Vivid Leni

Sirs:

Your cover (Feb. 17, Hitler's Leni Riefenstahl) beat the cables easily in vividness of depiction, but you made it extremely difficult for persons in the Puritan highlands to keep their minds on their work.

JOSEPH HOLLISTER

Pittsfield, Mass.

Unfortunate Circumstances

Sirs:

Congratulations to TIME on what to my knowledge was the fairest and clearest description of the recent unfortunate circumstances at the University of North Carolina [TIME, Feb. 10], and hats off to Jack Pool for his honest effort in bringing the matter to a close.

W. J. BARKER

President Student Government

North Carolina State, 1934

Holly Springs, Miss.

Shame on N. C. U.

Sirs:

The more I read the article "Honor in North Carolina" in your Feb. 10 issue the more convinced I am that that was about the most asinine way of handling such an affair. . . .

That certainly has blacklisted N. C. University and undoubtedly will have a bad effect on the lives of the 40 expelled students. The trouble, as 1 see it, lies in the education system of most colleges which practically compels students to cheat. Too much emphasis is placed on exams and not on daily work. I am a graduate of Penn State '28, which is noted for its Penn Stale Honor Code. Still there is cheating. Yet there is no cheating in classes conducted by profs who play fair with the students. I know men who would not cheat or aid a cheater in one prof's class yet who would cheat plenty in another class.

The point I am trying to bring is that those students at N. C. University or any other place are not totally to blame. It's the system imposed on them that is to blame. An honor system is only a joke unless it works both for the professors as well as the students. Shame on N. C. U. for branding its sons as thieves while there are thousands more in schools over the country. It should brand the system that led to such a crisis as well as jail the Honor Student who sold himself for money.

FRANCIS C. HARVEY

Rochester, N. Y.

Jack Pool, sentenced to "indefinite suspension" is at home in Raleigh Codifying the laws of N. C. U.'s unwritten campus constitution. He may apply for readmission at the beginning of the next quarter, April 1. Meanwhile, other students, alumni and faculty are working on radical alterations of the student government system.--ED.

Earling Exorcism

Sirs:

Was very much pleased with the Feb. 17 TIME article "Exorcist & Energumen" relative to the Earling, Iowa exorcism. Wish to congratulate you on your reverent treatise of same. Have been flooded with letters. . . . You may be asked about the price of pamphlet. Sells 18-c- by mail, eight for $1, and 100 for $8. My motive for publishing it was for its own good, not for any remuneration. I appreciate your prudent co-operation in bringing about a sane understanding regarding this case of possession.

(REV.) CELESTINE KAPSNER, O. S. B.

St. John's Abbey

Collegeville, Minn.

Benedictine Father Celestine Kapsner translated from German the pamphlet Begone Satan! which described Father Theophilus Riesinger's exorcism of demons. -- ED.

"I Don't Care"

Sirs:

. . . Prince Ernst Ruediger von Starhemberg [Vice Chancellor of Austria, TIME, Feb. 10| . . . likes his wine and his women. But no one has ever seen him indulge in the former to excess. He is much too anxious to curry favor for himself and Austria in foreign capitals to have so far forgotten himself at George's funeral. And I don't care where your information to the contrary came from. I have studied the subject too much not to know that this is not so. . . .

KATHRYN R. SWIFT

New York City

Royal Entertainer

Sirs:

. . . Concretely apparent to me as a cover-to-cover reader of TIME of long standing is the fascinating newsworthiness of Carol II of Rumania. Now there is a man who gives the 20th-century meaning to the Epicureans of old time. Invested with the "divine right" to amuse himself and TIME'S readers, he has supplanted completely ex-Mayor Jimmie Walker as a carefree individualist deluxe in my heart of hearts. Others may worship their sedately virtuous Victorias. I'll partake of large hunks of Carol--at a safe distance.

When he gives his second interview to the press (and let us pray that it maintains the miraculously high standard of the first; TIME, Feb. 17) let it be the occasion of an appended resume of his stormy career and some account of from whom he inherited his unique qualities of Royal Entertainer.

P. N. BALDWIN

Chicago, Ill.

Sirs:

As a subscriber to TIME, FORTUNE and THE ARCHITECTURAL FORUM may I voice my regret at the manner in which you abuse a man who cannot defend himself: King Carol of Rumania (TIME, Feb. 3). . . .

