Letters, Oct. 29, 1934

Springs’s Standing

Sirs:

I found your report [TIME, Sept. 24] interesting. I am sure you want to keep your files accurate and suggest that they be changed slightly.

When 1 wish to dress up around the mills and wear a coat it is not of 1917 vintage, as you report, but was made in 1921. The straw-woven shoes are now no more, as at least a dozen old friends read your report and have supplied me with new pairs. The $20,000,000 with which I am credited is entirely a myth but since your article appeared I have received wires and letters from acquaintances of years gone by requesting immediate loans. I believe I am also safe in stating that I have been given the opportunity to finance at least half of the new inventions which have patents now pending.

To offset that, however, my social popularity has increased as much as if I had learned to play the piano, gotten rid of halitosis, used Lifebuoy, or spoken to the waiter in French. . . .

Upon my recent visit to the marts of trade and the fleshpots of Egypt, your assurances as to my financial stability caused such interest that I feel my days as a wallflower are over.

The fact that my wife read the article also and spent several days shopping upon the strength of it will have to be charged to the debit side.

Every tailor in the country now feels that it is time for me to buy a new coat and I think it only fair that when I do so they should give TIME a commission on the business.

ELLIOTT SPRINGS

President The Springs Cotton Mills Lancaster, S. C.

Flying Insurance

Sirs:

TIME, Oct. 15, says Imperial Airways charges one-eighth the U. S. airlines’ [personal] accident insurance rates.

A middle-aged newspaperman who came to Hollywood, took up flying, I found $28 per $1,000 per annum lowest aviation death rate obtainable from American insurance companies; Lloyd’s have just insured me for $10 per $1,000.

Please explain these discrepancies.

JOHN L. BALDERSTON

Hollywood, Calif.

If Lloyd’s insured famed Playwright John Lloyd Balderston (Berkeley Square, Dracula for $10 per $1,000, he must have impressed some individual underwriter that he was an excellent risk. U. S. rates are based on the combined experiences of many underwriters. Thus, U. S. rates for student pilots are almost uniformly near $35; for experienced non-commercial pilots. $16 to $20. Those rates take into consideration all possible combinations of risks. Lloyd’s rates, on the other hand, vary with the judgment of the particular underwriter who takes the case, but are rarely as low as $10.—ED.

Lillian Russell’s Bicycle

Sirs:

In TIME, Oct. 8, there appears on p. 50, an article under the caption Art. In the second paragraph it states: “A bicycle-shaped stud was reminiscent of the goldplated, diamond-studded bicycle he [Diamond Jim Brady] gave to Lillian Russell. . . .”

That is an absolute untruth as are many of Mr. Parker Morell’s anecdotes in his story of “Diamond Jim.” . . .

My mother, Lillian Russell, was not even acquainted with Mr. Brady during the bicycle era. As for the vehicle itself, it had a goldplatedhandlebar with mother-of-pearl grips, no diamonds. The pedals were also goldplated. The bicycle was a gift from the Columbia Bicycle manufacturers in appreciation of the vast amount of publicity they derived from her using their product and because she had purchased so many of them, one for each member of the family. . . . DOROTHY RUSSELL

New York City

To Dorothy Russell Solomon de Castiglione Einstein O’Reilly Calvit, who won fame of her own by upsetting the will of her stepfather, the late Alexander Pollock Moore (TIME, May 4, 1931), thanks for a description of her mother’s bicycle. Confronted with it, Author Morell sticks to his story. His silent collaborator, “Diamond Jim’s” longtime Secretary Herbert

Haberle, testifies that he attended to procuring the case for a goldplated, jeweled bicycle given by his employer to Miss Russell. Moreover, says Secretary Haberle. Brady met Lillian Russell in 1881 or 1882 when she was entertaining at Tony Pastor’s Music Hall and he dropped in every day from Tammany Hall next door.—ED.

Embarrassed Brother

Sirs: Your three pages on Upton Sinclair in TIME, Oct. 22 are a delight. Sinclair is a mixed character: lovable, sincere, honest, intensely courageous, and, like all radicals, not always well-balanced. Immediately after the publication of The Jungle I wrote him a letter of appreciation and in his reply he dubbed me brother—an unexpected family affiliation of which I have always felt proud and a little embarrassed. Whether he is elected or defeated, I shall always remain fraternally his. EDWIN J. KUH, M.D.

