Cotton Figure

Sirs:

Your issue of Sept. 7 contains a letter from the Chairman of the Committee on Information and Statistics of the New York Cotton Exchange, from which I quote in part:

"I find that you give the estimate by the Department of Agriculture of the 1931 cotton crop as 15,685,000 bales. . . .

"May I point out to you that this figure is incorrect inasmuch as the Department in their estimate of Aug. 8, placed the crop at 15,584,000 bales. . . ."

On Sept. 8 the Department of Agriculture released to the Press its estimate of the cotton crop as of Sept. 1. Strangely enough, this figure was 15,685,000 bales. Has TIME become a prognosticator? And, if so, how remarkably accurate! Or is it just one of those unexplainable coincidences? . . .

LEON FLETCHER JR. New York City Coincidence.--ED.

Depression & The Navy

Sirs:

In your issue of Aug. 31 under the title Army & Navy, subtitle "A. W. O. L.," it is noted that you concluded the article with the statement "The Navy thanked Depression." It is perfectly true that the Navy had only 45 deserters for the fiscal year 1931, but it attributes this record to "selective recruiting" rather than Depression. A deserter is the type of man who hasn't the moral character to live up to his obligations and it cannot be expected of a man of this type to "look before he leaps."

The Navy still employs gaudy posters and mans its recruiting stations with nattily dressed sailors--not to tempt the satisfied civilian but to inform him of the opportunities the Navy has to offer.

Depression has little to do with recruiting, as "drifters" are not even considered by the Recruiting Officers. The requirements for enlistment in the Navy at the present time are higher than the entrance requirements in many colleges. A man must be a perfect physical specimen, produce four references from prominent men in his community, have a clear police record and pass a general classification test with a minimum mark of 75%. . . .

J. M. LEWIS Lt. Comdr., U. S. Navy U. S. Navy Recruiting Station Salt Lake City, Utah

Bonfils' Trout

Sirs:

Noticing the comment on Bonfils' "great" exploit in the fishing stream in TIME (Sept. 7), I call your attention to the comment carried by the Longmont, Col., Times-Call, and which has been reprinted by numerous Colorado papers.

MARTIN WALKER Publisher Daily Sentinel Grand Junction, Col.

According to the Times-Call, the 7 1/2 Ib. rainbow trout caught by Publisher Fred G. Bonfils of the Denver Post and glorified in that exaggerating sheet, was a tame trout named Elmer "known to hundreds of visitors to the Miller preserve, from whom he would accept remnants of lunch, coming half out of the water to eat out of their hands. A friendly and sociable trout was Elmer and he did tricks for the tourists including a watery rendition of 'Sweet Adeline' when his crumbs were soaked in the drippings of the picnic flask.

"Then came Bonfils wading in the pool and as the trusting Elmer, thinking him a friend, rubbed his scaly sides against the boots of the fisherman, purring happily, he was seized roughly by the gills and thrown ashore."--ED.

Cathedral

Sirs:

Referring to your caption "Flesh Cathedral" in the Sept. 7 issue, description of Mr. Earl Carroll's new playhouse in New York, permit an original subscriber to your always interesting weekly to send the following comment:

The word "cathedral" is a misnomer. when applied to any building, however costly or impressive, that is not associated with an offering of worship and service to Almighty God.

Strictly speaking (and according to Webster's New International Dictionary) a cathedral is the church which contains the cathedra or Bishop's official chair or throne, and which is, therefore, the principal church in a diocese, as St. Paul's Cathedral in London. . . .

The Bishop's chair to be placed some day in the completed Sanctuary of Washington Cathedral is known as the "Glastonbury Cathedra" because it is made of stones from the ancient church erected at Glastonbury Abbey in the 6th Century. Mr. Stanley Austin, the donor of these historic stones, wished them to serve as a witness to the continuity of the Christian Church. . . .

EDWIN N. LEWIS Editor The Cathedral Age Washington, D. C.

TIME called Showman Carroll's theatre a "cathedral" only figuratively. Yet in it is that which might approximate a Bishop's Chair. First Box on the audience's right in the auditorium is the Official Box, reserved for great and busy dignitaries who may want to inspect Mr. Carroll's girl spectacle yet not be out of touch with their business affairs. Off the Official Box is a Conference Room, equipped with a soundproof plate glass telephone booth. From the Box through double, automatic, fireproof doors the stage can be reached. When not occupied by notables, seats in the Official Box are sold to the general public at $3 each. Last week officials of U. S. Steel Corp., American Tobacco Co. and Standard Oil Co. of New York bought the Official Box. John Davison Rockefeller Jr. declined an offer of it.

There are also two backstage boxes, one on each side, reserved for friends of the cast and Showman Carroll's favorite visitors.--ED.

All Things

Sirs:

Your slogan "TIME brings all things" was amusingly proven to me this summer when my sister and I were driving through an old Georgia city.

