The Aftermath

Sir:

To millions of people's peace-hungry minds, Mr. Khrushchev's offer to scrap all armies will look very tempting and reasonable indeed. But I can mention a number of fairly prominent countries where the abolition of the armed forces would mean an immediate and effortless take-over for the extremely well-organized Communistic minority. In such places as Argentina, Indonesia, Iraq, etc., the armies are just holding their own against the subversive forces of Communism, and should the hypothetical case of complete disarmament become a reality, Western countries such as France, Italy and Finland could fall without a shot being fired, and the rest of the world--according to Lenin--would follow suit as docile stock being led to the slaughterhouse.

J. N. DALHOFF

Nelson, New Zealand

Sir:

If, as you say, the disarmament proposal was "a pure propaganda maneuver," then it is apparently too bad we did not think of it first. It may be worse than just too bad, if we, as you have done, attempt to sneer at it or to laugh it off as impractical.

HILMAR L. EARL

Oakland, Calif.

Sir:

The question should be asked Khrushchev: How does he propose to keep Eastern Europe under Soviet domination simultaneously with total disarmament? It is quite obvious that these two policies are inconsistent.

R. L. COHN

Hurst, Texas

Sir:

It seems to me that the press is as much an instrument in fomenting and preserving a state of hatred and distrust between this country's people and those of Russia (particularly her leaders) as any actual misdeeds by Russia may have been. You bring out Khrushchev's faults and choose to minimize or ignore the possibility of his sincerity. I am proud, and not afraid, to admire Mr. Khrushchev for what may well be genuine overtures in the direction of peace. I shall trust him. I shall not condemn him and slap him when he puts forth his hand in friendship.

BETTY L. GRIFFIN

Canoga Park, Calif.

Sir:

I notice, while reading the Atlantic Edition of TIME (Sept. 21) in Rome, that you printed a picture of Professor Emelyanov that is not Professor Emelyanov's picture. My secretary at Notre Dame can supply you with a wide selection of good ones.

T. M. HESBURGH President

University of Notre Dame

P:The President of Notre Dame and a Soviet atomic energy executive may seem unlikely acquaintances, but acquaintances they are. Father Hesburgh met with Vasily Emelyanov at sessions of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. The Notre Dame President and Frank M. Folsom, chairman of the Radio Corporation of America executive committee, are Vatican City's permanent representatives to the agency; Emelyanov represents the Soviet Union.--ED.

Sir:

Congratulations for the Sept. 28 cover. As I looked at Mr. Khrushchev's face framed by American scenes, I could only hope that the voice of America, so aptly illustrated by Artist Safran, was not jammed by our Russian visitor.

MRS. J. C. PEEL

Lakeland, Fla.

Sir:

Regarding the cover of Khrushchev and Americana, it was a pleasant surprise to see the John Carter Brown gate of Brown University. However, your background sketch on Artist Safran failed to mention any reason why he chose to paint the gate and Sayles Hall in the background. Did he have any reason?

RICHARD J. VESELY Brown '56

Havertown, Pa.

P: Because TIME'S cover researcher went to Pembroke, the women's college of Brown University.--ED.

Sir:

I do not claim to be an expert analyst, but in this part of the country we would surmise that N. Khrushchev has a well-developed case of inferiority complex. I do not at the moment recall any symptoms that he has overlooked exhibiting in a virulent form.

Khrushchev should be told repeatedly why his past prevents us from accepting his words, without actions to back them and a means of our checking their compliance. We should always be polite and calm--if he wants to throw tantrums, let him--and go ahead calmly and politely.

CHARLES H. HAMILTON

Lansing, Mich.

Sir:

Applause for the leaders of A.F.L.-C.I.O. for their firm and knowledgeable stand in discussion with Mr. Khrushchev in San Francisco. Through that exchange of opinions, the lack of freedom for a working man in Russia stands out more strongly than ever.

HUITT YARDLEY

Sao Paulo, Brazil

How to Stretch a Buck

Sir; I read with interest your Sept. 21 article regarding Postman Frank Derrick, who, with a salary of $4,000 a year, is able to afford a "brick, three-bedroom ranch house with two TV sets, and an air conditioner, and a piano." How does he do it?

P. J. VAN WINKLE

San Antonio

P:He spends his spare time playing (violin, saxophone, clarinet) with the ''Frank Derrick Orchestra," makes another $4,000 a year.--ED.

