Shuler v. Tubbs & McAdoo

Sirs:

I was much surprised to read in TIME last week your report about the Senatorial election held in California in which you stated Tubbs and McAdoo would oppose each other in November (TlME, Sept. 12 ).

You omitted to say that Hob Shuler who received the Prohibition nomination would also be in the race: he ran on all three tickets and received over 300,000 votes, while McAdoo received 262,000 and Tubbs 204,000 and the papers are predicting he will win in November.

He made his race as a protest against the radio commission silencing his radio station and he demonstrated that his radio was in public interest, contrary to the radio commission who stated his station was not in public interest.

If the District Court of Appeals fails to return his radio to him next month, Hoover will probably lose California as a protest, as the people out here feel that the Administration is responsible for his losing the radio because he stepped on the toes of Wm. R. Hearst, Harry Chandler and many other people of prominence. . . .

H. A. JOHNSTON

Los Angeles, Calif.

Preacher Shuler's primary votes were 197,624 Republican, 85,000 Democratic, 3,600 Prohibition. In 1928 the Prohibition nominee got 92,106 votes. That year more than a million and a half votes were cast in the Senate election. Ablest observers predict that by no means all the Republicans and Democrats who supported Preacher Shuler in the primary will vote for him in the election, that his chance of a winning plurality is distinctly outside.-- ED.

Gar Wood's Motors

Sirs:

In the issue of Sept. 12 of TIME, there is an article entitled "Harmsworth Cup." The Harmsworth trophy is not a cup but a plaque, on which there is depicted a race between two power boats.

In this article there is also a statement which credits Mr. Wood for the design of the engines used in Miss America X. The engineer responsible for the design and development of these engines was the late Major Lionel M. Woolson. Chief Engineer of the Department of Aeronautics of the Packard Motor Car Co. Major Woolson was rarely given the credit due him for the important part he played in retaining the Harmsworth trophy for the U. S.

As a reader of TIME, I am interested in accuracy and credit where credit is due.

WILLIAM M. JOY

Detroit. Mich.

True it is that able Major Woolson, in 1928, designed Gar Wood's four Packard motors. But it was Mr. Wood who developed them. By supercharging he stepped them up to 1.600 h.p. from 770 h.p. And he designed the gear boxes by which he can hook up two motors to each propeller.--ED.

Kentucky's Barkley

Sirs:

Will you please write a sketch of the life and accomplishments of Senator Alben W. Harkley of Kentucky? . . .

EDWARD F. PRICHARD JR.

H. POWER PRICHARD II

MRS. E. F. PRICHARD SR.

L. D. JOHNSON

R. M. GALL

J. C. B. LAWSON

C. M. WILSON

JOE LITTLE

Paris, Ky.

The record of Senator Alben William ("Iron Man") Barkley of Kentucky is as follows:

Born: In a log cabin in Graves County, Ky. Nov. 24, 1877.

Career: Scion of a family of North Carolina dirt farmers who after the Civil War crossed the mountains to western Kentucky, he picked up a public school education between hours of field work, went to Marvin College at Clinton. Ambitious, he studied law at Emory in Georgia, and later at the University of Virginia. Admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1901, he was taken into the Paducah law office of Judge W. S. Bishop, prototype of Irvin Cobb's ''Judge Priest." In 1905, after a muleback campaign, he was elected county prosecutor. Four years later he successfully campaigned on horseback for a county judgeship. A horse & buggy carried him around on his winning canvass for the House of Representatives in 1912. Though he had risen measurably from his hillbilly background, there was about him nothing of the traditional "Kentucky colonel.'' He remained a plain simple man with no pretense of aristocracy.

In Congress: Succeeding the late great Ollie James in the House, he helped to put through the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act. A Methodist Dry, he was not above accepting fees (called an "honorarium") for making speeches for the Anti-Saloon League. As a member of the Interstate Commerce Committee he was interested in railroad labor (Howell-Barkley Bill). His measure, a forerunner of the Railway Labor Act, was not passed but the vote on it a decade ago still serves organized Labor as a political index to determine its Congressional friends and foes. In 1926 he was elected to the Senate where as an orthodox Democrat he took his place in the moderate Southern wing. A smart politician, he does the little things that help him in Kentucky. Though he opposed full payment of the Bonus now, he softened the enmity of veterans by authoring a bill waiving the requirement that their certificates must have been in force two years before becoming eligible for a loan.

He voted for: Equalization Fee (1928), Boulder (Hoover) Dam (1928), Jones ("Five & Ten") Act (1929), Federal Farm Board (1929), London Naval Treaty (1930), 15-Cruiser Bill (1929), Muscle Shoals (1931), War Debt Moratorium (1931), Reconstruction Finance Corp. (1932), Democratic Tariff Bill (1932), Revenue Bill (1932), paycut for Federal employes (1932).

