Sirs:

In your last number appeared an article on decapitation in China. When I was in China, the technique of beheading was explained to me as follows: Under the Empire, the headsman was a professional man, who used his great beheading sword in one hand, holding the handle as one would a dagger with the back of the blade extending back parallel to his forearm. Beheading was done by a single slice with the long blade instead of a chop. For a consideration from the condemned or his friends the headsman would leave a small piece of skin remaining so that the ignominy of complete decapitation was avoided. Cases were reported here headsmen had been persuaded to save the life of the condemned by making a large, gory slanting slice, which appeared to be fatal but which avoided the jugular vein and spinal column.

After the revolution in 1911, oldtimers told me, the profession fell upon evil days and two handed chopping such as you describe took the place of the neat, single-handed slicing with the result that often two and three blows were needed to complete the matter.

JOHN M. VORYS Columbus, Ohio

Bennell's Billions

Sirs: "... life insurance agents have added 100 billions of dollars to the wealth of the United States." The above appears in TIME, May 6, contributed by A. H. Bennell, and has deprived me of breath for the moment. Mr. Bennell may be a good underwriter, but as an economist he is simply--well, he isn't. Life insurance agents have not added the 100 billionth part of one cent to the wealth of the U. S. What they have done is simply to gather up, at enormous expense, the tokens of wealth created by others, pile it up in a heap, dole out small portions of the total to their subscribers and let the surplus accumulate. W. BLENKO

Eureka Art Glass Co. Milton, West Va.

Sirs:

To the protest of A. H. Bennell you reply: "TIME did not say all insurance salesmen were pestiferous, ..." I'm wondering why you made this needless limitation.

WILLIAM H. SMYTH

Berkeley, Calif.

Pooch

Sirs:

In a recent issue one of your correspondents girded at the Bryant pup and at Boston bulls in general. He suggested that the Sealyham pup be substituted for the beautiful bull and asserted that bulls were unfashionable.

If it be true, as rumors say, that Sealyhams have the bad taste to become nauseated when riding in a car, their aristocracy may be questioned. While I am ready to admit that all dogs are good dogs and ought to be loved and cherished for their qualities, I wish to go on record as saying that Boston bulls have the virtues of cleanliness, courage and trim appearance together with unshaken fidelity and are the peers of any fashionable dog that ever eked out an unhappy existence, plastered over with long hair. The cartoonists and a few society folks may enjoy the long-haired pooch, but only his loving heart saves him in my estimation.

MAJOR W. S. MACAARON

Commandant Kemper Military School Boonville, Mo.

Limestone

Sirs:

As an enthusiastic and regular reader of TIME may I call your attention to an error contained on page 11 of your May 6 issue.

You outline at some length the Capital Building Program at Washington and . . . say "Within the so-called Triangle will then be erected seven huge Federal buildings of white marble."

. . . The facts are as follows:

The committee of members of the American Institute of Architects appointed by the Treasury Department, the Fine Arts Committee of the District of Columbia, the Supervising Architect and the United States Public Buildings Com-mission approved and recommended the use of Indiana Limestone for at least the first two buildings, those for the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Department of Commerce. . . .

The Treasury Department and the office of the Supervising Architect approved the recommendation of the various commissions and contracts were let for limestone in February and March of this year: both of these contracts going to the Indiana Limestone Company. . . .

We would appreciate it very much if you can correct this error for the reason that the Department of Commerce Building is the largest of the group of buildings and the stone contract is the largest stone contract ever let.

LAWRENCE H. WHITING

Chairman of the Board Indiana Limestone Co. Chicago, Ill.

Dollar Liquor

Sirs:

As an ardent supporter of the American Merchant Marine I noticed with considerable anxiety your publication of a statement attributed to Robert Dollar, in which he stated that his boats are, and always have been, successfully operating sans liquor.

