Robbie & Bobbie
Sirs:
. . . When you refer to General Hugh Johnson's assistant (TIME, Jan. 1), Miss Frances Robinson, you include in parenthesis ("Robbie").
During a period of three months in Washington working on the bituminous coal code I did not hear the General ever call her "Robbie." He called her "Bobbie.". . .
The writer of TIME's very readable articles on NRA should look into this very important matter.
GEO. HEAPS JR.
Midwest Coal Co.
Albia, Iowa
At first General Johnson always called her "Robbie." New friends in Washington started "Bobbie." The General now calls her both.--ED.
First Lady and Pipe
Sirs:
TIME erred under Letters, issue Jan. 1, when it stated, "First First Lady to smoke was Anna Eleanor Roosevelt Roosevelt."
Andrew Jackson's relict was ostracized in Washington society for smoking her proverbial pipe and being a divorcee. . . . Unlike Mrs. Roosevelt, who as TIME states, smokes only for purpose of placing her guests at ease, Mrs. Rachel Donelson Robards Jackson thoroughly enjoyed the relaxation provided by her tobacco. . . .
EUGENE CASEY
Washington, D. C.
John Jones v. Father Divine
Sirs:
In regards to the article on Religion (TIME, Dec. 25). I have a few words to say on this person so-called leader and other words calling himself God. Father Divine. I have been married to my wife for 20 years happily as a poor person could be I have a daughter 19 years, in high school. W. Broadway, and 193rd or 96th St. and can't recall which one. and this particular person has almost broke up my home, telling my wife he is God and she will live always and never die. she turned in her insurance with the Metropolitan after 12 years, surrendered her policy claiming this man say they don't want no colored people in this insurance and will live forever., when I come in off the Road she put on her coat and hat & run out say father Divine tell her to make me take care of her and live like sister & Bro. she claim that he & Marcus Garvey is working together that he is a west Indian, although the government Disposed of Garvey he come with a different line, such as holding a meeting in Newark, charging $1 per head for the bus ride, and the religious boat rides $1. . . .
My wife get up in the morning about 6 or 7 am and go out. don't cook or clean the house she say she got to go to the cult to a Breakfast meeting. Of course after you turn over all your belongings to the cult you get a name and ride around in the cars. you are called one of the intermediate worshipers. so I suggest it would be a good Idea if the government or the judges would get together and put a stop to this, my wife is beginning to be a cult fanatic or religious fanatic, . . . they don't comb or straighten there hair or use paint or powder--don't wear no silk stockings, just buy his paper he write and he tell them to get all in the cult, he is going to give all colored people work, if you follow him you will have fine automobiles and everything. . . . my wife say she came in from the meeting and a big light was flashing all around me, claiming it was God coming & calling me ... he don't take no money, all is turned over to his secretary . . . [my wife] claim they the government got something on Garvey for receiving money through the mail, but he will send it back if you send him any through the mail. so in closing hoping you & your staff will do all you can in closing such places as that.
JOHN P. JONES
New York City
To Pullman Porter Jones, sympathy.--ED.
Purist's Bet
Sirs: There was a young man named Hill; Who at betting acquired a thrill, 'Till he found that he may--when wrong-- have to pay, Thanks to TIME & Subscribers--the bill.
J. L. ROGERS, D. D. S.
Big Rapids, Mich.
Sirs:
I have seen some great examples of plain and fancy crawling in my day but never such acrobatic scrambling as is being attempted by Mr. Dean Hill.
Don't let him get away with it.
C. KING CROFTON
Rochester, N. Y.
Sirs: TIME is becoming fatuous,* fat and pudgy in the intellect. Witness: its claim that Dean Hill is "crawling." If he's wrong, he's wrong. Grantland Rice can say whether. I hope he will. But to accuse Mr. Hill of anything but sincerity is all those things mentioned above (and below).
WALTER C. SHARP Dallas, Texas
*"Fatuous, a. 1. Silly; stupid; foolish; blandly inane;--often with a sense of complacency."
Careful investigation has satisfied TIME 1) that Bettor Hill is an earnest as well as a facetious purist; 2) that he, possessor of a vast football library, was sincere in his devious criticism of TIME's use of "All-America" and "All-American"; 3) that though correct in the instance he cited (calling Bill Corbus "Stanford's All-American guard"--TIME, Nov. 20), TIME has in other instances erred in the use of "All-American"; 4) that at least one TIME-reader (C. H. McWilliams of Wilmington, Ohio) perceived Purist Hill's concealed point. For purity's sake, therefore, TIME acknowledges at least a safety scored against it, awards subscriptions to the unbeaten Princeton freshmen and their Coach Johnny Gorman at no cost to Purist Hill, whose determination to "trick" TIME (he now reveals) was formed months ago when he became "incensed" at TIME's frank reference to President Roosevelt's crippled legs.--ED.
"Rolphing"
Sirs:
Regarding your new heading of "Rolphing" adopted at the behest of a horrified old gentleman from the effete East (TIME, Dec. 11 et seq.) it strikes me that this is a departure from TIME's policy of strict neutrality on controversial questions. . . .
RICHARD J. MURRAY
Camden, Me.
"Lynching" presumably derives from Col. Charles Lynch (1736-96) who dispensed rough & ready justice in Virginia. "Rolphing" derives from a California Governor who, before mob violence at San Jose, declared. "I wish the sheriff would close his eyes." Hereafter in TIME, "rolphing" shall apply only to official complacency toward "lynching."--ED.
Methylene Blue v. CO
Sirs:
In regard to your recent reports on treatment of carbon monoxide poison with methylene blue please look up Vol. 100 No. 25 page 2,001 of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
You will see that your "news" articles & letter in Dec. 25 issue may be responsible for some of the deaths that follow this erroneous form of treatment.
J. BRADEN QUICKSALL, M. D.
St. Petersburg, Fla.
TIME reported methylene blue treatment for cyanide poisoning (TIME, Dec. 19, 1932). TIME's readers reported cases of methylene blue treatment for carbon monoxide poisoning (TIME, Jan. 16; Dec. 25, 1933). In the A. M. A. Journal referred to above, Drs. Howard W. Haggard & Leon A. Greenberg of Yale University view with alarm such treatment which, they state, is not antidotal for carbon monoxide and may be fatal.--ED.
Conversational Lawyer
Sirs: Permit me, if you will, a founder subscriber to TIME, to offer my protest against the content of your article entitled "Recovery--NRActive" under the division of National Affairs on p. 9 of your issue of Dec. 25.
The writer hereof is the person described in paragraph three of the article as follows: "Those big enough to have lawyers for the most part did not knuckle under. Hysterically cried one Irving Brukstone, representing Chicago's Sterling Cleaners: I won't advise my clients to stand by these prices! Bring on your Federal officers! Bring on your trade commissioners! We don't care!' " This is as false and misleading an account of what actually transpired as anyone could possibly picture. What actually happened was as follows:
After the compliance director, Mr. William H. Davis, had exhausted every seductive mannerism of voice, pleading and gesture, to get cleaners not in compliance with the price-fixing provisions of the code to comply, and all to no avail, two of the writers' clients, Abarbanell Bros. Inc. and Sterling Cleaners of Chicago were called to the platform before the director to answer to charges of non-compliance against them. The writer accompanied them and the compliance director merely stated in substance. "Now, Mr. Breakstone, you and I are both lawyers, and it will do no particular good for us to argue over the matter of the law involved in this matter, but will you as an attorney advise your clients to send a telegram to their plants advising them to put the present fixed minimum prices into effect tomorrow morning?'' I replied in ordinary conversational tones, "I cannot, and I refuse to do it." That was the sum and substance of what happened. There was no defiance of the Government whatsoever, and my clients and the writer are in entire sympathy with the NRA and the President's Recovery Program, though we are against price-fixing alone as a mere element in that program. . . .
IRVING BREAKSTONE Chicago, Ill.
Tammen v. Tannen Sirs:
Whether it is a tribute to your popularity or to mine, I cannot say, but so many of my friends have mentioned the reference in your issue of Dec. 25 on p. 34 to "rascally Julius Tammen" I am impelled to drop you this note. Your contributor intended to refer to "Harry Tammen" but the surname and my own --Tannen, when the former is preceded by "Julius" and the adjective employed is "rascally Julius Tammen" suggests you would desire to make a correction. . . . JULIUS TANNEN
New York City
To Comedian Tannen and Lawyer Breakstone, TIME's regrets.-- ED.
The First Mrs. Tibbett Sirs:
Ordinarily an admirer of your tart journal, I should like to register a protest. ... I refer to a footnote concerning Lawrence Tibbett which was appended to an article headed "Concert Business" (TIME, Dec. 18). . . .
The misstatements are:
1) "When rich and famed, Tibbett got a divorce." The fact is that Grace Tibbett sued for and received the divorce.
2) "Grace Mackay Smith . . . worked in a Los Angeles realtor's office so that Tibbett could go East to study." The fact is that Tibbett's venture East was made possible by the generosity of a Los Angeles businessman who loaned him a sizable sum of money for the purpose.
The unfair inference of the footnote is that Grace Tibbett, as a poor girl, worked to make her husband "rich and famed" and that "rich and famed," Tibbett ungratefully cast her off with perhaps not so much as a "thank you." To present a more complete picture, the footnote should have added that Mr. Tibbett has made generous financial provision for his former wife, and that in the journey from poverty to riches, he also brought Grace Tibbett from poverty and obscurity to comparative affluence and prominence. . . .
EDWARD HARRIS
(Onetime Accompanist to Lawrence Tibbett)
New York City
TIME is grateful to have a false notion disposed of once and for all.--ED.
Chautauqua
Sirs:
... In your Jan. 1 issue, under the heading Education, you discuss the receivership of Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, N. Y., and I am listing herewith some of the errors which this article contains.
1) The old camp-meeting ground is not a clutter of triple-porched cottages named Bidawee, Restawhile, or Dewdrop Inn, as you state in your article. . . .
2) There are not several "faintly classic" concert and lecture halls as you state. Only one of the halls is classic and this one, instead of being faintly classic, is probably one of the most definitely classic in this country.
3) Most cottagers are not elderly. There are only about 400 cottage-owners and only a portion of these are definitely "elderly.". .
4) Each day does not begin with community prayers.
5) Chief social events are not ice-cream-and-cake festivals.
6) There has never been, within my memory, a ban on smoking.
7) Chautauquans can boat, play golf and tennis and swim on Sundays.
8) Your statement that receipts never fell below $100,000 from 1920 to 1929 needs the qualification that these figures are for gate receipts only and that total receipts of the Institution ran three or four times that amount annually.
Incidentally, I believe that Mr. Bestor is right in his stand that depression is responsible for Chautauqua's 40% decline in receipts and at tendance. One need only compare this with the declines at other summer resorts which do not offer the educational and cultural advantages which Chautauqua offers.
T. L. BAILEY Shaker Heights Ohio
Sirs:
. . . Yes, we do begin the day with prayer at Chautauqua and praised be God that we do! The founders of our country began the day with prayer and no one so far as I know has yet attributed our country's present financial condition to that custom. . . . To the thousands of friends of Chautauqua who know it and love it, a criticism of its traditions, its landmarks, and its monuments is like unto a criticism of Bunker Hill Monument, Washington's Headquarters at Valley Forge, or of the custom of salute to the Flag.
MRS. WILLIAM ANDERSON Pittsburgh, Pa. "Borrowed" Codex Sirs:
In 1919 I spent a week in the Greek Monastery of St. Catherine at the foot of Mt. Sinai, on the traditional site of the burning bush (not "atop Mount St. Catherine'': Mount St. Catherine is the adjoining peak); and there learned the facts concerning the Codex Sinaiticus. These are at variance with the conventional story, which you summarize in your issue of Jan. 1.
First of all, as to the tale, dear to preachers' hearts, that Tischendorf rescued the precious vellum leaves from a waste basket, as they were being used to kindle a fire. . . . Vellum is a form of leather, you know; and can you imagine any one's kindling a fire with leather? And did you never smell burning shoes? . . .
As a matter of fact, even the ignorant monks had been taught by tradition to regard this particular manuscript as the most prized possession of their library, which is a storehouse of antiquities. Tischendorf "borrowed" the book from the monks, on the plea that his health required him to work in the warmer climate of Cairo. I have seen the receipt that he gave the monastery.
Bluntly, Tischendorf stole the priceless book, and sold it to the Russian Tsar. . . . The monastery never ceased its intermittent efforts to get back the manuscript, although they were given a small sum by the Tsar, as a sort of ''hush money.". . .
Incidentally, after their experience with Tischendorf, the monks enclosed the alcoves of their library in heavy wire screening, and no visitor is allowed to examine the books except with a watchful monk at his side. . . .
WILLIAM T. ELLIS
Swarthmore, Pa.
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