Red China Reviewed

Sir: With so many conflicting reports on Red China, it was a real pleasure to read your clear, concise cover story in the Sept. 13 issue. Even after many years of topnotch accounts of world events, I am still amazed at your thoroughness in reporting.

ROBERT D. METZGER

Cincinnati

Sir: Having lived in China for eleven years, including more than a year under Communist rule, my wife and I want to express our appreciation of your splendid article on "Red China: The Arrogant Outcast." We have also been grateful for other articles on China in preceding issues.

Although our written Chinese is a bit rusty, we were able to decipher the lower of the two banners carried on the overcrowded ship on the cover. We could not find the final character in Mathews' dictionary, but it may be one of the shorter forms the Communists have introduced. Thus the slogan reads "Defeat (or destroy) capitalism (or capitalists)."

In the upper banner the first two characters read "Down with." But the next four characters seem syntactically unrelated, though we know the meaning of each of them. In Romanized form they read, "Heh-lu-hsiao-fu." We feel that this must be the transliterated surname of some non-Chinese. Is it Khrushchev?

(THE REV.) HENRY OWEN

Los Angeles

> Yes.--ED.

Sir: Your cover picture is reminiscent of the judgment of Lord George Macartney, the first British ambassador to reach the court of a Chinese emperor (1793-94):

"The Empire of China is an old, crazy, first-rate manofwar, which a fortunate succession of able and vigilant officers has contrived to keep afloat for these 150 years past, and to overawe their neighbors merely by her bulk and appearance; but whenever an insufficient man happens to have the command upon deck, adieu to the discipline and safety of the ship. She may perhaps not sink outright; she may drift some time as a wreck, and will then be dashed to pieces on the shore; but she can never be rebuilt on the old bottom."

P. T. LEWISSAN

Cambridge, Mass.

Sir: In your article on Red China, you explained the strength of both the Chinese air force and the Chinese army. I would like to know the size and strength of the Red Chinese navy.

DAVID KESSLER

Hartford, Conn.

> Red China's navy is considered more an extension of border forces than a true seagoing arm. It includes 25 to 30 submarines, mostly of Russian origin, that have been inoperable since the withdrawal of Soviet technicians, three or four old destroyers and destroyer escorts, an effective fleet of several hundred PT boats, and a number of old World War II landing craft.--ED.

Cronkite Writes

Sir: Your statement [Sept. 13] that the White House suggested the question on South Viet Nam for my interview with the President is probably based on an erroneous A.P. story. Everyone at the White House, recognizing CBS's news integrity, observed the strictest propriety and made no suggestions. This reporter would have been indignant if they had.

WALTER CRONKITE

New York City

> CBS-TV Reporter Cronkite need not feel indignant, nor consider his integrity impugned. CBS had requested the interview, and White House sources confirm that beforehand a check was made to be certain that Viet Nam would be included as a top subject of discussion.--ED.

Planned Land

Sir: Congratulations on your superb article on the regional planner, William Leonard Pereira [Sept. 6].

However, I would suggest that the crucial challenge of this continent, and our entire rapidly urbanizing globe, is not the regional plans on unencumbered, "clean slate" areas. It is rather coordinating the fast-multiplying crises of regions now crowded, littered and confused with people and their myriad enterprises.

A. H. LE MASURIER

Ontario Department of Economics and Development

Toronto

Sir: The thought that someone may design a city for people and not for automobiles is almost overwhelming.

JOAN NOLAND

St. Louis

Sir: So women can stroll at Irvine just like their grandmothers did; my grandmother strolled to the shops because it was easier than harnessing and unharnessing a nag. Like a number of Southern Californians, I will walk if I must, but no Pereirapatetic architect is gonna make me like it.

ASHLEY O. JONES

Corona del Mar, Calif.

Sir: In a country where physical planning is just at its weaning stage, it's heartening to note that a planner can crowd political figures off the cover of a discriminating magazine.

Pereira is, of course, an extraordinary subject. He is brilliant--his hillside housing idea could be the answer to the need for more space and fewer automobiles in modern communities.

The world needs more Pereiras.

MELVYN ESTEPA VIRAY

National Planning Commission

Manila

Sir: Kudos to TIME for emphasizing the need for more Bill Pereiras to help accommodate the burgeoning urban populations of our nation and the rest of the world. Not only do we need regional planners for the new cities, but we need more who are properly trained in the varied skills required to make our old cities more livable, more efficient.

JAMES E. LASH

Executive Vice President

ACTION, Inc.

New York City

Sir: Lucky us, to be living in Architect Victor Gruen's El Dorado Hills. It is fortunate for California that architects like Pereira and Gruen have been allowed to do some dreaming before the planning.

There is no "scorched earth" policy here--the houses are being built around the trees. We have lots of wide open spaces to enjoy, without the distraction of telephone poles, TV antennas, etc.

