Railroad Earnings

Sirs:

I note in your Feb. 9 issue in your Business & Finance section, you say: ". . . increase in net income of 11.5% for the year Bangor & Aroostock . . . stood alone."

I do not know whether or not at the time this was written your financial editor had seen the 1930 preliminary report of the Chicago Great Western Railroad Co. If not, I wish to call your attention to the fact that Bangor & Aroostock does not stand alone. The Great Western report is, I think, even more interesting because no unusual conditions prevailed in its territory to produce its excellent results, as was the case with the Bangor. . . .

GEORGE H. KNOTT

Chicago, Ill.

Not available when TIME reported 1930 railroad earnings was Great Western's 1930 net of $1,309,205, a 25% increase over 1929.--ED.

Again, St. Peter Sirs: A story is being circulated that three fortunate ladies went to Heaven, and in answer to the usual query from St. Peter as to where she came from, the first lady replied ''Pennsylvania." He told her to pass in. ... The second lady said that she came from Iowa and he told her to pass in also. But when the third lady replied that she came from ''California," St. Peter considered her very thoughtfully for a time and then said slowly, ''Well,--you can go in but you won't be satisfied." The point we wish to make is that if any magazine penetrates to that region, we are confident that it will be TIME, and we would ask that you get word to St. Peter that if the lady from California is not satisfied with Heaven, to send her to the STATE OF WASHINGTON, headquarters, Seattle. Satisfaction will be guaranteed. CANDACE CORNELL ENGEL

East Stanwood, Wash.

Interests

Sirs:

I would appreciate your telling me where I can secure a pamphlet, treatise or book on Dr. Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity. I am not interested so much in the proof submitted to substantiate the theory as I am in discussion of what the theory is. I am not particularly interested in holding a girl on my lap for an hour or sitting on a hot stove for one minute. . . .

A. COPELAND CAMPBELL

New Kensington, Pa.

See Arthur Stanley Eddington's famed The Nature of the Physical World.--ED. In Mount Kisco

Sirs:

May I add to James H. Thompson's data regarding the use of tombstones in newspaper plants in a letter to TIME on Feb. 16, p. 6?

The tombstones in our newspaper plant became composing room stones 31 years ago. At that time this newspaper was published by others in a neighboring community, Katonah, N. Y.

About 1900, New York City submerged Katonah under the waters of the Croton Reservoir. The village built up on another site. The tombstones in the village cemetery were abandoned and were taken up by the owner of this newspaper, at that time, to be used for composing stones. When the plant was moved to Mount Kisco, 18 years ago, the stones came with it. They were not discovered until Jan. 5, 1931, when I discovered one which had accidentally been turned up. They make ideal stones for composing.

The former owner of this newspaper who is still living assured me that the tombstones had been abandoned when he claimed them. Personally, I believe that no spirit of irreverence prompted the use of tombstones in print shops and newspaper plants. Rather, it seems, that their scarcity, size and shape caused their use. They certainly were practical.

WALTER E. HUELLE

Publisher

The North Westchester Times Mount Kisco, N. Y.

Counting Flayed Sirs:

Is TIME'S editor losing his virility that he must print in Feb. 16 issue letters from readers calling attention to the five months Calles baby. As a cover-to-cover reader this is the first time that I have found that which smacks of gossip in your columns.

What real difference does it make when the little boy was born?

I don't give two whoops about seeing my name in print but if you do not print this letter, I will know that you could have eliminated five of the six letters you did print, and still have given as much news.

JERRY TYLER

Muskegon Heights, Mich.

("Names make news."--ED.)

Sirs: Your magazine deserves everything good which has been said of it. BUT--you have certainly fallen off a bit in this week's issue. Imagine a grown-up magazine devoting a whole column to ''finger counting"--the lowest form of human amusement. Incredible! What if Senor Calles' baby appeared rather suddenly--what if a flock of ''old ladies of both sexes" write you about it--aren't you BIG enough to say nothing? Grow up! FRANK J. TONIS

Syracuse, N. Y.

Sirs:

This is the first time I've written your publication and may I hope you will give this correspondence as much prominence as you did the letters concerning the premature arrival of the Calles heir.

I consider it quite out of place and entirely below your usual standard to have given these letters such public recognition.

If J. J. Shallow (a suitable name for them all) is a man, I note with added disgust that 50% of "those who could count" were men.

Also the phrase "actual wife" is very misleading to the general public, as the Spanish word "actual" means present.

Surely you have the privilege of selecting your correspondence to appear in the Letter column but we did give you credit for not only a more discriminating taste but also better judgment. Has real news reached such a low ebb that you must resort to matters of this kind? NATHALIE M. THOMPKINS Westfield, N. J.

Sirs: Apropos Senor Calles and his paternal achievement, your treatment of the affair seems hardly kind, not to say Christian.

Surely you realize that "but for the grace of God" most of the rest of us (possibly even the august editors of TIME) would be in as embarrassing predicaments. I mean by that: we've been born with cooler natures and brought up with sterner standards, yet who is without sin? . . .

