No Eye on Bottle
Sirs:
In your issue of Nov. 16 there appears an article on my election to Congress, a part of which surprised and considerably distressed me. You state that "he went into the campaign as a lashing, slashing Wet. He declared that he always got all the liquor he wanted and that he intended to keep on drinking whenever he chose."
It is true that I stated repeatedly during my campaign that I thought the 18th Amendment had proved a mistake and that I was therefore in favor of its repeal and pending such action I favored any reasonable modification of the enforcement act. Since my opponent had exactly the same views, needless to say the Prohibition question was not an issue in the campaign.
When I did discuss the Prohibition question I was particularly careful never to mention my personal habits or tastes as I felt very strongly they had nothing to do with the matter. I therefore cannot imagine where you secured the information on which you base your report of my declaration.
You have made me appear a somewhat blatant devil-may-care individual who keeps one eye cocked on the bottle, without much regard for law and order. This I hope is quite foreign to my nature and is not, I am sure, the opinion of my constituents.
I realize that on entering into politics one becomes somewhat of a public character and must expect to be misrepresented occasionally. Ordinarily, therefore, I would have paid no attention to your article but I have had so many protests from my friends that I have felt compelled to write you. I have been a subscriber to TIME for years and knowing the high calibre of its circulation I feel distressed at this misrepresentation. . . .
JOHN B. HOLLISTER
House of Representatives, U.S. Washington, D. C.
TIME, misinformed, regrets having misreported Congressman-elect Hollister's stand on Prohibition.--ED.
Texas' Connally
Sirs:
The undersigned, registered (poll tax) voters of Texas, ask you to give an account of Texas' junior senator, Tom Connally.
W. S. LEMLY ERNEST BAKER W. M. FUTCH A. L. LEONARD JESS O. COOPER
Dallas, Texas
The record of Senator Thomas Terry ("Tom") Connally of Texas is as follows: Born: On a big farm in McLennan County, Texas, Aug. 19, 1877.
Start-in-life: Sergeant-Major in the Spanish American War.
Career: Son of a well-to-do, politically-minded farmer who had fought for the Confederacy, he grew up on his father's plentiful acres ("right sharp of land"), went to the little red schoolhouse near Eddy. Baylor University knew him next (1896). He had just won his law degree at the University of Texas when the Spanish-American War occurred and he went trooping off with the 2nd Texas Infantry to Mobile, Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville but missed Porto Rico. Moving to Marlin, he hung out his shingle. The Law was slack. He drifted into politics, served four years in the Texas House of Representatives. In 1916 he ran for Congress in the 11th District, handshook and baby-kissed his way over six counties, surprised everybody by being nominated and elected. He reached the U.S. Capitol just in time to vote for war and then, without resigning his seat, joined the Army, served as a captain and adjutant with the 22nd Infantry of the 11th Division, again failed to get overseas. Later the House voted him his full Congressional salary during his absence. He refused to take it. Thereafter he served continuously in the House until 1928 when he defeated Senator Earle Bradford ("Ku Klux") Mayfield for the Democratic nomination and was elected to the Senate.
In Congress: Mostly regular in his Democratic votes, he leans away from his conservative Southern colleagues and toward the Western bloc of his party which frequently combines with Republican insurgency to settle major issues. An able and frequent debater, he speaks with a syrupy Southern accent. Humorous without being personal or sarcastic, he embroiders his speeches with flowery rhetoric. An example: "The President . . . is greater than any monarch on earth. The King of Spain is but a shadowy phantom of . . . power. . . . The King of Italy is but an almost inaudible echo of the royal power that once walked the streets of Rome. . . . The King of England, with all his castles, all his titles, all [his] stately pomp and ceremony . . . is little more than a painted king upon a painted throne. He is merely the husk, the shell, the gilded crust of power. . . ." He has a persuasive if not always accurate way of simplifying knotty legal questions before the Senate. Once his colleague Senator Sheppard, asking him to vote for Charles Evans Hughes for Chief Justice, declared: "He's one of the biggest Baptists in the country." Retorted Senator Connally: "I didn't know we were voting for moderator."
