Goober Cox

Sirs: Strange that TIME [Aug. 23], in its passion for nicknames would have missed one so colorful as that applied by Washington newshawks to Congressman Edward Eugene Cox of Georgia. For his friendship for peanuts, which TIME did mention, Congressman Cox is dubbed "Goober." There's very little pretense about "Goober." He's sincere and frequently speaks his mind. That's why he's popular with Washington correspondents. His suite in the House Building retains much of the flavor of the small town lawyer's office. Pants which are obviously in the midst of being carried personally to the presser drape the backs of chairs. Country weeklies from Georgia are piled here and there, and "Goober" is none too concerned with House(office)keeping. But let no one, because of these oddities in Congressman Cox's make up, presume that he is not abreast of the times and that he is not an able legislator. WILLIAM E. GROSE Jackson Heights, N. Y.

Ghosts

Sirs: TIME, Aug. 9, p. 53. Let us also be competitors of Ghosts Baer & Woods. Our slogan: "Anonymity our passion."

OWEN ERNEST JENSEN Pacific Ghost Writers Bureau Los Angeles. Calif. P. S. Do you see the "ghost" On the Pacific Coast?

Spit-&-Image

Sirs: Your ''spitting image" (TIME, Aug. 30. p. 11), which is meaningless, should have been "spit an' image." You doubtless have interpreted what you have heard "spittin' image," and, being punctilious, have supplied the g. You may supply the d for an', too, if you wish. Saliva, like blood, breath, etc., has been regarded, by many peoples of the world, as having supernatural potency, and, of course, intimately associated with one's being. In the folk-mythology of both hemispheres, saliva is often associated with conception. It is reported that among the Gypsies a woman who wishes to have a child will drink water into which her husband has spat. "Spit an' image" is, in all probability, to be traced back to a mystical notion of this sort. LESLIE A. WHITE Dept. of Anthropology University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Mich.

TIME herewith accepts Anthropologist White's correction. Henceforth when two things or people bear a close resemblance, TIME will bear in mind the corrected phrase spit-&-image. --ED.

Pride in Queipo

Sirs: I KNOW SEVERAL HUNDRED SPANIARDS INCLUDING FRANCO HIMSELF WHO WOULD VIOLENTLY DISAGREE WITH STATEMENT P. 18 AUG. 2) ISSUE THAT QUEIPO DE LLANO IS MOST EMBARRASSING OF ALL FRANCO'S FOLLOWERS STOP I HAVE JUST RETURNED FROM 2,700-MI. AUTOMOBILE TOUR OF NATIONALIST SPAIN VISITING MOST IMPORTANT CITIES AND TOWNS BAY BISCAY TO MEDITERRANEAN FINDING INTENSE INTEREST AND PRIDE IN QUEIPO'S BROADCASTS EVERYWHERE ALSO HIS MILITARY ACHIEVEMENTS UNSURPASSED IN PROPORTION TO FORCES HIS DISPOSAL STOP HAVE JUST TALKED WITH AMERICAN EXPORTER FRESHLY RETURNED FROM SOVIET SPAIN WHO ASKS ME INFORM FRANCO THAT QUEIPO IS WORTH 100,000 MEN TO HIM AS MILLIONS IN RED TERRITORY NOW LISTEN SECRETLY TO HIS BROADCASTS AND DISTRUST VALENCIA GOVERNMENT INCIDENTALLY I FOUND PEACE AND QUIET CHEAP AND PLENTIFUL FOOD AND GREAT ENTHUSIASM FOR FRANCO EVERYWHERE IN NATIONALIST TERRITORY AND HAD SEVERAL HAPPY DAYS UNDER NORMAL CONDITIONS ON THE CROWDED BEACH AT SAN SEBASTIAN WHICH YOU REPORT SEETHING WITH INSURRECTION. RUSSELL PALMER Paris. France

New Record

Sirs: Thank you very much for your sympathetic treatment of the cause of the Territory of Hawaii in the article entitled "Much Ado About Sugar," which appeared on p. 9 of your issue of Aug. 16. In connection with your statement that "Delegates from Honolulu are forever pointing out that Hawaii pays more income tax than any of 16 States," it may be of interest to your readers to know that for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1937. the Federal internal revenue collections in Hawaii were $11,633,487.56, or $3,652,786.93 higher than the collections in the previous year, an increase of 45.77 percent. This amount was greater than the collections in any one of the 17 less prosperous of the several States in that period. Previously the Territory's best record in this respect has been total collections greater than any one of 16 States. . . . JOHN SNELL Executive Secretary Hawaii Equal Rights Commission Honolulu

