Congratulations
Sirs:
TO TIME'S EDITORIAL STAFF HEARTIEST CONGRATULATIONS ON BOTH THE VISION THAT PROMPTED AND THE COURAGE TO PRINT CHARLOT'S BEAUTIFUL NATIVITY SCENE [TIME DEC. 26]. MAY THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD HELP US TO DISPEL THE CLOUDS OF HATRED, THAT PEACE AND GOOD MAY REIGN ON EARTH.
REVEREND MAURICE S. SHEEHY
Department of Religious Education
Catholic University of America
Washington, D. C.
Sirs:
YOUR RELIGION SECTION OF TIME FOR THIS WEEK, I CONSIDER THE BEST JOB OF REPORTING RELIGIOUS NEWS AND THE MOST CHALLENGING RELIGIOUS ARTICLE I HAVE READ THIS YEAR. MY POINT OF VIEW IS FROM 20 YEARS OF SERVICE AS PASTOR OF THE SAME CITY CHURCH.*. . .
R. LINCOLN LONG
Toledo, Ohio
Mobs
Sirs:
As an American medical student at the University in Freiburg I come in contact every day with Germans. Although our conversation concerns principally subjects connected with medicine, it sometimes drifts to politics. Naturally I should like to be able to defend my country's democratic ideals, especially now in regard to the Jewish question. The reason why I cannot is adequately illustrated by a recent article in TIME (Dec. 5): A young man, not a whole lot older than Grynszpan, was said to have committed a crime. The only witness was an elderly lady--the very lady whose life and property were involved--but that was enough. No Dorothy Thompson appealed dramatically for funds to save his life; no corps of top-notch lawyers leaped to his defense; America's conscience was not in the least disturbed. The young man was not even given the right to a trial! Within a few hours he was dead-- killed by a band of men who felt they had the right to take the law in their own hands.
Believe me, boys, a good reason for this inconsistency on the part of Americans would certainly help me out of an embarrassing situation.
WALLACE A. REED
Freiburg, Germany
Sirs:
Reader Lowell A. Henry in TIME, Dec. 12 drew an analogy between the persecution of the Jews in Germany and the lynching of Negroes in America.
Reader Henry evidently failed to consider the fact that lynchings in America are not approved or incited by the authorities. They are forbidden by law and condemned by a majority of American citizens; whereas persecution of the minorities in Germany is fostered and undertaken by the state as a part of its national policy. . . . Such an analogy is absurd.
MERLE MCMURRY
Austin, Tex.
Sirs:
It is amazing that anyone in the U. S. could degrade his intelligence by insinuating that there is any comparison between gangsterism in this country and Hitlerism in Germany!
We have our gangs, but so does Hitlerland! We have our robbers, thieves, murderers, etc., but so does Hitler, in fact, each country has its share. However, in addition to the unorganized underworld mobs of each country, Hitler has his own specially organized systematic government gang of plunderers !
There is a certain amount of deplorable lynching in our own Southland, but every intelligent American vigorously condemns this practice. Yet, bad as this is, the number of deaths resulting from lynching do not amount to more than 25 per year. In Hitlerland, they have a "sport" known as Gantlet Running, (TIME, Dec. 5th) where 62 innocent people were tortured and twelve killed in one week, the figure running into thousands each year. . . .
A. LITMAN, PH.G.
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Hypothecary
Sirs:
In seeking for a word to describe the activities of the late Coster (Musica) you might call him a hypothecary.
H. W. ROSE
New Canaan, Conn.
Sirs:
It seems that the ex-convict Philip Musica, alias Coster, who is thought to have looted McKesson & Robbins of several millions, is listed in Who's Who, with an entirely fictitious record including two college degrees. Do the editors of Who's Who make no check on the veracity of the facts in their volume ? Some energetic young reporter may find that their venerable volume has a lot of skeletons between its covers.
DALE JOHNS
Brooklyn, N. Y.
> It has always been the policy of Who's Who in America to offer a listing, "without question," to any person who holds an approved position in the U. S. ("heads of the established institutions of learning . . . bishops and chief ecclesiastics . . . presidents of the larger national businesses . . ."). The editors of Who's Who feel that, in their 77,000 listings, "the Coster-Musica fraud has every indication of being unique."--ED.
Scots
Sirs:
An' wha dares say th' illustrious name o' Scrymgeour is pronounced Skinner, as ye report i' th' story, p. 32, TIME, Dec. 19?
Th' English is ut? Th' Sassanachs wha beheaded King Chairlie an' gar th' Bonnie Prince hisel tae flee tae France. An' noo they'd commit th' sacrilege o' mudrerin' th' name o' th' Standard Bearer himsel. altho' weel they ken that when God or th' Empire want something hard dane, He or It send lor th' Scots.
