• U.S.

Letters: Dec. 10, 1928

12 minute read
TIME

Byrd Flayed

Sirs:

I am pleased to note that TIME has not joined the other magazines in the ballyhoo for the Byrd expedition. Up here in the Northland we are interested in explorers who let their deeds speak for themselves. What a difference between Wilkins and Byrd! Wilkins and Eilson start out with a handful of men and reach their goal by dint of their own hard work and perseverance. Afterwards they speak of the hardships as being a matter of course and part of the day’s work. Their unassuming personalities have endeared them to all Alaskans who came in contact with them.

But Byrd! After months of writing articles about the difficulty of securing men as gallant and hardy as himself, and articles of the dreadful hardships to which he subjects himself, he boards his craft like a conquering hero, midst tooting of horns and beating of tin pans, and mounts the poop deck in stately grandeur while the crew sweat below. When near the pole they pass the deadline beyond which no person but Byrd himself may send back any articles, for fear they might not exaggerate the hardships enough. How terrible it must be to be away from civilization with no consolation except phonographs with stacks of records and radios and a piano and cigarettes and five-foot bookshelves, and not knowing where the next meal is coming from till the chef beats the gong in the galley. And the racking suspense of waiting for word from his staff that all is well and the path to the pole blazed and strewn with roses for the intrepid explorer Byrd. Let us pray!

E. G. MOORE McKinley Park, Alaska

TIME cannot be induced to ballyhoo anything. But before he left the United States, Commander Byrd saw his face on TIME’S cover, and in TIME’S pages a concise account of his newsworthy adventure. For more Byrd news, see page 64.—ED.

Shake

Sirs:

I have noted the article appearing in the Nov. 19 issue of TIME with reference to my detail for duty in the Philippines.

I thank you for the courteous reference to my service and feel that the article must have been written by some man who served with me overseas. I would be very glad to know who he is and to shake hands with him through the columns of your distinguished publication.

PAUL B. MALONE

Major General, U. S. Army

Chicago, Ill.

Since the writer must remain anonymous, he requests the General to shake, with a special shake, the hand of the first TIME-reader he meets in the Philippines, and to report results to TIME.—ED.

Cucumber After Vodka

Sirs:

“Vodka should never be tasted, sipped, or mulled upon the tongue. It is esteemed not for its taste but for the warm and stimulant sensations with which it fires the entire gullet. Therefore Russian epicures invariably down vodka in long, potent, scorching swigs.”

This footnote of yours -is illustrative of the surity and knowledge with which you handle all topics, all news. No theorist could have written this, no imagination could picture it, it required the masterful information of a TIME editor.

Hardly an omission, there is yet an addition to be made to the epicurean formula for downing vodka. A bit of freshly pickled cucumber should be ready to use as a “chaser,” adding finesse to the performance and furthering the comfort of the bibber.

GORDON MCWHIRTER

San Francisco, Calif.

No Taft Could

Sirs:

I feel it is time for me to burst into your letters columns. I see on page 7 of your issue of Nov. 12 an item which quotes my father as saying: “He feels like I did in 1908, not by any means like I felt in 1912.” About 12 years ago my Uncle, Mr. Horace Taft, was distinctly heard by a number of members of the family at the Murray Bay lunch table to say of Tom Shevlin, “H« had himself paged in hotels by a boy waving an envelope like it was a telegram.” He denied it and my father sided with him, saying that no Taft could ever use “like” as a conjunction. I feel certain therefore that he was misquoted.

I notice also your repetition of the reference to my father’s statement about prohibition 10 years ago. I haven’t seen in TIME or elsewhere any reference to what he said about it 5 years ago. I enclose a copy for your information. . . .

CHARLES P. TAFT 2d.

Cincinnati, Ohio

In 1918, while National Prohibition was pending, William Howard Taft stated his objections to it and outlined with prophetic accuracy the evils which it might entail. His statement was reprinted, in part, in TIME, Oct. 15, 1928.

In 1923, with National Prohibition the law of the land, Chief Justice William Howard Taft made a speech at New Haven, Conn. Excerpts:

“The people whom I have in mind are the first to complain of mob law, lawless violence of laborites and other disturbances of the peace, but when it comes to a violation of the 18th Amendment, and the Volstead law, they seem to feel no obligation to protest. They would look at this law, that is declared in the Constitution and in the statute book, with contempt. One hears intelligent people say: ‘As this contracts my liberty, I don’t regard it as necessary to observe it.’ Although they don’t intend to, if they say that, they are justifying the principle of anarchy. . . .

“I was opposed to prohibition. I was opposed to it because I thought there would be great difficulty in its enforcement, it being more or less like a sumptuary law. Second, I was opposed to it because I thought it too greatly enlarged the power of the central government, already too large; and, third, I was opposed to it because, introduced into national politics, we would never as long as it remained the subject of political discussion settle any other issue clearly and emphatically by the judgment of all the people, because some extremes on both sides would insist on thrusting prohibition into the campaign every time there was an election.

“Now those were good reasons. At least I thought so. But the vote was against me and those who thought with me, as the people before have indicated that they sometimes differed with me. They did then. Now, as all good citizens should, I claim to play the game. . . . The rules of the game of popular government are that all living under that government must obey. It is not patriotic, it is not sportsmanlike to evade or disobey.