Chicago, Ill.

Hawks & Buzzards Sirs:

The otherwise well-written story of the Wilkes-Barre trial was marred for me by your reference to it as “a juicy murder” for which “editors thanked Providence.” [TIME, Oct. 15]. … If this accurately pictures the professional attitude toward such revolting crimes, would it not be more accurate to change your favorite expression of “newshawks” to “news buzzards?”

E. P. NUTTING

Superintendent Moline Public Schools Moline, Ill.

No buzzards are newsmen for being grateful that, if disasters must occur, they arrange themselves in such orderly procession that the Press can turn each to best advantage.—ED.

Modest City Editor

Sirs:

Comprising the “crew” which covered the Edwards murder trial at Wilkes-Barre, Pa. for the evening Bulletin, we believe it only fair to correct a misstatement in the Oct. 15 issue of TIME which asserts Mr. Charles Israel, city editor of the Bulletin, claims for himself the credit for first attaching the “American Tragedy” tag to the Edwards trial.

Mr. Israel made no such claim for himself. . . . We three who covered the case, knowing for a fact that we had been sent out on the inquiry the day after Edwards’ arrest . . . and that we were sent solely on the strength of Mr. Israel’s recognition of the popular appeal lodging in the resemblance to Dreiser’s story, felt he alone was entitled to credit as first to spot the idea. . . .

We rather resent TIME’S plain assertion that he, who is a modest man though a city editor, “said it was himself.” HARRY G. PROCTOR LAURA LEE HARRY F. McGonigal The Bulletin Philadelphia, Pa.

Sirs:

. . . James J. Jennings, Wilkes-Barre Record reporter, was informed of the tragedy by an assistant to District Attorney Thomas Lewis shortly after the victim’s body had been found and ‘”Bobby” Edwards was taken into custody. He pointed out the similarity of the case to the one described by Theodore Dreiser. . . .

Jennings first reported the story and was the first to sound out Dreiser. He followed this slant throughout and worked with the novelist after he came to Wilkes-Barre. . . .

WARREN R. WILLIAMS Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

Kings, Dentists & Editors Sirs:

TIME, Oct. 15, description of Alexander of Jugoslavia—”had so deeply the manner and appearance of a small-town dentist that it was hard to remember the three most important facts of his character.” How the appearance of a small-town dentist should make it hard for the editor to remember the important facts of this man’s character is interesting. . . . … I have a very good friend in the newspaper world who patronized the advertising dentist who patronized his paper. He patronized him until finally he was sold a set of dentures, and now he is on a permanent light diet. I enjoy people sticking by those who scratch their backs, still I have to smile when I watch him fill his tray at the cafeteria. I do not condemn him, neither do I judge all newsmen by him. He is one of the best in this section—still his opinion of dentistry is very much like yours. . . . D. GRAVES PEAY, D.D.S.

Little Rock, Ark.

Sirs:

Have shared bed and broke bread in perfect harmony with small-town dentist for ten years. Am prepared for shock, disillusionment or what have you? My feline curiosity must be appeased. . . .

MRS. H. GOODMAN

Pueblo, Colo.

Sirs:

. . . Just what is the appearance and manner of a small-town dentist?

DR. K. L. HOLMES

Kearney, Neb.

The average small-town dentist has the appearance and manner of the late King Alexander of Jugoslavia.—ED.

Eye Trouble

Sirs:

My father, who attended the military academy at West Point, liked to quote a maxim to illustrate the officers’ implicit confidence in the honor of the Cadet Corps. The saying went that if an officer saw a cadet break a law of the academy, and the cadet denied it, the officer would straightway visit an oculist because he knew his eyes had failed him. After seeing p. 16 of TIME, Oct. 22 I feel like having my eyes examined. I simply cannot believe that you would print such a cruel caption—”I little knew how grand it would be”—under a picture of Mrs. Coolidge at her husband’s grave. I well recall your splendidly understanding report of Calvin Coolidge’s death, so I am certain you could not be guilty of wounding his widow so grievously. . . . Perhaps it is your caption-writer whose eyes need examining? He could not have looked at the picture when he wrote it. (MRS.) EVELYN MOREHOUSE

Boston, Mass.

TIME’S regrets were promptly sent to Mrs. Coolidge. TIME now apologizes to its readers for an ineptitude which was, of course, unintentional.—ED.