Swinish
Sirs:
Your issue of March 30, end of second complete paragraph, has--"In March the British 5th Army under General Gough ran before the last desperate German offensive." This, sir, is a pretty swinish thins to write: the sth Army did not run before any attack, at any time. My own battalion--one of all those who stood and fought--was reduced to about 80 men out of (on the 21st) some 790. The '"bite" resulted from the lack of reserves to support the first three lines in those last days of the month. . . .
R. J. BEA Raleigh, N. C.
General Foch in his memoirs describes the retreat of the 5th Army under General Gough as follows: "On the north the British Army maintained in general its positions, but it was quite otherwise with General Cough's Fifth Army. Along almost the whole of its front, it was swept away, its right in particular being thrown back west of Saint-Quentin up to the edge of the Crozat Canal. On . . . the 22nd, this army, badly shaken, retreated toward the Somme. An extraordinary incident here took place --one only to be explained by the contagion which spread from the confused and shaken troops, driven in by the heavy attack on the front line. The Somme, running several miles in rear, was captured by the enemy practically without a blow being struck."--ED.
Fire Escape
Sirs:
A reader of The New Republic since 1914 and an admirer of the writings of Walter Lippmann wishes to express his appreciation of your column under The Press during the week of March 30. "A Testament'' is very timely. It causes one to recall the closing paragraph in the ninth volume of Henry Adams' History of the. United States. "The traits of American character were fixed; the rate of physical and economical growth was established; and history, certain that at a given distance of time the Union would contain so many millions of people, with wealth valued at so many millions of dollars, became thenceforward chiefly concerned to know what kind of people these millions were to be. They were intelligent, but what paths would their intelligence select? They were quick but what solution of insoluble problems would quickness hurry? They were scientific, and what control would their science exercise over their destiny? They were mild, but what corruptions would their relaxation bring? They were peaceful, but by what machinery were their corruptions to be purged? What interests were to vivify a society so vast and uniform? What ideals were to ennoble it? What object, besides physical content, must a democratic continent aspire to attain? For the treatment of such questions, history required another century of experience."
Only 40 years' have passed since Mr. Adams asked these questions. Mr. Lippmann might have added at the close of "A Testament" that a possible ''Fire Escape" for U. S. A. might be an "Aristocracy of Brains."
DEAN B. THOMPSON Lansing, Mich.
God Save the King
Sirs:
In your issue of March 9, you state that "God Save the King" was probably composed in England by one Henry Carey (1692-1743), although historians are not positive. I am glad that historians are not positive, for both in Belgium and in England I was always led to believe that this convenient tune was composed by John (or Jan) Ball, organist at Antwerp Cathedral. A fact that might be added in support of this is that in Biblical times "God Save the King" was the usual salutation to a monarch (I Sam. 10:24; 2 Kings 11; 12). In any case it would be interesting to know something more about a tune that was adopted by four different nations, without their knowing anything of its origin. Almost as mysterious, and not half so rhythmical as the Peanut Song.
G. ANTOINE MOLLER San Francisco, Calif.
Most authorities now believe that John Bull (not Ball), once widely credited with writing "God Save the King," composed in 1619 an "ayre" which may have influenced Henry Carey when, in 1740, he produced the definitive and largely original composition.--ED.
1931 Highwaymen
Sirs:
In TIME, in Letters, in a recent issue, a liberty-loving American told the 472,000 automobile-owning readers of TIME about the speed trap at Zion, Ill. (Time, March 30). That's the ticket!
Now let other TIME-motorists write of other notorious speed traps ... as warning ... as a hint to avaricious or kluck-minded hick-town officials that motorists can boycott speed trap towns by avoiding them.
To start, I nominate Greenwich, Conn., where insolent speed trap motorcyclists show moist-lipped interest in "what yuh got in that rumble seat?"--and Darien, Conn., where speed cops lurk like coyotes--and Cos Cob, Conn., where the local pastime is nabbing 'em at the unexpected flash of the red light--and Westport, Conn., where a constable in a battered touring car collects $2.40 per "speed" arrest.
The spotlight of publicity, TIME, on these 1931 highwaymen!
J. A. SWANSON New York City
Horticulturist
Sirs:
I notice in the March 30 issue of TIME that G. K. Chesterton claims never to have heard of your good and readable newsmagazine. About 18 miles up the Missouri River from Bismarck, N. D., there lives a man said to be demented. He has a farm of 260 acres practically covered with ditches about three feet deep, in which are planted dead saplings cut from timber across the river. He imagines himself a horticulturist, thinks these dead plantings will take life and give him shade and fruit. He ha? two shacks built of upright timbers. In the abandoned one is a heterogeneous mass of junk-- deer skins, antlers, worn-out spades and shovels used in digging ditches (he has been at it for years), files of newspapers since the day of the (-'lister massacre. Even an ancient small job press. All these, covered with dust. As we approached his shack a young married couple preceded us. Soon the owner appeared, walking leisurely toward them. ... As he came nearer I saw he held in his hand a magazine, his finger between the pages where he had been reading--TIME! I engaged him in talk and found him a very intelligent man. He had not been to town for three years. But he knew what was doing in the world, just the same.
