ANGRY WHISTLERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 21036, 21 November 1931, Page 3 (Supplement)

ANGRY WHISTLERS.

WHAT A PROFESSOR SAYS

MUSSOLINI UPSETS DICTUM

Dr. Charles Gray Shaw, professor of philosophy at New York University, has aroused the anger of whistlers throughout the world with his statement that great men never whistle and that the habit is a sign of the inferiority complex. The learned professor has described whistlers as half-wits. He asked if any. one had heard that Julius Caesar whistled as lie conquered Gaul; whether President Hoover ever whistled; whether Mussolini, Edison, or Einstein played music with their lips. Dr. Shaw's desk was recently piled with correspondence from irate whistlers, and the newspapers were full of indignant letters criticising his statement. Someone cabled to Rome and learned that Signor Mussolini, the Italian Premier, does whistle. Now a friend of Einstein says that he has heard the famous scientist amuse himself with a tune on his lips. Dr. Shaw refused to withdraw his statement when told that Mussolini was fond of whistling. ' "If he whistles," said the professor, " it is because he is a musician, and musicians may be excused." A woman, aged 67, wrote to Dr. Shaw saying- that she had been whistling all her life, but would cease now until she learned whether or not she was feebleminded. Senator Borah confessed that he used to whistle, but has given up the habit since the economic depression set in.