Doctor & Cows

Sirs:

I want to thank you sincerely for your article on peritonitis in TIME, Oct. 29. You have certainly given Dr. Young and me the greatest consideration.

There are some disturbing factors that I feel should call to your attention as any inaccuracy in such a splendid article would nullify some of its effect. Then, too, I know you want to be 100% correct.

The paragraph about women who undergo caesarean operations seldom developing peritonitis is not scientifically correct. As a matter of fact, peritonitis following caesarean operation was the cause of death in most cases. That was before the advent of this new technique.

Protection against peritonitis and postoperative adhesions from the use of a preparation of amniotic fluid, frequently referred to as amniotic fluid concentrate, comes from its stimulating effect on the normal processes of defense and repair. It is not a germicide and does not of itself dissolve adhesions.

Cow amniotic fluid is collected at the slaughter house from heavy western beef after government inspection of each animal. The uteri of cows two to five months pregnant, only, are selected. At this early period the amniotic fluid is especially pure and potent. The product is further purified and concentrated by an elaborate chemical process in one of the country's leading pharmaceutical houses. The end product, highly purified, is now used to prevent peritonitis in all cases of abdominal surgery.

From this you will see that the vision of me hanging around a barnyard with a bucket in my hand waiting for some old dairy cow to drop a calf is rather ridiculous. Certainly there is nothing in such a picture to impress one with the purity of our product or the desirability of taking such a mess into one's peritoneal cavity.

I am sure you will see the point and be willing to correct this part of the article. . . .

HERBERT L. JOHNSON, M. D.

Boston, Mass.

Guilty as Rapist?

Sirs:

I have just read "Involuntary Motherhood in TIME, Oct. 22, and I am wondering how many of its readers will agree with me in my contention that the judges and physicians who refused to make an abortion possible for this little girl are as guilty of ruining her life as the man who raped her and should receive the same punishment.

Is it not time that we as a nation should take a stand against this medieval doctrine of the terribleness of this simple operation when by it the unmarried woman could be saved to respectable society . . . ?

GUY P. REGO

Spring Valley, N. Y.

MacCracken's Picture

Sirs:

A short time ago you wrote to President Henry Noble MacCracken asking for a picture to be put on a cover of TIME and he refused.

A little later you tried to get it in a more indirect way, through the Poughkeepsie Sunday Courier. Again he refused it. Somewhat to my surprise there appeared on the outside of your magazine [Oct. 1] a picture of Dr. MacCracken taken when he took part in a Greek play at Vassar. The photograph itself was a very poor one but it amused us for the time. Of course it was of mere passing interest and is not one that anyone would have sent you from here.

President MacCracken is too "big" a man to pay any attention to what you did but I think you ought to know that I have recently been asked by members of the Alumnae Association why he chose such a picture as that for such a purpose. This criticism seems hardly fair to him. I knew that tabloids did things of that kind but had never expected it of a reputable magazine. As that copy of the magazine has already gone all over the U. S., may I ask that you print this letter over my signature which will reach the same number of people. It is written without President MacCracken's knowledge.

CORNELIA M. RAYMOND

Publicity Secretary Vassar College Poughkeepsie, N. Y.

TIME gladly prints Pressagent Raymond's letter describing its fruitless efforts to obtain a conventional picture of Dr. MacCracken. But let Vassar alumnae cease criticizing their president. TIME reserves the right to select its cover pictures, takes full responsibility therefor. Had there been a complete variety from which to choose, the selection might have been the same. The picture of Dr. MacCracken in Grecian robes was published twice before by TIME, and no objection was heard. --ED.

Resentful New Mexican

Sirs:

While reading your article on New Mexico's Cutting under the caption Letters [TIME, Oct. 22], I noticed you use the term "greaser."

A while back, Collier's Tucker used the same term in an article on the Progressive members of our U. S. Senate. This caused several social organizations in New Mexico to write vigorous protests to Collier's.

In order to better understand this term and the cause for its usage, I would like to question the editorial staff of TIME as to the origin and present application of the term "greaser."

As a New Mexican of Spanish descent, I would greatly resent having this term applied to me, and I think that any other New Mexican would feel the same way. . . .

