Letters

Ostrich Heads

Sirs: Bitter it is for me to learn that the president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science used false and chicane arguments to counterblast the anti-evolutionists at Nashville. As you reported in your Jan. issue, the association's president, Dr. Arthur Amos Noyes of Pasadena Calif., said: ". . . the fact that evolution has been going on and that many animal types have gone through definite stages of development can only be doubted by an individual who, like an ostrich, buries his head in the sand out of a vague dread that he may see something shocking. . . ."

Ostriches do not hide their heads to shield their bodies. That is an old fable, that learned Dr. Noyes surely knows. And for him to use the fable to belittle anti-evolutionists is foul logic. It embitters me altogether against scientists, who are always prating about their accuracy and fairmindedness.

Harry Tyburn Philadelphia, Pa.

Tonic

Sirs: This week in a preface to some extracts from an article of mine in Plain Talk, you made a rather serious error. You siad I was red-headed and amiable. I'm neither and just now more one than the other.

Most of ther other Blacks of my family are red. If it is of interest to you, it is hard to tell what the color is of my hair. It all depends upon whether the current tonic is Wildroot or Herpicide.

Loring M. Black Jr. House of Representatives Washington, D. C

Chamber Dispute

Sirs: . . . There are two systems in vogue for handling the referendums of the United States Chamber of Commerce. Some organizations send out ballots to each and every member of their local organization. This gives an excellent cross section of the opinion in that community. The other method and the one used by our organization is just as effective. Our committee on National Affairs makes a thorough study of the referundum, taking into consideration the arguments both pro and con. Their resolution is then placed before the Board of Directors made up of 21 leading men in the community who in turn thoroughly investigate the question at hand and pass on it accordingly. Theses men are delegated by the membership of the organization to represent them just as legislators represent the public. Generally these various boards of directors are made up of the outstanding business men of the city. . .

B. P. Taylor Norwich Chamber of Commerce Norwich, N. Y.

Sirs:

Kindly correct the statement on p. 6 of the Dec. 26, 1927 issue of TIME, that you carried, "a description of how the U. S. Chamber's referendum on tax-cutting was taken in at least one city.

You carried no such description and you obviously are quite unaware of method under which Referendum No. 50 of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States was handled in Niagara Falls.

Individual Chambers of Commerce participating in a National Chamber referendum are limited to a certain number of votes, which are in proportion to their local memberships. The Niagara Falls Chamber of Commerce now has six such votes. On Referendum No. 50, each of a group of 50 members particularly interested

in the subject of taxation was sent a 30-page pamphlet containing the report of the committee of the United States Chamber of Commerce on federal tax reduction. Half of the space in this report was given to arguments in the negative. The members receiving this report were requested to study it and to vote "yes" or "no." . . . The six votes of the Niagara Falls Chamber of Commerce were apportioned and cast in accordance with the replies of this group. . . .

R. D. HOUSE Secretary, Niagara Falls Chamber of Commerce Niagara Falls, N. Y.

TIME offers no correction, having committed no error. What TIME published was a letter from Member Walter C. Baker of the Niagara Falls Chamber of Commerce, describing in his own words that Chamber's vote on tax-cutting. Member Baker thought the vote unrepresentative. Secretary House (above) says it was not unrepresentative.-- ED.

Source Sirs: Will you please refer me to your source for Mr. Thomas Campbell's suggestion on farm relief? TIME for Jan. 9 said they were "released last week." I thought I covered farm subjects in the papers pretty carefully, but evidently I missed your item completely.

JAMES L. SIMPSON Indianapolis, Ind.

TIME'S source was Thomas D. Campbell, Hardin, Mont. -- ED.

Perry, Peary

Sirs: A gentle reminder and rebuke. Perry" "Noo Ping Wa, who went to the Pole with Perry"--TIME, Jan 2, p. 30.

Perry is a distinguished American name. Oliver Hazard Perry made American history with his famous phrase, "We have met the enemy and they are ours," after his defeat of the British squadron on Lake Erie on September 10, 1813. His distinguished brother performed an even greater act when on July 7, 1853, Matthew Calbraith Perry entered in his flagship, the Mississippi, Kurihama in the Bay of Yeddo in Japan, opening that great nation to western com merce.

But it was Robert Edwin Peary who set out from New York on July 6, 1908 thereby conceiving success and bringing it forth exactly nine months later to the day when he came in sight of the North Pole. Only one of his original party remained with him-- a Negro -- and four of the 22 Eskimos.

RALPH G. SAXE Stony Point, N. Y.

Again, Kentucky

Sirs: . . . You say "the million-dollar state capitol at Frankfort [Kentucky]." This capitol, completed in 1909, cost $1,820,000.

In this paragraph you also say that while the new Governor is a Republican, the departmental staff "is Democratic to a man." It is Democratic but not "to a man." Mrs. Emma Guy Cromwell is the new State Treasurer, Miss Ella Lewis the new Secretary of State.

W. WT. THOMPSON Secretary, Frankfort Chamber of Commerce Frankfort, Ky.

Seer

Sirs: The cockles of my ole heart surged with joy, and I hurrahed and voiced my feelings at, the top of my voice when I saw the picture of "Lindy" at last adorning TIME. . . . It must be that the Editor of TIME is a seer who looks into the future, and who believes in keeping the best to the last and making the most appropriate statements in the most logical TIME.

J. MONTROSE EDREHI Pensacola, Fla.