In House or Senate he voted for: Soldier Bonus (1924), Tax Reduction (1924, 1928), Farm Board (1929), Export Debenture (1929), 15-cruiser bill (1929), Restrictive Immigration (1924), Boulder Dam (1928), Jones ("5 & 10") Law (1929), Government operation of Muscle Shoals (1931), increased Soldier Bonus loans (1931). He voted against: Tariff (1922, 1930), Reapportionment (1929), nomination of Charles Evans Hughes for Chief Justice (1930).
He votes Dry, drinks Dry, does not agitate Prohibition.
In foreign affairs he favors the World Court, supported the London Naval Treaty.
Legislative Hobbies: Farm relief, with special emphasis on cotton. As a minority member of the Senate Finance Committee, he also gives much time and attention to fiscal legislation.
In appearance he personifies the Southwestern statesman of a past era. Full-bodied, he has slender legs and phenomenally small feet. His face is round and soft, yet handsome. On his wavy black hair, worn longish, he pulls down an oldfashioned, broad-brimmed black felt hat. His clothes are dark and a trifle tight. Black bow ties cover his collar button. An instinctive politician, he has a ready smile, a friendly chuckle, hosts of one-name friends. He is a Knight of Pythias, Son of the American Revolution, Methodist Episcopalian (South), all in good standing. He smokes cigars, chews gum and tobacco.
Outside Congress: He lives with his wife, Louise Clarkson Connally, in an old-fashioned apartment house on Connecticut Avenue. He sidesteps Washington society, chums principally with Texans and Democrats from the West. He plays no golf, but shoots duck, hunts deer, fishes. He drives a 1930 Dodge sedan which takes him back to Marlin, Tex. between Senate sessions.
Impartial Senate observers rate him thus: a pleasant, picturesque, smart-minded legislator, progressive in his votes and above the Democratic average in industry and attendance. Too new in the Senate to have much influence on his party, he is still young enough to aspire to eventual leadership. His term expires March 3, 1935--ED.
Death of Glimstead
Sirs:
In TIME, Nov. 9, there appears a letter from O. Hichens Glimstead. Spectators at future St. Mary's games will miss his light blue golf hose. His death last Friday, so soon after breaking into print, was a great shock to the fans on the coast. . . .
C. M. C.
San Francisco, Calif.
Dr. Glimstead, trainer of St. Mary's College (Calif.) football teams (he trained Illinois and Notre Dame teams before moving west for his health), suffered from chronic asthma, result of War gassing. Though warned that crossing the mountains might kill him, he insisted on accompanying his team on its eastern trips. He was continually doubled up on the field benches with coughing fits but lighthearted, debonair in between, a constant example of courage. Long before asthma killed him he had become a tradition at St. Mary's.--ED.
Watching for a Duke
Sirs:
We have watched all avenues of social acclaim for the appearance of H. I. H. Dmitri, Grand Duke of Russia, who you stated in TIME, Oct. 12, was booked on the S. S. Ile de France, for the U. S., sailing Oct. 16, same time Premier Laval came over. A few club women of this section desire the Romanov's whereabouts explained. We have been reading Grand Duchess Marie's Education of a Princess this summer, and cannot shake off the sensation of being sort o' responsible for her brother's comfortable, uneclipsed safety. That the sparkling Mlle Laval had not spied him on board was readily surmised by accurate accounts of the landing of the Premier and his daughter. . . .
MRS. L. MAYE ROBINSON Milford, Utah
Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovitch arrived in New York Nov. 12 on S. S. Ile de France. With him were his wife, Princess Iljinski (Audrey Emery of New York) and their small son Paul.-- ED.
Arsenal Subscription Sirs:
A New York subscription agency writes: "We sent you a subscription for The Arsenal of the Three Eastern Provinces, East Suburb, Mukden, China. Owing to the war situation created by the Japanese soldiers this subscription is to be canceled."
Is it our duty to forward the document to Secretary of State Henry Lewis Stimson, with carbon copy for Geneva? Or should we leave the diplomatists to their own devices in finding out who started the trouble in Manchuria?
ARTHUR H. Dix Manager Reader Service Dept.
The Iron Age New York City
Camden, N.J.
Sirs:
In your issue of Nov. 16, p. 14, col. 1, under a paragraph entitled "New Jersey" you state, "A vigilance committee of 250 Democratic lawyers went to bawdy Camden."
I believe that you are aware of the meaning of the word "bawdy" and would therefore hesitate to use it in connection with almost any article that might appear in your magazine, and that you would absolutely forbid its use in connection with an individual, organization or community unless it was proven through official court action that that individual, organization or community was obscene, indecent and engaged in the operation of a brothel--to all of which unpleasantries the meaning of the word bawdy is exclusively confined, according to dictionary definition.
I therefore assume that this word appeared in your magazine in connection with Camden--the home of 118,700 honorable and respectable mothers, daughters and sisters as well as fathers, sons and brothers-- as a result of a grievous oversight on the part of your proofreaders and your editorial staff.
I feel that the error is so serious, however, that it warrants a public retraction and there fore sincerely trust that you will publish an emphatic retraction in your first issue that goes to press following the receipt of this letter.
Unfortunately, no retraction can undo the incalculable harm, resulting from an error of this sort-- but perhaps a few articles in your mag azine concerning the fact that Camden has more men working today in her 237 diversified indus trial plants than were working in those same plants in 1928, might serve to demonstrate to your readers that this city has some very credit able features.
The fact also that no one in this city will go improperly fed or clothed during the coming winter due to a highly developed system of relief is another thing which might help to give a truer picture of the real Camden. . . .
I might continue indefinitely, recounting other admirable features of this city, but we are confident that you will take immediate steps to rectify your error without further suggestions on our part.
WATSON SHALLCROSS
President
Chamber of Commerce Camden, N.J.
All praise to Camden, N.J. for containing the factories of RCA-Victor Co., Campbell Soup Co., Armstrong Cork Co., Jantzen Knitting Mills, New York Shipbuilding Co., Congoleum-Nairn Inc. et al., and the house in which Poet Walt Whitman died (1892).--ED.
Boy Scouts & Capone
Sirs:
In your issue of Oct. 12 you mentioned that Boy Scouts on an occasion several weeks ago followed Al Capone from the field at the Northwestern-Nebraska football game where he was reported to have been booed by the Scouts. Since this original item was published which doubtless arose from a United Press news dispatch, we have made careful inquiry. The sum of the evidence from responsible Scout officials in Chicago and Evanston is to the effect that the Boy Scouts were seated on the opposite side of the Field from Capone; they were there as guests of Northwestern and did not participate in any way in this demonstration which was apparently directed against him.
We called the attention of newspapers and news bureaus which published this article to the fact which seems apparent, that an enthusiastic reporter without stopping to investigate thoroughly felt that the presence of Boy Scouts in the gathering which followed Capone, did add color to the picture, and so placed them there. A great deal of inconvenience has been caused us by the publication of the statement generally.
FRANK N. ROBINSON National Director of Publicity Boy Scouts of America New York City
The Evanston correspondent of the United Press, an eye witness, sticks to his story.--ED.
Smart Quarterback Miranda
Sirs:
You quote me in your Nov. 16 issue as saying Mexican football players were "just too darned polite." I said nothing of the sort. This is the third instance of newspapers faking opinions from me on football in Mexico.
In all the football I've witnessed, I've never seen fellows fight to the last ditch against such great odds as my boys do.
To other corrections: It is the University of Mexico, not "Mexico City," and the reason we have no huddle is that my quarterback. Ernesto Miranda, is smart enough to call signals while looking over the other team.
FREDERICK J. LINEHAN Yale, 1931 University of Mexico Mexico City, Mexico
Eight-Time Governor Sirs:
In your issue of Nov. 16, p. 14. New Jersey, you say: "Outcome was a whopping victory for Arthur Harry Moore, 52, Democratic nominee for Governor. He was the third man in the State's long history to be twice elected Governor."
My great-great-grandfather, Major Richaiv. Howell, was Governor of New Jersey eight consecutive [one-year] terms [1793-1801]. He is also the grandfather of Mrs. Jefferson Davis, nee Varina Howell.
HOWELL MORGAN
Shreveport, La.
Another more-than-onetime New Jersey governor: Joel Parker (1863-66; 1872-75). Still another: Leon Abbett (1884-87; 1890-93).--ED.
This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.