Letters to the Times

Geoffrey Dawson, almost anonymous as a public character, may plausibly be rated among the score of men (and Queen Mother Mary) who really rule the British Empire. For small Mr. Dawson is head of one of Britain's greatest institutions, editor of London's Times. The importance of the Times is something that no British Government could ever overlook. Next to what the Times itself thinks, the Government watches what readers of the Times think.

Editor Dawson's "Letters to the Editor" department is the most famous in the world. Here the ingredients of British character are revealed, stewing with incredible seriousness over topics ranging from the fate of Empire to the palatability of black-grape jelly with pickled pork. The department runs four or five columns daily and includes the publishable thoughts of many of Britain's most substantial citizens.

Last week, and for a fortnight before, Editor Dawson's volunteer correspondents were engaged in a controversy moderately scandalous for them, but they handled it with their usual decorum and historical perspective. It was started by George L. Massy who wrote from Folkestone in Kent that he was "credibly informed that the reason some ladies stain their finger nails is in order to conceal traces of black blood, otherwise discernible there. Perhaps the knowledge of this may induce ladies not having black blood to refrain from the unsightly and unpleasing habit. It is understood that this habit arose in America where color lines are strictly drawn and traces of black blood must be concealed if possible. That is all the more reason why English ladies shouldn't disfigure their nails."

To the defense of his industry came R H. Oackson, editor of Perfumery and Toileting. He posted a letter to the Times saying, "Nail painting originated in China 3,000 years ago and has been indulged in ever since by Cleopatra and other fine ladies." Harold A. Moody, founder & president of the League of Colored Peoples entered the controversy with the blunt opinion that nail painting was originated by the lighter races to satisfy their natural longing for "color" in their make up.

The letters were running about 50-50 on the subject when R. W. Alston whose inquiring mind had profited by the August bank holiday offered a new idea: "Recently I visited the seaside and was flattered to find myself the object of attentive curiosity until I realized that the ladies who met me with arched eyebrows were not surprised or delighted, but merely plucked and therefore incapable of any other expression."

Among the famous questions raised and seldom settled by letter-writers in the Times have been : Are there any brains in the British Army? Why isn't British ice cream any better (this was headed "Strawberry or Vanilla?")? Who is the oldest Etonian? What is the derivation of the phrase "cocking the snook" (thumbing the nose)?

An historic letter was published in 1919, suggesting that Britons voluntarily contribute 20% of their capital wealth to the Government to help it out of its post-War hole. The letter was signed F. S. T. but few Britons figured out that the author was the then Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Stanley Baldwin, more recently Prime Minister, today a venerable, bumbling peer.

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