Historian v. Histories

SIRS:

MUCH OBLIGED FOR KIND REVIEW NORTHWEST PASSAGE [TIME, July 5] BUT WILL ALSO NEED WHOLESALE RATES ON BOMBPROOF SHELTERS UNLESS I CAN PERSUADE YOU TO SPEAK A FEW MORE WORDS IN MY BEHALF TO OUTRAGED HISTORIANS. YOU QUOTED ME AS SAYING NO COMPREHENSIVE PICTURE OF ANYTHING COULD BE OBTAINED FROM ANY ONE OR ANY TEN HISTORIES. I WILL BE DODGING SNIPERS THE REST OF MY LIFE UNLESS YOU EXPLAIN THAT THIS REMARK WHEN CARELESSLY EMITTED IN A PERSONAL LETTER TWO YEARS AGO APPLIED SPECIFICALLY TO THE BURGOYNE CAMPAIGNS OF 1776 AND 1777. ALSO OBLIGED TO DISCLAIM DEVELOPING GREAT IDEA OF BEING AMERICA'S BEST HISTORICAL NOVELIST. NEVER HAD IT AND NEVER WILL BECAUSE EVERY TIME I'VE FINISHED A BOOK I'VE RAISED MY RIGHT HAND AND SWORN I'D NEVER DO IT AGAIN. IT'S WEAKNESS COUPLED WITH GRIM NECESSITY THAT MADE ME KEEP ON NOT FLAMING AMBITION.

KENNETH ROBERTS Kennebunk Beach, Me.

TIME found Author Roberts' statement about histories in An Informal Study of America's Best Historical Novelist by Dr. Chilson H. Leonard of Phillips Exeter Academy, erred in not indicating that it was meant to apply only to histories of the Burgoyne campaigns of 1776-77.--ED.

Machete

Sirs:

Your description of the Youngstown Steel Strike included a list of weapons picked up by the strikers (TIME, July 5). Among the ones listed was a machete. This same machete was probably the most villainous looking item in the photograph which appeared in a number of papers and in the magazine LIFE.

You may be interested in knowing that it was not taken from a homicidal striker, but was taken from an A & P store clerk, Maurice Needier,No. 2700 Market Street, who was returning peacefully from a picnic where he had used his machete to cut wood for a fire. Mr. Needier is now under indictment for carrying concealed weapons.

A. R. WATERS Sales Department The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. Youngstown, Ohio

Military Aide

Sirs:

Just in the interests of accuracy I, with apologies, suggest that in the future you refer to me as Military Aide to the President instead of Naval Aide. . . .

EDWIN WATSON Colonel, F. A. Military Aide to the President The White House Washington, D. C.

To President Roosevelt's Military Aide, Colonel Edwin Watson, whom TIME, with two inexcusable slips referred to as Naval Aide William Watson (TIME, July 5), TIME'S apologies. President Roosevelt's Naval Aide is Captain Paul H. Bastedo.--ED.

Jeffers' Litt.D.

Sirs:

With regard to your article "Kudos" [TIME, June 28]: you fail to mention the fact that at the June 7 Commencement ceremony celebrating the soth anniversary of Occidental College, located in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, the college's greatest literary son, Robinson Jeffers, '05, was awarded an honorary Litt.D. Born the same year as Occidental (1887), Jeffers took his B.A. there at the age of 18. He also studied medicine at the University of Southern California, forestry at the University of Washington and literature at the University of Zurich. Occidental's is the only honorary degree he has ever accepted.

LAWRENCE CLARK POWELL Occidental '28 Los Angeles, Calif.

Crusader Katterfeld

Sirs:

Your very excellent article on Crusader Katterfeld and the good work he is doing with his magazine Evolution, is marred in its first paragraph by the repetition of the legend that William Jennings Bryan's sudden death could have been caused largely by "the forensic drubbing he received from the satanic tongue of Clarence Darrow."

I am sure that no blame can be laid to Mr. Darrow for Mr. Bryan's sudden demise, for while Mr. Darrow has a righteously sharp tongue for conceit, stupidity and injustice, I happen to know that he is one of the most gentle and sympathetic of men.

