Salute
Sirs:
Will you please be kind enough to send TIME magazine to Frank W. Blair, 1716 W. Boston Boulevard, Detroit ? Mr. Blair is the President of the Union Trust Company.
Nearly every week, I find something in the business department of TIME which I missed in the daily newspapers. Frequently, when I refer these items to Mr. Blair, I am impressed with the value of your publication, by reason of the fact that he, too, missed them in his daily reading, and he is a very careful reader.
Two or three times since the establishment of your magazine, I have felt impelled to write and congratulate you on the place you fill in my reading life. These letters always have been, frankly, applause for your initiative and for the maintenance of your ideals. The more I read TIME, the better I like it and even at the risk of dangerous repetition, I again salute you!
HOMER GUCK
Union Trust Co., Detroit, Mich.
Oyster
Sirs:
Authorities who assert that President Coolidge's "I do not choose" is a dialect expression peculiar to Vermont seem to have overlooked something that ought to be familiar. Let them turn to "Alice in Wonderland." In that world-wide classic "The Walrus and the Carpenter," they will find:
The eldest oyster winked his eye And shook his heavy head; Meaning to say he DID NOT CHOOSE To leave the oyster bed. I ask:
1) Is there any doubt about what the oyster meant ?
2) Was that oyster from Vermont ?
ARTHUR E. BOSTWICK
St. Louis, Mo.
Little Dog Said
Sirs: Your Waco, Tex., man, who squirts a jet of poison gas at Tom Johnson and Newton D. Baker, two really great men, brings to mind a little poem, towit: "A little dog barked at the big red moon That smiled in the evening sky. The neighbors smote him with rocks and shoon-- But still he continued his ragful tune. And he barked 'till his throat was dry. But, soon 'neath the hill that obstructed the west, The moon sank out of sight; And the little dog said, as he laid down to rest, "Well, I scared it away all right." L. V. LA TASTE
Dallas, Texas.
Anatomy of Oratory
Sirs: I have, I hope, as much common sense and rational balance as the average man; and I cannot understand why you choose to compliment Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin on the asserted ground that his statements often "have power" because they are as "simple and transparently sincere" as the scriptural text you quote. (TIME, Dec. 26, 1927).* To illustrate my meaning, suppose that a man says with absolute simplicity and sincerity: "Do not smoke tobacco." In that statement there is no power; but there is power in the statement: "Go and sin no more." Yet I defy anyone to prove that one is any "simpler" or more "sincere" than the other. My meaning, as you may gather, is that statements of the kind praised by you derive power only from the person by whom or the circumstance in which they are uttered. Example--"Too proud to fight." Had that not been attributed to Wilson at just one critical moment in our history it would have had no more power than any other group of four words. I admire Prime Minister Baldwin for his homespun virtues, and I rejoice at his steady political good luck--but I consider him a weak, not a powerful, speaker. That this is not set down in malice, you may judge from the fact that I have received only this morning the chance knowledge that a certain brand of tobacco is that which is smoked by both Mr. Baldwin and myself. . . . CURLEW ADAMS PHIPPS
New York, N. Y.
Received the Prize
Sirs:
Today at the meeting of the League of American Pen Women, a prize of a year's subscription to the magazine of her choice was awarded to the one whose essay received the most votes.
The question given us was, "If you could have but one magazine, which would you choose and why?"
My essay on TIME received the prize. At the request of the League I am sending you my paper and a copy of my introductory words at the meeting. . . .
BONNIE BUSCH (MRS. CLARENCE M. BUSCH)
Miami Beach, Fla.
Saved Life
Sirs:
You will doubtless be interested to know of the journey which some of our TIME magazines have made.
When Dr. Erskine and I have finished with our copies of TIME we give them to Miss Hanna Wall, a Swedish friend, who, when she has read them, sends them to her brother in Sweden.
The last bunch which she sent to him in
Goteberg were forwarded from there to Lapland where he was establishing a chemists' shop--the most northern chemists' shop in Lapland. He said that TIME saved his life in that desolate country, as he had no other reading matter. BETSY ERSKINS (MRS. A. W.)
Cedar Rapids, la.
Most
Sirs:
TIME is the most radical, most conservative, most damnable, most altruistic, most agnostic, most religious, most international, most national, most communistic, most democratic, most social, most socialistic, most hated, most lovable, most suppressive and most newsy magazine published; thereby it is self defense that I hand you herewith two years extension to my subscription.
GUSTAVE C. HOENES
El Paso, Tex.
Cigaret Sales
Sirs:
In your issue of Dec. 5 under the heading of "Old Gold Cigarets" you made the statement as to sales of: Camels, Fatimas, Chesterfields, Lucky Strikes, Melachrinos, Marlboros.
You state that "each sells 75,000,000 to 100,000,000 a day."
Now, I do not know an awful lot about this and while it probably would pertain to Camels, Chesterfields and Lucky Strikes, am writing you to confirm your statement in reference to Marlboros. Is it possible that the Philip Morris people sell 15,000,000 to 100,000,000 of this cigaret daily?
Am rather interested in some of the tobacco stocks but did not think the Philip Morris people lined up with the three or four mentioned.
CHARLES ALBERT BRADY
Rochester, N. Y.
TIME almost certainly erred. Cigaret companies do not publish their exact production figures, but Philip Morris Co. makes less than 75,000,000 Marlboro cigarets daily. TIME does not know how much less.
Which Desk?
Sirs:
In your issue of Nov. 28 under "Desk" you make the statement that Lord Byron's desk on which he wrote Don Juan has been sold by Harry F. Marks, bookdealer, to some purchaser. We, have at the Museum at Drexel Institute, Lord Byron's desk given us by Mr. George W. Childs, and in his statement of the gift he said it was the desk on which Byron wrote Don Juan. There is some conflict somewhere.
J. PETERSON RYDER
The Drexel Institute. Philadelphia, Pa.
There is no conflict. Possibly Lord Byron wrote verses of Don Juan upon not two but 20 desks. There is no method by which it can be determined upon which desk Lord Byron wrote the most verses of this poem. TIME quoted a letter from John Jeffrey, valet to Lord Byron, to one Dr. Hayes, initial purchaser of the desk now owned by Harry F. Marks. In his letter, Valet Jeffrey said that the desk was "'. . . the property of Lord Bryon and was used by him when he wrote Don Juan. . . .' "--ED.
Arliss & Eagels
Sirs:
With reference to footnote, p. 27, Nov. 21 issue, is George Arliss more to be remembered for his performance in the silly, melodramatic "Green Goddess," than for his excellent historical play "Hamilton" ? Was he not far superior in the latter ? I thought so, and I am quite sure most of the Boston dramatic critics, at least, thought so.
From a slightly different angle, also, "Hamilton" is a more-to-be-remembered play: It was the first drama in which Jeanne Eagels, now well known for her performance in "Rain", etc., had a part.
L. M. GUSHING
Berlin, N. H.
Feels Quite Sure
Sirs:
In TIME, Dec. 19 issue, you quote; Sebastian Spering Kresge: "Why, if a man wants to lead a girl astray, he tries to get liquor into her so that she loses her senses and self-respect." I also note that Mr. Kresge contributed $500,000 for Prohibition. If Mr. Kresge paid the girls who work in his stores a living wage, I feel quite sure many of them would be prevented from going astray on account of their economic condition.
I also take this opportunity to let you know I appreciate TIME. I read it cover to cover every week.
ROBERT H. LAVENDER
Cincinnati, O.
On Trains
Sirs:
Several of our good friends have called our attention to TIME of Nov. 28, "On Trains, and made the suggestion that we should add to your paragraph that the "North Coast Limited," Chicago-Seattle flyer, on the Northern Pacific, had a women's lounge and smoking compartment with long sofa and dressing tables, bath, manicure, maid, etc., added to its new equipment in March 1926.
M. M. GOODSILL
General Passenger Agent Northern Pacific R. R. Co.
St. Paul, Minn.
*In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. (JOHN 14:2).--ED.