Death in a Fraternity

Sir:

As a member of Kappa Sigma I have nothing to say in the defense of the actions of our late U.S.C. chapter [Sept. 28] and I would be ashamed if any K Sig did come to their defense. You rightly call Dick Swanson a victim, and I agree with his brother's indictment of the chapter's actions.

I must, however, protest one thing. What you called a ritual may very well be one, but it is not the Kappa Sigma ritual that all our 80,000 members have participated in.

In spite of what some critics may say, the solution lies not in the abolition of the fraternity system, but in the pressure of public opinion on the national organizations to force their chapters to use only the long-established formal rituals and not replace or supplement them with local juvenile pranks and potential murders.

ELLIS DAVIS

Ann Arbor, Mich.

Sir:

Like every other college fraternity, Kappa Sigma for years has had express rules against hazing, of which undergraduate members periodically are reminded by national and local alumni officials. Obviously this has not been enough, and we must devise stronger measures to ensure against another tragedy such as occurred at Southern California. However, to condemn the fraternity system out of hand is to disregard the useful and objective functions it performs as an adjunct of higher education; nor is it fair to imply that what obviously was an act of hazing constitutes part of a formal initiation procedure.

JAMES E. IVINS

Worthy Grand Master of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity

Houston

Word from the Sergeants

Sir:

If more opinions [protesting the Status of Forces Agreement--Sept. 14] were expressed forcefully to our State Department and Congressmen, it could only serve to point up the extreme handicaps our NATO servicemen are forced to endure while serving in this country. We challenge anyone to a comparison of our Bill of Rights and the NATO Status of Forces Agreement. Violations of both are rampant here. Brutalities are common in Turkey during "questioning'' by secret police.

SGT. DALE McCUISTION, U.S.A.

T/SGT. JAMES D. KING, U.S.A.F.

S/SGT. JOSEPH PROIETTI, U.S.A.F.

S/SGT. JACK RECEVUTO, U.S.A.F.*

City Prison

Izmir, Turkey

The Educator

Sir:

Let me congratulate you on the best and most complete analysis of public education, its sins and salvation, that I have ever read [Sept. 14]. TIME has done a thorough job of setting forth the things that Dr. Conant observed and suggested, instead of the usual half picture that I as a teacher and parent am constantly called upon to clarify and enlarge. Let me never hear it said again that your magazine gives only part of the picture. Now I know better.

LOIS WEILER BABLE

Wayne, Mich.

The Nature of Chastity

Sir:

On the question, "Is a woman justified in killing to protect her chastity?" [Sept. 21], Jesuit Rotondi seems to have ignored the great Augustine's (354-430) solution to that casuistical dilemma. In Book I of The City of God, Augustine discusses the Christian authority for the committing of suicide by Christian virgins who were ravished or whose honor stood in danger of being violated.

Augustine concludes that it is just as unlawful for despoiled virgins to take their own lives as it would be for them to take the life of the rapist. The commandment, "Thou shalt not kill" is a law of God, and no Christian can disobey God's law by suicide or "homicide to prevent a crime which is uncertain as yet, and not her own."

(THE REV.) M. RUDOLPH MILLER

First Presbyterian Church

East Liverpool, Ohio

Sir:

Jesus taught that purity is a heart condition. A raped person's body might be violated, but not her chastity. On the other hand, according to Jesus' standards, the boys' lust already made them guilty, and by killing one of them, Miss Sbrighi put him forever beyond the possibility of repentance and redemption. God has reserved the right of vengeance for himself.

WILBUR HOSTETLER

Elkhart, Ind.

Sir:

Three cheers for the Italian girl who fought off her would-be attackers, killing one with a jackknife. If it was really an attack attempt, the Italian court should give her a medal instead of a reprimand.

TIMOTHY BROWN

Los Angeles

Sir:

A chaste and pure woman who is raped does not lose her chastity or her purity, violate her virginity or marriage fidelity. Chastity, strictly speaking, is a spiritual state, not a physical condition, and applicable to a married woman as to a virgin, to a male as to a female, and not necessarily preserved by a knife.

E. MALLEN

Santa Monica, Calif.

*The four U.S. sergeants, whose treatment by Turkish police after their arrest on charges of black marketing currency, has brought down a storm of controversy.

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