Yale's Brains?

Sirs:

Harvey Gushing (p. 48, TIME, May 10) unquestionably is a "Brain Surgeon." He may be "quick-tempered," though you would hardly think it to see him entertaining his classmates at tea in his Whitney Avenue home, but he is not "Harvard's."

Four years as an undergraduate at Yale with the class of '91, marrying into a Yale family, sending his two sons to Yale and now living in New Haven, make him, first, last and all the time, Yale's.

Respecting his long sojourn in Boston, he comments to his class secretary as follows: "Finally, I have learned to face with equanimity the oft made discovery that I am an Eli--in Boston !"

E. D. RYDER

Phoenix, Ariz.

No Chips, No Errors

Sirs:

The regular perusal of your letters department at length has had the curious effect of impelling me to hazard a contribution. Which is particularly extraordinary because I have no errors to call to your attention. . . .

Are we, the people, as ridiculously touchy after all, as our letters to the editor seem to indicate? If so, it would seem that the flip tail-twisting in which TIME is wont to indulge is a distinctly beneficial antidote. It appears that the public capacity for getting insulted is expanding, and crowding out, in the process, our much-vaunted American sense of humor.

Am I, for instance, open to the accusation of heresy for having grinned . . . at your recent reference to "that occasionally tedious oldster" [TIME, May 10] ? I hardly think so. And the bristling broadside of "protests". . . .

Do we, as "devout Jews, Catholics, Protestants," or what not, wear our faith deep within us, a fundamental principle of Christian conduct and attitude, or is it merely a chip on our shoulders, to be knocked ignominiously into a cocked hat by a little chance phrase ? . . .

NORMAN T. LYON

Attorney at Law

Rochester, N. Y.

Almost 5,000

Sirs:

Correction in TIME, May 31, p. 44 first sentence, middle column--Los Angeles Junior College has almost 5,000 students, not 500.

EMERY W. HARVEY

D. C. Heath & Co., Publishers

Hollywood, Calif.

Captains Courageous

Sirs:

The following letter came to us, posted from Richmond, Va., on May 23:

"Harold T. Wilkins, Author

Captain Kidd and His Skeleton Island

Dear Sur:

We read about your story in TIME and like it very much. And we would like to join your expedition. We are capable of doing the work on a ship for instance we can run errands, shine shoes, scrub decks, we have very sharp eyes, we will have them tested, wash and wipe dishes, and can keep our eyes open --till midnight. We are not scared of anything. We are faithful till the last moment and we are good digers, we can row a boat. We are 9 years' old.

If there is anything we most bring please send us a note telling us what to bring.

Sincerely, Fred Robertson IV

Sidney Hilton Jr.

Westhampton, Va."

ARTHUR PELL

Liveright Publishing Corp.

New York City

Oil for Burns

Sirs:

In reading your story of the medical care for the victims of the Hindenburg fire [TlME, May 17], I was much impressed by the prompt response and competence shown by the medical people around Lakehurst. However, I came near shuddering as I am sure did many doctors and others whose primary interest is Medicine, to note how the burned ones were daubed with oils and grease* "carron, linseed, castor, lard."

I am anxious to know whether or not the orders for such emergency treatment actually came from a physician. Journals of medicine as well as standard surgical texts specifically advise against such application of greasy materials to second or third degree burns, even in dire emergency. Aside from some easing of the pain, the only effect this treatment could have would be harmful. Physicians know that a burned area is not greatly different from any other wound, and as such, is very easily infected by impromptu therapy from sympathetic onlookers. . . .

E. S. PALMERTON

Department of Anatomy

University of South Dakota

Vermillion, S. Dak.

Dr. Robert Buermann of the Paul Kimball Hospital at Lakewood, N. J. used tannic acid at the field until it ran out, then resorted to oil. At his hospital tannic acid treatment is standard.&151;ED.

Justice to Port Isabel

Sirs:

When the President of a country shows a fine sense of humor, that is a healthy and excellent thing. But when the people of an entire section are made to suffer from that sense of humor, justice is not being done.

In your issue of May 17, in the article about President Roosevelt's fishing on the Texas coast, you carry the report which the President sent out that all his party caught at Port Isabel was a nine-inch catfish. The inference is that tarpon fishing at Port Aransas is excellent, while at Port Isabel it is worthless. The facts are that tarpon fishing is good at both places; and the facts further are that the President did not give tarpon fishing at Port Isabel a trial.

His party arrived in the middle of the afternoon on a day when three tarpon had been caught at Port Isabel and none at Port Aransas--when weather conditions along the entire coast were unfavorable. But, by the following morning the water was in perfect shape and tarpon were there for the catching. President Roosevelt, however, sailed away at the break of day without making any effort to catch a tarpon, probably steered northward again by the Port Aransas guide who accompanied him South.

It is not our purpose to argue the relative merits of various fishing spots on the Texas coast. They are all good. It is our hope, however, that you will print this letter to correct an entirely erroneous impression that the casual reader might form of fishing on the coast of the Port Isabel-Brownsville section, so that justice may be done.

G. C. RICHARDSON

Manager

Chamber of Commerce

Brownsville, Tex.

Filene's Loans

Sirs:

I very rarely take exception to anything TIME says, but it seems to me that in your issue of May 24 you are doing an injustice to Edward A. Filene. You refer to his hobby of "talking liberalism." This, I think, is unfair. It is true that Mr. Filene does talk liberalism (in itself a remarkable thing for a man in his position), but he does a good deal more than talk.

