Letters: May 31, 1926

Herewith are excerpts from letters come to the desks of the editors during the past week. They are selected primarily for the information they contain either supplementary to or corrective of news previously published in TIME.

Debauch

Sirs:

I have read with the most acute disapprobation an advertisement appearing on p. 31 of TIME, May 24, in which it is suggested that persons who earn a trip to Europe by obtaining subscriptions for TIME may possibly “debauch” themselves “atop Montmartre” when they reach Paris. Permit me to deplore this suggestion and to censure your subscription department for making it with every fibre of my personality!

It is perfectly possible for an American woman to go to even the worst places in Paris and compel respect for American ideals. But I do not recommend such an experiment to young and possibly inexperienced persons, who may perhaps not possess what I am not ashamed to call my common sense and judgment. There are times for being modest and speaking low, and there are times for giving good advice out loud!

MARY ELIZABETH ROBINN

Boston, Mass.

TIME’S advertising copywriter prudently employed quotation marks around the verb “debauch,” thereby earmarking his use of it in a playful holiday spirit, well suited to the mood of vacationists able to see their sights or leave them alone as Subscriber Robinn advises.—ED.

Worth $5

Sirs:

I want to thank you for the excellent account of the British strike in TIME for May 17, p. 11. Being a very busy man and having only a few minutes a day to devote to trying to keep up with the world’s news, I have felt myself almost wholly ignorant of the main facts in this recent strike. This evening, in a few minutes of interesting reading of TIME, I have been able to learn the essential facts in the situation. These are stated clearly, simply and effectively. I feel such a summary as this is worth a full year’s subscription to TIME.

ROBERT DEC. WARD

Harvard University Cambridge, Mass.

“The Public Be Damned!”

Sirs:

In TIME, May 10, p. 20, you published an article on the financial difficulties of young Cornelius Vanderbilt’s newspapers, in which the following sentence occurs: “Ever since a bullet-headed, thick-jowled Vanderbilt stood with arms folded in front of his hearth and said: ‘The public? Bah! The public be damned!'”

Your ignorant “Press” editor ought to be more familiar with the history of the press. There wasn’t any “hearth.” There was a private car in the Michigan Central yards in Chicago. In it William H. Vanderbilt was dining with some friends when an offensive young reporter, Clarence Dresser (who was I believe a brother of Theodore Dreiser), forced his way in demanding an interview. Mr. Vanderbilt did not want to see him but the reporter persisted. Finally Mr. Vanderbilt told him to wait till he had finished eating. The reporter could not be stopped: “But it is late and I shall not reach the office in time. The public—”

Then Mr. Vanderbilt rose up in his wrath and shouted: “The public be damned! You get out of here !”

Next morning Dresser told the world through the Chicago Tribune, omitting the context of the interview. See Melville Stone’s Fifty Years a Journalist for confirmation of this account.

E. V. MCMILLAN

Chicago, Ill.

Reason

Sirs:

The following comment I submit to your magazine stating the reason why I do not read TIME.

I submit this article to your magazine for publication and be commented on, to any extent:

Everybody has a right to make their own opinions pro and con to every angle of human life.

Some people will consider the TIME as a likable relishment filling them up to date.

From my own realm of thought, considering all the different sections of TIME published in 15 sample copies, I now wish to make my comment.

For the trashy or average individual I recommend TIME, for it reaches their conscious mind manufactured for mental development, and helps to educate the individual to a better plain of life where the brain has subconsciously received its natural selection of concentration to a certain field of science or art. Then TIME becomes obtruse, because it obliterates the mental organs and acts as an individual weed, holding them back from their natural field by its various branches of thought treated with a minor foundation.

G. E. McCLAIN

Chadron, Neb.

Stimulus

Sirs:

. . . Allow me to congratulate you for the interesting biographical sketch of John Hays Hammond in the May 10 issue. How often have we heard his name without any very full knowledge of his extraordinary career.

TIME is the best intellectual stimulus that the mail brings to Florida.

ROBERT HAYES ENNIS

Daytona Beach, Fla.

N. Y. Edition

Sirs:

There is one thing I miss in the valuable condensation of TIME and that is a department of local news.

Would it not be advisable to incorporate a column for your New York state subscribers giving important news limited to the state and another column strictly giving news of New York City for your city subscribers? These issues would be sent to the local subscribers only.