PETER A. GUTIERREZ

Albuquerque, N. Mex.

At least as long as 85 years ago Westerners called Mexicans "greasers," according to Ruxton's Life Far West, "from their greasy appearance." The name stuck to the poorer class of Mexican, and in that sense TIME characterized Senator Bronson Cutting as "the faithful friend of the lowly 'greaser'."--ED.

Hatchatchie

Sirs:

TIME, Oct. 22, p. 16, "Mountains to Metropolis."

You state: "Indians who named the canyon 'Hetch Hetchy' were gone before any white man thought to ask them what the strange words meant."

For your ready reference, the new handbook, California Names: Their History and Meaning, issued by American Trust Co., carries the following explanation:

"HETCH HETCHY . . . from Hatchatchie, a Central Miwok Indian name for a grass or plant which grows in the meadow at the lower end of this deep valley, producing edible seeds which the Indians pounded into meal in mortars." . . .

HERBERT J. KANE

Los Angeles, Calif.

Rodeo & Ro-day-o

Sirs:

Re Col. Johnston (p. 63, Oct. 22, TIME) he is correct in his pronunciation of rodeo. It comes from the Spanish verb rodear--to circle--and rodeo merely means roundup. All Texas and Mexico so pronounce the word, but California, for no good reason, calls it Ro- day'o, probably the Iowa pronunciation.

CLIFFORD BOYD BURR

San Antonio, Tex.

Big Bad Maestro

Sirs:

Too bad TIME'S music editor, when commenting upon Otto Klemperer's reinaugural in New York [TIME, Oct. 15], didn't know the nickname members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic have for their beloved six-foot-four or so maestro. Even though the Los Angeles musicians show great love of Klemperer, he is dubbed "The Big Bad Wolf," a title which seems even more appropriate, due to his size and voice, than the excellent "O. K." adopted in New York.

CARROLL G. CAMBERN

Freeman-Matthews Music Co. Los Angeles, Calif.

Directed Gumchewing

Sirs:

Someone has just called my attention to the footnote in an Oct. 15 article in TIME which characterizes Tower Magazines as the "gum-chewers'" magazines.

I find, upon an examination of the respective gum advertisements of TIME and Tower up to August 1934, that we have both convinced gum manufacturers of a worthwhile potential of "gum-chewers" in our respective readerships. You carried 1,144 lines and we carried 2,145 lines of gum advertising which definitely gives us the lead. So that perhaps we ought to cede you the position of the gumchewers magazine and we will take the post of the gumchewingest magazines.

And of course, if you have been following the health and beauty campaigns of gum manufacturers on chewing for chin lines and cheek curves, you know that gumchewing is no longer merely a ruminative agitation of the jaws. It now has purpose, character, and style direction. . . .

LUCILE BABCOCK

Promotion Manager Tower Magazines, Inc. New York City

Transcript's Marden

Sirs:

I have just read with interest the review of Stanley Walker's book which appeared on p. 52 of your Oct. 22 issue.

It is true that city editors are seldom known by name outside newspaper offices but I think Charley Marden of the Transcript has a wider acquaintance under that name than as Charles Marsden, which he was christened in the TIME article.

W. E. PLAYFAIR

Managing Editor Boston Transcript Boston, Mass.

Apologies to City Editor Marden, who should advise Editor & Publisher directory of the correct spelling of his name.-- ED.

Prize Bid

Sirs:

Let John Peter Toohey look to himself and prepare to award the "substantial prize" he offers (TIME, Oct. 22) for the naming of one play produced in America [besides Merrily We Roll Along] in which the action moves progressively backward.

The Varying Shore, by Zoe Akins, in which Elsie Ferguson starred somewhere around 1920, was such a play.

Should TIME's theatre critic elect to share his prize, a TIME subscription would be quite useful.

LUELLA SWEENEY

Tell City, Ind.

Sirs:

... I am under the impression that The Varying Shore, starring Elsie Ferguson more years ago than I remember, followed the present to past scheme of telling in much the same fashion. . . .

MADELEINE RUTHVEN

Hollywood, Calif.

