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Your omission of his invention of the unit cement block system of construction, a development of the past five or six years largely confined to California, was conspicuous. . . .
You say "he deserted his wife and six children" but as the youngest of the desertees I should like to add that as far as the children were concerned the desertion was more or less technical as he provided all of us with educational advantages and has always maintained contact with us, my sister Frances, my brother David and myself having visited him at Taliesin within the past month.
R. LLEWELLYN WRIGHT
Chicago, Ill.
Bright Robinson
Sirs:
That was a dirty dig you gave Senator Joe T. Robinson in your issue of Sept. 23. It was certainly uncalled for in a magazine of your standing. Senator Robinson has one of the best minds in the senate and your remark "not too bright" was certainly a "blow under the belt." I realize that the Senate is below the average of what it should be, but Senator Robinson is far above the average of the membership.
M. C. HUTTON
Little Rock, Ark.
Bets a Stein
I read with much amusement Wisconsin Penitentiary Warden Oscar Lee's letter to TIME in which he intimates that unless it shifts its editorial ways it will not be allowed to enter his penitentiary.
I don't know Lee. But I do know and have known quite a few wardens of jails. I found them, without exception, as illiterate as sea gulls and less graceful. I have read You Can Escape. It can no more help a convict get out of jail than it could teach me to write a novel with the fourth dimension as a hero.
In some far day wardens will not be appointed by politicians who are as ignorant of the vast wells of human nature as themselves. They will then approach Warden Lawes, of New York, in stature. They will realize that compassion and understanding are not merely words in a dictionary. Perhaps I am not one to romance about the future. Lee should not worry about books like You Can Escape, excellent as it is. He should be studying sociology from first sources. Any of the boys in his keeping will tell him about the wrongs of humanity. I'll bet him an old fashioned stein of Milwaukee lager that they can also tell him yarns about escapes that equal those in the book, the "ad" of which shocked his artistic sensibilities.
JIM TULLY
Hollywood, Calif.
One-Sided Hate Party
Sirs:
In your issue of Sept. 30, under "Music" and "Pacific Opera," you state that ". . . San Francisco's lusty rival, Los Angeles. . . ."
To the best of my knowledge, in this year of 1929, Los Angeles is not a rival of San Francisco nor is San Francisco a rival of Los Angeles any more than the State of California is a rival of the State of Illinois.
Of course, San Francisco was for many years rather jealous of the growth of Los Angeles, and the census of 1920 caused considerable pain. It is probable that the census of 1930 will also cause San Francisco some pain because even now it is apparent that Los Angeles has at least twice the population that San Francisco possesses.