Scrymgeour is pronoonced Skrimjer as it was when th' Heilanders defeated th' Sassan-ach at Bannockburn. aye an' at Prestonpans ferbye (an' if ye dare mention Flodden Field or Culloden, I'll slit yer throats wi' ma rusty Claymore an' feed yer misbegotten flesh tae th' Eagles).
For Chairlie, for th' Jacobites, for Auld Scotia! Th' English canna dae tae Scrymgeour what they've done tae th' Cholmondeleys, th' Leveson Cowers, th' Majoribanks an' th' St. Johns, pronoonced Chumley, Leeson-Gore, Marshbanks an' Sinjin. Scrymgeour was just that afore th' Saxons landed. A rouse tae ye, TIME, but watch yer step.
STUART SCRYMGEOUR
Detroit, Mich.
Dr. Cooper
Sirs:
AS A PROLONGED TIMEREADER, I APPRECIATE THE HONOR OF BEING CITED AS A MAN OF SCIENCE P. 12 JAN. 2 ISSUE, BUT UNQUESTIONABLY
THE HONOR IS MISPLACED. I HAVE BEEN IN NO WAY CONNECTED WITH THE OUTSTANDING RESEARCH CARRIED ON BY DRS. BLANKENHORN, SPIES, AND COOPER, ALTHOUGH IN JUSTICE TO YOUR EDITORIAL STAFF, I DID INTERNE IN THE CINCINNATI GENERAL HOSPITAL (1928-29) WHERE THE WORK WAS DONE, WHICH DOUBTLESS ACCOUNTS FOR THE ERROR. . . .
CLARK N. COOPER, M.D., F.A.C.S.
Waterloo, Iowa
Sirs:
DR. CLARK COOPER OF NO. 14OI WHITTIER STREET, N. W., WASHINGTON, D. C. IS THE PERSON WHO CONTRIBUTED TO THE WORK ON NICOTINIC ACID [TIME, JAN. 2], NOT DR. CLARK COOPER OF IOWA. DR. COOPER'S CONTRIBUTIONS WERE MADE WHILE HE WAS MY ASSISTANT IN CINCINNATI.
DR. TOM D. SPIES
Cincinnati, Ohio
-- To both Drs. Cooper, TIME'S apologies for mistaken identities.--ED.
Fighting Words
Sirs:
General Johnson's mailable "fighting words" [TIME, Dec. 19] have a fine, ringing sound, and are most of them notable on that score, not for their intelligibility.
The same can be said for the dazzling collection of esoteric invective Mr. D. Bevan Wyndham Lewis has slung into the Dedication to his matchless excursion into the medieval, Francois Villon. It is sheer artistry, and while the General's list is a mere list, Mr. Lewis' is a stylistic delight.
After indulging in some other enjoyable but obscure epithets, Lewis goes on. . . .
"... And to all prattling Gablers, sycophant Varlets, forlorn Snakes, blockish Grutnols, fondling Fops, doddipol Joltheads, slutch Calf-Lollies, codshead Loobies, jobernol Goosecaps, grouthead Gnat-Snappers, noddiepeak Simpletons, Lob-Dotterels, and ninniehammer Flycatchers. . . ."
If I am not mistaken, most of the above come out of the English thieves' jargon; maybe I am mistaken.
ROBY WENTZ
Los Angeles, Calif.
-- Reader Wentz is mistaken: Author Dominic Bevan Wyndham Lewis' juicy jargon comes straight out of Rabelais (Urquhart and Motteux's 17th-Century translation).--ED.
Man of the Year
Sirs:
YOUR SOLUTION MAN OF YEAR PROBLEM IS PERFECT [TIME, JAN. 2].
FRANK KIRKPATRICK
Milwaukee, Wis.
Sirs:
ADD CAPITULATIONS OF 1938: TIME DEMOTES ITSELF TO PROPAGANDIST RABBLE UNDER PRESSURE OF SUPREME DICTATOR CIRCULATION.
D. J. SAMUEL
Montreal, Que.
Sirs:
CONGRATULATIONS FOR A BEAUTIFUL JOB ON THE BLACKEST MANIFESTATION OF THE MAJOR PROBLEMS OF OUR TIMES.
E. V. MORROW
Philadelphia, Pa. Sirs:
MAN OF THE YEAR: WITHOUT A DOUBT CONGRATULATIONS FOR CUTTING HIM DOWN TO HIS SIZE ON COVER.
LEO B. MILLER
Detroit, Mich.
*Collingwood Avenue Presbyterian Church.-- ED.
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