Letters, Mar. 15, 1937

Endorsers Sirs: This is the birthday of George Washington who, were he alive, would, I am sure, blush with shame to read in your columns that U. S. Senators like North Carolina’s Reynolds accepted money for the endorsement of cigarets [TIME, Feb. 15]. . . . When an officeholder contemplates the taking of a bribe for the use of his name he should remember that the seducers are after the prestige of the office and not of the individual and further that this prestige is made by the Nation.

WARREN TERRY Palo Alto, Calif.

For George Washington Hill’s Lucky Strike cigarets not only North Carolina’s Reynolds, but Iowa’s Herring, New Hampshire’s Bridges, Nebraska’s Burke, West Virginia’s Holt, North Dakota’s Nye have also signed testimonials. Last month Cartoonist Daniel Robert Fitzpatrick of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch took notice of endorsing Senators.—ED.

Philosophic Giant Sirs: TIME’S curt reference to “an El Paso Jew named Jacob Erlich” in the interesting discussion of giants [TIME, March 1] leaves one with the impression that there is branded as a charlatan a fascinating character, an intelligent young man, a courageous person who has cheerfully faced a jest of Nature with the calm and philosophic attitude which I believe is characteristic of his race. He’s Jake, not Jacob, Erlich, to those of us who knew him in the old Vilas School in El Paso. Jake’s father is a jeweler there and the family is all of normal proportions. Jake was no different from his schoolmates when he was in the grammar grades, except that I recall he was smarter than most of us and made better marks in school.

When we were about in the fifth grade, he started to grow more rapidly than the rest of us. He skipped a few grades in school (as I remember he went to summer school, telling us he didn’t want to be in a grade with youngsters smaller than he). His phenomenal growth occurred during his high-school years; after a brief venture in Hollywood in the movies he left us to join Ringling Brothers shortly after that. Far be it from me to dispute a Missouri coroner who has applied his tape measure to giants, but I here assert that if Jake isn’t 8 ft. 6 in. he misses that mark by so little that no one but the American Medical Association would notice his deficiency. As Jack Earle, the Texas Giant, he now appears in the circus togged out in the regalia of a cowboy. Jake was never a cowboy, of that I’m certain, but that’s the only pretense about him. He is a forthright, honorable young man of more-than-average intelligence and an excellent conversationalist. My complaint against your article is the inference that the Alton giant, by being of normal mentality, is somehow different from his fellows. I cannot speak for the others, but as for Jake, the only way in which he differs from any of us is his height. Not the least of Jake’s accomplishments and attributes is his memory and the way he has developed it.

Apparently he never forgets an El Pasoan he has known, and he serves as a sort of wandering ambassador for that border city. At his every appearance in Washington he informs me of the news from the home town that he has gleaned from traveling El Pasoans in every part of the country. He never fails to inquire about every El Pasoan he has ever seen in Washington. I have gone into his side show tent in half a dozen different cities but he has never failed to spot me, no matter how big the crowd, and greet me by name. I have been informed repeatedly of his doing the same for all other El Paso acquaintances of his, many of whom he knew only casually. Some years ago it was my privilege to have a rather lengthy conversation with Jake concerning the predicament that a faulty gland had placed him in; he has a philosophy that enables him to accept his lot in a manner that should make a lot of us “normal” folk envious of him. ROBERT M. JACKSOX Clerk Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds United States Senate Washington, D. C.

Guepes Sirs: Interesting indeed are your remarks about twins in athletics (TIME, Feb. 15, Millrose Ciames), but incomplete in that they did not include the Guepe (pronounced Gipp, like the famous Notre Dame star) brothers of the last three Marquette University football teams.

Arthur and Albert are their names, and they’re so identical in appearance and manner that they even have trouble—and this is a fact—telling themselves apart.* With one able to pick up where the other left off or both capable of carrying on together, these boys were really great football backfield men and deserved all the All-American mention which they received. From the Marquette registrar, I today learned that the Guepes are carrying their parallel into the classrooms with almost identical grades in identical courses. With only a semester left, Art has 23 grades of A, 15 of B and four of C, while Al boasts 25 A marks, 13 B’s, and four C’s.

EDMUND S. CARPENTER Director News Bureau Marquette University Milwaukee, Wis.

