Belly Bumpers

Sirs: The five-plane squadron which is to operate from the Akron is in the process of being organized. From the manner in which we must maneuver, both in landing and taking off--or more correctly in hooking on and releasing--I fear that we will be dubbed as a squadron, "THE BELLY BUMPERS." We are considering at present the Pilot Fish for an insignia--which if adopted, I am sure will hr.sten the above christening. In order, therefore, to prevent our being caught napping, and to lend dignity to a most undignified sobriquet, I feel that a translation printed in Latin beneath the insignia would be the answer. The zizzing of TIME'S razor blade smartness prompts me to apply to you for suggestions as to the best manner in which to phrase Belly Bumpers in Latin. . . .

D. W. HARRIGAN Lieut. U. S. Naval Air Station Lakehurst, N. J.

A literally translated motto would be: Ventrem semper impingentes (Those always bumping the belly). An omnibus noun would be Ventrimpactors. The Latin name of the pilot fish is Naucrates ductor.--ED.

Youngster Babson

Sirs:

Mother and I (to protect our future chances) seriously object to your reference to my father on p. 22 of the April 20 issue as the "Elderly Economist Roger Babson."

Father is only 56 years of age; he spends from one to two hours each day in the saddle; and is a great walker and sometimes even behaves like an irresponsible young boy! This winter I visited him for a few days in Florida when he and Mr. S. Z. Mitchel of Electric Bond & Share fame routed me out of bed at 4:30 a. m. to hunt foxes!

I can also add that father is very fond of TIME. He is always holding up your style of writing as a standard for his own editors and statisticians to follow.

EDITH BABSON WEBBER Wellesley Hills, Mass.

Oldfield in Joplin

Sirs:

Names make news; contrasts color copy.

Barney Oldfield, king bee of the speedway buzz wagons, drove his Green Dragon around and around a dirt track at Barbee's Park in South Joplin. Clouds of choking dust failed to strangle cheers of the thousands (correct) in an inadequate frame grandstand and lining the track. An exhibition, Speedster Oldfield raced only against time. That was in 1906.

Last week Barney Oldfield, onetime auto-racer, revisited Joplin. Driving a small standard coupe with its bargain price painted cheaply on the side, he raced neither against time nor more vulnerable competition, a kind of motorized sandwichman. Arriving at the local agency of the motorcar manufacturer, he was greeted by two auto salesmen and two small boys, sons of employes of the firm. Their requests for Oldfield autographs were the only echo of the clamoring crowd of 25 years ago.

Efforts of the famous driver to park his short-wheelbase car parallel to curb provided amusement. Thrice he made the attempt, once missing the proper angle altogether, second time clashing bumpers with car in rear and third time climbing the curb. Provoked, he backed the rear wheels up to the curb, left front protrude into line of traffic.

The ex-great one recalled other excursions with the Green Dragon. . . . He gnawed his cigar stub meditatively. . . .

Interesting was his comment on driving.

"I still like speed," averred Mr. Oldfield, "but the highway is no place for it. A man should consider the safety of others. And you can get anywhere you're going soon enough if you'll hit a reasonable speed, say 60 or 65."

ROBERT L. HUTCHISON Joplin, Mo.

Cincinnati's Fiend

Sirs:

I read your magazine every week. I am a business woman of mature years and yesterday I read an article "Atrocity" on p. 40, April 20. I wish you would print the facts of the fiend being found and properly punished, which in my estimation deserves the same treatment he gave the poor dog. I might add that I could do the punishing myself, I believe, and not feel a qualm at his suffering. As you can understand I am fond of dogs, have seen so much of their intelligence and this treatment of a dog, no matter what kind or where, has made me wish to know that the party responsible is caught and not given a fine, but a severe punishment, one that will make him cringe.

Please find out the facts and let us know the result. It seems as though there must have been more than one party. Could it have been boys?

MRS. M. V. DE ROQUELAINE Baltimore, Md.

If & when Cincinnati's fiend, who hung a dog over a bonfire, is apprehended and punished, TIME will tell.--ED. Whale Margarine Sirs:

With reference to Mr. George F. Enoch's letter which appeared in your April 13 issue:

Can TIME tell me the different companies that use whale fat as a base for margarine?

E. S. SENRAC St. Augustine, Fla.

Whale fat is not used in the U. S. as a base for margarine. But Scandinavian and German margarines contain it. Hydrogenated, snowy white, in the U. S. it goes into Procter & Gamble's "Chipso" and "P & G" naphtha soap. Into New York Harbor last fortnight steamed the Sir James Clark Ross with oil from 1,444 whales for Procter & Gamble.

Whalers and whale-users fear extinction of their raw material. This year yielded a catch so great (650,000 long tons) that the oil and fat market is glutted. By agreement of the chief whaling companies, there will be no more whaling until the end of 1932.--ED.

Primer

Sirs:

We have a frightful confession to make. Through a lack of coordination between our Art Department and the engraver, the credit line to TIME was omitted from the end paper maps of New Russia's Primer, as you will see from the copy which is on its way to you.

We feel particularly contrite for the reason that TIME gave us permission to reproduce this map without charge.