No Clerks

Sirs: Upon reading in TIME Aug. 23 issue the statement: "The Shanghai Volunteer Corps . . . consisting principally of British and U. S. clerks. . . ." As a former resident of Shanghai, and ex-member of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps, I am impelled to write you to state that among my former fellow troopers were: oil company executives, attorneys, electrical engineers, bank officials and sales representatives of leading American manufacturers-- with nary a clerk in the outfit. The clerical jobs in Shanghai are of course held by Chinese. M. C. McGuiRE Los Angeles, Calif.

More on Westendorf

Sirs: It may interest you to know that the "one T. P. Westendorf" mentioned on p. 21 of the Aug. 23rd issue of TIME as the composer of The Bridge Was Burned at Chatsworth is the same Thomas P. Westendorf who wrote both words and music of the well-known song I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen. At the time of the Chatsworth disaster Mr. Westendorf was assistant superintendent of the Illinois State Reform School at Pontiac, Ill., a few miles from Chatsworth. The tragedy made a lasting impression, and his ballad commemorating it was sung for several years, although those of us who knew and loved him realize it is far from his best. MRS. R. B. SCATTERDAY Caldwell, Idaho

Help for Lampson

Sirs: I am writing a book based upon the life of Dr. William Crawford Gorgas, Alabama born, Tennessee schooled, graduate of Bellevue hospital medical college, and career soldier who eradicated yellow fever from Havana, Cuba, following the Spanish-American War, sanitary engineer wh() chased the mosquitoes out of the way of the steam engines and so made possible the building of the Panama Canal. Will TIME, following its remarkable stunt of identifying the lady of the Santa Lucia Mountains photograph for Mrs. Robinson Jeffers (TIME, July 12 & Aug. 2), devote a small amount of its valuable Letters space to helping me get in touch with people who knew and worked with Colonel Gorgas? I am anxious to gather all available material, especially unpublished facts, anecdotes, and accounts of personal contacts. I shall appreciate the co-operation of TIME and its readers. . . . ROBIN LAMPSON Berkeley, Calif.

TL Blunders

Sirs: I fear you blundered in your article dealing with the Royal Yacht Squadron in your Aug. 16 issue. I do not think there are 19 women members. I do not think there are any. I also believe the annual subscription is not 100 guineas as you said but -L-16. And of course Sir Thomas Lipton was admitted, though belatedly, a few months before he died in 1931. BASIL THREEPWOOD Shrewsbury, England

TIME'S face burns shamefully for its inexcusably erroneous account of the Royal Yacht Squadron, the result of an unholy combination of fallacious information from its London correspondents and sloppy checking at home.--ED.

Surprises

Greatly surprised that alert TIME should ignore Editor-Angler John Martin's remarkable feat in breaking North American record in most popular division of America's fastest growing sport, deep-sea angling. Fisherman Martin landed 821-lb. giant blue fin tuna in 4-hr, 45 min. whereas many another angler has disqualified himself for records on smaller fish by breaking rod & line or giving up entirely. . . . PHIL R. SHERIDAN Press Reporter Province of N. S., Canada

Greatly surprised is TIME that Pressman Sheridan did not see TIME'S report of Managing Editor Martin's feat at top of col. 3, p. 21, in the issue of Sept. 13.--ED.

Mellon & Harding

Sirs: Noting your statement in TIME, Sept. 6, p. 12, it was not Harry M. Daugherty of Ohio, who suggested Andrew W. Mellon to President-Elect Harding for Secretary of the Treasury. A year or two before his death, Philander C. Knox, U. S. Senator from Pennsylvania, told me that soon after the election of 1920 he had said to Mr. Harding that if he wanted for Secretary of the Treasury the best financier in America ... he begged him to consider Mr. Mellon for that place. While Mr. Harding had never met Mr. Mellon, he invited him to come to Marion for luncheon, and before the repast was ended he had tendered the appointment to his guest, who accepted it. ... SAMUEL HARDEN CHURCH Pittsburgh, Pa.

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