Saroyan on Bufano Sirs: My friend Reniamino Bufano [TIME. Feb. 15], the sculptor, like so many people who are not sculptors, sometimes eats nuts. Almost every day, however, in the presence of witnesses too, Bufano eats spaghetti and beef. There are never any cheers, no amazement. At the table, as a matter of fact, many people would not suspect that Bufano is one of the greatest living sculptors. Also, the model for Bufano’s St. Francis was not my friend Joseph Danysh, Regional Adviser for The Federal Art Project on the West Coast. The model was St. Francis—inwardly, outwardly, materially, and in spirit.

Bufano made the model three years ago, before Danysh was appointed Regional Adviser. Danysh is an energetic young man with a lot of excellent ideas and impulses who happens to have a brown beard. He is not a stuffed shirt, is locally famous for his humor, would not have permitted himself to be the model, seeks no fame through the Saint. TIME’S account was pleasant to read, partly incorrect, but not too grievously so. Friends of Bufano are glad the creation of a great monument to a great human being is the source of some warmth and humor. WILLIAM SAROYAN San Francisco, Calif.

Varney’s Fare Sirs: In the issue of TIME, dated Jan. 25, under the heading of “Skylounges,” you state that United Air Lines non-stop service between New York and Chicago is the world’s first extra-fare plane service. You overlooked the fact that the Varney Speed Lines, which formerly operated Lockheed planes between San Francisco and Los Angeles, had an extra-fare service.

DORIS S. SYMONS San Francisco, Calif.

True it is that defunct Varney Speed Lines operated the first aerial extra-fare passenger service. Regular fare between Los Angeles and San Francisco was $18.95. Varney charged $25, refunded 10¢ a minute for every minute’s delay over 1 hr. 58 min. flying time.—ED.

Doctors & Lawyers Sirs: As a student at Northwestern University Law School, I am interested in your new section on Law. In this section in your issue of Feb. 8, P-59, you state the number of lawyers and the number of doctors in the country, and assert that many more people need doctors than lawyers. This is of vital interest to those of us contemplating entering the profession. Would you please send me the references to your sources of these statistics and generalizations. Thank you. Do your figures indicate the medical profession is not overcrowded? HENRY W. DYER Flossmoor, Ill.

The American Medical Association’s latest Directory says there are 169,005 doctors in the U. S. Proctor Karl McCormick said there were 178,000 lawyers in the U. S. and Dependencies in his report to the New York Bar Association (TIME, Feb. 8). In his 1936 report issued last month Dean Young B. Smith of the Columbia School of Law said: “Practically every one at some time needs a doctor, but the proportion of the population who require legal services is necessarily limited.” Says Dr. Morris Fishbein, editor of the A. M. A.’s Journal, about overcrowding in the medical profession: “The A. M. A.’s Commission on Medical Education found there are 25% too many doctors. However, everybody realizes the distribution of doctors is not what it should be.”—ED.

Brave Firemen Sirs: Re: Your issue Feb. 22, Business &Finance— “Fireman’s Fund,” p. 83. San Francisco acquired its first paid Fire Department on Dec. 3, 1866 at which time the Volunteer Department ceased to exist after 16 years of service.

Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. was organized in 1863, its first office being in the Montgomery Block, built in 1853 and still standing, being one of the very few pioneer buildings in San Francisco which have survived the march of time. We have a record of 16 brave firemen killed in the line of duty during the period of the Volunteer Fire Department. They evidently did more than breaking windows and throwing slung shots. ALBERT EDWARD CONLON Vice President Historical Society of the San Francisco Fire Dept. San Francisco, Calif.

Groom Young’s Kiss Sirs: TIME, March 1, has the following: “. . . Mrs. Young’s three [children] beamed from front pews during the ceremony, at the conclusion of which the grave bride was not kissed by the graver groom.” But a wedding ceremony is not necessarily concluded at the church, for immediately after the solemnization of Mr. & Mrs. Young’s marriage, the couple went to the home of the bride’s mother and there, just as the echoes from the earnest and sincere vows were reaching that part of St. Augustine, Owen D. did kiss Louise— tenderly, soulfully and lovingly.

REV. ARMAND T. EYLER Rector Trinity Episcopal Church St. Augustine, Fla.

Rector Eyler is a qualified witness to the Youngs’ postnuptial osculatory history. He married them.—ED.

