Letters: Sep. 29, 1930

Marine Hymn

Sirs:

Reference the controversy raging in “Letters” column of TIME concerning the sacredness of a certain Marine Corps Hymn, the attached clipping may be interesting to one side or the other of the debate, or perhaps to both.

W. R. SLAUGHTER Langley Field, Va.

Two verses from a parody published in The Pilot House, a colyum of the Virginian Pilot and the Norfolk Landmark:

From the halls of Montezuma

To the shores oj Tripoli We fought our country’s battles

On land and on the sea; But when battles they are lacking

And the world to peace pacts leans Who builds golf links for Herb Hoover?

The United States Marines!

From the pesthole oj Cavite

To the “ninth” at Rapidan You will hear ’em shouting for us

When they need a handy man; We’re the watchdogs of a coal-pile

Or we did a magazine And we build a Tom Thumb golf course

During moments in between.

Idea

Sirs:

. . . Here is something which will create a buying market: PAY THE ADJUSTED SERVICE COMPENSATION CERTIFICATES NOW IN CASH instead of in 1945. . . .

What better time than now? Release of this money to the World War men would improve conditions in every community throughout the nation. Rent and grocery bills would be paid. Small loans would be taken up. Final installments on furniture and cars would be paid. New orders would be taken. Industry would be stimulated all along the line.

Because of its wider distribution, this payment would mean more for business than the much-advertised road-building program because the states that need circulating money the most, do not have the funds to match the Federal aid.

In any community, the argument is often advanced: Pay Bill, so Bill can pay Joe and Joe can pay you. Let Uncle Sam start the ball rolling by taking up these adjusted compensation I. O. U.’s now!

FRANCIS H. CASE

Editor

Evening Star Hot Springs, S. Dak.

Adjusted Service Compensation Certificates are in the nature of endowment insurance policies payable 20 years after application or upon death. Current cash-equivalent of these certificates could probably be arrived at. But speedy execution of Subscriber Case’s idea would require a special session of Congress to say nothing of much other grinding of governmental mills, notoriously slow.—ED. Mr. Lindeman’s Way

Sirs: “Let’s hear from someone else,” says Thomas F. Wells in his letter to TIME (Sept. 8 issue) printed under the heading “Muchenberger’s Way.” Here’s what I think about the situation. On the basis that the depression from which business suffering at the present time is, to a large extent, psychological, I suggest that on Monday, Sept. 29, each salaried employe throughout the country shall be presented with one day’s pay; this being a gift from the employer to the employe and accepted with the understanding that double the amount shall be spent by the employe on or before Oct. 3. It should be understood that the money may be spent for food, clothing, household equipment, or merchandise of any kind sold by the merchants in the city or town in which the employe resides. Each employe shall be given a receipt for his expenditures and shall turn that receipt over to his employer. The money may not be used to pay debts, nor may it be used as a partial payment on merchandise. I believe that prosperity depends, to a large extent, upon the circulation of money, and claims have been made that salaried people whose earnings are as great as they were a year ago are not at present spending as liberally as heretofore. The failure of the salaried employe to spend money is probably the result of “fear”— a feeling of uncertainty as to the permanency of his position—the often unwarranted fear of being thrown out of work. Employes must be made to realize that the most certain way of being able to hold their present jobs is to renew spending. . . . If we were to entirely eliminate money from our calculations, and think of business only in terms of barter and trade, we would realize that even without money business would be at a standstill if people refused to barter and trade. . . . It can hardly be expected that three days of unusual spending brought about by the adoption of this plan will prove to be the solution to all present business difficulties, but it will at least “start the ball rolling” and do much to allay the fear that now grips at the hearts of many salaried people. S. O. LlNDEMAN

Greensboro, N. C.

In Praise of Bromfield

Sirs:

… Of course I could not live without TIME, and of course your book reviews are usually done with care, and of course, there is sure to be difference of opinion. But I can not refrain from pointing out to you that your reviewer thinks that Louis Bromfield’s “style is thin and without distinction.”

One of the outstanding characteristics of the Bromfield novels is distinctiveness from other novels. His characters are not found elsewhere and all share a Bromfield flavor of realism, and his style is so vivid that hundreds of persons are late to dinner on account of it.

In the sentence: “. . . at a dinner party so

viciously dull as old Hector’s,” the reader of the

review is thus made to think that Bromfield’s

ACCOUNT of the dinner party is dull. It was a

(Continued on p. 8) viciously dull dinner party, the description of which was anything but dull. Your reviewer’s style is hardly faultless and this review is dull. HOMER COGSWELL South Norwalk, Conn.

In-Laws

Sirs:

Can anyone other than my wife’s brother or my sister’s husband be my brother-in-law? It has recently been claimed by an acquaintance that the second marriage also forms “in-laws”; for instance, that my wife’s sister’s husband is my brother-in-law.

