Washington's Sousa
Sirs:
In the June 1 issue of TIME, under Letters, one of your correspondents speaks of J. Edgar Hoover as the only man of distinction born in Washington, D. C. What about the internationally known John Philip Sousa?
For years I have been endeavoring to correct, through the columns of The Etude, the ridiculous stories that Spusa's name was not Sousa, that he was born in Italy and his name was John Philipso and that when he came to the U. S. he added the initials U. S. A. to the initials S. O. and thereby derived the name of Sousa; or that he was born in Germany and his name was Siegfried Ochs S. O. and when he emigrated added U. S. A. and thereby acquired the name of Sousa. All of this is nonsense.
John Philip Sousa was born in Washington, D. C., Nov. 6, 1854. His father was a Spaniard of Portuguese descent who served in the U. S. Navy. His mother was born in the U. S. of Bavarian parents. Sousa was a most patriotic American. I knew him from the time I was 13 years of age until the day of his death, when he was a guest at my home. . . .
JAMES FRANCIS COOKE
Editor
The Etude
Philadelphia, Pa.
Sirs:
. . . Hoover has helped put the Nation's Capital on the front page, but how about Robert V. Fleming, a sand lot boy of the District that reached the top in the banking world, president of Washington's largest bank, also president of the American Bankers Association? . . .
HOLLY STOVER
Chicago, Ill.
Curley's D.O.
Sirs:
Under Education, TIME, June 8, I note the name of one James Michael Curley as the recipient, from the Staley College of the Spoken Word, Inc., of the degree ''D.O." I am not familiar with this degree. Is it, perhaps, Doctor of Obliquity?
R. L. BARTLETT
Natick, Mass.
The honorary degree awarded to Massachusetts' Governor was Doctor of Oratory. It was awarded just after Governor Curley had signed a bill authorizing Staley College to grant Masters' degrees in Oratory.—ED.
Telegraph's Phillips
I would be glad if you would correct the statement made on p. 19 in TIME, June 8, in which you describe Sir Percival Phillips, the well-known British journalist, as the correspondent of the London Daily Mail.
Sir Percival Phillips is on the staff of the London Daily Telegraph and has been for some time. It was for this paper, which I represent in the U. S., that he reported the maiden trip of the Queen Mary and it is on behalf of the Daily Telegraph that he is attending the Republican and Democratic Conventions at Cleveland and Philadelphia respectively.
DOUGLAS WILLIAMS
American Correspondent
The Daily Telegraph of London
New York City
TIME'S Foreign News Editor was well aware that Sir Percival Phillips' paper was no longer the Daily Mail. But to a TIME Foreign News fact-checker, no discredit for associating Sir Percival with the Daily Mail, which he left more than a year ago, since he has neglected to note his new job in the best standard British references.—ED.
Jack Rabbit Chase
Sirs: