Fine Piece

Sirs:

In your valued magazine of April 13 on p. 36, appeared under Education a story called "Spaeth to Kansas City." Needless to say it is a fine piece of writing, but it rather overlooks the scholarly achievements of Dr. Spaeth during the 31 years that he was at Princeton. It clearly enough appears that he is a most unique personality with qualities and enthusiasm, but it does not demonstrate that his academic achievements were second to none.

I am wondering whether you did not do the good doctor a little injustice among people who might not as thoroughly understand his fine character as the writer of your article.

JOSEPH L. BODINE

Justice, New Jersey Supreme Court Trenton, N. J.

Untrue, Uncharacteristic

Sirs:

BELIEVE YOU OWE DOCTOR SPAETH AMENDS AND APOLOGIES AND SOME CLEVER CAPTION-WRITER A GOOD HARD SIT DOWN IN HIS CHAIR FOR WHAT IS ON PP. 36 AND 37, TIME. APRIL 13.

AS AX OARSMAn FOR FOUR YEARS UNDER HIS DIRECTION AND A FRIEND FOR ALL THE YEARS SINCE, I WANT TO BRAND THAT YARN AS APOCRYPHAL, UNTRUE, UNCHARACTERISTIC AND HIGHLY DEFAMATORY TO A DISTINGUISHED MASTER OF GOOD ENGLISH, A UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-ELECT AND A GENTLEMAN, DOCTOR SPAETH NEVER LACKED FOR FAR MORE EFFECTIV WORDS THAN THE DREGS OF SPEECH WHICH ARE CHARACTERISTIC OF TWO-HUNDRED-WORD ILLITERATES. THE STUFF JUST DOES NOT RING TRUE. STEWART M. ROBINSON

Princeton, 1915

Elizabeth, N. J.

Plainly labeled as a Princeton "legend" was TIME's account of hearty J. Duncan Spaeth's profane exuberance at a Princeton crew's victorv over Harvard.--ED.

Amusement & Regret

Sirs:

I read with much amusement and quite a little regret your graphic and colorful sketch of my old friend J. Duncan Spaeth in a recent issue of your excellent journal [TIME, April 13] Parts of it are fair and true. There can be no doubt that this versatile scholar and forceful figure and leader of men is careless of his appearances, and well might be likened to a shaggy Airedale. While he is a splendid teacher, an inspiring athletic coach, a distinguished orator and leader of his fellows in many fields, little was said in your account of his intellectual side. He is much more of a philosopher and poet than he is an athletic coach. He is an excellent dialectician, he can skillfully fence with the most subtle minds. Besides his coaching abilities he can sail a boat most excellently and talk Plato while doing so. He was a fine long-distance swimmer.

As to his scholarship, I remember walking with him into the cathedral library in Exeter when he demanded that the librarian show him the famous Exeter Book, an Anglo-Saxon classic and great literary treasure nearly 700 years old. Before the librarian, Rev. Dr. Bishop, could produce the book from the safe, my friend repeated its first hundred lines in Anglo-Saxon entirely from memory, sweeping the librarian quite off his feet with astonishment.

I have been an intimate friend of Dr. Spaeth for 48 years. During that time I never heard him use the vulgar expression credited to him as you related. I am very certain that this high-minded scholar and true sportsman never used the expression after his crew won the victory over Harvard.

ROBERT L. PITFIELD. M. D. Germantown, Pa.

Nude's Name

Sirs:

Can you supply the name of the model who posed for the Emil Ganso "Nude"' (TIME March 30)?

GUSTAVE B. FELDMAN Counselor at Law New York City

All Artist Ganso will say is: ''There was no model. That's a girl in the country that nobody knows."--ED.

The

Sirs:

As an interested reader and professional colleague I might call to your attention a minor error in your excellent report of Svedberg's "Ultracentrifuge," April 13, p. 39. To the best of my knowledge, and I have supervised the publication of more than a dozen of Professor Svedberg's papers in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the distinguished Swedish scientist writes his name The Svedberg, in which the The stands for itself and not for Theodor. Please do not feel too bad about the matter, for the Harvard Tercentenary management made the same error.

