Somebody Up There Is Watching Us

Sir: Apropos your flying-saucer Essay [Aug. 4], the implication is that most scientists insist that their laws are absolutely valid. Yet even Einstein is now being questioned, and there is uncertainty about Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. As knowledge is gathered, the old "laws" are found more and more to apply only to special cases. Faster-than-light travel will probably be possible when our frame of reference has expanded far enough.

ROBERT P. BURRUSS

Chevy Chase, Md.

Sir: There may be future planes and spaceships that certain people are privileged to see through the veil of time. If UFOs are only an exciting glimpse of the future, their greatest value is as a promise of magnificent centuries ahead instead of the total atomic destruction so many of us fear.

CARL F. BAUMAN JR.

Highspire, Pa.

Sir: Astronomer Sagan is quoted as saying: "I really doubt that the city slickers of the universe are all that interested in us." Is he kidding? "Galactic boondock" we may be, Dullsville we're not! Think of the fascinating things we're getting up to in Red China, Detroit, Viet Nam, etc. I'm surprised our visitors haven't set up huge airborne bleachers to accommodate all those "city slickers of the universe" who might fancy one of those good-bad films once in a while!

ALFREDO PORRAS JR.

Manhattan

Sir: As a matter of fact, I saw a flying saucer just the other day. I spoke to the captain of the ship, and he seemed like a nice enough guy. He said that of all the planets he has visited ours is the only one in which "civilized" inhabitants wage war against one another. Therefore, to retain the integrity of the universe, he and his followers are going to attack Earth around 1974. Not out of malice, but as a favor. He feels that by providing us with a common enemy, we will attain solidarity. Then he said something about a word to the wise, but 1 didn't catch it.

SAMUEL KACHIGAN

Manhattan

Not For--Against

Sir: Your Essay, "Violence in America" [July 28], succeeded in presenting and, with characteristic guile, dismissing this contemporary problem--or rather catharsis--which demands much more than "effective law enforcement" and "elimination of the ghetto," as you succinctly put it. Detroit was decimated with death and $500 million worth of damage, by riot, or perhaps revolt, against rather than for something.

RICHARD HARRIS

U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer

Maharashtra, India

Sir: The Negro doesn't want to be tolerated! He wants to be accepted--loved and enjoyed for his own personal worth. If the Mrs. Brookes and May Britts outnumbered the Stokely Carmichaels and Rap Browns of the U.S., we could leave the rioting to those nice, white little college boys and girls who have enough money to visit Florida every year.

MARGARET PIGOTT

Detroit

Sir: You refer to the Molly McGuires as "a band of Pennsylvania miners who assassinated fellow workers and bosses alike." I wish to advise that as a student of their history and direct descendant of the county delegate of Schuylkill County, at no time did I ever come across any incident of violence attributable to the Molly McGuires where they were known to have assassinated a fellow worker or boss to gain better pay and working conditions per se. Rather, the individuals who were slain had the misfortune at the time to be of Dutch, Welsh, and/or English descent and fell prey to personal prejudices and animosities.

JOSEPH J. WAYNE

Silver Spring, Md.

What Scares People

Sir: Whether or not the Detroit riot [Aug. 4] could have been contained in the beginning will continue to be debated. The publicly announced position of the city administration was that "lives are more valuable than property." If this is true, why would we ever fight a war?

HELEN HACKETT

Dearborn, Mich.

Sir: The riots are inexcusable, but the handling of them is even worse. There are new variations of tear gas available that cause several hours of extreme nausea, yet leave the subject in perfect health within 24 hours. Wouldn't this be better than killing innocent 4-year-old girls?

JOHN H. CONE

Pasadena, Calif.

Sir: Reports that there were some white people among the looters, arsonists and snipers in Detroit's riot comes as a terrible shock to me. It is most disheartening, since white people generally have made fine progress in years past. This may spoil everything. I would urge those who feel confirmed in their prejudices and who are quick with their denunciations to remember that not all white people condoned the lawlessness of the few.

JOHN C. BONNELL

Dearborn, Mich.

Sir: Your article concerning the growing fear Negroes are inspiring among the white population fails to point out the very real and justified fear that black Americans have learned to live with in order to survive. I wonder if white Americans are frightened by the same things that scare us. Do they think we will lynch them? Burn their churches and homes? Sick our police dogs on them? Refuse to hire them? Or are they afraid that we might simply wish to be free from dependence and continued exploitation?

JAMES FARMER

Professor of Social Welfare

Lincoln University, Pa.

Recount

Sir: Contrary to your statement of Aug. 4, the Christian Democratic Party of Chile or any of its Senators did not "install Marxist Senator Salvador Allende as President of the Chilean Senate," but voted against him, supporting again the candidacy of Christian Democratic Senator Tomas Reyes.

RADOMIRO TOMIC Ambassador of Chile Washington, D.C.

>TIME erred. The Christian Democratic Party's 13 Senators voted for Reyes. A llende got the votes of nine Radicals and twelve members of a Socialist-Communist coalition.

I Remember

Sir: Re "Greece, The First 100 Days" [Aug. 4]: You, like many other American writers, indicate that you feel the Greek coup was a big mistake and that Greece has taken away the freedom of the people. In reality, the Greeks acted aggressively against Communism which was gaining too much power in Greece. I say it was best to clean house now instead of later. You see, this is a long-range cleaning up, but the end result should be shining and new and for the better. It is better to have a temporary lack of freedom than to wait until the Communists are too powerful. Greece is not in the best economic condition and is ripe for preying Communists. Don't worry about Melina Mercouri and her sentiments; let her remain an actress and do well economically and let the government do well and save the country.

