Letters, Feb. 22, 1932

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Regrettable Gibberish

Sirs:

TIME'S meticulous and precise use of terse English has been one of my delights in reading it. The section headed Medicine on p. 30, Jan. ii issue, appears to indicate a regrettable letting-down of your usual standard.

Bottom of first column: '"Apparently it does not matter whether a couple is old or young to have intelligent offspring." This is gibberish. I assume what you mean is: "Intelligence of offspring appears to be independent of the age of the parents.''. . .

FRANCIS A. THOMSON President

Montana School of Mines Butte, Mont.

Gibberish it was indeed.—ED.

The Queen's Swedish

Sirs:

"She [Goeta Ljungberg] sang for the Queen of Sweden, got five crowns because she had 'gold in her throat.' She spent the five crowns on cakes and milk for her school friends."—TIME, Feb. 1.

". . . since Queen Victoria of Sweden told her she "had God in her throat."—The New Yorker, Jan. 30.

Who's right? Remember the New Yorker was right in the Charlie Chaplin episode (TIME, March 9). Would you let even that swelegant magazine beat you twice?

M. ELIZABETH TOBIN Portland, Ore.

Soprano Ljungberg was only eight but her mother heard Queen Victoria say "gold" which in Swedish is guld, not "God" which in Swedish is Gud—ED.

Y. M. C. A.'s Harmon

Sirs:

TIME'S comment on the editorial record of Francis Stuart Harmon: "Like few other Southern editors he has consistently stood forth against lynching, convict-floggings, local misgovernment" (TIME, Feb. i).

I would ask TIME to point out one reputable Southern newspaper which does not oppose lynching and flogging. As for "local misgovernment," that is a matter of local political opinion. . . .

On the subject of lynching, however, the Southern press is a unit. Convict-flogging having been abolished in most Southern States, including Florida, there is little occasion for "standing forth" against that. . . .

E. D. LAMBRIGHT Editor Tampa Morning Tribune Tampa, Fla.

TIME'S phrase was ill-chosen. The Y. M. C. A.'s new general secretary has been a conspicuous enemy of social evils.—ED.

Stamp Collector

Sirs:

Governor Roosevelt, youthful collector of nautical Americana, now ardent philatelist, will no doubt receive the support of the stamp-collecting public (est. 100,000 of voting age) should he secure the Democratic nomination for President.

Unique, the situation offering the possibility of a stamp-collecting President might well overshadow seemingly more important vote-deciding qualifications in the philatelic mind.

THOMAS F. WHITBREAD Editor The, Stamp Dealers Bulletin New Rochelle, N. Y.

Governor Roosevelt owns an interesting but not very important collection of Central & South American stamps, belongs to the Society of Philatelic Americans and to the Collectors Club, of which New Jersey's onetime Senator Frelinghuysen and Pianomaker Theodore Steinway are also members. Of the estimated 3,000,000 U. S. stamp collectors, Scott Stamp & Coin Co. guesses that perhaps a maximum of 500.000 are adult, potential Roosevelt boosters.—ED.