The error will, of course, be corrected in the next printing, but meanwhile, I hasten to send you our apologies.

R. N. LlNSCOTT Houghton Mifflin Co. New York City

Apology accepted. Penned by a Soviet engineer for Russian children, Houghton Mifflin's easy-reading, semi-humorous story of the Five-Year Plan now appears in English, illustrated with the same drawings as the edition taught today in Soviet schools ($1.75).--ED. Dutch Stories Sirs: Thank you for squibs Netherlandish: "Waterier Prize" (Peace); "Sir Henry Deterding" (Oil); "Dutch Empire" (Gov. Gen. Davis' East Indian jaunt); "Hollandish Opening" (Capa-blanca's chess).

Could you tell me exactly whose "theory" you refute ... to wit: "that only three kinds of Dutch stories are news (bursting dikes, sly yarns of the fat Prince Consort, heartthrobs about Crown Princess Juliana)." . . .

JOHN S. BLEECKER JR. Danbury, Conn. Compass Boy

Sirs:

TIME'S picture of the "Compass Boy" (April 20) was unbeatable--would that we scientists could imitate TIME'S lively reporting--but it gives two wrong impressions that are worth correcting, 1) When blind-folded and revolved in a chair the "Compass Boy" lost his sense of direction before he became dizzy. 2) His orientation is carried out, I believe, entirely visually; he gets little or no assistance from auditory, olfactory, or vestibular apparatus.

HARRY R. DESILVA University of Kansas Lawrence, Kans.

Sirs:

In reference to "Compass Boy," TIME, April 20, Science; it may interest Dr. DeSilva to know that the natives of Madagascar (where I recently spent several years), having no word for ''right" and "left" must say, "hand me that gourd to the northwest of you--pass me that pot to the southeast of you." Thus through many generations they have developed an uncanny sense of direction. After hours of night marching over ridges, down ravines, through swamps, I have seen my porters arrive at a strange village, in a strange neighborhood, squat down to cook their rice and manioc, and immediately begin their "hand me . . . pass me." Neither the man requesting the service nor the other man ever hesitated--he knew. At such times I have checked their directions with a pocket compass, found them correct, sent them off into gales of jeering laughter by thus doubting their sense of direction and admitting my own lack of it. . . .

A. B. WILLIAMS JR. Washington, D. C.

Dipsey

Sirs:

Apropos the Sir Hubert Wilkins-Ellsworth Expedition to the North Pole (TIME, March 23), mention has not been made of The Great Stone of Sardis written in 1891 by Frank Richard Stockton, journalist and literateur (1834-1902).

Herein are humorously narrated the trials and tribulations of a mixed party journeying to the North Pole in a submarine. Many mechanical devices, such as have been perfected expressly for the Nautilus were theoretically incorporated in Stockton's Dipsey. . . .

JOHN M. Fox Seattle, Wash.

Author Stockton's Dipsey crawled under icebergs to the Pole in 1947. It was equipped with hydraulic thermometer, lead sounding instruments, ascension shells to blast its way to the surface if necessary. Electric gills fed air to its 13 occupants (only one was a woman). A telegraph cable paid out behind from a drum to keep the Dipsey in touch with its Greenland base. By sheer "spellin' book navigation," the Pole was reached and buoyed with a seven-starred flag (by 1947 the U. S. had joined a hegemony of North and Central American nations). Leaving at the Pole the last whale in the world (all others had died by 1935) the Dipsey blasted its way out of the Arctic, received a hullabaloo welcome from the newshawks of 1947.--ED.

Paper Challengers

Sirs:

We were very much interested in reading the article on p. 59 of your April 13 issue, under the caption, "Monopoly Challenge," regarding the effort in the cigaret tissue field of Messrs. William and Louis Schweitzer.

It so happens that C. H. Dexter & Sons Inc. are in exactly the same field of paper manufacture as the Schweitzer firm. . . .

We have exactly the same sort of equipment as the other firm, and are also in a position to make cigaret tissue upon a moment's notice.

. . . We believe that this article is rather misleading to the public, as it would tend to give the impression that, the Schweitzer mill is the only mill equipped to make cigaret tissue, when as a matter of fact, there are three in this country; namely, Smith Paper Co., Lee, Mass., Schweitzer and ourselves. All three of these mills for several years past have been producing identical grades of paper. . . .

DEXTER D. COFFIN Vice President C. H. Dexter & Sons, Inc. Windsor Locks, Conn.

Stronger Than Horseradish

Sirs:

. . . You use one eight-letter word and apply it to a real War veteran in your description of Col. Carl Estes which could have been omitted and pleased admirers of good taste (TIME, April 13). You say he is crippled. Yes, and no. German shells tore him to pieces and he has gone through probably more hospitals in search of benefits to his general health than any other man. Crippled? Yes, a little physically, but stronger than horseradish and more healthy than a Missouri mule when it comes to mentality.

So you see the word did gripe us Texans, who know Carl Estes. A young man with guts enough to stand out alone and tell the oil monopoly to pay a call to the devil's residence. . . .

OSWIN K. KING Dallas, Texas

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