Most Liked Gringo
Sirs:
In TIME Aug. 2 under Education you say that Mr. Roy Tasco Davis was made American Minister to Guatemala, well the information is wrong, Mr. Davis was appointed American Minister to Costa Rica, and lived here for several years. He was the most liked "gringo"that has ever come to Costa Rica. . . . RENE PICADO
San Jose. Costa Rica
Sirs:
As an old friend and admirer of Roy Tasco Davis, I have a correction or two to make regarding your report of his taking over the Presidency of the National Park Seminary.
Mr. Davis was not, as far as I know, ever named U. S. Minister to Guatemala. He was, however, Minister to Costa Rica for about six or seven years, and I venture to say that no U. S. diplomat in the foreign service, whatever his rank, has been so admired and beloved by the people of the country to which he was accredited. Far from sporting spats, pince-nez and a cane (none of which | articles I ever saw him with) he avoided unnecessary show, was simple, frank, friendly and courteous to all, and while always maintaining the dignity and respect of the U. S. Legation, he nevertheless avoided that atmosphere of disagreeable aloofness that individuals in high positions in the foreign service so often surround themselves with.
I knew Mr. Davis for upwards of four years in Costa Rica. When he went to that country, there was a very decided anti-American sentiment there. When he left, 90'% of the people were pro-American, and 100% were pro-Davis. His friendly, courteous charm captivated all hearts, and his name and memory are still venerated in that highly civilized, cultured Central American Republic. Some very ticklish political and economic situations were happily solved by Mr. Davis, to the great benefit of Costa Rica and also to the American interests concerned. He had the rare faculty of getting people to do things they didn't want to do, and liking it nevertheless. In his unpretentiousness and friendly sincerity he was very like Cordell Hull.
Those of us who made up the American colony in Costa Rica worshipped him. He was not only our leader, but our friend. He could be counted on at the Union Club in San Jose every afternoon for a fourth at bridge, a game he played enthusiastically and well. And many's the night that the game moved right up from the club to the American Legation, where, after an informal supper, it continued till the wee sma' hours of the morning. His charming wife, Loyce, was a perfect hostess, both at formal and informal affairs. Spending lavishly of their own meagre resources, Mr. and Mrs. Davis left nothing undone to make Costa Ricans,
Americans, and people of all other nationalities welcome at the American Legation. . . .
ERNEST A. DE LIMA Cali, Valle, Colombia
The loyalty of Dr. Roy Davis' Costa Rican friends is impressive. Let them, however, look in Who's Who in America, note that Dr. Davis served as Minister to Guatemala one year before his appointment in 1922 to the Costa Rican post.--ED.
Insidious Comparison
Sirs:
Your account of the Mayo Clinic [TIME, Aug. 16] was excellent, but why leave the emphasis on Dr. Majocchi's quotation with its "insidious" analogy and point of view?
In organization, Armour's abattoir, the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research and the Clinic may be compared. But it is illogical and stupid to infer that cutting off a hoof in process of butchering is comparable to surgical amputation. And it is altogether incorrect to imply that a specialist has so limited a field as does a meat packer and finds his work no more stimulating and broadening than grading beef. After all, the Clinic has dealt with human beings. Did you say nearly 1,000,000 of them? . . .
EDNA HOWELL
Clinical Section of
Dr. William A. Plummer
Dr. Austin C. Davis
Dr. Oren L. Kirklin
Dr. Llewelyn P. Howell Mayo Clinic Rochester, Minn.
Boettigers & Pegler
Sirs:
Come, come, TIME, don't hold out on us. Did or did not Publisher Boettiger read Westbrook Pegler's scoring of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt Boettiger in his column Monday, Aug. 9 [TIME, Aug. 23! ? I'll bet you that orchid you wear that John Boettiger saw it and had "the courage not to care" whether Pegler's column appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. MURIEL SHANNON
New York City
Sirs:
OF COURSE WE SAW PEGLER MONDAY COLUMN BEFORE PRINTING. JOHN BOETTIGER
Chelan, Wash.