Sirs:

... I saw Miss Elsie Ferguson in just such a play at least ten years ago. It was called The Varying Shore. . . .

Do I get any prize?

CORNELIA MARY STREATOR

Painesville, Ohio

The Varying Shore was produced in 1921 by the same Sam H. Harris who now produces Merrily We Roll Along. Its chronology: Prolog--Ghost of the heroine returns to her last lover, tells him her story. Act I--Incident of her life at 40. Act II--. . . her life at 30. Act III--. . . her life at 16. Epilog--Same as prolog. TIME'S theatre critic would gladly divide among Readers Sweeney, Ruthven, et al. any "substantial prize" awarded by Pressagent Toohey. But Pressagent Toohey insists no prize is earned. His weaseling defense: Prolog and epilog were both in the present.--ED.

Sirs:

In partial self-defense against Mr. Toohey's letter, TIME's theatre critic may adduce George O'Neil's American Dream [TIME, March 6, 1933]. As originally written, this play progressed directly backward from an inept and hysterical portrait of degenerate modernity to a sensitively poetic scene laid in the time of the Pilgrims. For unknown reasons, the Theatre Guild reversed this structure in presentation.

WM. A. P. WHITE

Los Angeles, Calif.

Vunderful Washington

Sirs:

... I was naturally attracted to your article about our Ambassador to the United States, Mr. Oswaldo Aranha [TIME, Oct. 1] and was greatly pleased to see that your article was quite correct in its statements if it had not been for the unfortunate last two lines ... as to Mr. Aranha's pronunciation of the name Washington, which according to your statement he pronounced "Vashington."

I am 100% sure and so are all other Brazilians that although Mr. Aranha is not able to speak English he would never pronounce the name Washington in the way you described for the very simple reason that this name is quite a common name in Brazil as a Christian name, and as a matter of fact, Mr. Aranha was responsible for the overthrow of our last president whose name happened to be Washington Luiz, and is always pronounced right by every Brazilian and for stronger reasons ought to be pronounced right by Mr. Oswaldo Aranha.

As to the way he pronounced "wonderful" it might be right, although I doubt it as Mr. Aranha is a cultured man and besides all the Brazilians have a natural tendency to foreign languages.

I wish to take the chance of this opportunity to congratulate you on your article "Grandest Destruction" describing the general situation of coffee in Brazil, which is accurate in all its details.

Luiz Corc,ao

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Above Lee

Sirs:

In the Books section of TIME, Oct. 22, is the statement that General Robert E. Lee stood second in his class at West Point. I have seen this fact mentioned many times and it has aroused my curiosity as to the identity and fate of the man who stood first in that class.

HARRIS GRAND

Babylon, L. I.

No. 1 Cadet in Lee's class (1829) throughout its entire course was Charles Mason of New York. After graduation he taught engineering at the Military Academy, practiced law in Manhattan, edited the New York Evening Post for a short time, moved to Wisconsin and Iowa, died at 77.--ED.

Grant at W & L

Sirs: I note the arrangement of the first two names--"Ulysses Simpson Grant 3rd" and "Robert Edward Lee 4th"--under People, TIME, Oct. 29. Is this also news?

Aug. 14, 1934 "U. S. Grant III, Ohio & N. Y." appeared on the register of The Lee Chapel--tomb, museum and partial memorial to the late Confederate General--at Washington & Lee University, Lexington, Va. That General Grant's grandson . . . should have paid his respects at this shrine, so dearly loved by all Southerners, and so highly regarded by all the Northerners I have ever heard discuss it, is a significant commentary on American men-at-arms.

ARCH WALKER

Spartanburg, S. C.

Gibson's End

Sirs:

Why not, after devoting so much space in your Oct. 29 issue to the absence of [Negro] Willis Ward from the Michigan-Georgia Tech football game, mention the fact that Gibson, Tech's star end, was kept on the sidelines to even the handicap. Michigan's winning touchdown was scored around Gibson's end.

PAUL FITZPATRICK

Mayfield, Ky.

Fact remains that Georgia Tech's unwillingness to play against a Negro started the fuss that made the news.--ED.

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