ALLEN D. BLISS

Assistant to Editor

Journal of the American Chemical Society Cambridge, Mass.

TIME, along with the International Who's Who and World Almanac, stands corrected. The Svedberg's rare Christian name is pronounced like the "ti" in till.--ED.

Architect's Mind

Sirs:

In the April 13 issue of your generally carefully edited magazine there appears on p. 25 a most astounding and discouraging yet illuminating estimate of the architect's mind in the sentence commencing with "Adolf Hitler's small, neat architect's mind. . . .'

May I ask what standard of measurement was employed to determine the dimensions of the architect's mind? Of course, it would be presumptuous to hold that the mind which conceives great buildings, or for that matter, beautiful, small buildings and directs their execution is in any way comparable to the superb mind of a magazine writer but it must be a bit shocking to the perhaps exaggerated self esteem of many successful architects to learn that they are thought by TIME to be intellectual pygmies.

Mr. Hitler, so we have often been informed, was at one time a house painter. He was not educated and trained as an architect. Could it be sheer ignorance on the part of the writer of this article regarding the difference between the house painter's problems and those of the architect and also his blindness to the cultural contributions of architects to society for centuries past that have prompted this unfortunate estimate? At last Tuesday's meeting of the Southern California Chapter of the American Institute of Architects the undersigned was, by resolution, requested to ascertain in as kindly a spirit as possible whether the quoted words really reflect the opinion of TIME's guiding genius.

WM. H. SCHUCHARDT Los Angeles, Calif.

If Great-Building-Conceiver Schuchardt had the syntactical mind of a magazine writer, he would know that only the hypersensitive would construe the phrase "small, neat architect's mind" as derogatory to the architectural mentality. For the record, however, Adolf Hitler studied architectural drawing while housepainting in Munich between 1912-14.--ED.

Same Raskob ?

Sirs:

This John J. Raskob who contributed $5,000 to the organization conducting the undercover campaign against the Roosevelts in the South could not possibly be the same John J. Raskob who felt so shocked about the whispering campaign of the bigots against Al Smith in 1928, could he? Will you ask the man in charge of your Politics-Makes-Strange-Bedfellows department to find out?

FRANK SULLIVAN New York City

Let famed Humorist Sullivan know that both Raskobs are the same.--ED.

Not Mentioned

Sirs: I' read your story regarding the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in the April 20 issue of your valued publication with a great deal interest. I can't understand why you have not even mentioned the name of Bruno Walter who I think is one of the most outstanding conductors throughout the entire world. I even feel that he is equal to Toscanini and why his name is not mentioned is beyond my comprehension. . . .

I would greatly appreciate it if you would advise me why his name has not been mentioned up to this time.

ARTHUR PHILLIPS

Newark, N. J.

Outstanding though he may be, Bruno Walter's name was not mentioned in TIME'S Philharmonic story because, as reading should reveal, that story was concerned with conductors who will appear with the orchestra next winter. Bruno Walter is not one of them.--ED.

Flooded Foods

Sirs: My attention has been repeatedly called to a paragraph in the April 13 issue of TIME in which it was stated that H. J. Heinz Co. had contributed foods that had been under Pittsburgh flood waters to the Red Cross. . . . This remark is not true and is unfair to H. J. Heinz Co., and to the Red Cross as well. When Mr. Howard Heinz, president of H. J. Heinz Co., saw the devastating effects of the St. Patrick's Day flood, he immediately gave us two cars of food products--one for Pittsburgh and half a car each for Johnstown and Wheeling--at the same time presenting us with his check for $5,000. . . . With reference to the implication in your statement that the Heinz Co. donated the food because of inability to determine what the cans contained, it may interest you to learn that through letters stamped on the cap of each tin of Heinz products, it is always possible to identify the contents. I know Mr. Heinz would not think of offering us foods of questionable quality and we, of course, could not consider accepting such foods from anybody. . . .

