The Boss

Sir:

Congratulations on your excellent, impartial article about Despot Hoffa [Aug. 31]. You did it expertly and pointedly.

PAUL CANTALUPO Holliston, Mass.

Sir:

Jimmy Hoffa & Co. (the racket-infested, predatory hierarchy of the Teamsters), the arrogance of Labor Boss James Carey in threatening political retaliation to House members who voted for the Landrum-Griffin bill, and the steelworkers' ability to push wages up at twice the rate of productivity gains are the most explicit reasons why there is so-called "antiunion" sentiment (in reality, "antilabor boss" sentiment) in the nation--in and out of Congress.

Unions have done much good for the country, and will be needed in the future; but when a "nod of the head" can close down entire industries, it is time to enact restraints on big labor similar to those on big business and big government.

A. D. FITE Los Angeles

Sir:

You acknowledge that Jimmy Hoffa does have some minor virtues, but what about his major virtues? He is a good, thoughtful, considerate, kind, devoted husband and family man, and that is enough to make him a hero in my eyes. The American home could be a firmer foundation for a healthy America if husbands and fathers would follow his example.

(MRS.) JENNIE BRATLEY Gainesville, Fla.

Sir:

It seems James Hoffa is interested in the rehabilitation of ex-convicts. If this is so, then I think he is doing a great job.

BRUCE KELLY Ellwood City, Pa.

Sir:

In all the hullabaloo over labor-reform legislation, it appears that someone has been overlooked. I refer to the rank-and-file unionist. Without his support, no union boss could afford the elaborate retinue of thugs, lobbyists, and shysters that Hoffa commands. Yet the union members never question Jimmy's methods, so long as he gets results.

It seems to me that union members should be held individually responsible for the be havior of their representatives. Perhaps the threat of a substantial fine might arouse a keener interest in how the votes are counted and how the money is spent.

JOHN P. TAYLOR San Diego

The Guest

Sir:

The Aga Khan kept a chateauful of guests, and one was Tracy Pelissier, but the girl in the Sept. 7 picture isn't. Correct identification: Marina Doria, Swiss international water skiing champion, who was giving His Highness pointers.

ISRAEL SHENKER

Paris

How to Govern

Sir:

As one reader who recently spent 2 1/2 years working with the Europeans and Africans of Nyasaland and Rhodesia, may I protest the one-sided view of the troubles in Central and East Africa presented by TIME? First let us recognize that there is very little resemblance between the primitive African and the Negro in the U.S. and West Indies. The latter are civilized and educated people, having lived the Western way of life for five or six generations. The African, an extremely likable and excitable person, still thinks and lives in a world of his own, and cannot catch up in less than two generations, however hard he tries. Civilization cannot be learned from books. What about the countless fiery speeches of Banda and his followers in which they promised every Congress member a car, refrigerator, big house, etc., when the whites are kicked out of Nyasaland? Are these the words of responsible leaders? Is it so difficult to understand that Britain can safely allow this sort of nonsense to be spouted daily at Hyde Park Corner, but not in Blantyre to an unsophisticated audience of Africans?

N.A.H. GOODMAN Mackenzie, British Guiana

Sir:

After reading your interesting article [on nationalist growing pains in Africa, Aug. 31], I reaffirmed my belief that Africa should be governed by the black man. No one can supply the leadership needed for a nation if that person is not truly a native. England and the rest of Europe had better wake up to the fact that colonization is long since past. No tea-sipping, drab Englishman sitting in London or Johannesburg, regardless of his vast knowledge and experience, knows all the problems and needs of the African. NORMAN EDWARD ROURKE Tulsa

The Toxophilite

Sir:

The new N.A.A. record of 850.67 yds. for flight of an arrow is impressive, as is the "freestyle" record of 937.13, done with a foot-held bow [Aug. 31]. The latter distance probably exceeds the best done by the Turks in the 15th and 16th centuries, but it must be remembered that all Turkish shooting was done with a hand-held bow. That the Turks were claiming distances approaching 1,000 yds. is, to the best of my knowledge, inaccurate. They measured their distances in a unit called guz, the exact value of which can only be approximated; my conclusion is that 24 1/2 in. for the guz is probably close.