Why is not New York news a department by itself ?

Are not the affairs at Albany and New York City of such importance as to be included in what is worth while to your numerous readers and subscribers in the city and state of New York ?

A. BLAUSTEIN

New York, N. Y.

There are some 18,000 TIME subscribers and newsstand buyers in New York. Do the other 90,000 TIME buyers desire that funds (which might otherwise be expended for the general good of TIME) be expended for a special New York state edition?—ED.

Cathedral

Sirs:

As an Original Subscriber, I have come to the conclusion that, in order to continue to be well-bred mentally, I must have TIME. It is in itself a cathedral of knowledge.

Please extend my subscription for two years.

JOSEPH S. KOBRZYNSKI

Chicago, Ill.

At Nigger Mike’s

Sirs:

As a lover of good music and a lover of fair play, I protest against the sneer at Irving Berlin in TIME of May 10, p. 18. I fail to see why the cafe in which the little boy earned his living should be dragged out again and again for the sole purpose of insulting one of our real musical geniuses. . . .

Do you suppose a little newborn baby would choose a slum to be born in ? … Why should democratic Americans put on airs ?

Why shouldn’t Berlin use his own love affairs to bring out the sweet and lovely music of his soul ? Isn’t he doing what the great poets have done all through time?

“Always” floats into our homes over the radio every evening. We hear bits of it as we stop for gasoline at a filling station. We waltz to it and we love it. What does this country stand for if not to give each man his chance? We can do with a lot more good music.

All honor to Berlin and the lady of his heart!

L. E. JEWETT

Los Angeles, Calif.

TIME gave no sneer at Mr. Berlin. Let Mr. Jewett read the item again. TIME merely said: “Irving Berlin once worked as a waiter in Nigger Mike’s, an East Manhattan saloon. His talent was schooled by the clink and shuffle of a nickelodeon.”—ED.

Sent Clippings

Sirs: I inclose two clippings from the Boston Herald which you may find of interest to the man who makes up your MISCELLANY or PRESS department. If it is your custom to pay lor such contributions, you may address me as below.

J. FRAZIER VANCE

Boston, Mass.

Subscriber Vance did well to send the clippings. On p. 20 under the heading “Warden” will be found an item based on these clippings. To Subscriber Vance, $6. —ED.

Usage

Sirs: In your issue of May 10 you mention “Herbert S. Hadley, former Governor of Missouri,” and subsequently refer to him as “Governor Hadley.” Why Governor? He was indeed governor of Missouri, but that was nearly 20 years ago. Why not ex-Governor Hadley? Or, more timely perhaps, Chancellor Hadley, for he is at present Chancellor of Washington University, St. Louis.

WILLARD S. DEMING

Harvard University Cambridge, Mass.

The custom of calling men by titles which once they bore, is in good usage.—ED.

Not too Bulky

Sirs:

Signora Caruso, proprietress of a mountain-top inn—famous for its home-grown wine and magnificent view—at Ravello, near Naples, asks me to tell you that TIME is better than any of the Continental magazines, and far, far superior to the Saturday Evening Post and Cosmopolitan. Mrs. Salisbury and I lunched at the Signora’s on Sunday, and when I went into her little office to settle my bill I noticed her thumbing through the pages of a January issue of TIME. I cannot tell you that she appreciates its editorial excellence but she has found it perfect for filing the sheets of revenue stamps that the Italian government requires on hotel and restaurant bills. The Post and Cosmo were too bulky, but she had cut the edges of TIME and indexed the sheets so that she could turn without hesitation to the particular denominations of stamp she needed. I am sure your advertisers will be glad to learn that TIME is so long-lived and has this demonstrable superiority to older publications.

PHILIP S. SALISBURY

En route to Tunis

Coconuts

Sirs: I have read “How the Elephant got his Tail”—but—[TIME, April 19, THE CABINET] when did the coconut get a “kernel” ?

C. E. PERSONS

Sausalito, Calif.

TIME referred to the hard globular juice-filled core of white meat backed by a tough brown integument, which may be extracted intact from the fibrous husk of the coconut. This globe constitutes the seed of cocos nucifera, as do the “kernels” of other nuts of other trees. The Encyclopaedia Britannica refers to the globe as “nucleus or kernel.”—ED.