Let me hasten to assure prospective voyagers on the Pacific that they need not trouble themselves to take passage under a foreign flag in order to escape the drought existent here. I have been a frequent passenger aboard Dollar liners, and I have never had to forego the pleasure of my evening cocktail. Though it is true that the ships carry no bars, a few words with the ingenious Chinese room boy and, lo, a bottle of the finest appears--really good, too. Their prices compare favorably with those existing aboard competing liners, prices ranging from three to ten dollars per quart, depending upon the demand for the brand you order. There may be some boats flying the Dollar house flag upon which a passenger cannot easily obtain liquor; if there are I haven't heard of them. J. P. MARQUARD

Los Angeles, Calif.

P. S. A recent inquiry at the Dollar Agency in this city disclosed the fact that, though the ships have no bars, they still employ ingenious Chinese stewards.

Antiquity Flayed

Sirs: I like you fine! Every Saturday night I sit up till 12 o'clock to read you through. Tonight I am pausing at page 10, to ask if somebody, somewhere, can't unearth a few new stories about Mrs. Hoover? These that have been served up since before the campaign began are getting somewhat antiquated--awfully so! The Carboniferous rock age story, the Boxer bullets, the -L-70 purse tossed in London, the drives across from Iowa to California and back, the no jewelry and always low heels, were all good in their day; but now that all the magazines (including TIME)--that is, practically all--have dully and faithfully recorded them with scarcely the deviation of a comma, isn't it about time to release a new one? Really, a cosmopolite's (the term is yours) wife must have had two or three other experiences! EDITH TWAIN MCDERMOTT

Creighton, Neb.

TIME will print no more awfully antiquated Lou Hoover stories for one year.-- ED. Maverick Sirs:

I am sending Australian FitzPatrick my bookplate which is interesting from the viewpoint of the history of the great State of Texas, and the U. S. The word "Maverick" was originally applied to unbranded cattle, still is. The word now means any person, thing or idea, which is unbranded, untagged or unregimented. The word came from my grandfather, Samuel A. Maverick, who acquired cattle in '45, and not branding them for many years people called them "Maverick's." Forty-niners carried word to California, all over the West, travelers to Australia. Then it went around the world. It is one of the few words in the American language derived from a proper name. You heard of "Hooverize," a "Gladstone" bag, but Maverick is unique.

"Maverick,'' if a person, is one whose words, deeds and acts are independent; does not bear the brand of any club, organization, or association. A "Maverick" cannot be classified.

Samuel Maverick came to Texas in 1834, helped capture San Antonio in '35 (with old Ben Milam), was messenger from the Alamo, signed the Texas Declaration of Independence in 1836, was captured in 1842 by an invading Mexican army, marched on foot over 1,000 miles to Castle Perote in Mexico, was a member of the Secession Convention, took possession and turned over to the Confederate States all U. S. property; was one of the world's largest land owners, and never owned many cattle nor cared anything about them; was a citizen of Texas, and a resident of San Antonio, under the flag of the four nations. But, to the bookplate: In front you see a longhorn Texas Maverick steer, with the brand MK on the left thigh, which brand was only used by Maverick after his cattle had all scattered, unbranded, and the name had gone around the world. To the left of the steer is Texas cactus, above a mesquite tree. In the rear, the famous Mission San Francisco de Espada (St. Francis of the Sword), built over 200 years ago by brave and undaunted Franciscans; there are three bells; above is an iron cross which has been there since the erection of the building. The door is unique and a cedar cross stands by the door. Samuel Maverick has over 100 descendants: I have ten brothers and sisters, 49 nephews and nieces, and they range all over the world, but mostly live in the prettiest, most unique city in America--San Antonio--where they belong. Most of those who are old enough read TIME, and in time all of them no doubt will. Bookplate done by well-known Texas artist, Doyle Grenstead. MAURY MAVERICK

San Antonio, Tex.

To Maury Maverick, all praise for a TIME-worthy report. His bookplate, here reproduced, has been forwarded to Collector FitzPatrick, Director of the Sunday Times, Sydney, Australia.--ED. Tinker's Version Sirs: The controversy on the famous Merkle play in your columns has been of interest to me. While reading Evers' letter last Sunday morning I glanced out my window and saw Joe Tinker chasing a golf ball up the fairway. Joe stopped on my call and I plied him for his version of the affair. Joe says he DID NOT hold McGinity's arms. His story is that he tried to call Emslie's attention to the play and that Phfiester, the pitcher, grabbed the "Iron Man" after the ball had bounced off the back of Joe's neck, on the throw-in by Hoffman. McGinity managed to throw the ball over near third where a fan captured it. Steinfeld grabbed the fan from behind and during the struggle Floyd Kroh . . . rushed from the bench and rescued the ball, returning it to Evers. O'Day watched the mix-up and after seeing Evers with the ball standing on second walked off the diamond--reserving his decision on Merkle's out until he was away from the crowd. . . . This is just another version, but it is the way Toe Tinker remembers it. S. J. DAVIS

Editor

What's What in Orlando Orlando, Fla.

Jaffe's Editorial

Sirs:

In the list of Pulitzer prizes in TIME, May 20, you failed to include the name of Louis I. Jaffe, editor of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot as having won the prize for the best newspaper editorial for the year 1928.

Did you omit this purposely because, like many of your readers, you were tired of seeing editorials moralizing on the lynching of Negroes by the whites down South? W. G. Cox

Burlington, N. C.

Cause of omission: omission. The Jaffe editorial, written June 22, 1928, began with two good sentences:

"As the Democrat hosts prepared to rededicate themselves anew to fairness and justice, the bustling Southern city in which they are to meet is disgraced by an unspeakable act of savagery. There is no other way to describe the performance of the eight armed white men who yanked Robert Powell, 24-year-old Negro, from a hospital cot on which he lay with a bullet in his stomach, and hanged him from a bridge just outside the city."

Other phrases:

Loathsome act

Bullet in his entrails

Foul thing

Polluted (Houston, Tex.)

A good fact: In 1892 there were 255 lynchings; in 1928 there were eleven. Otherwise the editorial was not remarkable.--ED. Eggs Hatched in Air Sirs:

Your report on the row at Des Moines Uni-versity contained more than one error. The shower you mentioned was limited to stones and eggs, but what eggs! Many of them hatched as they sailed through business office windows at Dr. T. T. Shields, University board president, and Miss Edith Rebman, board secretary. (Not treasurer too.)

These two and other board members hid in a "rest room," not beneath desks. They were taken to Central police headquarters for safety's sake, instead of a precinct station as you said. Des Moines has no precinct stations.

Police dodged irate students and boosted trembling trustees on a train as it left the station. The battle cry of the students "Let's get Shields!" the board's battle was "God will protect us." They did mention Des Moines policemen.

One of the night's heroes was Des Moines Register Reporter Roy Porter who telephoned a running story of the fight to his city editor while ancient eggs burst with pungent "pungs" on the table under which he was hiding.

Reporter Porter, more loyal than longheaded, leaped forward to protect Photographer John Robinson, whom students threatened. Fisticuffs were exchanged. Police arrived and the fighters fled.

"Where the hell you been?" Reporter Porter asked a policeman, as the former rubbed an egg-shaped lump on his forehead.

Last week University Seniors were measured for caps and gowns. Dr. Shields was out of Des Moines; peace reigned.

ROBT. ESTCOURT Feature writer Des Moines Register Des Moines, Iowa

TIME'S Education Editor was evidently misled as to the full number and character of the eggs.--ED. German in Georgia Sirs:

I am one of many who are striving to bring German back into our schools. Only one school in Georgia is teaching German. Prejudice is the only reason for this condition. It is all well for one to learn something about the Spanish language if he is intending to go to any of the countries of our southern neighbors, but to forsake the German language and its tremendous advantages for this purpose alone is to me very shortsighted. . . .

The question of the need of Spanish, and only Spanish, in South America is quite a debatable one. . . .

M. D. DuBose

Professor of Germanic Languages Office of the Dean University of Georgia Athens, Ga.