For one thing, he has given a great deal of his time and over $1,000,000 of his money to the founding of credit unions (cooperative savings and loan groups) in America. There are over 6,000 of them today, furnishing credit at the minimum rates to 1,250,000 workers who formerly were dependent on high-rate money lenders, frequently illegal loan sharks, when they needed a loan. I share the benefits of one myself; had it not been for Filene I should not have had it. This is not his only concrete contribution to liberalism; it is simply the one with which I happen to be familiar.

Which is why I think the word talking is misleading.

JOSEPH WARREN BISHOP JR.

Madison, Wis.

No Wisecrack

Sirs:

I very much regret that in your issue of May 31, p. 60, under the heading People, that you have attributed to me, on meeting Colonel U. S. Grant at Vicksburg, so flippant a remark as "Yes, but they paid off on your granddaddy."

The occasion in question did not call for a wisecrack of this nature. I did not make it and I do not doubt that many reading the remark attributed to me, will feel that I acted in a most unbecoming and undignified manner.

JOHN C. PEMBERTON

New York City

Feminine Filmakers

Sirs:

TIME [May 10] erred in dubbing smart, capable Fanchon Simon as "cinema's only woman producer." At least four other ladies have been or are producing pictures. Pioneer feminine filmaker was Lois Weber. Frances Marion, celebrated scenariowriter, is the latest recruit. Others include Dorothy Davenport (Mrs. Wallace Reid) and the youngest and most prolific, Fanchon Royer, who manages five growing children and her own independent production company, Fanchon Royer Features.

Miss Royer (formerly Mrs. Raymond Cannon and Mrs. Jack Gallagher) was a dancer, pressagent, and actors' representative before she began producing pictures in 1927 (she was 25 then). She has since made approximately 30 pictures and is the only woman producer who owns and runs her own company, producing and financing her action-adventure pictures. Often confused in the past with Stage-Production Fanchon, now that the latter has entered pictures, Film's Fanchon Royer anticipates more confusion.

BOB LEVIN SON

Fanchon Royer Features

Hollywood, Calif.

Dick's Bird

Sirs:

The issue of TIME, May 24, contains a review of Charles Eugene Claghorn's The Mocking Bird in which credit for writing the song, Listen to the Mocking Bird, is given to the late Septimus Winner. The review does go on to state that "Sep" got the idea for his most famous song from "Whistling Dick," a Negro beggar who used to strum his guitar and whistle like a bird.

This statement about "Whistling Dick" (Richard Milburn) is very much less than adequate. Milburn was a barber who worked in his father's shop on Lombard Street in Philadelphia. He was a guitar player and a marvelous whistler, and it was he who originated the melody and at least the title of Listen to the Mocking Bird. Winner only set down the melody and arranged it after it had been played and whistled and sung over to him by Milburn. Winner may have furnished most or all of the words as published, but the life of the song springs from the melody.

Before the song was ever published Milburn used to play and whistle it at church concerts and other occasions. There is a record of his having done so at St. Thomas' Church, the colored Episcopal church in Philadelphia. But the incontrovertible proof of Milburn's part in the making of the song is shown by its title page as originally published by Winner and Shuster, under the copyright date of 1855, which reads: "Sentimental Ethiopian Ballad--Listen To The Mocking Bird--Melody by Richard Milburn.

Written and arranged by Alice Hawthorne." Winner used "Alice Hawthorne" in publishing a number of his songs. The title page of the song as published by Lee and Walker, under the copyright date of 1856, reads: "Listen To The Mocking Bird--As sung by Rose Merrifield--Written and arranged by Alice Hawthorne." . . .

JAMES WELDON JOHNSON

Fisk University

Nashville, Tenn.

Local History

Sirs:

We noted with interest the story of the death of John D. Rockefeller [TIME, May 31], especially the paragraph telling of his father. You might be interested in this bit of local Freeport history.

For a number of years there was a Dr. Levingston in Freeport who was a doctor of sorts. He was probably better-known as a hunter and fisher. He was well-known in Freeport; his clothes were of the best, money seemed to be plentiful, his diamonds were famous, notably the one he wore on his collarless shirt. His wife was a charming woman, cultured and much younger than the "Doctor."

At the time of Miss Ida Tarbell's History of the Standard Oil Company, Freeporters were amazed to see the picture of their Dr. Levingston printed [in July 1905 McClure's] as the father of John D. Rockefeller. Reporters called at the home but the Doctor was old and feeble and he refused to be interviewed.

In a year or two the Doctor was known to be very ill and when local newspaper men called they couldn't get any news. The Doctor died soon, his body was taken out of the house by night and buried or shipped away, from Freeport before any word of his death was given to the public.

After the Doctor's death his widow returned to Freeport. So far as local people know Mrs. Levingston died without revealing her husband's identity. . . .

RUTH P. HUGHES

Librarian

Historical Department

Freeport Public Library

Freeport, Ill.

Sugar or Salt

Sirs:

Your comments on my letter about the passing of TIME (May 17) have disturbed me. Let me say in no uncertain terms that I hope for TIME'S eternal survival. It came into the drabbest field of writing (news reporting) and made it the gayest. It has done the reading public an inestimable service and deserves heartfelt appreciation.

Perhaps it is all to the good if TIME'S edge is dulled a bit. For instance: my husband and a judge I know of formerly did not like your magazine because its style was too flippant (the judge's word) or "persnickety" (my husband's). Now they read it more frequently and with more relish, they say. But they like sugar on their grapefruit. I like salt. And I like the tang of the savory bons mots with which TIME seasons the news.

Of course, as I said, it is possible that TIME is as piquant as ever and that it is I who have "run down" a bit.

MARGUERITE HAMLETT

Groveland, Fla.

Perish the thought that gracious Marguerite Hamlett has run down. Let TIME writers emulate her piquancy.-- ED.

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