TIME to Kappa Kappa Gamma
Sirs:
Would the all-inclusive, ever-present TIME care to know that it was chosen to represent current history in the cornerstone of a women's fraternity house? The building is the new home of Gamma Psi chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma, at the fast-expanding University of Maryland, and the issue deposited was, symbolically, the one reporting the ''rebirth" of nearby St. John's College, Annapolis [TIME, July 19], . . . MARY INGERSOLL JENKINS President
Kappa Kappa Gamma Building Corp. Gamma Psi Chapter Hyattsville, Md.
Stone Without Mosque
Sirs:
I received a cutting from your esteemed paper dealing with the ceremony of the laying of the foundation stone of the proposed Nizamiah Mosque in London, by H. H. the Prince of Berar on June 4 [TIME, June 28].
I have to thank you on behalf of the Moslems interested in this scheme for the sympathetic notice of it in your columns. I ask your indulgence, however, in the interests of accuracy, to publish the fact that though originally a design of the Mosque was prepared by Sir Brumwell Thomas, yet that is not the design which is to be adopted when the building of the Mosque commences. Apart from other things, that design was much too ambitious and expensive for the funds at the disposal of the Nizamiah Mosque Trust and has had to be given up. The present Board of Trustees has requested an Engineer in the service of the Hyderabad State in India to prepare a new design, with due regard to the resources available to the Trust, and he is now preparing it. On the receipt of that design and its approval by the Trustees, it may be possible to start the building.
ABDUL QADIR Chairman
Board of Trustees Nizamiah Mosque London, England
Butter Stirrers
Sirs:
I been kinda wonderin how many of yer readers wuz apple butter stirrers when they wuz kids.
Since Father Coughlin and grandfather Townsend has kinda slowed up organizin folks--and since they's a lot thet ain't named George or Fanny--I got a ideer I'd like ter form a organization of former apple butter stirrers. It would be called the "Former Apple Butter Stirrers' Society Fer The Purpose of Promulgatin, Promotin and Perpet-uatin Memories of Apple Butter Stirrin Days."
Ennybody thet ever stirred apple butter in a copper kettle thet held more'n 20 gallon, with a hikery or maple stirrer, in the back yard when they wuz kids is eligible ter join; providin they got sick at least twice from eatin too much apple butter on homemade bread afterwards.
I ain't figgerin on collectin no dues nor fees fer joinin. Course I know thet's gonna make some of them perfessional organizers mad. But ter keep things even, I ain't gonna make no promises neither. Fer the truth is, all the politicians and perfessional organizers has already used up all the good promises; and no former apple butter stirrers would be satisfied with enny second-rate promises.
I ain't decided whether ter make it a stag affair or not. I ain't talked thet part over with my wife yet. But the chances is it won't be stag. (I went to one of them stag affairs at one of the clubs in our town one night and my wife heard about it. Since thet time she ain't had no use fer stags or ennything thet'd make yer stagger.)
Ennyway, if they's enny TIME readers thet want ter join my "Former Apple Butter Stirrers' Society Per The Purpose of Promulgatin, Promotin and Perpetuatin Memories of Apple Butter Stirrin Days" jest tell 'em ter write me at No. 318 S. State Street, Marion, Ohio, and I'll see thet they get the proper identifyin kredentials--without spendin a penny or agreein ter nothin.
CLEM SPUTTER (Hugh J. Crossland) Marion, Ohio Nice To Be Glad
Sirs:
It's nice to be glad--and we admit we try to be that--although the news doesn't always permit, but we just don't like to be called the "glad rag of the garment trade" [TIME, Aug. 23]. It does something or other to our dignity. How would you like to be called "the newsrag of time?" Wouldn't it do something or other to YOUR dignity?
