Letters
Herewith are excerpts from letters come to the desks of the editors during the past week. They are selected primarily for the information they contain either supplementary to or corrective of news previously published in TIME.
Word Square
Sirs:
How's this! (Latin)
TIME Fear thou
ITEM Likewise
METI To be measured
EMIT He buys
Jos. A. BLUM
Fallen, Nev. 'Warped Souls"
Sirs:
I was amazed to note that TIME had devoted two columns of the Feb. 1 issue (p. 19) to the "organization"of some sort of anti-evolution society in this town. The man, Edward Young Clarke, who has been found only after a search from "coast to coast and from north to south,"is leading this pack of "Christians," and I am under the impression that this Edward Young Clarke is the same E. Y. C. who was formerly with the K. K. K., later convicted of violating the Mann Act in Texas, he ran off with the sister of some other villain, and fined $5,000, which he seems to have paid. This same E. Y. C. has also been in various other scrapes in Georgia courts, etc.
These warped souls, or rather the "leaders", have only one motive, namely to get their hands on money, in other words, to capitalize on the stupidity of people; and they seem to have been given the encouragement of the mayor of this city, unfortunately. E. Y. C. made something out of the Klan, everybody down here seems to be in it, the mayor, governor and most of the judges; so now he is capitalizing on the Christian religion. Why don't you make him pay for his advertising?
Please discontinue my subscription. If I owe you anything, please invoice me for the amount unpaid.
E. O. HALDANE
Atlanta, Ga.
'Sincere Men'
Sirs:
All thoughtful men, of whatever belief, agree with the saying of Charles A. Dana, that religion is the most momentous question that can occupy human thought.
Is it then good form to ridicule sincere men, like those who recently met at Atlanta to consider this momentous question, and who found inspiration in singing the noble hymns at which you sneer.
Do you remember that, when the Titanic was sinking, the ship's band played one of these hymns as the only solace possible to offer men about to die?
CHARLES M. MCCURDY
New York, N. Y.
Dreiser's Book
Sirs:
By the way you write on some subjects I have come to the sage conclusion that you are suffering from the gout. . . .
Why get so sarcastic in your review when writing upon Mr. T. Dreiser's book? Did you personally ever try to do a bit of real writing? Your reviews remind me a great deal of the Mexicans. They hate Gringoes like the dickens, but all they really do is snarl and growl like curs. In the Jan. 25, 1926 issue of TIME, under "Books," p. 31, you act like you have a personal grudge against the writer.
I do not know Mr. Dreiser personally, but I do believe in fair play. ... I do not like your diction in describing his book.
It is child-like in its puny efforts to snarl and be disagreeable. . .
You are still showing antagonism to a man of German birth, as though that is the main fault in his writings. You show plainly your narrowed, bigoted, insulting mind, when you write a review such as you did in TIME. What difference does it make whether his parents were German or Yiddish or English or anything. I am not a German, but an American and I still will give due credit to an enemy, if he deserves it.
If you can't say a nice word or give a boost to a man in your own profession, you'd better keep your mouth shut and not show off your ignorance in such a blatant way. . . .
EDWARD J. ARO (Author)
San Francisco, Calif. Ably Reviewed" Sirs:
Under "Books" in your issue of Feb. 1, Trelawny's Adventures of a Younger Son is ably reviewed. You state, "The book is now republished for the first time since 1890." Incorrect. I have in front of me a small two-volume edition of the book published in Bohn's Popular Library by G. Bell & Sons, Ltd., London, 1914. I like TIME. . . .
HENRY W. KING
Staten Island
Taylor Flayed
Sirs:
For some ninety issues past, TIME has come to my desk. Concise, informative, refreshing in its editorial style, it has come to occupy a place in my current reading no other publication can fill.
Your department of "Letters"is very interesting, particularly so since your correspondents generally confine themselves to pertinent addenda to news you have previously published. But just why you publish letters such as that over the signature of A. P. Taylor (TIME, Feb. 1) is beyond my ken.
