Again, Raddio

Sirs:

Your correspondent, L. F. Southwick of Connecticut, admits he is prejudiced against Governor Smith because the stubborn stamp of his upbringing on "the sidewalks of New York" makes him say "poisonal," "detoimined." And in his Omaha speech I heard plainly on the radio, "foist," "raddio." A man's a man for a' that.

Mr. Coolidge's Yankee twang did not hurt his candidacy much in 1924, and I hope, as a life long Republican and sincere admirer of Herbert Hoover, that the election of 1928 will not be won or lost because of "New Yorkese."

ALFRED L. BECKER

New York, N. Y.

Slurs

Sirs:

In your Sept. 24 issue a Mr. L. F. Southwick seemed annoyed by Governor Smith's 'poisonal' and 'detoimined' remarks. Would he purchase an expensive loud speaker and entirely ignore looking at what there is under the cover of the radio set itself? I advise him never to examine a man's tongue to determine what is on his mind.

Let phonetic-fault-finder Southwick worry less on how Al Smith enunciates and more on how Al meditates. And lest he forgets--a certain Republican president of a very recent administration did not noticeably slur his words but yet he was the cause of innumerable slurs upon his country.

M. GREENWOOD

Brooklyn, N. Y.

Balance Wheel

Sirs:

. . . That the people of New York realize Smith's need of a balance wheel he (also, and quite unwittingly) revealed in his Oklahoma City talk by pointing out that they ALWAYS gave him a REPUBLICAN legislature.

J. B. SOUTHWORTH

Denver, Colo.

Must Be Catholic

Sirs:

It strikes me that somewhere I have read that one of the provisions of the Constitution of the Argentine Government in South America, is that the President of that Republic must be of the Roman Catholic Faith.

My own encyclopedia does not enlighten me--hence I turn to you for the correct information.

GEORGE F. LAYNE

Troy, N. Y.

The President and Vice President of Argentina must be Roman Catholics and must have been born in Argentina. Similarly the King of England must be a Protestant. But there is no law to prevent the President of the U. S. from being a Mohammedan.--ED.

All the Bad

Sirs:

In the Sept. 24 issue of your magazine, the article does not state to which party Senator Fess refers when he says, "This is the first time in history during a national political campaign that we have on one side all of the loose element of morals . . ." but in view of past events, I take it to be the Republican Party. . . .

JOS. L. BARRON

Philadelphia, Pa.

Subscriber Barron is ironic. It was the opponents of the Republican Party which Senator Fess said included all that was bad, adding that his party had "the highest and best of morals."--ED.

Royalist Flayed

Sirs:

... I have no complaint with Mr. Meletakos for wanting news of Greece, but I am sick of hearing "foreigners," residing in this "Land of the Free," "bleat" about being a Royalist, and "blah, blah," about "fighting for the Royalist Flag any old time."

Let the Commissioner of Immigration ascertain this Greek Royalist's reason for being in this "countree" as he so phonetically spells the word.

If the man, Meletakos is a member of the Diplomatic service, he should know the latest news from "his countree."

If he has been naturalized in this "countree," he is voicing treason, by swearing allegiance to a Royalist Flag.

... I appreciate the difficulty sometimes experienced, in getting news items from certain foreign countries; and I believe TIME is a wonderful influence toward educating its readers in affairs of importance throughout the world. . . .

H. P. CRAMER

Middletown, Ohio

Persons likely to be barred from the U. S. no longer include Royalists, but instead Communists, preachers of Sedition, extreme Socialists and the morally turpitudinous. Newport, Palm Beach, Lake Forest and Manhattan harbor hordes of Royalists, unmolested because they make no attempt to subvert the U. S. Republic and set up a Kingdom, Empire.--ED.

Registrations

Sirs:

In your issue of Sept. 10 under the head of "Registration," you say:

"NEW YORK. Outside of New York City, persons who registered and voted in the last general election (1924), need not register. New York City voters must re-register for every election. Precinct boards sit every Saturday or on days posted locally until two weeks before election."

I fear that the above may prove to be very misleading to a large number of voters in New York State. . . .

H. A. K. SMITH

Newburg, N. Y.

The correct dates for registration in New York State are Oct. 12, 13, 19, 20 in places of 5,000 or more population, except New York City; Oct. 13 and 20 in rural districts; Oct. 8 to 13 inclusive in New York City. Personal re-registration is required in all places of 5,000 or more.

Another correction to TIME's 22-State list of registration dates:

In Massachusetts, registration closes Oct. 17, not Oct. 24 as stated.--ED.

Washington Correspondents

Sirs:

I was very much interested in your recent comments about the work of the Washington correspondent. Too often, especially in campaign years, is there a misunderstanding of just what the function of the Washington correspondent really is.

There are three classes of correspondents in Washington.

First. The special correspondent who writes for one paper or for two or three papers of similar political leanings, and, hence, consciously or unconsciously he writes from the slant of those newspapers.

Second. The press association and syndicate correspondent who writes for newspapers of both Democratic and Republican inclinations, and, who must, of necessity, write of developments as they are without any conscious effort to help or hurt any candidate. In this group, should be included a special class of a few newspapers of independent leanings who give the Washington correspondent a free hand to write of things as he sees them without reference to the editorial policy of the papers he represents.

Third. The strictly editorial correspondent who usually writes for only one paper. The most outstanding of this group at present is Frank R. Kent who has an absolute freedom of expression in the columns of a rather remarkable newspaper--The Baltimore Sun. . . .

Personally, while I envy men who have the opportunity to write editorials, either under dateline or in their home paper, I have never felt that I had the right to do so. I consider my function as a press correspondent to be neutral and detached and simply to report developments as they arise, irrespective of the effect of the writings on the fortunes of the party of individual. . . .

... I believe a reporter can do his job just as conscientiously as can a judge who listens to evidence and arguments of counsel and witnesses in a case in which he may happen personally to know, and even be friendly with, the litigants.

DAVID LAWRENCE,

President

Consolidated Press Association

Washington, D. C.

Texas Version

Sirs:

Notice your snake, hog, cow and eggs exhibited on Page 8 your issue Sept. 3. Here is a Texas version of this poem extant in these parts:

When a jackass learns to sing tenor

And the rattlesnake walks on legs;

When the razorback shoat grows feathers,

And the milk cow sets on eggs;

When the bluebird mates with the woodpecker,

And the hoot owls mate with wrens;

When the bull frog sails on snowy wings,

And the sapsuckers chum with the hens;

When cotton grows on fig trees,

And apples hang from the rose;

When Catholics rule the United States

And the Jews grow a straight nose;

When Pope Pius is head of the Ku Klux Klan,

In the land of Uncle Sam--

Then Al Smith will be President

And the Country won't be worth a dam.

And this is God's truth. It don't take even the makings of a prophet to predict the biggest landslide for Hoover this country has ever had. Desire to thank you for your bravery, and the national service which you performed when you and you alone have dared to tell the truth as witnessed in your issue of Sept. 17 when you unreservedly say: "The popular observation is that the Nominee (Al Smith) when seen off duty, often has had, before evening enough drinks to be visibly stimulated thereby." You have given us a full page picture of what the President of the United States ought not to be. Often a sentence or a few words in your articles gives a cartoon, or cinema of a personage or event, and one's imagination don't have to go far to form the sequel. You might remember the Irish ditty about the Pig in the Parlor;

ALVIN G. ANDERSON

Los Angeles, Calif.

TIME has never presumed to suggest what the President of the United States "ought not to be," nor does TIME intentionally leave "sequels" to readers' imaginations. TIME prints sequels.--ED.