President's T's
Sirs:
TIME, Oct. 6, ''President Hoover dotted his last "i's," crossed in his last "t's." . . .
Are you inferring that President Hoover writes his speeches hastily, then goes over them and crosses "t's,'' dots "i's"? I doubt it.
EUNICE E. BRAATEN
Dedham, Mass.
As a matter of fact (though TIME did not intend to infer it) the President is known to do much meticulous revising of his speeches.--ED.
Coolidge Steal
Steal Sirs:
. . . At the American Legion Convention this forenoon, at which President Hoover was the leading guest, the convention was practically ''stolen" by our "Cal" Coolidge, America's leading private citizen. When Mr. Coolidge was introduced to the convention with the pronouncement that he would not make a speech, the convention cheered with loud yells for a speech for some five or six minutes. Finally Mr. Coolidge stepped to the front of the platform, raised his hand and said, "You can save time for this convention," etc. He got no further, and the applause and cheering continued for three or four minutes more, while he sat down. . . .
E. A. FOGG, JR.
Boston, Mass.
"Coolidges to Brisbanes"
Sirs:
In regard to Mr. W. R. Hearst's newly acquired drum major the latest thing in New Mexico is "I bet you Coolidges to Brisbanes," etc., or thus and so. In grand grands.
No other would have thought of emitting posthumous messages to Congress every morning in or out of session. Mr. Coolidge is an original. He is the first man ever put four wheel brakes on a Jew's harp. He has almost invented a silent loud speaker. And he is a perfect master of the enematic style--a squirt of warm water in the place of breakfast.
My dear neighbor Rozzum Burns is a conscientious behaviorist. He classes Mr. Coolidge between an original and aboriginal. He says too there are a good many bulls still in the ring who seem to have lost their cuds. HARRISON BROWN
Laplata, X. Mex.
F. E. U.
Sirs:
If Europe creates a "Federated European Union" will not the act of joining the "F. E. U." be jumping out of the frying pan into the feu?
GOLDWIN GOLDSMITH
University of Texas Austin, Tex.
Tycoon Question Sirs:
Dr. E. G. Kyte of our town is authority for the statement, "And even the Big Shots rather thrill at the term Big Shot."
The Doctor feels that the term Tycoon has become obsolete, although there is evidence to indicate that such is not the case. However, the important thing is which title Bishop Cannon should more properly come under.
DURELL S. RICHARDS
Detroit, Mich.
A stockmarketeer may rightly be called a tycoon only when his operations directly and continuously affect the affairs of a great corporation. This rarely occurs. Bishop Cannon's operations are in no sense tycoonish.--ED.
Sirs:
You are "Curt, Clear, Complete," so why not substitute Little Slam and Grand Slam? . . .
Some Tycoons have lesser standing, wealth, power, ability, notoriety than other Tycoons. The single term Tycoon does not signify the greatness, extent, elevation. Little Slam and Grand Slam would do so. For instance, Aimee McPherson is Grand Slam of Angelus Temple, Ma Kennedy its Little Slam. Harvey Firestone is Grand Slam of Firestone Rubber, Edsel Ford is Little Slam of Ford Motors. To be a Grand Slam would please all, to be a little Slam would displease few.
LEWIS WILSON
Hutchinson, Kan.
Suggestion rejected. Reason: card-play-ing, hence gambling connotation.--ED.
Sirs:
Since your favorite title "tycoon" was formerly assumed by the commander-in-chief of the Japanese army why not change nationality as it were and call prominents of today "moguls"?
E. J. BARKLEY
Youngstown, Ohio
Theatrical, racetracky.--ED.
Sirs:
Fo' de Land's Sake! Where did you dig up that D&$151;fool word Tycoon? Was it conceived in a blithering moment of tipsy purility as an "Inn"-spiration? Its assertive repetition marks a cumulative imbecility.
You never spoke what did become you less Than this: which to reiterate is sin. --SHAK.
I would to Heaven an Honest-to-God Eastern typhoon would strike 205 E. 42nd St., New York, swirl and frisk out all tycoon type together with the "type" that champions tycoon. T. E. BUTLER
Waukegan, Ill.
Sirs:
If you are tired of "tycoon" why not "multo-crat"?
WM. H. O'BRIEN
Bakersfield, Calif.
Suggestion involves bad philology--mix-ing of Latin multo and Greek crat. Rejected. TIME is not tired of Tycoon, is willing to adopt a better word, if, which TIME doubts, it can be found.--ED.
Sirs:
You have made editorial mention of your use of the term Tycoon. To me its connotation is weak. It will not disassociate from typhoon. I invariably think of hot, stormy winds.
Why not make a word by abbreviation on the pattern of phone from telephone?