I have had firsthand experience with the Communists and their tactics. I've been in their jails and their army and finally escaped.

THOMAS KARATHANOS

Detroit

>-A Greek living in Albania, Thomas Karathanos saw the Communists torture his father to death in 1944 and himself spent five years in forced-labor camps. In May of 1954, he and six surviving members of his family attempted to flee to Greece; Albanian border guards ambushed the party and slaughtered all save Karathanos, who made good his escape [TIME, July 19, 1954].

He emigrated to the U.S. in 1956, is now the owner of a paint contracting firm and a U.S. citizen.

In the Wrong Key

Sir: As a dealer for Yamaha pianos, I often state to customers that Yamaha International is the largest manufacturer of pianos in the world. In reading your August 4th issue, I find the statement that Aeolian Corp. is the world's largest piano manufacturer. In 1966, Yamaha manufactured over 100,000 pianos, twice that of Aeolian.

HAROLD ROEDER JR.

Hortonville, N.Y.

Sir: One tiny discord crept in: the competition from cheap Japanese pianos is being felt; but their grand pianos sell in the U.S. for three-fourths, not "onefourth the price of domestic models."

HENRY R. HELLER JR.

President

The Aeolian Corp.

New York City

Heart of the Argument

Sir: In "The Holy Land" [Aug. 4], you survey the religious significance of Jerusalem to Judaism, Christianity and Islam. You might have mentioned that Jews the world over have been praying for and toward Jerusalem for 2,000 years, thrice daily; Moslems face five times daily toward their holiest site--Mecca. For Christians, Nazareth and Bethlehem have been destinations of pilgrims. For the Jew the world over, only Jerusalem remains as the sole center of his religion.

NISSEN PLOTKIN

Bet Shean Valley, Israel

Sir: Re your explanation of the name Jerusalem, you would find an illuminating reason by reading on a little farther in the Babylonian Talmud you quoted. This is the manner in which our sages put it: Abraham called it Jeruh (Hebrew for awe) and Shem, the son of Noah, called it Salem (for peace or completeness). And the L~d said, "If I call it Jeruh as Abraham did, then the righteous Shem will be insulted, and if I call it Salem as Shem did then the righteous Abraham will be insulted. I will therefore call it as both did --Jerusalem."

SHEINDEL WEINBACH

Jerusalem

Esusu & Chitty

Sir: The consorcio lottery method for financing cars [July 21] may be "typical of Brazilian ingenuity and flair," but its origins are in the Old World. Although such rotating credit associations are known widely in Asia, Africa, and now in Latin America and the West Indies, the most likely source of the Brazilians' consorcio is the esusu of the Yoruba of Nigeria. Whether it was originally introduced to the New World by Africans, Chinese or East Indians, this popular method of saving is now known as boxi money in Guyana, meeting in Barbados, partners in Jamaica, esu in the Bahamas, and chitty (the Hindi form from English chit) or susu in Trinidad. The Brazilian flair is in raising the ante to allow major purchases, and in raising the tone of the whole operation by calling the group a "consortium." I predict West Indians will be purchasing cars this way within a month after TIME arrives.

DANIEL J. CROWLEY

Chairman, Dept. of Anthropology

Univ. of Calif., Davis

Twice the Man

Sir: Your article on "Employment" el Aug. 4 performed a valuable service in revealing the dramatic growth of the temporary-help industry in recent years. However, the article did not present an accurate picture of the leader, Manpower Inc., whose volume for more than 19 years has consistently remained at twice the level of its nearest competitors. The gross revenue figure of $61 million that you reported for Manpower did not include the total sales of our franchise offices and therefore did not give a true picture of the size of our company. Total sales of Manpower's 531 company-owned and franchise offices for the calendar year 1966 were $135 million. While your statement that much of our growth is a result of a push overseas does reflect our expansion outside of the U.S., it does not give proper credit to rapidly increasing sales from our 410 U.S. offices which accounted for substantially over $100 million during the same period.

ELMER L. WINTER

President

Manpower Inc.

Milwaukee

Would You Believe?

Sir: In your July 24 issue, you had an article about pregnant women eating laundry starch. I really did not believe it. Then I started asking my own prenatal patients, who come in for blood tests at our clinic. My results are four out of ten eat starch, two ate clay, and one was addicted to cement. Unbelievable!

PAUL E. ROSENBERG

Hematology Department

The Long Island Jewish Hospital

Jamaica, N.Y.

Charge!

Sir: As a member of one of the regiments involved, now sadly lost in amalgamation, I observe with regret that your commentator on "Richardson's Folly," or whatever the new celluloid crucifixion of the Light Brigade [Aug. 4] is to be entitled, is ignorant of the history of the brigade and its gallant--but monotonously misrepresented--charge. Let him remember that the "military caste system" Miss Woodham-Smith so coldly indicts produced, along with all the other "rank incompetents," such commanders as Marlborough, Wolfe, Wellington--and, indeed, Washington.

COLONEL G.P.M.C. WHEELER

Scots Greys (2nd Dragoons)--

late 4th Queen's Own Hussars

McLean, Va.

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