Isn't it un-TIMEworthy to sacrifice more honorable instincts to the desire to amuse? . . .

TIME, I'm devoted to you, please don't disappoint me! ELISABETH MCSHERRY

Washington, D. C.

Rogers & Brisbane

Sirs:

Witness that Funnyman Rogers and Newshawk Brisbane both boost Aviation, the difference in practice is that Rogers says "I'll not ask you to do anything I will not do myself." Newshawk Brisbane, like the preachers, says, "Do as I say, not as I do."

Rogers hops a plane and does a great thing for the Red Cross; Newshawk Brisbane rides a soft and safe Pullman and tells the world what he sees from the car window and it's the same old bunk he has been handing out for the past ten years.

B. W. TEMPLE

Las Vegas, N. Mex.

But many have tried to imitate the Brisbane touch and none has succeeded.--ED. New Hampshire's President

Sirs:

On p. 17, Feb. g issue of TIME, you say ". . . it is yet true that New Hampshire, one of the 13 Original States, has given the U. S. many a famed statesman. Among them, . . ." and go on to list the names of Horace Greeley, Daniel Webster and others.

Why omit the name of Franklin Pierce, 14th President of the U. S., who was born at Hillsborough, N. H., Nov. 23, 1804?

M. F. PRAY

Portland, Me.

In North Carolina

Sirs:

Another of TIME'S well received and cheerfully acknowledged mistakes. Page 13, issue of Feb. 9, last column makes reference to J. J. Parker "Hoovercrat." 'Tis not thus. Judge Parker is an iron bound; rock ribbed; dyed in the wool; etc., Republican. Our "Hoovercrat," one of the few left of an 86,000 majority in 1928, is Frank R. McNinch of Charlotte, now on the Federal Power Commission. Both are esteemed citizens.

ALBERT MILMOW Charlotte, N. C.

Great Alexander's Son

Sirs: Anent babies born kings, of whom you mentioned (TIME, Jan. 19) Alfonso XIII, and learned reader Noss recalled (TIME, Feb. 9) Sassanid Shapur II (310-379 A. D.): add a third, more amazing than the others, the son of Alexander the Great. There is no need to remind your readers that Alexander had married an Asiatic mountain princess, Roxane. Little known, however, is their son, born after Alexander's death in 323 B. C. Emperor of the better half of the known world, a position he shared with Alexander's halfbrother, the half-wit Philip Arrhidaeus, the young Alexander might also expect to be deified like his father. He was not only born a king, but practically also a god. The enormous inheritance proved fatal. The regents fought each other, turned the empire upside down. In that cockeyed world no one was surprised when one of the regents quietly murdered half-wit Philip, Roxane, and Alexander, who was then twelve. In ten more years the Empire, which stretched from the Balkans to India, was fractured for keeps. STERLING DOW Cambridge, Mass.

Fair

Sirs:

My attention has been called in the past to the fair and considerate way in which your publication has treated American Legion ideals and objectives, and a recent article published in TIME concerning our organization affords me this occasion of sending you a word of thanks and appreciation.

I am sure our Legionnaires who read TIME feel the same way, and recognize in your magazine, not only a friend of the men and women who served their country loyally in war, and are carrying on with the same spirit in peace time, but also, what is still more important, a policy of fair dealing on questions of public interest.

RALPH T. O'NEIL National Commander The American Legion Indianapolis, Ind.

Youths of 19

Sirs: I had the pleasure of hearing Randolph Churchill lecture this evening at the Scottish Rite Auditorium in San Francisco. Mr. Churchill stated that he is only 19 years of age, and that his policies and opinions have not been taken up by the newspapers. May I reply as another youth of 19--100% American--that the major portion of Mr. Churchill's lecture would be commendable and invigorating news to any magazine or paper and would undoubtedly be a real nucleus and impetus to the younger generation of America. I was amazed at his audacity and in profound admiration of his sheer effrontery and bold conceptions. He is a youth, he is sincere, he is human and over-prone to criticism at times; but he was powerful. His subject was: "England and the British Empire," and I may say poor Mr. MacDonald of England is a "complete washout" in Mr. Churchill's opinion.* I quite agree. "Why, I can't say, but I should rather hear Will Rogers at any time," says Mr. Churchill. We again agree. I must confess however that I was abashed--actually mortified--to think that a youth of my own age should have been heard, watched and listened to all over the world --an English youth come to America to enlighten the minds of our own generation. I ask you of the magazine TIME to accept this letter and print it as an open challenge to the Youths of America to show England what America can do--another youth of 19 who with all the impetuousness of his years and his patriotism and a prideful defender of championship to go to England and make the Englishmen sit up and take notice of a 19-year-old American cousin. To the young men of the U. S. I say: Can we do it? You bet we can. Let's try. THOMAS K. CROOKS

San Francisco, Calif.

*See TIME, Feb. 23.--ED.

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