"Moscow Gold"

Sirs:

I am not a regular reader of TIME. But this week I happened to come across your Jan. 25 issue and thought I would see what the magazine that seems to be read by quite a number of Americans was like.

What was my astonishment to find in your Foreign News section a perfectly casual statement to the effect that the leaders of the 1927 British coal strike "received through the Bank of England from the Soviet State Bank some $2,000,000."

Now I happened to be living in London during that year and for many years before and after the coal strike. I know that in England at least the forgery of the "Zinovieff papers" was revealed to the satisfaction of every man and woman in Britain with the capacity to read the newspapers of the day. It was the sensation of the hour when the discovery was made that the "Moscow gold" red herring had been utilized merely for the purposes of defeating the Liberals in the election. And here, after all these years, a seemingly reputable magazine is unaware of so important an historic fact. Is there any conceivable explanation of this extraordinary anachronism appearing in a recognized, up-to-date periodical?

ROSEMARY NICOLAIS

North Plainfield, N. J.

Let Reader Nicolais mend her dates, recall that the Zinovieff letter figured in the British general election of 1924, two years before leaders of the British coal strike received through Lloyds and other banks some $2,000,000 from the Commercial and Industrial Bank of the U. S. S. R.

There was nothing furtive or dubious about this, as Foreign Secretary Sir Austen Chamberlain quietly aired the facts in the House of Commons and such British union leaders as Arthur James ("Emperor"') Cook cried: "Thank God for Moscow!"-- ED.

Trade Agreements Sirs:

Your good-natured and impartial account, (TIME, March 8), of the debate in the Senate on approving for another three years the current trade agreements policy suggests again the remarkable dearth of popular interest in this very practical aspect of our foreign affairs. In what other country with, such far-flung foreign trade and investments would Senators view with genuine alarm an increase in the receipt of the good things of this earth from abroad and cry for a return to the days when we habitually shipped out much more than we received? Intelligent readers desiring light on the facts as impartially and expertly thrown as we can humanly expect, would do well to explore the contents of Foreign Policy Reports (nongovernmental, non-business), published twice a month by Foreign Policy Association. Inc., No. 8 West 40th Street, New York City. Am re-reading that of May 15, 1936, on the U. S. Balance of International Payments. Like TIME, it is clear, curt, complete; essential reading for the alert citizen who wants to know the facts. The boost for Foreign Policy Association is merely incidental: I am not a member. RALPH W. WESCOTT

Comptroller of Customs U. S. Customs Service Treasury Department Philadelphia, Pa.

Lenoir Phenomenon

Sirs:

In this town on Saturday afternoon, March 6, the population along the streets was gazing at a very bright star in the sky, in spite of the fact that it was a very bright sunny afternoon. It was so bright and plain that many thought it must be a balloon very high in the air.

It remained stationary during several hours time but later while some were looking at it, it is said to have suddenly shot across the sky and disappeared. The writer saw the star and those reporting its final movement were very reliable and non-excitable persons.

The writer, as well as other of your readers, would like to know the explanation of the phenomenon, if any.

GEORGE H. BERXHARDT

Lenoir, N. C.

U. S. observatories have no record of any phenomenon in the Lenoir. N. C. district on March 6. What Stargazer Bernhardt saw was doubtless the planet Venus, often visible in daylight, which moves steadily across the sky at 15DEG an hour.

What suddenly disappeared was probably one of the small meteors which often appear near Venus, are also visible in daylight. --ED.

Kraut Climax Sirs:

On p. 34 of your March 8 issue you state "In the British Medical Journal, Professor Edward Provan Cathcart of the University of Glasgow wrote:

"Eat all kind nature doth bestow; It will amalgamate below. If the mind says so, it shall be so. But, if you once begin to doubt, The gastric juice will find it out." The last line, the climax of it all is omitted from the above. It was: . . . Calm courage conquers sour kraut.

JULIA BELLE STODDARD

San Diego, Calif.

Salzburg Conductors

Sirs:

On p. 52 of TIME, March 8, concerning conductor Artur Rodzinski of the Cleveland Orchestra, you say: "Last summer he became the first permanent conductor of a U. S. orchestra to lead at the Salzburg festival."

In order to keep the record correct, I wish to advise that Pierre Monteux conducted at Salzburg last year several weeks prior to Mr. Rodzinski. He had at that time completed his first season as permanent conductor of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and his contract also included the present season, the 1938 season, and our great World's Fair season in 1939. PETER CONLEY

Manager

San Francisco Symphony Orchestra San Francisco, Calif.

Conductor Monteux beat Conductor Rodzinski to the Salzburg podium, technically earned the title TIME misapplied.