AUGUSTUS K. OLIVER

Chairman, Pittsburgh Chapter The American Red Cross Pittsburgh, Pa.

On the theory that if a can can keep soup in it can keep water out, TIME never questioned the quality of the unlabeled Heinz products whose story, along with many another as apocryphal, washed out of Pittsburgh at flood time.--ED.

Cultured Detroiter

Sirs:

Will TIME be so kind as to tell its readers and Cultured Cincinnati of the fact that Dr. Harlow Shapley, who temporarily lost his astronomical slides, while lecturing in Detroit, knew all the time just where those slides had been inadvertently left--on the telephone chair at my home two miles away. Dr. Shapley's real concern was how nearly I could keep my promise of getting them in about ten minutes. As the "alliteralist" would say, 'twas the most sleety, slippery night of the season for the desperately difficult four-mile dash, but three minutes grace was enough.

'Twas, moreover, a blessing in disguise, perhaps, that for those of the 420 already seated, who felt that the astronomical lecture went too far over their heads, there was the unexpected preliminary extra, called afterwards unofficially "Twinkle, twinkle little ants in Dr. Shapley's firmament." which so well rewarded the efforts of all who had braved the storm.

Lacking Cincinnati's "oldest telescope in the U. S." (TIME, April 20), we were glad that Dr. Shapley's ten-hour stopover in Detroit gave him a good 2 1/2hours to inspect our new McMath-Hulbert Observatory at Lake Angelus, near Pontiac. This solar tower, for which three Michigan amateur astronomers are responsible, is one of only six in the world, the others being at Mt. Wilson, Calif, (two). Potsdam. Tokyo and Arcetri, near Florence, Italy. The continuity of Lake Angelus observations is now assured through a connection with the Department of Astronomy of the University of Michigan.

An astronomical ash tray, such as Dr. Shapley was permitted to design in Cincinnati, also being out of question, your modestly cultured Detroiter (Harvard, '04, with F. D. R.) could only give Dr. Shapley an original text of Burritt's Geography of the Heavens and Class Book of Astronomy, the copy over 100 years old, which has just been officially acknowledged as the first one of that first edition to reach the library of the Harvard Observatory.

FRED A. FERINE

Detroit, Mich.

Heaven on Earth

Sirs: Regarding a letter in your issue of April 20, headed "Santa Monica's Bottles" and signed by Andrew A. Caffrey. . ., . I wonder what is his "peeve" against my home town--by choice for 16 years. There is none among our 40,000 but glory in the fact they live in Santa Monica--with or without water bottles. I'm willing to wager that, match bottle for bottle with those of any other city of any state in the Union, you'll find the smallest number within our confines. It is a libel, nothing more nor less. It is poor humor and bad taste.

Santa Monica, where the mountains meet the sea. The one home town in all of California where peace and contentment reign supreme. Where the gentle waves of the beckoning Pacific spell happiness for hundreds of thousands year in and year out. Fog? Yes, but not enough to drive the healthiest bodies of humankind from continuing to be healthy by reason of their daily sun-salt-water bath upon the sandy shore dreamed of by Ponce de Leon.

Santa Monica, in whose confines live rich and poor alike, enjoying life in its fullness, life at its best. The end of the trail for thousands from every nook & cranny of the world. The residence, by choice, by preference, of the outstanding movie colony of the great industry within our gates.

A blue book could be filled with the residents of Santa Monica.

Hot water bottles! A thousand times NO. Merely the outpouring of a perverted mind, who, I am sure, Los Angeles would disown for such mouthings. For Los Angeles is proud of her nextdoor neighbor, conscious of our worthwhileness, our value and place in the growth of Southern California.

Chill hotels and rooming houses! Perhaps Mr. Caffrey was seeking free board and room. There are many like that. There is no more welcoming smile, no warmer grasp of outstretched hand than that which is found at the open door of our hotels and apartment houses.