I was acquainted with the man, now deceased, who entertained Mr. Bryan at dinner the day he died, and he told that he never saw a man eat so much in his life as the meals Mr. Bryan consumed those hot days.

After the dinner Mr. Bryan laid down and fanned himself to sleep. Shortly after he was found dead. It is well known that Mr. Bryan was an exceptionally hearty eater.

Glen Ellyn, iLL.

Sirs:

You quote Mr. Clarence Darrow as follows: "The Bible says every living thing that was not taken on the Ark with Noah was drowned in the flood." As has been pointed out a great many times Mr. Darrow erred in his quotation. Genesis 7:21, 22 reads "And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man! All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, OF ALL THAT WAS IN THE DRY LAND, died."

JOHN HAZLETT

Lima, Ohio

Mr. Darrow's forensic trick obviously proved nothing in regard to his knowledge of the Bible but did prove that Mr. Bryan's knowledge was too hazy to enable him to defend himself.

Sirs:

One can hardly blame you for being duped by the great scientific superstition of Evolution, for as a theory it's simply swell, but how can you describe it as "scientific truth" and characterize its opposition as "ignorance and bigotry?" (TIME, June 28.) Voss you dere. Sharlie?

ELDOR PAUL SCHULZE

Albany, N. Y.

At this late date TIME does not propose to rehearse the mass of evidence accumulated for Evolution. It has been covered in many books suitable for lay reading, one of the best of which is Evolution for John Doe by Charles Henshaw Ward. Encyclopaedia Britannica considers the evidence sufficient to justify calling Evolution a fact. So does TIME.--ED.

Sirs:

. . . I'm interested in subscribing to Evolution. Would you please send me the address of the publisher and cost of subscription?

JOHN R. VINCENT Minneapolis, Minn.

Evolution is published at No. 77 Albemarle Avenue, Hempstead, N. Y. Price 20-c- per copy, $2 per year.--ED.

Dilapidate

Sirs :

That slang word "jalopy" (TIME, May 17 et seq.) is most likely, I maintain, simply the first three syllables of the Italian word for dilapidated--namely, dilapidate, which is pronounced very nearly jih-lah-pih-DAH-taw. . . .

ELMER G. STILL Livermore, Calif.

San Francisco's Harvey

Sirs:

YOUR DELIGHTFUL ARTICLE ABOUT DOWNEY [TIME, July 5] CARRIED ONE SMEAR WHICH WAS INCORRECT AND OUT OF PLACE. HE WAS NOT "CONVICTED OF FRAUD" WHICH ABLE COUNSEL ADVISES IMPLIES CRIMINAL ACTION BY GOVERNMENT. HOWEVER, THERE WAS CIVIL JUDGMENT IN LOWER COURT WHICH WAS REVERSED BY UNANIMOUS OPINION IN SUPREME COURT. IN OTHER WORDS HE ONLY LOST ONE RAILROAD BUT MADE AS MANY FRIENDS AS MOST RAILROADS CARRY PASSENGERS. . . .

CYRIL MCNEAR San Francisco, Calif.

Sirs:

. . . Your article says he was "convicted" of fraud. In the general acceptation of the term, that implies a criminal accusation by the government. . . .

It was all a mere civil suit by a trustee in bankruptcy to set aside a transfer of shares of stock. . . .

JOHN J. BARRETT Attorney at Law San Francisco, Calif.

TIME said that San Francisco's Downey Harvey was "convicted of fraud in 1913 for transferring $100,000 in stock to his wife before bankruptcy." This was a too-drastic statement of the fact that a U. S. District Court awarded stock which he had given his wife to the bankruptcy trustee. But TIME did state plainly that "Downey Harvey was cleared by the U. S. Supreme Court in 1916." To San Francisco's Harvey, apology for "convicting" him.--ED.

San Francisco's Sasso

Sirs:

Will you kindly let me know if you take care of one of your time electric clocks No. 1054, as I have one brought to me for repairs. I believe the electric power unit will have to be changed. Hope you will reply by return mail as this party would like to have this taken care of as soon as possible.

Thanking you, I remain.

CARL A. SASSO San Francisco. Calif.

P.S. I have the clock unit ready to ship to you if you want.

Let San Francisco TiME-readers explain to Jeweler Sasso that TIME does not mend clocks.--ED.

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