Aide Vernou

Sirs: Mention was made recently in TIME that Capt. Vernou is now aide to the President (TiME, May 30). For personal reasons I would like to know the parentage of Capt. Vernou. May Vernou, a daughter of Capt. Vernou of the 19th U. S. Infantry, was a schoolmate of mine in Galveston, Tex., in the '80's. She married an officer of the U. S. Army, whose name I do not recall, and died not long afterwards. As a subscriber in good standing would appreciate a TIME pencil, as mentioned in the issue of June 13, p. 2. MRS. GEORGE WILLRICH

La Grange, Tex.

Capt. Walter Newhall Vernou, U. S. N.. new White House aide, is the son of Capt. Charles A. Vernou, 19th Infantry, U. S. A. He was born at Fort Larnard, Kan. Feb. 10, 1878, appointed to the Naval Academy from Michigan in 1897.--ED. Original Ricks Sirs:

And so you have joined the army of those who would hang the identity of "Cappy Ricks" on the late Capt. Robert Dollar (TIME, May 23). We who have a personal recollection of the business life of Peter B. Kyne before he ever started to write know better.

"Cappy Ricks" is a composite character embracing the exploits of two men. One of these, John Dolbeer, long dead, was a New Hampshire Yankee. The other, Capt. A. M. Simpson, died not long ago, well into the go's. He was a Maine Yankee. Both of them were astonishingly shrewd lumbermill operators and vessel owners, and neither of them ever took a bad dime. . . .

Kyne began life as a sort of underclerk with the San Francisco headquarters of Dolbeer & Carson. John Dolbeer's only son died in his 'teens and Dolbeer took a lasting fancy to Kyne. Dolbeer encouraged him in every manner. When success came to Kyne, Dolbeer rejoiced: when Dolbeer died, a millionaire, Kyne was handsomely remembered in the will. Dolbeer was a markedly strong figure in the business life of his day, and when Kyne writes of redwood, you may depend on it that he has Dolbeer in mind.

Of Capt. A. M. Simpson there are innumerable stories extant in San Francisco's lumber and shipping world. In his way he was as striking a figure as Dolbeer. When Kyne tells about the manipulations of "Cappy Ricks'' in the pine business, chalk down a story about A. M. Simpson.

This is no disparagement of the late Capt. Robert Dollar, a wire-edged Scotch trader if there ever was one. Having known all three men I have often wondered what would have happened if they had engaged in a tripartite deal and who would have brought in the bacon. A venturesome bookmaker might have laid odds at 21/2 to i and take your pick. My money would have gone down on Dolbeer, with many mental reservations.

R. D. JOHNSTONS

San Francisco, Calif.

Peter B. Kyne explains that Cappy Ricks, a universal type, is compounded of many an oldtime snipping man of the old school. During his nine years in the wholesale lumber industry, he met them all. They were much alike and by now nearly all gone. The adventures of Capt. Dollar, as well as Capt. Simpson and John Dolbeer, also contributed to Cappy Ricks. Author Kyne "supposes" that the kind, wise, philosophic side of Ricks is Dolbeer. Capt. Simpson ("never make a contract without an if in it") was a "character" about whom there were many stories current and who tried to get Kyne to come and work for him. For Author Kyne's novelette Ireland Uber Alles, Capt. Dollar provided the story. He called Kyne to his office one day, said, "Skipper, I've got a story that might interest you," proceeded in his thick Scotch accent to tell of a smart plot involving the Dollar interests with the German Pacific Fleet during the War. Capt. Dolbeer left Kyne $5,000; his partner, Carson, left Kyne $1,000.--ED. Ouoter McNamee Sirs:

To keep his facts straight Graham McNamee evidently went to the Republican National Convention equipped with a copy of TIME.

Probably you noticed that this morning, while forecasting the day's activities in Chicago, Mr. McNamee quoted TIME'S description of Joseph L. Scott (TIME, June 6) from "Lawyer Scott was not selected casually" to "New York and Massachusetts, with strong Roman Catholic sidewalk votes, are States doubtful for Hoover."

A. W. ROGERS Alsted, N. H.

"Too Good"

Sirs: We were approving the annual requisitions for the school needs and I noticed that TIME was not on the list of magazines ordered. I enquired of the Superintendent why TIME was not included. He answered that because it was too good it was not included. Pressed for the reason he said: "The scholars used it too much for oral English, they copied excerpts and they were curt, clear and complete; they did not have to study out anything, it was all there, thereby saving them from studying.'' They placed another magazine-- in TIME'S place. -- Literary Digest. FREDERICK G. THOMAS

President of Board of Education Ticonderoga, N. Y.

Short Wave Marching

Sirs:

We have just received your very welcome news of the return of TIME to the air. Many thanks for your notification.

Quite probably I am mistaken (hope I am), but I cannot somehow place the Columbia Broadcasting System on any of our good short-wave stations. Ma)' I ask if you have made some arrangement to cover the short-wave audience?

Of course you know what I am now going to say, as well as or better than I do, but every added voice swells a chorus, so please read on. Your most appreciative public is not in the good old U. S. A. Your magazine is reaching out every year to wider and more distant readers-- and these readers are not only the exiled or wandering Americans but the English-speaking and English-reading Latin Americans as well. And these are legions uncounted. Why not allow your splendid broadcasts to advance and increase your circulation in this field--by no means a small field?-Short-wave has almost completely replaced long-wave reception in these latitudes and all south of Cuba, and this includes the millions of Mexico and Central and South America. Static and overlapping drool as bad as static on the long-wave, coupled with constantly improving emission from such short-wave stations as the General Electric (the best) from WXAL or the Westinghouse stations from Bound Brook, N. J., and KDKA at Pittsburgh, have thrown the old long-wave sets into discard except where short-wave attachments can be used. Even Europe recognizes this, and now with Madrid, Spain, on the air with beautiful transmission every night, thousands upon thousands of short-wave sets are going into the Spanish-speaking homes, where some one almost invariably also understands English. Please do not forget us or overlook this ever-increasing audience. And kindly advise me if a short-wave hook-up is included. R. G. HAINES

Bayamo, Cuba

"The March of Time" will go out over the short waves from Station WXAU (New York) and Station WXAU (Philadelphia). With atmospheric conditions right, these stations (both Columbia) are heard all over the world. Columbia is now working on a new transmitter to eliminate further the atmospheric factor.--ED. Minneapolis & the Bible

Sirs: Your reference to the St. Paul-Minneapolis quip of changing name of twin cities to Minnehaha--"Minnie" for Minneapolis and "Haha"' for St. Paul (TIME, June 13) reminds one of another time-honored quip of the Bible salesman who found a Minneapolitan who had never read the Bible so loaned him a copy. Calling later, he found the gentleman had read the Bible but did not like it because of constant references to St. Paul and no mention of Minneapolis. CHARLES EDWARD THOMAS

Ridgeway, S. C.

"Liquor Drinkers of America"

Sirs: The most valid and puissant argument that I have knowledge of, for the retention of the 18th amendment in our constitution was that advanced by the Hon. Jack Bradford, prominent lawyer and planter of Itta Bena, Miss, (a so-called arid State) in a speech yesterday delivered on the Jones Fedric Plantation at the annual squirrel stew. Guests were the important cotton planters of this Mississippi Delta section. Applause was gusty. For the information of your readers, I quote the speech [in part]: ". . . Taxation is destroying our nation. We have been taxed in every way that the ingenuity of our politicians can conceive. We are taxed when we own a thing, and when we sell it, when we buy, and when we pay, when we ride and when we walk, and in every other imaginable way we are being taxed until the burden has become unbearable. "There is only one commodity under God's high heaven which is free of tax at this time, and sells at reasonable prices, a commodity that took twelve years of scientific effort and experiment in studying the fine points of production. Gentlemen, 1 refer to CORN LIQUOR. And now, as a crowning infamy, our politicians want to repeal the 18th amendment and then place an enormous and confiscatory tax on liquor, thus bringing about our complete enslavement. "The time for action is here when our government attempts to step in and forbid the manufacture and sale, unless we pay a tax, of the last and only joy-giving commodity that our country affords. "Let us not give up the ship as long as it will float. We must have some freedom left. Let us stand by and uphold and support the 'noble experiment,'--the 18th amendment--for through the adoption of that law. we have worked out among ourselves a substitute for bonded liquor that far excels in every degree and in every manner, both in taste and effect, that which was dispensed prior to the enactment of that amendment. "I therefore call upon you and the hard-liquor drinkers of these United States to join me in an organization to be known as the 'Liquor Drinkers of America,' that we get together immediately and act at once before it is too late. All are eligible as members who drink at any time any of the following: Corn liquor, rye, barley, white mule, gin, moonshine, or any of the other excellent brands. . . ." It is reported to me that Mr. Bradford's organization has had unprecedented growth. . . . NELSON T. LEVINGS

Moorhead, Miss.

"No Beautifying Drinks"

Sirs: If you think, for a moment, that I don't like your very excellent paper, TIME, you never made a greater mistake. It is, without any exception, the very best weekly periodical in the whole world, and, as such, the best value for the money. When I have read it I send it on to my son in India, who is as great an admirer of it as I myself. There is only one objection I have to it: that is, the pictures of the American men & women which appear in its columns from time to time. They--especially the women--are the most repulsively vulgar-looking people I have ever seen in print. And I have come to the conclusion that the primary cause of their very hideous appearance lies in the fact that you have no good, healthy, beautifying drinks in America, and you wilfully prevent men from making proper use of the most glorious and beautiful produce of God's earth, namely, the vine. You could produce in America champagne which would be superior, to the best in Rhine, Burgundy better than that of Macon and of Bordeaux the best in the world. And yet you let yourselves be bullied and bulldozed by cranks and faddists and narrow-minded bigots. . . . I have ordered my bankers (Barclay's Bank, Aldershot) to send you five dollars. And I beg of you to accept my sincere apologies for not attending to this matter before: but I have been extremely busy, and I shall not forget it again. DR. FITZGERALD LEE, M. A.

Fleet, Aldershot, England

Banjo-Eyed

Sirs:

In TIME (Letters, June 20) Mr. Albert Hilliard of Nevada questions the reference to my husband as "banjo-eyed Norman Klein" in your issue of May 23, wonders if the epithet angers Mr. Klein as it does Moon Mullins.

I haven't noticed it if it has. I gave him the nickname because, like many a newspaperman, he assumes an expression of innocent astonishment when caught in some particularly outrageous roguery. And they are banjo-like. He indited his first novel. No! No.' The Woman! to me thus: "To Dort." Actually he calls me "Dorit Biskit." Philosophic, I take it as a tribute to my mild feats at biscuit-shooting, voice no anger. . .

DOROTHY KLEIN

Westport, Conn.

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