But Salzburg, like TIME, considered him a European representative. Monteux made his reputation with the Orchestre Symphonique de Paris, is still its permanent conductor, still a French citizen. Rodzinski is a naturalized U. S. citizen, won his spurs here. His name is associated with U. S. music as naturally as Pierre Monteux's is with European.--ED.

Speed-Writers Sirs: I was very interested to read in your "Milestones" Department (TIME, Feb. 22), the paragraph dealing with the alleged speedwriting contest between the late Samuel Shipman, the Broadway playwright and my old friend the late Edgar Wallace, "ace" story teller and dramatist, whose memory we still mourn here in England.

But are your facts correct? The man who acted as Wallace's secretary for 19 years (the famous "Bob" Curtis), later worked for me.

He spent hours yarning about Wallace's phenomenal feats in dictation, but he never told me anything concerning E. W.'s dictating a play in 35 hours. I know for a fact that Wallace dictated his play The Case of the Frightened Lady called on Broadway, I believe, Criminal at Large, in three bouts of 6 hours each, but Ocean Liner is a new one on me.

As you people appear interested in statistics, I may say that the Dictaphone used in "writing" this letter was formerly used by Wallace, who told me that he had poured no less than -L-80,000-worth of material down its throat. Since I have had it, another -L-20,000 has been added to the list--half a million dollars in all. Not a bad record, I think? SYDNEY HORLER

Hythe, Kent

TIME'S statement that Author Wallace dictated Ocean Liner in 35 hours is well authenticated. Author Sydney Horler's latest published works are The Hidden Hand, The Lessing Murder Case, The Man With Two Faces.--ED.

Prizewinner Laufman

Sirs:

I must protest your incomplete reporting on "Art" in the March 22 issue, or weren't all the returns in when you went to press? You make no mention of who won the other $700 prize given by the National Academy of Design, which went to Sidney Laufman of New York for the best landscape by an American born painter.

Because of his unwillingness to publicize himself in any manner whatsoever, Mr. Laufman is not nearly so well-known as his work would merit. Unassuming and modest to the Nth degree, he did not even wish to submit a painting to the National Academy show, and did so only at the insistence of Milch Galleries which handles his work.

With all due respect to those painters who are known from coast to coast--both through ability and through constant publication of their names --Sidney Laufman is considered by a number of critics one of the finest landscape painters working in this country today. EDITH LODER GOULD

Bala-Cynwyd, Pa.

To able Painter Laufman, all credit for his Altman prizewinning landscape The Farm. TIME lacked space to report both awards, considered Adman-Artist Charles Stafford Duncan's Girl in Black more newsworthy.--ED.

Debt

Sirs:

I think you have done a perfectly splendid job in TIME, March 22, on the Cancer Army. The way you hook together one interesting incident to another movement produces a swing that even in medical problems becomes fascinating.

As Secretary of the American Society for the Control of Cancer, I feel that this Society owes you a great debt of gratitude. You have timed your article at just the time when we want the people all through America to be informed on cancer. We owe much to LIFE, THE MARCH OF TIME, FORTUNE and TIME for the education of the public which we could not possibly pay for.

More power to you!

FRANK E. AD AIR, M. D. Executive Officer

Memorial Hospital

New York City

Cancer & Pain

Sirs:

The courage and originality you have demonstrated in bringing the subject of cancer so forcefully to the attention of the public is to be commended. . . .

Your reference to cancer killing "slowly, painfully" while generally true for the latter stages of cancer is unfortunate in that it overemphasizes the association of pain and cancer.

In my contacts with patients suffering from advanced cancer who have not consulted a physician soon after the first sign or symptom ap- peared, I nearly always inquire as to the reason for this. The reply of the vast majority is "I had no pain so I thought it did not amount to anything." Because cancer and pain are so intimately associated in the layman's mind, I believe it is most important to broadcast that early cancer is almost never painful. If the Women's Field Army were to do no more than bring the painlessness of early cancer forcefully to the attention of the public, many patients would seek treatment earlier and much would be accomplished. In our present state of knowledge this offers more hope of improved results than anything else.

It is difficult to understand the omission of Jeanes Hospital, Philadelphia, from your list of hospitals specializing only in cancer. This 68-bed hospital made possible by the will of the late Anna T. Jeanes, a prominent member the Society of Friends was opened in 1928 and is devoted exclusively to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Residencies in cancer deigned to give post-graduate training to physicians who have completed an internship in a general hospital, are approved by the Council on Medical Education of the American Medical Association in only ten institutions in the U. S. Jeanes Hospital is one of these.

That "some patients (recover) who get no treatment whatsoever" may be true but there many physicians who have specialized in cancer who have never made such an observation.

ROSCOE W. TEAHAN, M. D.

T Medical Director and Surgeon

Jeanes Hospital lniladelphia, Pa.

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