Here in Park Village (first of the twelve villages to be developed), over 100 families have been enjoying swimming, golf and hiking all summer.

This isn't the city of the future--it is the city of the "right now," and we are really living it up.

(MRS.) JOYCE FOREHAND

El Dorado Hills, Calif.

Romney & Scranton

Sir: Thank you for providing information on Governor Scranton's impressive record [Sept. 13]. Considering the fact that "he had to be drafted to run for Governor," one is refreshed by the sight of a politician who is not a talker but a doer!

MRS. Z. LISAC

Cincinnati

Sir: A majority of Michigan voters want George Romney to stick to his job here at home until at least 1968. He would not be our Governor if we had not needed him.

(MRS.) VIRGINIA MEESKE

Spring Lake, Mich.

White House Art

Sir: Upon reading your account of what Jacqueline Kennedy has done for the White House [Sept. 6], and what some former Presidents did to it, I think she deserves the vote of every citizen--a vote of thanks at least,

(MRS.) LETA B. BEARD

Santa Monica, Calif.

Sir: You say that "Scottish Painter John Syme's oil of John James Audubon was purchased [for the White House] because it is a fine portrait." Can you show us a picture?

In his biography, Audubon the Naturalist, Herrick says that this portrait was painted at Edinburgh in 1826 but that no trace of the painting has been found.

J. D'ARCY NORTHWOOD

Curator

Audubon Shrine and Wildlife Sanctuary

Audubon, Pa.

>Audobon's portrait (see cut) passed quietly from one private collection in Edinburgh to another for 133 years. By the time the canvas was auctioned off at Sotheby's in 1959, the artist was listed as unknown but believed to be one of Audubon's sons. New York's Knoedler Galleries acquired the painting and did the research leading to the rediscovery of Syme as the painter.--ED.

Something to Think About

Sir: Thank you for your well-written report on the "Negro Revolution to Date," and thanks for the description of the plans for the March on Washington [Aug. 30], with the map showing the paths to be taken.

We heard here the Radio Peking broadcasts that reported on the March. Peking said that as the people marched, they were shouting "Down with Imperialism!" and "Down with Kennedy!"

These deliberate lies, which were probably broadcast all over Asia, would be laughable if the possible consequences weren't so deadly serious. I hope your report on the size and condition of the U.S. atomic arsenal [Aug. 23] gives these people something to think about.

R.D. ZIEGLER

U.S. A.I.D. Forestry Adviser

Chittagong, East Pakistan

Sir: As a reader of TIME for almost 18 years, I would like to congratulate you on your coverage of the civil rights issue. The Negro March on Washington could only have been possible in a free country like the U.S. This is a proud moment for those of us who hold precious the Western way of life.

Anthony Gemayel

Chief Editor

Mid-East Commerce

Beirut

Sir: I had hoped that after TIME had winnowed the thousands of words so skillfully written by your nationwide staff for the cover story of Aug. 30 that my comments on civil rights and Negro-white relations would be accurately reported.

I have said to various TIME reporters on numerous occasions that the American Negro has obligations as well as rights, that he must demonstrate responsibility, and that he must display his wares in the marketplace for impartial judgment, along with all other citizens.

At no time, however, did I comment for TIME or any other publication on Boston's Columbia Point Housing Project and its alleged unsanitary conditions.

I have never visited this particular project, so it is inconceivable that I could have stated that there was "writing all over the walls, and children defecate right in the halls . . ."

EDWARD W. BROOKE

Attorney General

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Boston

>TIME stands by its quote from Attorney General Brooke, regrets that it was somewhat misleading in the context in which it was used: Brooke was talking not only about Negroes, but about underprivileged people in general.--ED.

Much Man Sir: The article on Latin American manliness [Sept. 6] was a masterpiece of opinionated journalism if I have ever seen one.

Just what moral authority do you have to speak of emphasis on machismo in Latin America--here in this land of the "real-man cigarettes" and the home of the "heman shirts"? Did you ever see a U.S. Marines recruiting poster? Where in Latin American would you see newsstands like the ones in the U.S. packed with magazines "for men only"?

By the way, Simon Bolivar's way with women came after his fight with the Spaniards and as a result of his leadership, not as a cause. Short, feeble (he had tuburculosis), hardly the he-man you seem to imply he was. Bolivar was a leader because he was an excellent tactician and statesman, a fact that you neglected to mention.

FERNANDO GARCIA

Austin, Texas

Troubles in Sodom

Sir: Re Historian Williamson's "plain logic" rejection of the rabbinical interpretation of Genesis 19, "Bring them out to us that we may know them," as carnal knowledge is clearly borne out in Lot's reply, "Behold now, I have two daughters who have not known man, pray let me bring them out unto you, and do to them as is good in your eyes, only unto these men do nothing."

Of course, rabbinical commentators agree that there were other sins as well.

RABBI HYMAN DOLGIN

Los Angeles

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