Note the precise formality of our addressing you! While we do not stand on such convention--we are known as The Retailer's Newspaper (adv).
Yours sincerely--and please don't do it again!
H. MACKINTOSH
Women's Wear Daily The Retailer's Newspaper New York City
"Why Write?"
Sirs:
Well might Edna St. Vincent Millay cry, "Oh, God, why write," if she chanced to scan TIME'S report under Science in its Aug. 30 issue. To have her scintillating, fire-refined, twice-forged, rapier-like lines from Conversation at Midnight attributed to a bearded, oldster paleobotanist who prates of speleology, must have been, to say the least, distressing to America's premier candle-at-both-ends-burner.
Tell us, please, did Professor Wieland actually stoop to plagiarism in the heat of his controversy with Secretary Ickes or did TIME'S Science editor err in identifying an apt quotation as an "original composition?"
YVONNE M. STIRTON Los Angeles, Calif.
Distressed, too, is TIME for drawing too broad an inference that the lines
Professor Wieland quoted were his
own.-- ED.
Yale's Wieland
Sirs:
Delighted to see my old friend, "Yale's merry old paleobotanist, George Reber Wieland" in TIME (Aug. 30) , I would like to add a story about him which was told me several years ago by one of those present. In 1926 His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden, paid a visit to New Haven, and the Yale University authorities, agog over the rare opportunity of entertaining royalty, made preparations to celebrate this happy event with the utmost dignity and propriety. There was to be an exclusive little luncheon for only the mightiest figures of academic renown and of local society, then a reception for the rest of town and gown deemed eligible to meet a genuine prince. Nothing was overlooked except that the committee neglected to ascertain that the Prince's hobby was paleobotany -- of all things. When the train arrived His Royal Highness eagerly scanned the welcoming brass-hats and demanded "Where is Dr. Wieland?" Consternation smote the party and a frantic search for Yale's forgotten man ensued. He was eventually found at his modest Woodmont cottage, seven miles out of town (no telephone) , rushed into his best suit, to Memorial Hall, and into a seat next to the Prince (at the Prince's insistence). The conversation presented pretty tough going for the local elite and even for the President and Fellows, for it dealt almost exclusively with fossil cycads (in which the Prince, like Dr. Wieland, had an ardent interest). The guests could hardly wait for the end of the luncheon and the end of boredom to edge closer to the Royal Presence. But no -- when it was over the Prince suggested visiting Dr. Wieland's office. This suggestion alarmed Professor George Eaton and he hurriedly sneaked on ahead to see what could be done about achieving some kind of order out of the monumental chaos and dustiness of the paleobotanist's room. Very little had been accomplished when the cycad-lovers arrived, trailed by the President of the university and his fuming committee. It was a little difficult to appear dignified and interested and at the same time keep their morning coats and striped trousers out of the inch-thick dust while the Prince and Wieland continued their ardent and interminable conversation. His Royal Highness even demanded to see a particular specimen that had been filed in the jam-packed basement. Eventually President Angell persuaded the Prince to return to the chore of meeting 200 or so of New Haven's finest, but not until George Reber Wieland had had his day and I don't believe that more than a dozen in the crowd had the faintest idea who the little man in store clothes was. RICHARD EDES HARRISON
New York City
Hemingway's Scars
Sirs:
On Ernest Hemingway's forehead there are two scars. They were there long before Hemingway's recent encounter with this Mr. Max Eastman. They were there prior to a night two years ago, when Hemingway and James J. Tunney put on a friendly bout in the dining room of a New York apartment. Moreover, I was with Hemingway the night before he sailed, which was three days after the Eastman encounter, and I saw no new scars. I was with him for several hours in Manhattan's Stork Club. TIME'S heavy implication that the Hemingway scars resulted from the Eastman encounter is misleading. I certainly would like to see Mr. Eastman after a friendly bout with Mr. Tunney. I certainly would.
JOHN O'HARA
Quogue, L. I., N. Y.
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