The only record "claimed" by the Turks, by appearing in their archives, is that of Toz Koparan, 1,2818 1/2 guz, or about 868 yds. The new N.A.A. record falls only a little short of this.

PAUL E. KLOPSTEG President American Association for the Advancement of Science Glenview, Ill.

New Methods for Methodists?

Sir:

As a Baptist layman, I would humbly like to take issue with the Rev. Bliss Wiant. He opposes the singing of gospel hymns in churches [Aug. 31]. These old hymns have been a source of hope and consolation to millions of people throughout the world; they promise help to those who are faithful, honest, and prayerful.

WALTER H. JUDD*

Indianapolis

Sir:

I'm glad to see that someone in the Methodist Church cares enough about it to effect some much-needed changes in its liturgy. I say hurrah for the Rev. Bliss Wiant.

JEFF MANLEY Portsmouth, Ohio

Sir:

In citing gospel tunes such as I Need Thee Every Hour and Blessed Assurance with the blissful assurance that they are out of date and hard to sing, this musical ragamuffin exhibits the familiar technique of the collectivist revolutionists, viz., to state a false proposition as if it were a long-accepted fact. Persons like this Wiant are not competent to sense the enduring sincerity of the very gospel songs they presume to judge.

R. A. DAVIS

Wyoming, Ohio

Sir:

The refrains of most of our "socalled" gospel hymns are filled with needless repetition. As Dr. Wiant says, they "dupe" and "dope" us and are "sentimental and good for nothing." The type of tune found in many of these hymns is used outside the church for dancing and for popular love songs, and is hardly appropriate for expressing our Christian joy and striving for perfection.

LAWRENCE M. SKINNER Red Springs, N.C.

Sir:

As a Methodist, I cannot stomach this trend, which is, I believe, of the Evil One. The trend, by establishing cold formalism in the church, stamps out the fire which imbued early Christians with zeal and a passion for souls.

J. VV. ROBERTSON Wilmore, Ky.

Politics & Education

Sir:

As a former Teaching Fellow at the University of Massachusetts, I wish to commend you for your Aug. 31 article showing the outstanding achievements of President Mather in developing the university into a first-rate educational institution. It is unfortunate that Senator Powers and his colleagues have seen fit to place personal ambitions ahead of the progress of the university and the commonwealth.

PAUL T. O'DAY Washington

The Importance of Winning

Sir:

There are not enough words in my vocabulary to describe my reaction to "The Strike-Out King" [Aug. 31]. My indignation is not directed against Pitcher Harry Murphy but against those adults who have made winning such an issue that children's baseball, once an enjoyable sport, becomes such an ordeal that a little eight-year-old boy wets his pants in public from fear. And what is worse is that it is not physical fear of pain; it is fear of certain humiliation.

BETTY ALLEN Bremen, Ga.

Sir:

Is it any wonder that our mental hospitals are not only kept full but are brimming over when children are subjected to public terror and humiliation that they are too inexperienced to cope with and to rationalize the way adults have to. Have we delivered American childhood from the sweat shop only to turn it over to such Romanesque pastimes as the terrors and tensions of the Ottawa, Kans. brand of peewee baseball?

IDA E. MCKENZIE Stockton, Calif.

No Soap

Sir:

In your Sept. 7 article on beatnik wnting, you refer to "Jack Kerouac's soapless saga, The Subterraneans," as though in lacking soap it therefore lacked an essential ingredient. I have heard of soap operas, but I was not aware that a detergent was an essential part of a saga.

ROSALIND CONSTABLE New York City

*No kin to Minnesota's Congressman Walter H. Judd.

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