Entrepreneur would be a good term were it not so long and mouthfillhg. Let me suggest therefore that you call a prime mover in industry a preneur. That has a nice look, a convenient pronunciation, and tells the whole story. Use it a little while with an apostrophe, then drop the apostrophe and the word is made. Preneur, a prime mover, a creative magnate, a constructive adventurer in industry.
HOWARD F. BARKER
Buffalo, X. Y.
P.S. Its resemblance to Premier will be beneficial.
One objection: few U. S. citizens can confidently pronounce eur as in chauffeur. However, this suggestion has possibilities. --ED.
Sirs:
In re the name Tycoon. The name Domineer came to mind and referring to my old Latin-English Lexicon I find.
Dominor -- to be lord & master, to have dominion.
Dominus -- (Master of House) proprietor, owner.
I would respectfully nominate the word Dominor. GEOFFREY WILLIAMS
Cleveland, Ohio
Possible. But closely connected to Domine or Dominie, oldtime term for cleric.--ED.
Susy's Gravestone
Sirs:
. . . I can't help thinking how touched Mark Twain would be with the inscription on the little pomeranian's final resting place! (TIME, Sept. 29, Oct. 13). Over Mrs. Clemens' grave, too, stands a stone engraved with the epitaph:
Warm summer sun,
Shine kindly here;
Warm summer wind.
Blow softly here;
Green sod above,
Lie light, lie light:
Good night, dear one,
Goodnight, goodnight.
ELEANOR MORGAN GRAIN
Mount Victoria, Md.
Investigation reveals that the lines are on the gravestone of Susy Clemens, daughter of Mark Twain, that they were written by Australian Poet Robert Richardson, that when Mr. Clemens learned that the lines were attributable to him he ordered Poet Richardson's name inscribed beneath them. On the gravestone the third line reads: "Warm southern wind," although in the original poem it read: "Warm northern wind." In the Antipodes the north wind is balmiest.--ED.
Soap Leader
Sirs:
IN THE INTERESTS OF ACCURACY AND FAIR PLAY YOU WILL WANT TO CORRECT IN NEXT ISSUE OF TIME A STATEMENT GROSSLY IN ERROR STOP IN REFERRING TO ACQUISITION OF KIRKMAN SOAP CO. BY COLGATE PALMOLIVE PEET YOUR ISSUE OF SEPT. 29 REFERS TO LATTER COMPANY AS A LEADER IN SOAP INDUSTRY STOP AS A MATTER OF COMMON KNOWLEDGE AND RECORD PROCTER AND GAMBLE MAKERS OF IVORY SOAP ARE THE LEADERS IN THE AMERICAN SOAP INDUSTRY. . . .
HENRY BERN
New York City
YOUR ISSUE SEPT. 29 REFERS TO COLGATE PALMOLIVE PEET AS BEING LEADER IN SOAP INDUSTRY THIS IS GROSSLY IN ERROR AS REFERENCE TO BUSINESS STATISTICS OF INDUSTRY WILL CONFIRM MODESTY FORBIDS MY SAYING MORE.
PROCTER & GAMBLE
New York City
To proofreaders, reprimand for omission of "a" before "leader." Procter & Gamble is the soap leader by a huge margin. Its net sales for the fiscal year ended June 30 came to $192,353,000 against Colgate-Palmolive-Peet's net sales of $100,560,000 for the year ended last Dec. 31. Procter & Gamble's position reflects 92 years of consistent growth.-- ED.
Gee-geet's Wildcat
Sirs:
TIME, Sept. 22:
"Huey P. Long, 36-year-old political wildcat, was nominated for the Senate over veteran Democratic Senator Joseph Eugene Ransdell by a 35,000 majority."
Wrong again. His majority was 38,189. This is not your first dig at Huey. I am of the opinion you would like to class him with Heflin. Snap out of it, he is the direct antithesis of the Alabama Senator.
In an earlier issue you joined the Louisiana "Fourth Estate" in baying after this man when you thought him down. They pulled his political teeth but neglected the claws of this wildcat.
His enemies: The entire press, three ex-Governors, Standard Oil, Choctaw Cub (N. O. Ring), preachers, priests, rabbis.
His friends: The common people, including labor unions, Gee-geets, from the bayous, cajans from the prairie parishes, hill billies from the northern tier.
In Louisiana, "every man is king, every woman a queen, but none wear crowns." The people have spoken--let them rule.
ASHLEY HAZARD PERRY
Fire and Automobile Insurance Cotton Stapling and Grading Real Estate Coushatta, La.
TIME takes no dig at Senator-to-be-elected Long. He is unique, unclassifiable.
