Intervention

Sir:

How can the "pro-Western" nations of Southeast Asia who are willing to fight in the face of Communist aggression look toward the U.S. as their helper when, at the threat of war, men responsible for the formulation of U.S. policies back out of a tricky situation by declaring "I don't think the terrain and conditions are right for sending in our troops," as Arkansas' Senator William Fulbright apparently stated. The political conditions in Asia might not be all "pro" America, but I wonder where the Senator was when the U.S. fought a war in the Solomon Islands, the Gilberts, the Marshalls, the Carolines and the Marianas. Those terrains are very similar to the terrains of Laos, South Viet Nam, and Thailand.

M. R. PUTRIE KRITAKARA

(Student from Thailand)

Frederick, Md.

Sir:

A Cuban meets a group of Spaniards in a cafe in Madrid. Naturally, the topic of conversation is the Cuban fiasco. One of our Spaniards makes the following remark: "The luck we had during our civil war was that the few Americans that were fighting were on the Red side."

MARIA GARCIA

Madrid

Sir:

Wouldn't you just love to have President Kennedy send American troops into Laos, and wouldn't you cry and carp when months later those troops were bogged down in the jungle while we struggled desperately to supply them by air and argued whether or not to use the bomb.

PATRICIA GREY

Pasadena, Calif.

Featherbedding

Sir:

Since the mounting cost of our military budget has been so well publicized, it seems fantastic that our Defense Department can allow the squandering of tax money at our missile bases on waste, work stoppages and inflated wages.

J. E. DOMINY

College Park, Ga.

Sir:

After reading your May 5th article on "Featherbedding on the Pads," I think a more appropriate title would be Swindle. I wonder sometimes how the cartoonists can still show Uncle Sam wearing clothes.

R. H. FRESE

Baltimore

Sir:

I think it degrading and sad that we have people in this country who will accept such extra-high wages, evidently without a guilty conscience. It is time that Congress stops playing footie with the vote-heavy unionists and gives John Q. Public the break he deserves. This includes the price-fixing rascals as well as the union scoundrels.

RUSSELL HOLPERIN

Eagle River, Wis.

Reading Statistics

Sir:

You label your story on New York City in the May 12 issue "Progress Report?" and spend a sophomoric column trying to prop up the phony question mark.

For sheer unadorned, twisted, dirty reporting, this article deserves a high place in the roster of dishonorable journalism. You have corrupted every statistic you use, finding evil in the titanic effort made by the people of New York to create a better city.

You sneer at us because we have passed legislation forbidding families with children to live in single-room apartments. We can only conclude, from your snide language, that you think families should be permitted to live in such conditions.

You cite the relatively few classes with 40 pupils. You do not cite that the average class size for the entire public school system--approximately 1,000,000 pupils--now stands at 30.1, among the very lowest among large cities in the nation. Nor do you reveal that our pay schedule for teachers is among the very highest.

You cite the number of housing violations we have found, and you imply exactly the reverse of what the figure demonstrates. What the statistic shows is how strongly we are attacking the slumlords.

If it were possible to follow the curiously inverted reasoning of your article, one could only conclude that we must be condemned because we have made of New York City one of the cleanest large communities in the world; because we have vigorously combated slums and blight; because we believe the aged and the poor are a proper concern of municipal government; because we have the strictest municipal code of ethics in the United States.

What you are really saying is this: "Look at that awful government in New York. They haven't even achieved Utopia! And guess who lives in that city--people!"

In every one of my annual reports I have given the residents of my community the true facts on all situations, pleasant or unpleasant. My policy has been simply to tell a straight story; this would be a good policy for Time Magazine to adopt.

ROBERT F. WAGNER

Mayor

New York City

P: Reader Wagner's invective is as full of potholes as his streets.--ED.

Architecture & Autos

Sir:

I am one of many who were influenced by the great architect, Le Corbusier. His book Towards a New Architecture was given me by a friend. After reading it I was convinced that here was the only honest philosophy of art and design.

In 1934 I designed the body of the 1935 front-drive Cord 810 automobile. The car was well accepted, and I wrote to Le Corbusier telling him that I had applied his rules of design in the concept of that vehicle. He sent me a courteous reply. Needless to say, I enjoyed seeing his genius recognized in TIME.

GORDON M. BUEHRIG

Dearborn, Mich.

P: Also noted for styling the Duesenberg J and the Auburn Speedster.--ED.