Sedate maiden ladies! Perhaps Mr. Caffrey was seeking the spacious home of some wealthy widow wherein he might rest his weary bones. But our sedate maiden ladies tend to their own knitting and ARE particular with whom they associate.

Santa Monica! The most beautiful, the most desirable in all the whole wide world in which to live and to enjoy life in all its fullness, as it is meant for each human to do; where our folk go down the rose-strewn path of life hand in hand, facing the eternal sunset with a prayer of gratefulness to God on their lips for having made such a heaven on earth as Santa Monica.

HARRY B. PRESS

Santa Monica, Calif.

Mrs. Robert's John

Sirs:

I wonder whether TIME correctly reported Mrs. Lawrence Wood ("Chip") Robert Jr.'s party for her white-carnation-bedecked horse, "John the Baptist" (TIME, April 20).

If true it is a repulsive exhibition of sacrilege and appalling decadence comparable only to Nero's feasts of the gladiators.

How long can our civilization last if degeneration progresses that fast?

WOLFRAM HILL

St. Paul, Minn.

Mrs. Robert's horse was originally called Demijohn, or John. A Negro groom, leading him from his stable into the sunlight, was so delighted with the sheen of his coat that he cried: "Doggone, hoss--you ain't no plain John! You'se John the Baptist." John the Baptist's half-sister is Salome.--ED.

Discourtesy, Disinterest

Sirs:

I have just been reading the article in your issue dated April 20, relative to the so-called "Buchman Movement."

The sneering, flippant, utterly discourteous treatment given in the article to a movement which has enlisted some of the most esteemed religious leaders of our times, is utterly unworthy of appearing in a periodical of the respectability of TIME. To the writer it may be funny, but to intelligent people it is only disgusting.

CHAS. R. ZAHNISER

Director

Division of Social Work Boston University Boston, Mass.

Sirs:

. . . You have already given Buchman and his "ism" too much space in relation to her importance. . . .

MILTON OFFNER

Los Angeles, Calif.

Second Christ, Maybe

Sirs:

Readers of TIME assume that TIME takes the trouble to be right. Your write-up on Krishnamurti in the April 20 issue shows that TIME does not always take the trouble.

1) It is wrongly assumed that "World Teacher" is synonymous with Godship. It isn't.

2) He is not "still a practicing Theosophist seer" since he is not a Theosophist and does not claim to be a seer.

3) The talks in California were not held on the Theosophical Society's estate in Ojai, but on land adjoining it. The land is reserved for his lectures and is owned by a corporation.

4) Krishnamurti does not live on the Society's estate nor does he live in a hut. When in Ojai he lives in a country house some seven miles distant.

5) He did not "deliver the Society's triennial series of talks," as stated in TIME. He does not speak for the Society at all, hasn't for years. His talks in Holland will not be held on the Society's estate at Ommen. The Society does not own it and has no interest in it.

STANLEY ROGERS

Hollywood, Calif.

Rechecking its facts on the rarefied subjects of Krishnamurti and Theosophy, TIME finds: 1) As to the arcane matter of his divinity. World Teacher Krishnamurti was recently reported saying: "I may or may not be the second Christ--I don't know. . . . Most people are dumb anyway. I don't try to convert them. I only try to wake them up so they can find out what life is really all about." 2) Jiddu Krishnamurti has yet to make a clean break with the fluid tenets of the Theosophical Society which, founded in Manhattan in 1875 by Mme Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, aimed to form "a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity." encourage the study of comparative religion and philosophy, investigate "the unexplained laws of nature [including reincarnation] and the powers latent in man." 3) Strictly, the land on which Krishnamurti spoke was held until 1929 by an affiliate of the Society, is now held by a nominal corporation of three Krishnamurti associates. 4) "Huts" are what Krishnamurti calls both the little houses he inhabits near Ojai. 5) Although Krishnamurti's lectures, like the land he lives on and the creed he expounds, are no longer identifiable with the Theosophical Society, yet they manage to remain theosophist "in the broadest sense."--ED.

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