May I refer you to the King's record in Rumania? Founder of the Boy Scout movement, Institute for Physical Education, Federation of Sports, Royal Cultural Foundation, new Rumanian Youth Movement (0. E. T. R.), printing shop for popular educational books, builder of churches, patron of art and music, silent and generous contributor to all charities, and above all a devoted father to an only son.

ALEXANDRA IRINA DIMANCESCO

San Francisco, Calif.

Sumo Facts

Sirs:

As a confirmed and thorough reader of TIME, I want to congratulate you on your well-written article on Japanese sumo [TIME, Feb. 10]. For Americans not acquainted with Japanese sports and customs you did an admirable job of writing the article including the proper spelling and usage of the Japanese words.

However, you have omitted a few facts about sumo. You speak about the liberality in allowing the contenders to delay the starting of matches. The actual fact is that ancient custom holds that all preliminary ceremonies even including breathing must be performed in absolute rhythm to prevent one participant from obtaining any undue advantage over the other in the start.

To a foreigner, who has witnessed all the matches to which he could get tickets, sumo is very much the opposite of being dull. The preparatory ceremonies, consisting of certain prescribed movements of the arms and legs and purification of the ring, are even more interesting than the actual matches. Moreover, between championship bouts a modern innovation is to hold comedy bouts. The sumo men participating are specially trained comedians and acrobats. The antics they go through and the arguments they hold over the decision, when there is one, are far more amusing than the antics of U. S. wrestlers. . . .

Incidentally, just before I left Japan one of the sumo wrestlers said he was retiring from the sumo ring to study boxing and become the world's champion. Keep your eyes open for this man, he is bigger than Primo Camera.

LAURENCE DOWD

Seattle, Wash.

"Kitty"

Sirs:

Thanks for a most vivid and accurate picture of [Professor George Lyman Kittredge]. Many a Harvardman will chortle over it.

Graduate men know how sympathetic and helpful ''Kitty" can be, even though he appears so austere. On my oral examination for the doctorate he tried thus to prevent my thick-headedness from becoming too evident by dropping several hints as to what the proper answer was to some question about Germanic umlaut. Well, we went ''round and around," but it didn't work; I didn't catch on. Finally, in exasperation, he shouted, "Confound you, can't you see what I'm trying to suggest?"

EUGENE B. VEST

Mitchell, S. Dak.

Sirs:

Every Harvard student, as well as all who have lived under the shadow of Harvard and its traditions for the past 40 years, must appreciate your delightful sketch of "Kitty" [TIME, Feb. 17]. You refer in this article to his supreme contempt for all proponents of the Baconian theory. This I well know to be true.

. . . It seems a pity that a man of Professor Kittredge's learning should be so narrow-minded as to refuse to listen to, or be shown the proofs the Baconians have to offer. Once, I was told, Professor Kittredge advised the members of his English class at Radcliffe not to read any books on the Baconian theory. . .

Very recently the English Department of Harvard closed its doors, I might almost say slammed them, in the face of a young man from the West, now living in Boston, who desired to do some graduate work on this subject. To use his own words "I thought the telephone would explode so emphatic was the refusal to even consider giving such instruction."

A. P. JONES

Franklin, Mass.

Sirs:

. . . There is a dramatic moment [at Radcliffe]; one Saturday morning when a miserable young woman in the second row cannot instantly give the meaning of the word "as," fired at her by "Kitty," who has just burst into the room like a bombshell. While she tries to muster breath for a reply, "Kitty"--overshoes just removed going on again--scorchingly informs us that he cannot afford to waste an hour with a group of girls who apparently know nothing about Shakspere. The bang of the door upon his angry retreat is an effective spanking administered to our abysmal ignorance. After a minute or two we laugh, because we realize that class attendance is poor that morning, and that "Kitty" doesn't want to bother with a lecture.

One day he traps a large number of us into a show of hands in answer to the cunning question, "How many of you have heard of the burning of witches upon Boston Common?" We are then forced ignominiously to recite over and over, until the lesson is thoroughly mastered, "No witches ever were burned in New England. A few were hanged." . . .

