For a More Human Race

Sir: Your Essay on "Race & Ability" [Sept. 29] should be made "must reading" in classes the world over at the grade levels where it can sink in and take hold before the ugly head of prejudice rears and spews its foul lessons on the unsuspecting young.

ALAN E. MERRILL Cheektowaga, N.Y.

Sir: Easily one of the most regrettably persistent myths in the contemporary world is the belief in the existence of "race"; a modern-day carry-over to an older belief in witchcraft--and the resultant feeling that measures must be taken to protect oneself from contamination. The sooner the public is made aware of the facts the better; your Essay was a step in the right direction.

THOMAS E. WEST Rohnert Park, Calif.

Sir: With this kind of awareness of the truth, you can change me from being one of your sternest Negro critics to an enthusiastic reader. Having been given a chance, many Negroes have already proved by their achievements that their intelligence can be matched with that of any other group. But these were the minority who had the strength to persist against great odds. When the majority of Negroes have the chance and feel that their environment is not so overwhelmingly hostile, they will prove it too. Perhaps, in the end, 1967 will be known as the year of developing understanding rather than the year of disasters.

EMMA LEE POINDEXTER Cambridge. Mass.

Earth As Yet So Young Sir: After completing your superbly written article on the Rusk-Smith marriage [Sept. 29], my entire attitude toward it was changed. Now I sincerely feel that their marriage will have a great effect on all Americans, and was another step towards "a more perfect union." Thank you for letting me see the light.

CAROL LEE GRAY New Haven, Conn.

Sir: Secretary of State Rusk's attitude toward his daughter's marriage makes him ten feet tall in the estimation of this white Goldwater-Republican.

VICKI SHEPHERD OHL Sherman Oaks, Calif.

Sir: Two fine young people have sought happiness without rebellion, exhibitionism or social pressure. Black bigots will scream "Uncle Tom honkey sellout," white bigots will look for "nigger babies," political bigots will see an "L.B.J. deal" and will expose their paranoid vileness to those who view this as a mature event in a maturing country. Three cheers for human power!

WILLIAM L. LAGES, M.D. San Jose, Calif.

Sir: Did not the poet Tennyson, some 100 years ago, express the faith that is now being fulfilled:

A single race, a single tongue--/ have seen it far away--For is not Earth as yet so young?

At 81,1 still hold that faith.

(THE REV.) HARRY TAYLOR Portland, Ore.

Peace & the Warriors

Sir: Ambassador Goldberg implores Hanoi to negotiate and expresses dismay that the enemy prefers to suffer destruction rather than come to the negotiating table [Sept. 29]. It seems reasonable that they should do so. Negotiation means to bargain, to compromise and to be flexible in the resolution of a contentious issue. It is a voluntary and peaceful proceeding. Therefore, negotiation cannot be entered into while the war is ongoing. Violence seeks surrender, not negotiation. To ask for negotiation while continuing the violence is a contradiction in terms; it is a counterfeit proposal.

J. CHANDLER SMITH, M.D. Washington

Sir: It is time that the case of the fighting man of this country be put on the line. Their country has asked them to take on the task of keeping its commitment to our neighbors across the Pacific. The price is very high. The actual cost is evidenced by the freshly turned turf in Arlington and the crowded wards of our military hospitals. In these places lie the quiet ones--the givers. We never hear from them because they are not vocal. We hear only from the selfish who are unwilling to see their country through another trying period. These folks with back trouble are not new to the American scene. We heard them in the early '40s and '50s when they told us America could not meet the test of history. But this country has never proceeded on the course that the selfish chart for us. This country has been sustained by men who were willing to be faithful when their country was in need. Those men are still with us today. I strongly recommend to my friends who doth protest too much that they not forget those giants across the pond who are losing life and limb. If you change our course in midstream you will have to account to those who risked everything for their country.

JOHN M. DOWD 1st Lieutenant, U.S.M.C. Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Pacifiers, Not Pacifism

Sir: I am disillusioned. For nearly ten years I have raised three daughters in this remote part of Brazil's interior on Dr. Benjamin Spock's Baby and Child Care. During many a long night I have been comforted by his undisputed and acknowledged expertise in the care of children. Now I read that my hero has been duped by left-wing extremists [Sept. 15]. Please, Dr. Spock. tell us about pacifiers, not pacifism!

(MRS.) NANCY MOORE Rosario Oeste, Brazil

All In the Family

Sir: An observation about your article on Gibraltar [Sept. 22]: My family "discovered" the Costa del Sol, and an ancestor was admiral-governor of Gibraltar. I have very good friends of every kind there and would like to make a true and neutral comment: even if 99.2% voted against annexation to Spain, 99.9% would honestly wish an arrangement with Spain. But, as always, politics creates such complex problems that our short lives are dominated by a couple of people who, for the sake of their local pride, make thousands suffer--in this case, 25,000.

PRINCE ALFONSO HOHENLOHE Marbella, Spain

Above Ground

Sir: While we can understand your somewhat technical sense of the term "underground" to refer to "The Action Mass of the People" in Washington [Sept. 29], the term has a most unfortunate connotation and your use of it badly distorts what is happening.