He voted against: Reapportionment (1929), Republican tariff (1930), beer amendments (1932), Sales Tax (1932), Bonus (1932).

A political and personal Dry, he stands ready, in accordance with his party's national platform, to vote for Repeal.

Legislative Hobby: Tariff protection for Kentucky's coal, such as he wangled into this year's tax-upping bill. He is typical of that class of Democratic Senators who denounce the Republican policy of protection in general and then support it on local specifications. He joined the Democratic combination that log-rolled into the Revenue Bill the oil and coal duties but stood out against the copper and lumber items which were gotten in by similar methods. Into his mouth during the 1930 tariff fight Democratic Pressagent Charles Michelson put many a thunderous phrase against the Hawley-Smoot Act which today sounds hollow and insincere. He has also been active for Federal relief for the growers of dark tobacco in his State.

He is large, heavyset, clean-shaven, with big hands and feet, a thick neck. His nickname ("Iron Man") derives from his physique and stamina on the stump. In the Senate he shuns frock-coats, fancies business suits of a reddish-brown worsted. In debate he is a ready speaker with a strong clear voice. When he rises at his desk, he throws out his chest and stiffens his shoulders like a fighter going into action. His formal speeches, meaty with facts, are carefully prepared in advance. His mind and tongue both move slowly. Personally pleasant, he has a serious temperament that bars "nigger jokes" and Cobb-like stories from his remarks.

Outside Congress: He lives quietly with his wife and a daughter, takes no part in capital society. His social enthusiasm is saved for the Kentucky State Society. He neither smokes nor drinks, does not go in for energetic sports. He drives his own Buick fast, once had a bad smash on a slippery road in West Virginia. In 1928 he bravely campaigned for the Brown Derby though it hurt his political standing. In 1930 he visited Russia, returning with the warning that the U. S. had much to unlearn about the Soviet. Early this year he silenced a "favorite son" boom in his own behalf by declaring for Franklin Delano Roosevelt. His reward was being made temporary chairman and keynoter of the Chicago convention. Despite his own blotchy record, he flayed the "Hoover-Grundy" tariff act. Most of his speech dealt with the Depression on which his party relies to win the election.

Renominated, he goes into the November election against Republican Maurice Thatcher, now a Representative. In Kentucky much is being made of Barkley's tariff and Prohibition switching. The G. O. P. calls him "barking Barkley." No Kentucky Senator has been re-elected in a generation.

Impartial observers rate him thus: a homespun Senator above the average in industry and energy; a fair legislator with 20 years' experience behind him; an economic conservative friendly to Labor; an influential Democrat, irregular only on the tariff, who could play an important part in a Democratic administration. His term expires March 3, 1933.--ED.

Airwomen v. Airmen

Sirs:

May I take this opportunity of adding to your account of women's part in the National Air Races as given in TIME, Sept. 12?

Contrary to what has generally been reported, the majority of women flyers have not fought to enter all events on an equality with men. What they did work for and gain in 1931--and take advantage of--was the privilege of flying in competitive planes with the larger displacement motors. (For several years 800 cu. in. was the limit except in the Aerol Trophy Race.)

The economic situation of 1932 necessitated combining men's and women's events. With only one year of real competition behind them, most feminine pilots were more dismayed than pleased at the prospect.

In order to provide some outlet for those women who had no special racing equipment, and who would hesitate to compete against male professionals, I suggested holding a race with stock models. My hope was to provide a "training race."

Much merriment was caused by the way the racers flew! However, there is some explanation for wandering in the fact that none of the contestants (I believe) had ever been over the course before. A collision between two planes in the early afternoon was due in part, according to some pilots, to the strong wind on the sharp turn of the home pylon on the three-and-one-half mile course. The women asked to be allowed to fly the five-mile course to avoid the hazard. There was no chance to fly this course before the race-- and anyone who races knows how difficult it is to find pylons from a low altitude.

All of which brings me to the point that women's entrance into competition with men will of necessity be very gradual, because of lack of equipment and lack of experience. That they do not rush in immediately when restrictions are lifted does not mean they are "just contrary."

AMELIA EARHART

Rye, N. Y.

Miss Hall v. Miss Bankhead

Sirs:

I feel that it is time I made some comment regarding Miss Bankhead's amazing denial of the interview she gave me for Motion Picture Magazine, Sept. 5 issue. I repudiate, word for word, Miss Bankhead's denial. And there are, at the very least, six other writers here in Hollywood who would testify to having had the same interview given to them by Miss Bankhead. Word for word the story was authentic and veracious save for the necessary deletion of certain unprintable words and expressions which Miss Bankhead used and I omitted. Otherwise, the content of the story was exact, as she very well knows. I have been interviewing the players of the screen and stage for the past 19 years at the rate of from two to four a week and over this period of time my entire output has been published. This is the first time in my long experience that my veracity has been questioned.

GLADYS HALL

Beverly Hills, Calif.

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