Diplomatic Pout

Sir:

The government of Ghana takes note of an article published in your issue of May 12, which, among other things, refers to shipments of Soviet arms to Ghana. Osagyefo the President has never denied that such shipments have been made. The matter of arms shipments to Ghana from any country is a matter for the Ghana government and is not the concern of any outside power.

My government has no intention of prejudicing the success of U.N. operations, provided that these operations prove successful, bring peace to the Congo, exclude outside interference and effectively stop the flow of arms to warring factions. Osagyefo the President has communicated with the Secretary-General of the U.N. notifying his willingness to leave a contingent under U.N. command in the Congo on certain conditions, at the same time reiterating that he still recognizes only Vice Premier Gizenga as the legal head of Congo's central government.

W.M.Q. HALM

Ambassador of Ghana

Washington, D.C.

The Admiral & the Lady

Sir:

Your article entitled "Able-Minded Seamen" in the May 12 issue adds more fuel to the continuing furor over public education. What Admiral Rickover has demonstrated in his outstanding schools has been proved in many other situations previously: a carefully selected group of highly motivated, mature students who are presented a highly organized and concentrated program of studies in a closely supervised situation will learn the required materials quickly and well. What he has not demonstrated is how to achieve comparable learning with an unselected group of immature learners whose motivations are drastically affected by the attitudes around them, and with a budget that provides for only minimal instructional personnel.

DANIEL L. HOUSEHOLDER

Champaign, Ill.

Sir:

Golden apples for Headmistress Rambusch and Admiral Rickover [May 12]! If more American educators insisted on quiet discipline, minus distractions, they could wake up to the fact that "kids" from six to 60 thrive on efficiency.

DOROTHY LAWRENCE

Garden City South, N.Y.

Sir:

Is it possible that Mrs. Rambusch has more insight into our education problem than those who profess to be our nation's leaders? It's a shame that more of us do not live in Greenwich, Conn.!

(MRS.) GERALDINE BIEGEL

Manlius, N.Y.

Modern Living

Sir:

As one of the 3,500,000 who live in the Wheel Estate, may I take this opportunity to thank you for a fine article on our way of life. Maybe this will ease the burden of explaining to our friends that we live in a mobile home by choice, not by necessity.

KENNETH BIENDARA

Imperial Beach, Calif.

Crab Grass

Sir:

Your article of May 12 failed to mention a simple remedy for crab grass. Since crab grass flourishes only in direct sunlight, consistently mowing the grass no shorter than 3 or 3 1/2 in. works wonders. My lawn may not look like those other "shaved poodles," but it's a joy instead of a headache.

ERNEST R. KRETZMER

Murray Hill, N.J.

Sir:

Your article on crab grass makes amusing but not factual reading. Our product, Halts, "recognizes" the enemy crab grass, attacks its sprouting seed but lets good grass seed sprout unharmed and grow merrily on. Admittedly, this compatibility is unique. It took eight years to perfect before its introduction in 1958.

Invasions from neighbors' crab grass in summer have been stopped handily since 1950. Scotts Clout is the answer to nefarious summer crab grass. Millions of knowledgeable people now keep crab grass under complete control in this manner.

PAUL C. WILLIAMS

President

O.M. Scott & Sons

Marysville, Ohio

The Traveler

Sir:

Thank God there are still some rough-and-ready American travelers as described in your May 19 issue who are searching for that "fresh identity with the elemental life." Mixing a well-earned vacation adventure with do-it-yourself diplomacy at the grass roots gives the President a second-string Peace Corps. Having hiked the globe on a shoestring myself, I rather hope that the softies never survive their hard day at the beach.

WILLIAM H. HEMP

New York City

Sir:

Your report [May 19] on the "haunting harmony" of Greece is a good one. But why did you have to say that food in Greek hotels and restaurants "often ranges from the dull to the frightening"?

Many Americans are so used to the sight and taste of wrapped, frozen, pre-prepared and chemically preserved supermarket type of food that they can no longer stand anything plain, well cooked and delicious.

NICHOLAS P. DOURIDAS

Philadelphia

One Man's Profession

Sir:

As a barber, I was grieved when I read Robert Frost's statement in TIME [May 12] that he cuts his own hair. Further reflection, however, leads me to the conclusion that I have no real cause for complaint, as I write my own poetry.

LYLE WOODS BRYAN

Sedalia, Mo.

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