ALICIA D. MONROE

Xenia, Ohio

Sirs:

Your appreciation of "Kitty" was vivid and colorful. However, although I recall his leaving his Shakspere* class in the manner you describe, I do not recall his leaving the Chaucer class that way. The former group met in a good sized lecture hall at the top of a narrow flight of stairs so that a prompt exit was needed to avoid jostling and a delayed departure. The latter group, smaller and more select, being largely composed of graduate students, met in an ordinary classroom and was treated with somewhat less contempt. . . .

I recall one example of his quick, caustic wit very vividly. A handsome young socialite, member of the crew and of Hasty Pudding, was interpreting patient Griselda's obedient remarks:

Ther may nothing, so God my soule save, liken to yow that may displesen me. Which may be translated roughly as, "Nothing that pleases you displeases me."

The interpreter, however, translated it as, "There is nothing that displeases me as you do"--to which "Kitty" retorted acidly, "The sentiment is entirely reciprocated, Mr. Henry."

I have often wondered why "Kitty" put on such a show, especially before undergraduates. Perhaps it was the eccentricity of genius or the satisfaction of an innate dramatic instinct, but to me it seemed that "Kitty" was essentially a shy and timid man and that his "act" was a kind of defense mechanism. . . .

WILLIAM R. MACLEOD

Dobbs Ferry, N. Y.

All thanks to Readers Vest, Jones, Monroe and Macleod for footnotes to the great career of a great scholar, now drawing to a close.--ED.

Canal's Side

Sirs:

. . . I was quite surprised that you even permitted such an article as the present one entitled Florida, "Sore Thumb" (TIME, Feb. 17). This is one of the most damnable articles that I have ever read. Evidently you are sincerely misinformed about the whole matter. . . .

The trouble with most stories of this kind that appear in the papers and magazines attacking the Canal is that they only print their selfish-interest side and do not print the Canal's side. I personally think that the Florida Gulf-Atlantic Ship Canal will not only be one of the greatest projects in recent years for the State of Florida, but also for the nation as a whole. . . .

EARNEST M. RICKER JR.

Jacksonville, Fla.

Sirs:

Abraham Lincoln said, "Never fight a newspaper unless you own one." I am a constant reader of your excellent newsmagazine but I do not own one and am therefore not going to start a fight with you.

I have an abiding faith in your sense of fair play. . . . In such a spirit may I call attention to the fact that in the article entitled Florida, which appeared in TIME, Feb. 17, you gave the impression that services of the engineering firm of Hills & Youngberg were secured while Mr. George Hills was acting as campaign manager for President Roosevelt in Florida. The fact is Hills & Youngberg were secured by the City of Jacksonville at the suggestion of the Chamber of Commerce to make an economic study and survey of the proposed Atlantic-Gulf Ship Canal before Mr. Roosevelt was nominated for the Presidency and prior to the time Mr. Hills became campaign manager. Since I, as Mayor, have taken a very active part in the campaign for this meritorious project . . . I feel that your readers should be apprised of the true facts about the Canal. . . .

Jno. T. Alsop Jr.

Mayor Jacksonville, Fla.

Sirs:

. . . TIME implied that the report of Hills & Youngberg was made to order to controvert unfavorable reports. Actually, it was prepared for the City of Jacksonville at the request of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce and submitted Oct. 16, 1931, long prior to any comprehensive consideration of the project by U. S. Engineers, and long before Mr. Hills had any connection with national politics. . . . It comprised exclusively an economic study, based upon detailed analyses of the shipping of the Gulf area in the year 1929--the latest year for which data was then available. It is the only report concerning the canal ever made by Hills & Youngberg. . . .

The fee paid Hills & Youngberg was something less than $15,000 instead of the $30,000 alleged. . . . The extent of professional attention given the matter is indicated by the fact that, without allowance for firm members' time, the firm spent out of pocket several thousand dollars more than it received. . . .

JOHN P. INGLE

President

Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce

Jacksonville, Fla.

In reporting the news of the Florida Ship Canal, TIME did not presume to pass judgment on the worth of this project, simply quoted expert opinion, pro and con.--ED.

*A good example of "Kitty's" great influence is that for years after they have left his class, his students keep using "Kitty's" preferred spelling-- Shakspere.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.