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Minister Brodie represents the finest type of diplomat we have in our foreign service. There is only one thing that disturbs the Ministerial poise—paying for lemons on French liners.
R. W. MEXDELSOX
Albuquerque, N. M.
Tesla & Pigeons
Sirs:
Your account of Nikola Tesla on his 75th birthday [TIME, July 20] was one of the finest things I've ever seen in your magazine. It is all too seldom that Dr. Tesla gets adequate publicity. . . .
Your story interested me especially because I have had a slight acquaintance with him when I was employed in the Technology Department of the New York Public Library and have written a biographical sketch of him for Winston's Encyclopedia.
From his manner of life one might think of him as a scientific saint. His care for the sick pigeons among the flocks roosting on the facade of the Public Library is possibly less well-known than it deserves to be. For this purpose he makes frequent trips up Fifth Avenue in all kinds of weather. All crannies about the portico are carefully peered into. Among some of the loiterers in the entranceway it is known that a helpless bird carried to Dr. Tesla will bring 75¢. It was Tesla who insisted that the water in the fountains should be kept running, in order to provide drinking water and bathing facilities for his feathery friends. . . .
ELDOR PAUL SCHULZE
Albany, N. Y.
Mirror Man
Sirs:
KNOW POSITIVELY GILBERT DID NOT WRITE MIRRORS OF THIRTY TWO [TIME, July 20] STOP BELIEVE GEORGE PUTNAM DID
F. L. WILSON
Flushing, N. Y.
Clinton Wallace Gilbert denies authorship of Mirrors of 1932, is reported vexed at whatever person "stole" his "Mirrors" title. Publisher George Palmer Putnam noncommittally says he "fathered" Mirrors of 1932 (also Mirrors of Washington), declines to reveal the "mother."—ED.
Burglars & Bankers
Sirs:
Because your reference to a Porto Rican burglar [TIME, July 6] reveals a spirit of contempt for Porto Ricans in general, I do not feel it rude on my part to reveal the following: Porto Rico has for long learned to associate American bankers with criminals and would have rejoiced at seeing them handcuffed to Porto Rican burglars long before this.
JOSEFINA M. DE ACOSTA
Vega Baja, P. R.
Anything but contempt has TIME for Porto Ricans, but it finds them proud, sensitive.—ED.
Big Bugs' Talk
Sirs:
A very limited number of the employed and unemployed citizens of these United States have any conception of the true inwardness of all this pother over reparations, moratorium etc.
They know that something is going on and that a lot of big bugs are doing a great amount of talking. I guess about 50 persons have asked me "what's it all about?" Thanks to TIME I can put these people straight! My answer to their questions is as follows: "Buy a copy of TIME, July 20 issue and turn to p. 20, and if you don't know all about it after reading three pages, then it's too bad (for you)."
Whoever made that summary did a splendid job, and I want to thank him, for many reasons, in this public manner. . . .
R. C. GORDON
Lafayette, Ala.
Detroit's Frauds
Sirs: