Monday, Nov. 07, 1932

Albert de Rethy

Sirs:

I was very pleased to find under the caption People of your Sept. 19 issue the news of King Albert of the Belgians having climbed the Crozzon di Brenta in the Brenta dolomites. I saw the signature of the famed royal mountaineer in the book which was deposited on the top of the Crozzon in 1926, as I was next to climb this beautiful rock Aug. 29. His signature however was a puzzle to me. It reads: Albert de Rethy.

Would TIME, who knows everything, be kind enough to tell me the meaning of it?

G. A. MEYER

Berlin, Germany

"Albert de Rethy," a nom de guerre used also by Belgium's Prince Charles when he was in the U. S. last year, is apparently a pure invention of King Albert's, signifying nothing special.--ED.

Mother Katherine's College

Sirs:

In your edition of Oct. 24. on p. 34 there is an excellent story concerning Rev. Mother Katherine (Drexel) and Xavier University. Unfortunately, the following errors have crept in.

The assertion that "no Protestants are admitted to Xavier University" is entirely wrong: the Institution is non-sectarian and no preference is shown to persons having any particular religious affiliations. Students are welcomed without regard to their religious beliefs.

Neither Rev. Mother Katherine nor I have "promised Xavier an eventual $5,000,000." The Institution has no endowment except the endowment formed by the gratuitous services of the Religious teachers.

While the capacity of the Institution is 500 students the present enrolment is only 280 and not 500 as stated in the article.

It is of much concern to Rev. Mother Katherine and to me that the impression created in the minds of your readers by these statements be corrected and anything you can do to bring this about will be very much appreciated.

LOUISE DREXEL MORRELL

Philadelphia, Pa.

Sirs;

If curricula of liberal arts colleges for Negroes may be laughed at with the old chestnut, "Is Yo Did Yo Greek Yit?", the equally antiquated studies of "classical'' colleges for whites in the South might lead one to overhear a remark of this sort: "Ain't you-all done that thar Latting yit?"

It ill behooves white Louisianians to forget that in 1860 no Negro could be taught to read, write, figure, in that State, under rigid statutory law; that in 1930 the State of Louisiana through its public schools paid $40.64 to educate each white, $7.84 for each black child. Remembering this disgraceful disparity in providing equal opportunity for all its children, let them also remember the great tax-supported State university at Baton Rouge, for whites only, and the magnificent new Medical School built and supported in New Orleans by State Tax funds, where no Negro can enter.

No Negro need feel ashamed of liberal arts colleges for the race. . . . The writer, a Protestant Negro, ineligible to attend or teach at New Orleans' Xavier (TIME, Oct. 24), invokes Protestant blessings on the enterprise, thanks God for Mother Katherine Drexel whose Catholic philanthropy promises to give Louisiana Negroes what their State refuses to give.

HORACE M. BOND Nashville, Tenn.

Southern Colleges

Sirs:

In your interesting article (Oct. 24) describing Xavier University, first U. S. Negro Catholic college, New Orleans, appears the statement: "Many a white Southern college would look shabby beside Xavier, with its solid copper gutters, chromium equipment in the laboratory . . ." etc., etc.

No doubt many of your Southern readers will resent this implication that "Southern white" colleges are not comparable physically to other U. S. colleges. Having visited the majority of the colleges and universities in 42 States, including every college and university in the South, I would rank the appearance, if not the cost, of Southern white colleges against those of other sections of the U. S. Duke University, Durham, N. C., for instance, has the finest single college quadrangle in the world. Rollins College, Winter Park, Fla., certainly, is as beautiful as any in the U. S. The architecture of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Va., surpasses any in the country; likewise the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, is comparable to any. The Universities of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia have buildings and grounds which could scarcely be finer in cultural and historic atmosphere. The College of Charleston (S. C.) is without a peer among city colleges. My own alma mater, the University of the South (the Oxford of America) at Sewanee, Tenn., with its 10,000-acre campus, the largest in the U. S.. yet one of the smallest colleges (30 men), with its Magdalen College Tower and other Gothic buildings, can be ranked with Yale's Harkness Tower. The younger Southern colleges such as Florida. Tennessee, Kentucky, are not behind others of their age in modern and adequate buildings, equipment, etc.

CHARLES EDWARD THOMAS

Indianapolis, Ind.

Aristocratic Tongue

Sirs:

"Certain weird sounds issuing from the rostrum of the Assembly of the League of Nations last week were only President Eamon de Valera opening the session with these words in Gaelic: . . ."--from TIME, Oct. 10. B'fheidir go mba chliste dhuit an meid seo thuas a scriobhadh agus b'fheidir narbh e. Pe sceal e ni fhuil ann acht tuairim TIME agus ar ndoigh ni thigeann TIME teanga uasal na hEireann.

H. DOYLS

Norwich, Conn.

Translation: "Perhaps you thought it clever to write such a remark, or perhaps not. However, it is only TIME'S opinion, and it is certain that TIME does not understand the aristocratic tongue of Erin." --ED.

Chicago Charrette

Sirs: Every one who attended, or had first-hand knowledge of the Latin Quarter Fete given by the Architects of Chicago, was disappointed in your article "Fete Charrette" (TIME, Oct. 10). To do something creatively important enough to receive TIME'S interest is an honor. To do something important, to receive the interest of TIME'S correspondent, to give him all the facts and then to have only the facetious angle presented by the editors, is disappointing.

The architectural profession is striving to carry on, to believe in beauty, and to eat during a period of no building. The Architects of Chicago, having no outlet through steel and stone and brick, created with ideas and canvas and paint, a Latin Quarter Fete. We employed 75 draftsmen, many of whom had been out of work for months. Many of these men were Beaux Arts men--some of them Paris Prize men. They worked creatively and happily, for a small daily wage, in order that a greater number might be employed. These men created the loveliest scene ever given in Chicago, one, we are told (not to be comparative but to give a stamp of excellence) that equalled any Beaux Arts Ball ever given in New York in the heyday of lavish prosperity.

We paid our men $3,500 in wages. We are putting $4,500 in the bank to go toward other creative work in which these men will share. We made something out of nothing and gave pleasure and confidence during a time of fear and criticism. . . . A nude model in an atelier [was] only a small incident in creating the scene. . . .

GEO. L. DICKSON Chicago, Ill.

10,000 Post-Mortems

Sirs:

Anent the recent discussion in TIME as to who is the post-mortem champion of the U. S. (TIME, Oct. 17), I have been waiting for someone to nominate Dr. Adolphus Berger, post-mortem surgeon for the County of San Francisco.

Testifying here recently at a manslaughter trial, Dr. Berger declared he had, within the past five and one-half years, conducted "more than 10,000 post-mortems."

Astounded, the defense attorney asked Dr. Berger: "Do you know how many that means you have averaged for each day in that period?"

"Yes." replied Dr. Berger unabashed, "more than five."

CHARLES GLEESON

Willows, Calif.

Stamps Not Queer

Sirs:

In your issue of Oct. 17, you have a note "Swap" in the Miscellany column regarding the ad in Stamps of one Carl Percy wanting to swap a nine-room house for a stamp collection.

As a stamp collector, I wish to state that the note in itself is all right, but putting it in the "Miscellany" column is where I think you are wrong. For, as all good TIMERS know, that column is made up of what one might term queer happenings, and there is nothing "queer" about that. Many a collector would swap A1 (?) stocks and bonds or real estate for good stamps, knowing their investment would be safer.

GORDON J. CAMPBELL

Pasadena, Calif.

Milker May's Station

Sirs:

In your TIME Magazine, Oct. 17 issue, p. 26, there appeared a picture and accompanying article concerning Secretary of Agriculture Arthur M. Hyde and myself in a recent milking contest staged here at Shenandoah, Iowa.

We wish to correct a statement in this article which has caused considerable comment in this territory. This article made the following statement: "Secretary of Agriculture Arthur Mastick Hyde, who said he had not milked a cow for 20 years, lost a milking contest in Shenandoah, Iowa to Earl May, operator of radio station KFNF, owned by Henry ('Himself') Field, Republican nominee for Senator."

The Earl E. May Seed & Nursery Co. and the Henry Field Co. are two distinctly different organizations here at Shenandoah, Iowa. The Henry Field Co. own and operate radio station KFNF, while the Earl E. May Seed & Nursery Co. own and operate radio station KMA. Mistakes of this nature are quite common among people not within a listening radio radius of Shenandoah, due to the fact that Shenandoah has more radio stations per capita than any other city in the U. S. Shenandoah has a population of 6,600.

Secretary of Agriculture Arthur M. Hyde was one of our leading speakers during our recent Seventh Annual Fall Jubilee, which brings to Shenandoah thousands and thousands of people who come to view the extensive horticultural and agricultural exhibits as well as to partake of the pancakes and "trimmings'" which are served complimentary to our radio visitors at this time. This annual affair was first staged in the fall of 1926 after I had won the Radio Digest Gold Cup award as the world's most popular radio announcer, with the largest vote ever polled in any previous contests.

. . . Incidentally, I was president of the American Association of Nurserymen in 1926--

EARL E. MAY

President & Manager Earl E. May Seed & Nursery Co. Shenandoah, Iowa

Rex's Fountains

Sirs:

In your issue of Oct. 10 under the subject of "S. S. Rex'' you quote Giulio Gatti-Casazza ". . . every piece of equipment on the S. S. Rex was made in Italy." There are two soda fountains manufactured by the Russ Soda Fountain of Cleveland, Ohio--one each installed in the two first-class bars on the S. S. Rex.

R. K. MERRITT

Russ Soda Fountain Co. Cleveland, Ohio

Self-Conscious

Sirs:

After reading your magazine a year, I want to inform you, gentlemen, that I'm about ready for a psychopathic specialist. All I can think of, and all I can see, are people who are pigeontoed, knock-kneed, potbellied, big-chinned, beak-nosed, toe-headed, frog-headed, pinheaded, mouse-faced, horse-faced, hawk-faced, hatchet-faced, and Huey-long-faced. I feel self-conscious when I look at my own wife and child. I worry as to what animalistic and puppet-istic characteristics I have. . . .

ED DAVIS

Boulder, Colo.

Burch, Bunch & Burden

Sirs:

Is there any way to call the attention of the authors of fiction to an obsession that often destroys the readability of their stories?

Similarity of names is confusing. Your review of William Faulkner's "Nigger in a Woodpile," (Oct. 17) shows three characters Lucas Burch Byron Bunch Miss Burden

whose names all begin with Bu and two end in ch, leaving but one letter different in the names of the latter. The first and last of the three have the first three letters, Bur, the same.

This is not a single instance. Similarity of names appears in at least one out of four books that I read. . . .

GOLDWIN GOLDSMITH

Austin, Texas

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