--ED. Sanity v. La Follette
Sirs:
In your last issue you quote an alleged slogan: "A La Follette was never beaten in Wisconsin." This is a "Progressive" myth. Robert La Follette I, founder of the dynasty, was beaten in 1890 in his candidacy for a fourth term in the national House of Representatives from the 3rd Wisconsin district by A. R. Bushnell, Dem. In 1896 and again in 1898 he was a candidate for the nomination for Governor of Wisconsin on the Republican ticket--he was a Republican then and not a "Progressive"--and was beaten each time by Edward Scofield. When the State of Wisconsin recovers its sanity a La Follette will again be beaten. Louis A. PRADT
Wausau, Wis.
Of Human Bondage
Sirs:
What! Somerset Maugham has never written a great book! You list, I observe, his Of Human Bondage, but I fear you cannot have read it else you would not be guilty of such a statement. If Of Human Bondage is not a great book, then no great books have been written.
FRANCIS DOVER
New York City
"Never" was, as always, a difficult word.--ED. Ohio's McCulloch
Sirs:
The undersigned residents and voters of the City of Cleveland would like to have the legislative record of Roscoe C. McCulloch printed in your very valuable publication. . . . GEORGE A. HURLEY JACOB F. WININGER MILTON M. LANG DAN W. DUFFY ANTOINETTE M. KRAMER Cleveland, Ohio
The record of Senator Roscoe Conkling McCulloch of Ohio is as follows:
Born: on a farm in Holmes County, Ohio, Nov. 27, 1880. Start in life: prosecutor. Career: Son of a well-to-do farmer who moved into Canton to take a local Treasury job when William McKinley became President, he received a public school education, attended Ohio State University, studied law at Western Reserve University. With a natural flair for politics he got a job as assistant prosecutor of Stark County but gave it up after three years to practice privately. Ambitious, he ran for the House of Representatives when 32, was beaten; got himself elected two years later, re-elected in 1916 (though Woodrow Wilson carried his district) and 1918. In 1920 he lost his House seat by making an unsuccessful attempt to win the Republican nomination for Governor of Ohio. Because as a Congressman he had served on the committee investigating War contracts and expenditures, Harry Micajah Daugherty, Attorney General and Ohio gang leader, made him a special assistant to prosecute War frauds. He helped the U. S. win back a trifling $14,000,000 of the hundreds of millions alleged to have been misspent, before resigning in 1926. In 1929 he was named chairman of the Ohio Public Utilities Commission, a post he quit last November when Postmaster General Walter Folger Brown persuaded Governor Myers Cooper to appoint him to the Senate, vice Elder Statesman Theodore Elijah Burton, deceased. He comes up for election next month.
In Congress: During six years in the House he attracted notice only when, voting for War in 1917, he tried unsuccessfully to restrict President Wilson's authority to send troops to France. During his eleven months in the Senate, he has taken only an inconspicuous part in its affairs. A thoroughgoing Republican regular, he startled his Conservatives only when he broke with them to vote for the rejection of William Scott Vare of Pennsylvania.
He voted for: Tax Reduction (1929), the Tariff (1930), confirmation of John Johnston Parker as a justice of the Supreme Court (1930).
He votes Dry, drinks Dry, supports the Anti-Saloon League.
No agile debater, he shuns the rough-and-tumble of senatorial controversy. Only two formal speeches has he made, a highly orthodox Republican defense of the Republican tariff, an apologia for his Parker vote. (His friends understood that he put aside his own convictions on this case to support his President for Party reasons.) His manner of address is direct, dignified, rather dull. No dramatic sense vitalizes his voice.
In appearance he is taller than his Ohio colleague, short Senator Simeon Davison Fess, or his No. 1 political sponsor, medium-sized Postmaster General Brown. A wide mouth, strong nose, sharp eyes under wrinkly brows, a fine head of wavy dark hair touched with grey combine to give him a certain cinematic handsomeness. In dress he is quiet, neat, careful about his neckties.
Out of Congress: He lives at the expensive but not very fashionable Carlton Hotel on 16th St., often walks the two miles to the Capitol. He motors long distances, goes frequently to the cinema. In Canton, his home, political sentimentalists liken him to McKinley, long a Canton resident and buried there. He is a serious hard-working campaigner. In his current campaign he is being assailed by Negroes for his Parker vote, by Wets who favor his Wet opponent, Democratic Nominee Robert Johns Bulkley. Hard to hold is the Senate seat he now occupies. Frank Bartlette Willis died in it in 1928. Cyrus Locker was voted out of it the same year. Theodore Elijah Burton died in it in 1929.
Impartial Senate observers rate him thus: a modest, intelligent conscientious legislator, somewhat above the Old Guard average, who works hard at his duties without making much public impression. He has the appearance of a leader but no leadership has he yet shown.--ED.
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