Schreiber v. Squeak Sirs: Until I read Ezra Squeak’s letter in TIME, (March 1) I thought Tchaikovsky’s chief claim to fame lay in his extraordinary gift for melody and tonal color, his emotional appeal, and his influence upon men like Rachmaninoff. But now I realize that not only I, but thousands upon thousands of music lovers have been laboring for years under a gross delusion, since, according to Mr. Squeak, his fame comes from quite another source. I blushingly admit that so far was I along the path of delusion that, even though I am by profession a music commentator, I never even knew until recently that Tchaikovsky was a homosexual. Under the circumstances, I marvel that word of his fame ever reached me at all! I wouldn’t be surprised if one of these days I were to learn that Beethoven’s fame lies in the fact that he was a congenital syphilitic, and Schumann’s in the fact that he died a madman.

As for TIME’S “unfailing and sedulous attention to books with perversion themes” I hadn’t noticed that either, although I never fail to read the book reviews. My, my! Just think of all I’ve been missing! I hold my mother entirely to blame for my dilemma. She should have told me the facts of life. MILDRED SCHREIBER Bloomfield, N. J.

Wurlitzer v. Rock-Ola Sirs: Your article entitled “Nickel Games,” TIME, Jan. 25, contains several glaring inaccuracies seriously affecting this company. A recheck of the available sources of information regarding this company, its activities and its legal problems will readily show the points in error.

We trust that you will avail yourself of this information immediately and will correct the misstatements promptly in order to avoid doing serious injury to us. R. C. ROLFING Vice President The Rudolph Wurlitzer Co. Cincinnati, Ohio

In describing the legal conflict between Rudolph Wurlitzer Co. and Rock-Ola Manufacturing Corp. over who has the prior patent on the multi-selector apparatus on coin-operated phonographs, TIME made three errors in omission and commission which it is glad to correct herewith. Wurlitzer has been manufacturing and selling coin-operated musical instruments for 40 years, not two years. Wurlitzer sued Rock-Ola for patent infringement a year before Rock-Ola sued Wurlitzer. A decision in this suit unfavorable to Wurlitzer cannot involve back royalties, the patent rights in question not yet having been settled.—ED.

Texas Certificate Sirs: In your issue of TIME, Feb. 22, you said that seven States required a health certificate from the husband before marriage. Texas also requires a certificate from the male before marriage. This is in the form of a doctor’s written declaration of the lack of venereal disease in the applicant.

J. U. RHODES Austin, Texas

Free Tests Sirs: In TIME, Feb. 15, under the heading “Great Pox,” Nevada, together with three other States, is blacklisted for not affording free laboratory examinations to physicians in the diagnosis of syphilis and gonorrhea. To my personal knowledge our State Laboratory, which is under the control of the State University, has extended such service for the past 14 years and I understand, from reliable sources, since 1909. Last year 4,633 blood tests for syphilis and 1,130 examinations for gonorrhea were performed free of charge for the physicians of this State.

Of these examinations 12.6% and 26.6% respectively, were positive, these percentages being, I believe, in keeping with similar statistics throughout the U. S.

Irrespective* of any previous survey these figures, vouched for by the Director of the Laboratory and local members of the State Board of Health tell their own story. At the present time State legislation is pending for the diagnosis, treatment and control of venereal diseases.

BYRON H. CAPLES, M. D. Reno, Nevada

Sirs: Under caption of Medicine in TIME of Feb. 15, P-67, you give the impression that Kentucky does not offer free laboratory service for the determination of syphilis. Having labored diligently (I hope) for eight hours a day to get an average of 300 Wassermanns ready daily at the Public Service Laboratories in Lexington, I feel your article must be erroneous or have another interpretation not related to the above-mentioned disease.

WILLIAM S. JACKWAY Tulsa, Okla.

TIME’S data on the status of the present antivenereal disease campaign of the several States came from the clearing houses to which such statistics should go —the U. S. Public Health Service and the American Social Hygiene Association. If the health statistics of any State have been reported inadequately, its health officers are to blame, not the U.S.P.H.S., the A.S.H.A., or TIME.—ED.

Zampillaerrotationist Sirs: … I have noticed the word “rapist” in TIME occasionally. A rapist would I should think be one who advocated, practiced or devoted himself to rape through conviction. One who has raped or is raping would I imagine be a raper. Probably they don’t care what we call them—just a question of accurate English, so long as you choose to mention them at all. One who skates is a skater. A zampillaerrotationist is one who makes a profession or an art of skating—on rollers. I don’t like your whim of setting telegrams in caps. Singularly difficult to read them that way. I can’t “sense” the meaning; have to spell it out.

A. T. RICHARDSON Long Beach, Calif.

*Shown good action pictures of themselves, the Guepe twins could not definitely name which was which.