To our astonishment we found nearly every street unmarked, and as we wished to pay a short visit to relatives there, we were quite disappointed. After searching blindly--as it were --for the desired address, we asked a citizen for directions, which he courteously gave, but which proved to be absolutely incorrect.

There we were, strangers in a strangely unmarked city, and so discouraged with our weary search that we decided to give up; then suddenly my eyes were gladdened by the familiar red. white and black cover of TIME. The owner of your News Magazine had evidently just been to the Post Office--for under his arm were tucked a batch of letters, while he spread TIME wide with both hands and read with greedy eyes. Judging him by his choice of reading matter I decided he could intelligently give us the desired information. He did! And after a pleasant visit with our relatives we resumed our journey, praising "TIME which brings all things!"

(MRS.) VERA TART MARSH Jacksonville, Fla.

Choir Boys' Fun

Sirs:

TIME, Aug. 31, following G. F. Speers' Big Frog Eats Little Duck Story, edi-comments, welcoming news of other frog feats.

At the St. Peter's Episcopal Church (Chicago) Choir's Summer Encampment at Paddock Lake, Wis., in 1912, the writer and other choir boy campers learned much of the ways of frogs, snakes, hell-divers, etc.

FROG FEAT. A small green frog and a 24-inch long snake, both captured in the environs of the lake, were placed on the ground facing each other, few inches apart. After a few minutes of staring at each other, the frog was struck at, seized and gradually swallowed by the snake, forming a slowly moving lump in the forepart of the snake. A tickling of the snake's underside, just behind the lump would cause the snake to "throw up" the frog, apparently unharmed from his experience, and the frog could hop away, provided we did not wait too long before tickling the snake. True, his green coat would be bleached out a little. When we waited too long to tickle the snake, the frog would be disengorged in a lifeless, bleached out condition.

Perhaps those were Jonah Frogs and Whale Snakes we played with.

VICTOR L. SODERBERG Springfield, Ohio

Again, Hoggs

Sirs:

Didn't you say once--when speaking of Will Hogg's death--there were no daughters except Ima? (TIME, Sept. 22, 1930.)

Possibly you said there were no other daughters of the late Governor Hogg alive named Ura and Hoosa Hogg.

Not especially interested but just happened to recall the item when I read the enclosed.

W. C. ELLIOTT Kansas City, Mo.

The enclosed: a clipping from the Kansas City Star, "In Kansas City 40 Years Ago." Excerpt: "At the union depot today, on their way from Colorado to Texas via Kansas City, was Governor J. S. Hogg of Texas and his three charming daughters, Ima Hogg, Ura Hogg and Hoosa Hogg."--ED.

Cats; and Worse

Sirs:

Our copy either did not reach our residence last week (Friday is the usual day of arrival, sometimes Saturday) or else was stolen from the mail table in the lobby.

This is one of the highest grade apartment houses in the city, but it has its cats; and worse. And as it was built about nine years ago the mail boxes are not deep enough to take TIME.

Can you let me have another copy . . . ?

J. S. MILLER Milwaukee, Wis.

To Subscriber Miller, another copy instanter.--ED.

Discovery

Sirs:

. . . Your magazine surely is a great help to Alaskans. Not since old Gold Creek Charlie hit pay on Salmon Creek has there been such a discovery. Here, where mail most of the year comes but once every week or ten days, our copy of TIME comes with just that news that helps us keep up to date with the "outside."

JACK CONWAY Postmaster Skagway, Alaska

P. S. The enclosed lines by Charles Dickens just seem to fit! "The voice of Time cries to man, 'Advance--' Time is for his advancement and improvement; for his greater worth, his greater happiness, his better life."

Duquesne

Sirs:

On p. 20 TIME, Aug 24 under "People" there appears a reference to the "Dequesne" Club of Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh's bright sun shines daily on an important street, an excellent university, an historical museum, a city section, a populous suburb and an exclusive club all bearing the name of the French fort "Duquesne," which became the British fort and the birth of our nation.

J. N. FITZGERALD Pittsburgh, Pa.

P. S. Don't miss the point about the sun. It does! It does! It does! It does!

Soup ! Soup!

Soup! Soup! How much soup? Will you please inform me as to how many cans of soup Campbell Soup Co. produces daily?

ROD VAN LEUWEN New York City

Campbell Soup Co. will not tell.--ED.

Wrong Jay Holmes

Sirs:

I have read with much interest your article in the Aug. 31 issue of TIME regarding my alleged fishing exploits. Like the report of Mark Twain's death it was somewhat exaggerated. Obviously you have confused me with the other Holmes whose name, like my nickname, is Jay and who is. as I am not, the grandson of the late Charles Fleischmann (yeast). This confusion of our two names is not unprecedented but, as you can imagine, it is annoying.

JABISH HOLMES JR. New York City

TIME deeply regrets having confused Jabish ("Jay") Holmes Jr. of Manhattan with the Jay Holmes who used to be Julius Fleischmann Holmes of Cincinnati.--ED.

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