Every newspaperman or writer, be he Briton or American, should have a proper respect for exactness and a feeling for the nicely chosen word. Mr. Taylor's criticism, however, is petty haggling to no discernible purpose. TIME'S writers, he says, would get the blue envelope from the average American newspaper editor. Just wouldn't they though! That's one of the reasons TIME is so readable.
Mr. Taylor doesn't like your "freak"and "stunt" expressions. Let me recommend to him a weekly for which I am an honorary subscriber: The Five Points (Pa.) Main Street Review. The present editor has preserved beyond reproach the style of his great-uncle, founder of the Review in 1868.
Mr. Taylor uses the terms of the composing room and the editorial room glibly enough, but his criticism forces one to the belief that he must have consulted a glossary before taking his pen in hand. One can sympathize with the plaintive cries of the laity for fewer mistakes, but when the critique is couched in terms of the craft, it conveys an impression of authoritative knowledge, an impression which, in the case at hand, is evidently quite unjustified. Anyone familiar with the business of reporting, writing, editing and printing news knows that TIME ranks high according to every journalistic standard.
The form of your layout has improved since I first began to read TIME. Its content has always been excellent. . . . LOWELL F. HALLIGAN
Lancaster, Pa.
Anonymous
Sirs:
I am an original subscriber, and as long as I can afford the price I will be a subscriber. I wish that you would not publish the names of your "letter writers,"
State under letters that for a postage stamp you will send the name to an inquirer. I find that I do not remember the names of the really interesting letter writers, but the ones who are blatant or disgusting, my mind does recall, such as the double-n'd Miss Robinn of Boston, and Taylor of Honolulu. Zizka of Cleveland is merely seeing what he wants to see.
I lack education and like TIME because it helps supply my lack. You do at times say things a bit too smartly. As one of your subscribers wrote, the Manchester Guardian staff is humorous, keen and gentlemen. (I have forgotten the writer's name because he was pleasant instead of intolerant.)
From p. 19, TIME, Feb. 1, "In Atlanta,"I am sending you the clipping that has at last aroused my ire. . . . Such straining for "smart"English reminds one that the reporter is equal in intelligence to the calf that ran nine miles to suck a bull! NO! I don't want you to send me his name; am not inclosing a stamp. You might continue to be English in language; we really are an English-speaking nation. I doubt if Taylor of Honolulu can speak Celtic.
ORIGINAL SUBSCRIBER
Melmore, Ohio
Praise
Sirs:
In offering my brother the choice between TIME and another prominent weekly as Christmas gift, he accepted TIME with the following comments, which may interest you:
"We like the way TIME handles the news. The I like pretty well. I have really read it a great deal, but I do not care for the way the tries to insinuate into the ignorant and suspecting reader's mind a knowledge of affairs that he realizes, after the process is done, he morally should have had all along; so that he is correspondingly humbly grateful to the for having thus gently broadened his intelligence. It is like this debt of humble gratitude that the seems to stand and expect that disconcerts my sense of spiritual economy. TIME does not make the same sly bid. It does not make me feel bad for not knowing the most recent news. The subscription having been paid for, it gives the news with downright business directness. It does add a debt of gratitude to its original subscription price.
"Personally I read both regularly, TIME for news and views and the for special articles.
S. W. MENDUM
Washington, D. C.
Ufford's Friend
Sirs:
From its inception I have been an interested reader of TIME, and find in it much to approve and enjoy.
I have not, however, been satisfied with its attitude toward matters of religion. . . . It seems to me that since for 41 years, the name of Mr. Ufford has appeared with his hymn "Throw out the Lifeline" in the almost numberless collections of "gospel hymns," it was quite uncalled for to give such prominence to the "disclosure" of the author's name. Neither can I see anything to be gained by holding up to ridicule the rather tuneful hymn which has expressed for many, as few hymns have,, the appeal for a helping hand to the "sinking." A. M. P.
Concord, N. H.
Subscriber P., who requests that his name be not published, utterly misconstrues TIME'S sincere respect for Evangelist Ufford's welldoing. His hymn has cheered many a heartsick, homesick soldier and miserable creature who knew not the author, as well as the more formal churchgoer who was less ignorant. ED.