O. C. BRANNEN Philadelphia, Pa.
And in a ramshackle Negro cabin near Camden, S. C.. is a room papered with TIME covers.--ED.
Chesterton's Lecture
Sirs:
It is quite evident that TIME or time mean little to Mr. G. K. Chesterton (TIME, March 30).
A decade ago he was charmingly introduced at Yale by President Hadley and gave his lecture ''The Ignorance of the Educated." Either the title or the subject matter has the merit of persisting. I recall both with relish.
AYMER J. BEECHER New Haven, Conn.
Silver Stadium
Sirs:
Of all the stories carried by the press on the death of Knute Rockne I liked best the two opening paragraphs of the story by William Ritt, Central Press Sports Editor. Perhaps TIME would care to print them.
TED F. HIGGINS New Castle, Pa.
The paragraphs: " 'Well, well, well,' George Gipp must be saying just about now, 'Look who's here. Welcome home. Rock." "And there in that happy land, beyond the black, where the stadium is of silver, the goal posts of gold and all games are won, those two whose friendship and affection became one of football's finest sagas must be clasping hands in joyous grip again."--ED.
Crowning Thorns
Sirs:
Anent your comment on the "Crown of Thorns" displayed in the New York Flower Show (TIME, March 30): There are several of these plants on this island and I am enclosing herewith a cutting from one of them growing in our garden. This particular shrub has been blooming almost continuously for the past six years. Botanically, the "Crown of Thorns" belongs to the Poinsettia family. There are at least two legends about this plant: 1 ) The wreath referred to in Matthew 27:29, was platted with cuttings from it: 2) it will not bloom if tended by wicked persons. From its structure, I can readily believe the first to have been true. As to the second, my wife and the children take care of all the plants in our garden. Cut off the end and plant the cutting in some warm moist earth in your office and see if it will bloom for you. RALPH B. BOYDEN Key West, Fla.
TIME will report whether or not its thorn-tenders are wicked.--ED.
Crane's Biology
Sirs:
TIME needs a rebuke. It prates about being on the job but being like other human things it also is asleep at times. Two incidents demand comment. In issue of March 9. under caption of Asia's Charles Richard Crane TIME missed mentioning that Crane has done more for biological science in America than any one other philanthropist, having built the main laboratories of the Marine Biological Laboratories at Woods Hole, Mass., the main foyer with a big bronze Buddha in the centre, because the Buddhists (as Clarence Little says, and therefore claims to be one) are the only people kind to animals. . . . Woods Hole is the foremost biological research station in this country, and next to Naples, in the world. . . .
MARIUS VAN REMLAR Mt. Vernon, N. Y.
Lippmann Cover
Sirs:
TIME of March 30 arrived in this morning's mail. There, on the front cover, was the name of Walter Lippmann, spelled Lippman. . . .
DONOLA HALLINAN Livermore, Calif.
To sharp-eyed Donola Hallinan, credit for being the first (and thus far the only) non-professional reader* to nail TIME'S first typographical error on a cover.--ED.
Three-Decimal Time Sirs: Would you please explain the details of how Gar Wood's time was given by you to six significant figures in TIME, March 30? How was any portion of the course measured to a fraction of a millimetre over a distance of a mile and how was the position of the boat determined at two measured points to within a small fraction of a second? Also--were your figures as accurate as precise?
ERICK SELL D'GONS New York City
TIME'S figures were accurate, official. Computation of time records to three decimal places is common to sportdom. An electric timing machine registers to 1/100 sec. the time elapsed between the two points marking off the distance, previously surveyed. The rest is a matter of mathematics (done officially on computing machines).--ED.
Broun, Lament and Gibbons
Sirs:
I may be dense, but read as I will I can make nothing but nonsense out of your People paragraph (TIME, April 13) on Heywood Broun, T. W. Lamont and Cardinal Gibbons. Why shouldn't the Pope call Gibbons Gibbons? Or is that the point, that he did call him Gibbons, thus proving his infallibility? But what's so funny about that? Or isn't it supposed to be funny? But if not, why tell it as an anecdote? And if it is funny--well, I'm sorry but . . .
NEWMAN LAWLOR Cleveland, Ohio
Solution: Stupidity in TIME'S proofreading department, for which a resounding reprimand. Cardinal Gibbons was asked: "Now that you have been to the Vatican, do you still believe in the infallibility of the Pope?" The Cardinal replied: "Well, he called me Jibbons."--ED.
*Colyumist F(ranklin) P(ierce) A (dams), famed precisian, mentioned the matter to TIME in a telephone conversation.
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