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.
Hotel St. Charles Winter Palace, Cannes, France Feb. 10, 1925. TIME
New York, N. Y.
Gentlemen: I guess you don't know what it means to wander in a foreign land without TIME. I'll just as soon be in jail. We Americans over here pass it around until it looks like something that has been under the carpet since the Spanish-American War. It brings Home to us and drops it in our laps. HOMER CROV.
Eminent Woman
Ann Arbor, Mich., Feb. 21, 1925. TIME New York, N. Y.
Gentlemen :
TIME is so good that perfection comes to be demanded! Hence this comment upon "one Mrs. Henry Sedgwick" (issue of Feb. 23, page 17). You refer to Mrs. Henry Sidgwick, widow of Henry Sidgwick, the famous English philosopher, sister of A. J. Balfour (now the Earl of Balfour), principal of Girton College, Cambridge, till 1910. She is probably the most experienced member of the Society for Psychical Research, a purely scientific organization with which she lias been intimately connected since its inception. Aside from her connections, she is, by right of her own achievement, among the most eminent of living women.
R. M. WENLEY.
Prof. Wenley is quite right. TIME regrets the misplaced qualifier and the incorrect spelling.--ED.
Adjective?
Massie School, Versailles, Ky., Feb. 16, 1925.
TIME New York, N. Y.
Gentlemen:
I believe you are generally at some pains to be accurate and I would not think of trying to do without your magazine, but I must register a protest against your using "Episcopalian" as an adjective--TIME, Feb. 16, page 18, first news column, first line.
R. K. MASSIE JR.
Webster gives "Episcopalian" as both a noun and an adjective.--ED.
"Catty"
Indianapolis, Ind., Feb. 14, 1925.
TIME New York, N. Y.
Gentlemen: I have been a subscriber to TIME for a year. I thoroughly enjoy parts of it, but I confess I am disappointed in the general tenor of the magazine, its flippancy and its often vain attempts at cleverness.
In your issue of Feb. 16, you say under the rather absurd heading MILESTONES: "Mr. Dempsey gave his occupation as "business man." Miss Taylor gave her age as 26 (probable age, 32)." I am not interested in either Mr. Dempsey or Miss Taylor. I do not care how old she is. Whether she lies about her age or not is entirely immaterial to most of your subscribers, no doubt. But, I do think it most undignified, in fact little short of childish, for such a magazine as TIME aspires to be to add in parthesis "probable age, 32." That is not clever. It is merely age "catty"--and I'm afraid your magazine will deserve the adjective "catty" unless a great many such remarks (which have been all too prevalent) are discontinued.
AMELIA HENDERSON.
TIME, conscious that it would incur censure by so doing, nevertheless published Miss Taylor's probable age because it believed the matter to be of news value.-- ED.
"Splendid Talent"
Fredonia, N. Y. Feb. 17, 1925.
TIME New York, N. Y. Gentlemen :
Concerning the account in your issue of Feb. 9 of the presenting by the new French Ambassador of his credentials to Mr. Coolidge, I found the item not only informing but entertaining. I was particularly delighted by the part in which you described a hypothetical scene between Monsieur Daeschner and the President.
I admire your unequaled faculty for condensing a great bulk of news into a few lucid paragraphs. And your knack for puncturing bull bladders by clever and oblique hits and subtle passes adds spice to your splendid talent.
FRED GLOOR.
Able Applicants Better Positions, An Effective Personal Service, Los Angeles, Calif., Feb. 19, 1925.
TIME New York, N. Y. Gentlemen :
In our vocational analytical work, we try to ascertain from each applicant for an executive position what magazines he or she reads.
It will interest you to know that, of late, a surprisingly large number say that they read TIME. I am giving you this information because I am appreciative of your excellent circulation campaign. All success to you.
HERBERT A. DE LIMA.
Self-conscious
Boston, Mass., Feb. 20, 1925.
TIME New York, N. Y.
Gentlemen :
TIME does not appeal to me . . . Its editor appears to be thinking more of his manner than his matter. This gives the magazine an air of "smarty" self-consciousness, with no compensating merit; at least in my opinion.
ROY GRIFFITH.
Couplet
New York, N. Y., Feb. 15, 1925.
TIME New York, N. Y.
Gentlemen:
Here is a little couplet that occurred to me and struck me as possibly serviceable for use on your title page or elsewhere :
Time is events' finite succession,
TIME is their definite compression.
This is true, plain, brief, catchy and easily remembered. I think it would help to get your "idea" more fully in circulation, and your circulation more fully increased. If it is worth anything to you, it is worth enough to make it worth my while to think it up and send it in. What?
JOHN DANIELS.
TIME is grateful to Subscriber Daniels. Other couplets from other subscribers will be read interestedly, acknowledged with thanks, published if they have merit. -- ED.