The Action Mass has never been secret. Our intent was and continues to be, to operate publicly and within all authorized liturgical prescriptions. We conformed immediately to the restrictions outlined by the Cardinal here this past spring.

Neither were our celebrations "informal" in that they have always contained the complete formal elements of the Mass as required in this diocese. What we were doing was quite within all the rules. No "letter" was broken by our spirit. What happened was that the Cardinal had a newly restrictive letter written forbidding priests to celebrate with us, so that we would be beyond his pale. This we called a clear case of episcopal overkill. Our continuing public record thus conflicts utterly with your oversimplified description of us as underground or informal, either in form or substance.

GILBERT E. DONAHUE MATTHEW K. CLARKE Washington

Such Handsome Hacks

Sir: In a recent article, you examined the "car-of-the-month" In cars owned by Hollywood's show business elite [Sept. 29]. Due, I'm sure, to an oversight, one of the most In automobiles, the London

Limo, was not mentioned. The London Limos are the traditional British FX3 three-door taxis, fully reconditioned, complete with taximeter, now being distributed nationwide by London Limousines Ltd. In addition to the Hollywood car buffs, Miami, New York and other major cities can spot the London Limos parked in front of their chic places. For approximately $2,000, they are priced within reach of most, if not all, of the In crowd.

CHARLES F. ENGEL American Broadcasting Co. Hollywood

Mail from Mafeking

Sir: The review of Brian Gardner's Mafeking [Sept. 29] makes no mention of an aspect of the siege which still is of interest. This was the printing and issuance, in Mafeking, of a special pair of "siege stamps" which were notable as being among the first, if not the first, examples of postage stamps printed by photographic reproduction.

The stamps were properly perforated and far from amateur jobs. Printed on blue paper, one showed an oval vignette of Baden-Powell himself (taken from the very same photograph that TIME printed), while the other depicted one of his

BADEN-POWELL STAMPS bicycle-mounted field messengers, the prototype of the subsequent Boy Scout. The appearance of a subject's portrait on an officially recognized postage stamp reportedly shocked Queen Victoria to the whalebones; she deemed it highly improper that any but the ruling sovereign's likeness should appear on any postage stamp within the British Empire.

T. LACY San Jose, Costa Rica

Who Pays for the Birds

Sir: In your article on hunting surpluses [Sept. 29], you didn't mention that all this wildlife results from conservation programs that hunters have paid for. Self-imposed license fee revenues and excise taxes on guns and shells keep the wildlife management programs of all 50 states alive and thriving. There is no other large-scale source of support.

BILL DAVIDSON Prescott, Ariz.

Baloney Sandwich

Sir: You call Esalen President Michael Murphy "no far out cultist"; yet his "sensitivity training," aimed at getting people to "let go of an excessively verbal image of themselves" [Sept. 29], appears to be merely a rationalization of the hippie syndrome tidied up a little to make it acceptable to middle-class escapists. This technique relegates the mind to second place and glorifies "feelings," the most primitive standard for reacting to others. Perhaps cuddling in "hero sandwiches" 35 people deep sounds appetizing to you; it seems like a lot of baloney to me.

TONI KANN Fairview Park, Ohio

One, Two, Three Kick!

Sir: Where the Rockettes are concerned, we admire their dancing but deplore their arithmetic [Sept. 29]. The fact is that under the new contract proposed by the Music Hall, the young lady who joins our staff as an apprentice dancer would get $7,020 her first year and go up to $8,606 after her second year. Also, there are extras for doubling in other dance numbers, for special engagements like TV shows, and payments to the A.G.V.A. Welfare Fund. The 36% increase offered by the Music Hall is much more than the 15% figure you printed. It seems to me that you are playing arithmetic roulette when you say that a dancer gets 20 a kick. It would be equally deceiving to say that the performers only dance about 16 minutes a day.

EDWARD SERLIN Director of Public Relations Radio City Music Hall Manhattan

Sir: As a former Rockette, I cannot understand the reason for the deliberately false impressions being created. To name a few: time spent rehearsing--grossly exaggerated! Spending "$400 a year on makeup"--ridiculous! If a girl buys "$80 worth of false eyelashes," it is because she wants them, they are certainly not required. If a trained dancer has trouble surviving the big stage without landing on her "backside" it does not speak well for her technique. Perhaps the young lady who said that should have stuck to cheerleading.

MIRIAM MORGAN CASNER Kew Gardens, N.Y.

More Than He Can Chew

Sir: After reading your review of Bonnie and Clyde [Aug. 25], I had to write to you. I can't remember being as upset with anything you've written about films as I am with this unjust, unfair and just plain unkind rap at one of the finest films ever projected on the American screen. The production, technique, the performances and the direction, the whole attitude of what a film should be is there to see and understand. Why don't you people stick to writing about politics and, I might add, try reviewing some of the politicians' performances? You'd really have something to bite into.

JERRY LEWIS Jerry Lewis Films, Inc. Hollywood

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