A government regulation under which I work refers to a relative by marriage. In your opinion would my wife’s sister’s husband be a relative by marriage? In July 7 issue, p. 49, in speaking of R. T. Crane’s relationship to J. M. Patterson it is implied that you do not consider the two men relatives-in-law.

LEWIS E. FITCH

Bude, Miss.

When two men marry two sisters they do not become brothers-in-law.—ED. Big Shot

Sirs: TIME is so vital, so alive, so circumspect in selecting the right word that I grieve at your continued use of the obsolete term Tycoon. Why not replace it with Big Shot? Everyone knows what Big Shot means. It is more than slang—it is part of the American language. It would fit in with your telling and picturesque phrases. And even the Big Shots rather thrill at the term Big Shot. E. G. KYTE, M. D.

Detroit, Mich.

TIME has promised to abandon Tycoon when a better word is found. Big Shot is the best substitute yet offered. But it is not good enough.—ED. Keen-Edged Puukko Knife

Sirs: TIME is a great magazine, but mere greatness is no warranty against error or poor judgment. Even this peaceful village of New York Mills has been stirred to excitement by what you said in column 3, p. 21, Sept. 8 issue. “Fin-land, whence come house servants who are either very fine and faithful or extremely stupid.” What do you know about Finns? Send a correspondent to New York Mills, located within the second largest Finn settlement in America; a section 30 by 60 mi., where 23,000 Finns reside. In New York Mills is published the oldest and at one time the largest Finnish-American newspaper, a communist triweekly, the Uusi Kotimaa. Though not a Finn, I have spent the past seven years supervising their school of 300 pupils, 92% of which are of Finnish extraction. Let your representative learn the same lessons I did, then you change your comment of this industrious people, and refer to none of them, not even a house servant, as being stupid! Finns resent such comment. You erred and used poor judgment when you published it. Lest you err again, permit me to advise that you use care never to call them Finlanders. Their trusty weapons of former days—the keen-edged Puukko knife—often slashed the person guilty of far less than what you “pulled” last week. WILLIAM F. Osx

Superintendent of Schools New York Mills, Minn.

To the Finns of New York Mills all power & glory.—ED. Wilshire Boulevard

Sirs:

Los Angeles may have its Aimee Semple McPherson, and it may have its Bob Shuler, and it may have a lot of other disagreeable personages and things, through which rank publicity gains its way into lip-licking scandal sheets, but why the stab about Gaylord Wilshire in your issue of Aug. 25?

(Continued on p. 12)

The footnote which describes the article’s meaning is entirely misleading. One is led to infer from it that our famed Wilshire Boulevard was named after Magnetic-beltman Wilshire in honor to him for his wonderful invention. It was not. Wilshire Boulevard was named after Subdivider Wilshire, the same person, to be sure, but at a date about 25 years previous to his fame as a magnetic-belt tycoon.

Naturally, Los Angeles, proud of its wonderful climatic conditions, industries, scenery, bows its head in blushing shame whenever Sister Aimee runs re-amok, or when Rev. Bob bursts out in a new orgy of political blasphemy. Also ashamed was it of Mr. Wilshire, whose high-priced quackery brought a lot of unwarranted lowbrow publicity on its head. Let’s get the inference right next time. How about it?

PAUL H. ZEUS

Los Angeles, Calif.

Street names can be changed.—ED. Andree’s Pigeon

Sirs:

A generation is a long time to remember but I well recall going up in the air when the papers told of the shooting of Andree’s carrier pigeon. The little messenger had flown 150 mi. toward home and came to rest on the mast of a ship whose captain shot him. At -the time I wrote a vitriolic article for a local paper condemning the brutality of men in general and of that captain in particular. As that ship proceeded on its way it met another vessel and learned that Andree had taken carrier pigeons with him, so a sailor was sent back in a small boat and he took the dead bird from the water and on its tiny body was found the only word ever received from the intrepid explorer and his brave companions. For over 30 years that article of mine remained unnoticed in an old scrap book but at the August meeting of our local society for the prevention of cruelty, I read the article aloud to the members. Next day word came of the discovery of the remains of Andree. I call this a coincidence.

ALICE M. WOOD

Muskegon, Mich.

George Washington Sirs:

I wish to thank you for the footnote on p. 36 of your issue of Aug. 25, in which you mention the fact that I was not the George Washington implicated in the murder mentioned in the article.

GEORGE WASHINGTON Columbus, Ohio.

Kinkering Kongs

Sirs:

Canon Spooner claimed that he was guilty of one spoonerism only in all his life, to wit: “The Kinkering Kongs their places take.” The rest were just due to people picking on him.

You must know this one: “Mardon me padam. This my is occupued. Merpit me to sew you to another sheet.”

L. D. KELLOGG

Pasadena, Calif.