
It is used exclusively to herald the native tobacco.
Can it be said that we Porto Ricans are ahead of you in civilization ?
D. EUGENIO VERA Guayama, Porto Rico
Word
Sirs:
Just one word. You have told, your readers how the Duchess of York, after leaving her one-year-old baby in London, has been dancing the Charleston until even rough sailors on the Renown have picked up from her a dance worse than any they knew before.*
Why did you not tell also from whom the Duchess learned to Charleston? Don't you know? It happens that I have friends close enough to the Court of St. James's to be able to "guess." I can assure you that the well known intimacy of the Duchess of York and the Prince of Wales is "guessed" to have found fulsome expression in Charleston lessons. May I add that all who knew the Duchess as a girl knew someone very different from the woman she has become ?
MARY ELIZABETH ROBINN
Boston, Mass.
Bissell Sweeper
Sirs:
We are taking the liberty of writing you regarding your comment on the Hoover v. Eureka [vacuum cleaner] suit as outlined on page 33-34 of TIME, April 18, because it makes rather adverse reference to the carpet sweeper and even specifically mentions Bissell sweepers.
. . . We feel that we should correct an erroneous impression wherever we may find it ... on the theory that editorial utterances based on a misapprehension of facts might be adversely influential with some of the newlyweds who may not be so personally familiar with the merits of the Bissell sweeper, although most established homes consider the Bissell sweeper just as essential as ever for the everyday and many times a day sweeping requirements.
This is because a Bissell sweeper with its large brush is particularly efficient on any kind of miscellaneous litter, because of its extreme lightness and handiness to use, because it is ready the instant you pick it up and costs little. In others words, it is simply a ball bearing bristle broom-on-wheels with its own long handled dust pans. . . .
On the negative side, we might point out certain disadvantages of the vacuum cleaner which we have determined by careful tests of such devices, but the Bissell sweeper has enough merits of its own to stand on without indulging in recriminations regarding the worth-while contemporary products. In other words, each device has its own distinct field of usefulness.
Neither in seasoned homes nor among the most progressive or high class metropolitan stores who sell Bissell sweepers will you find the opinion shared that the carpet sweeper is used only "where buggies exist." It is true that you might not find a carpet sweeper in many childless poodle dog apartments, but even there, such services are apt to be rather of a community nature. The place to find such things is in the real homes either of the rich or of the poor, or in the leading hotels where with powerfully installed electric cleaning systems, they still make daily use of Bissell sweepers. So we object to slighting references to the Bissell sweeper or to descriptions linking mice and germs to the Bissell and tending to make it abhorrent in the minds of women. The sweepings in a Bissell sweeper are retained hardly long enough to become, as you mention, the domicile of such vermin. The sweeper picks up the dirt and fills the pans too rapidly for that. They must be frequently emptied. On the other hand, medical men have suggested to us that the very fine dust that is usually exuded through the bag of the vacuum cleaner might represent old and not frequently disturbed dust which may be dangerous in character.
It is true that the sweeper does not assume the more deep cleaning functions of the suction devices but it does clean more deeply than the uninitiated male editors sometimes give it credit as is easily seen by observing the large proportion ef fine dust in the contents of the carpet sweeper pans.
J. W. SCOTT
Bissell Carpet Sweeper Co. Grand Rapids, Mich.
* An error. TIME expressed no opinion as to what dances may have been known to the sailors on the H. M. S. Renown. --En.