Letters: Oct. 12, 1925

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.

Remote

A. P. C. M., Bibanga

Kabinda, Lomami District

Congo Beige, Africa,

Via Cape Town.

July 20, 1925

TIME

The News Magazine Sirs:

Here in the middle of Central Africa TIME is the one medium that I depend on to bring me news of the outside world. Missing a copy is a source of keen disappointment, and this prompts me to write and ask if you cannot send the copies of my subscription in stronger wrappers. A journey of 14,000 or more miles, with frequent changes from steamer to rail to native porterage, demands a much stronger wrapper than that you have been using. I have missed several copies and had others arrive in wrappers practically torn off. I should appreciate attention to this, and if there is a charge for service, I shall remit if you will advise me as to the amount.

I have subscribed for a friend, Rev. A. Hoyt Miller, A. P. C. M., Bibanga, Kabinda, Lomami District, Congo Beige, Africa, via Cape Town, and I should like to request the same service for him.

FRANK J. GILLIAM

Subscriber Gilliam’s wants will be supplied.—ED.

Public Service

TIME Denver, Colo.

The News Magazine S^pt. 28, 1925 Sirs:

I do not know of any venture in journalism in the country which has brought such a breath of fresh air to the field as yours has done. Your entry into this branch of literature partakes of the character of Strachey’s entry into the province of biography. Your demonstration that informative articles concerning current events need not be melancholy is a public service. You help to establish the falsity of the notion that there is no royal road to learning. Your disregard of all known conventions of journalism, and of some conventions of etiquet, is as refreshing as a julep.

HENRY W. TOLL

Royalty

TIME Gloucester, Mass.

The News-Magazine Sept. 29, 1925

Sirs:

In TIME for Sept. 28, you had an interesting little article on the marriage of Princess Mafalda of Italy to Prince Philip of Hesse. You did not mention that Philip of Hesse was obliged to sign a document giving up all claim to succeed to the head of that branch of the Hesse family, so that he is really now nothing but a private German citizen. Of course the reason he had to sign this was because he was marrying a Roman Catholic and naturally the Hesse family would never acknowledge a Roman Catholic family (wife and future children) belonging to them as leaders. It is certainly a love match and of course a very poor marriage for the King of Italy’s rich daughter; the Savoy family is very wealthy. But, owing to King Victor Emmanuel’s hatred of social life and his insistence on a domestic life much more secluded than that of his subjects, his daughters, the Italian princesses, have grown up rather wild in their ways, with a hatred of the trammels of society; the fact is, they have not been trained to take their places in society as leaders at all, and the King is very much embarrassed about this. He was obliged to consent to his eldest daughter, Yolanda, marrying a poor Italian nobleman because Yolanda obstinately refused to give him up, and now Mafalda has married a poor German Protestant prince, one of a large family in which are three sets of twins! These marriages are very unpopular in Italy, as the Italians feel mortified by them. The King of Italy is now trying to train his two younger daughters to take their proper places in society; his only son, Humbert has always been in his proper position before the Italian public, but his sisters were allowed to run wild at the King’s country palaces.

It may interest you to learn that it is said on very good authority that Crown Prince Olaf of Norway is soon to marry Princess Astrid of Sweden, his first cousin. This will be a good marriage in a political sense as, ever since Norway separated from Sweden in 1905, the Swedes have had a grudge against the Norwegians, and this marriage, which will put a Swedish princess on the throne of Norway, will soothe the Swedes’ ruffled pride and heal the breach between the two countries. Prince Olaf is the only child of the King and Queen of Norway and has just spent a year at Baliol College, Oxford, England; he is 22. Princess Astrid (a Scandinavian name pronounced “Arstree”) is just 20 and is a very pretty girl; she is the youngest daughter of Prince Charles of Sweden, a brother of the King. Her father Prince Charles is one of the handsomest men in Europe. Princess Astrid is very Scandinavian in her looks and is taller than Prince Olaf; this is a good thing as, though the Norwegians are very fond of their young Crown Prince, they think he looks more like an Englishman than a Norwegian; he takes after the family of his mother (Princess Maud of England) more than that of his father. Both these young people are descended from the French General of Napoleon the Great’s time, General Bernadotte, who was adopted as heir by the childless King of Sweden [becoming King Charles XIV, 1818-1844]. Prince Olaf of Norway is said to have inherited the shrewd and clever brain of his grandfather, King Edward VII of England, while his first cousin, the Prince of Wales, has inherited Edward VII’s social tact and charm.

ANONYMOUS

P. S. Gossip is now saying . that the Prince of Wales will next year marry Princess Margaret of Greece.

Interest in dynastic affairs, once so keen, has waned. But the anonymous communication printed above illustrates the persistence of the fascination of the ancient game.

The fact that Prince Philip resigned his rights of succession is of no immediate importance—Hesse has been republican since 1919.

In Stockholm last week was published an official denial of the Olaf-Astrid fiancailles.

That Edward of Wales will marry a refugee princess of a country which has caused Great Britain much trouble—seems to be a guess no better than most.—ED.

Schoolmate

TIME Vienna, Va.

The News-Magazine Sept. 7, 1925 Sirs:

I am sure you do not wish to encourage the average boy of 16 to leave school, believing that he is prepared to rise to the highest rank among bankers and business men. Therefore I submit:

1) You said (TIME, Aug. 24, Page 5) in sketching the career of Mr. H. P. Davison, that he “was a young man who be gan earning his living at 16 as a school teacher. He never got a college education. He got a job as office boy in a small bank, etc.” It seems to be clearly implied that his student days were over before or when he was 16.

2) H. P. Davison was graduated from Greylock Institute, South Williamstown, Mass., in June, 1886, after spending at least two years in that school. The writer entered in Sept., 1885, and Harry Davison was already well known to the teachers and students. He was graduated as vale dictorian of his class of seven. I followed him one year later, taking the same “English Scientific” course, as it was then called. Greylock was a private institution, sometimes called “The Mills School” from the name of its founders and owners. Its last class was graduated in 1888. Many of its graduates have done well without further schooling.

WELLS ALVORD SHERMAN Mr. Davison was born in 1867; so in 1886 he was 19.—ED.

Exploded:

TIME Livington, Mont.

The News-Magazine Sept. 21, 1925 Sirs:

As a subscriber of TIME I desire to submit for your serious consideration the following :

I think that your heading “Religion” should be changed to “Theology.”

You publish in that department merely theology.

You should narrow the heading down to where it belongs.

In this age of the world, religion has become something broader, something more comprehensive and better than the Christian theologians have conceived it to be.

It is beginning to dawn on many that there is too much toadying to theologians. The world advances in spite of their teaching ; so why give so much space to exploiting the exploded, the ignorant, the superstitious ?

You unduly flatter them by publishing their stuff under “Religion.” It is too good a word for them.

ARTHUR BABBITT TIME is always grateful for suggestions, is grateful to Subscriber Babbitt. But “Religion” as a department heading must continue to cover many differing interests. — ED.