“I have confidence, however, that when the ntelligent, the patriotic, and the well-to-do, as .veil as the plain people, face the real issue, vhen they see whither we are tending in mak-ng fun of the law and of its violation, all of vhich tends to lead to support those who are engaged in violating it, when they realize that others not so patriotic, and who are evilly-minded are only too glad to bring about a demoralization of all law, as the open violations of the liquor law necessarily tend to do, then I believe we shall rouse ourselves and create a public opinion through self-discipline.”

All thanks to son Charles P. Taft 2d. for the copy of his father’s New Haven speech.—ED.

Mettle

Sirs:

We know old Homer oft would nod

(At least, we’re told he did)—But that our TIME with clay is shod,

Our idol—God forbid!

Yet so it seems, and pity ’tis

But none the less, ’tis true—At diction, self-proclaimed a “wiz”

We hoped for more from you.

You should be on your mettle, TIME

Lest lapses should be chronic Mayhap this futile little rime

Will prove a needful tonic!

LAURETTA KELLAHER Sec’y to the Store Manager Filene’s, Boston, Mass.

Rhymester Kellaher’s inspiration was the following phrase “Citizens of the Republic were put on their metal. . . .” (TIME, Nov. 19). To a TIME writer a reprimand for spelling by ear. To Rhymester Kellaher all credit for putting TIME on its mettle.—ED.

Might, Right

Sirs:

The voters of this Nation Have rizen to their might. And dealt a blow to liquor That cheers the friends of right. The aim of whiskey lovers To give us Booze again, Has failed to meet approval In minds of righteous men.

A. D. HARD, M. D.

Long Beach, Calif.

Thought, Fear, Hope

Sirs:

After reading your article on “Mental Hygiene” in the Nov. 19 issue, I am moved to express a thought—a fear—and a hope.

The thought is admiration for the terse, true statement of the most important movement of our time—the intelligent preventive as well as curative treatment of mental disease.

The fear is the impression your brutally frank description might make on your casual reader, who cannot realize the enormous significance of a personal experience like Beers’ being turned to account for the benefit of mankind.

And the hope is that conditions in this country —where there are more mentally sick in asylums than there are students in colleges—will be better appreciated, that more people will read ”A Mind That Found Itself,” a true story of absorbing interest, and learn what wide movement also started by Mr. Beers will receive the attention, sympathy and support it deserves.

W. J. HOGGSON

New York City

Leprosy

SiriSn No. 16, Vol. XII of your most excellent magazine I find under the heading Leprosy Missionaries” a highly interesting item about the treatment of this malady.

May I point out that Leprosy is not only treated with chaulmoogra-oil, but also with gold compounds. This treatment has been introduced after the experiences gained by that of tuberculosis on a similar base, to which latter disease, Leprosy is related.

The drawbacks of the gold treatment so far are its high tpxicity and the local reaction, when applied by injection.

On the base of a new general principle of chemotherapy, I succeeded in producing new gold compounds, which are incorporated through the skin, by simply rubbing them in. Thus the local reaction and the toxical amount, are avoided. The work is still in its experimental stage. Should the results prove in future to be so promising as they have been hitherto, I should be glad to furnish this new compound to the U. S. A. leprosy wards for trial.

Many thanks for the numerous informations received by reading your splendid publication. Certainly: qui habet tempus habet vitam!

DR. MAXIM BING

Collaborator Social Science Service Washington, D. C.

Again, Ultra-Yiolet Glass

Sirs:

I am not a scientist and so of course am not in a position to question Dr. Janet Clark’s findings, but I take issue with Dr. Clark’s conclusions that “the amount null of the noonday sun’s ultraviolet light; TIME, Sept. 10] is obviously too small to be of any great value.”

We have used Vita glass for approximately one year in Neighborhood House in Washington, D. C., and we are delighted with its results.

In the first place, the attendance record of 45 children enrolled in the Settlement Kindergarten was increased by one-third over the record of a similar group the year before. We have had a baby since he was five weeks old cared for in our Day Nursery. He is now twenty months old and in almost perfect physical condition. His mother was an invalid before he was born and within the month died in the Tuberculosis Hospital.

During the past summer when constant rains made the homes of our nursery group very damp, and many children who did not receive our care suffered from catarrhal colds, our children kept perfectly well.

All any one needs to do is to visit our group of well children to be convinced of our care of them under the Vita glass. I wish every home and institution that cares for children might have Vita glass. . . .

CLARA D. NELIGH

Head Resident Neighborhood House Washington, D. C.

TIME Advertised

Sirs:

Attached hereto is front page of our Nov. 20 edition in which TIME gets a bit of free publicity, which we think deserved.

Thanking you for the weekly treat that comes to me,

HUTTON BELLAH Editor

The Times-Democrat Altus, Okla.

In his personal column, Snap Shots, Editor Bellah said:

“The nature of today’s column will be something like advertising for the thing discussed but if our readers will follow our advice there are few of them who will ever forget that we knew at least one good thing when we saw it.

“We have been reading a little periodical for the past five years called TIME, The Weekly Newsmagazine, and it is all its name implies, weekly crammed with vital news and a mirror of the world of the past week.

“Whatever advertising value to TIME this column is today, it is welcome. For our readers, there is no periodical published that we know of that will give you the world survey in so short a time as TIME and we have it accurate, educational, concise, interesting, inclusive yet brief and virtually indispensable in keeping up with what is going on. ,

“Every high school and college in the nation should have this periodical on file in its library and every current events class of our schools should require that it be regular reading. Every man in the least interested in what is going on in the world and especially the busy man who has but little time to devote to reading is missing something if he doesn’t read TIME.

For this generous advertisement, TIME is most grateful.—ED.

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