The Speech that Refreshes

Sir: Hurrah for Milton Friedman and his "libertarian anarchism" [Dec. 19]! In this age of new economics, unreason, mysticism, New Left hysteria and everyone's paranoia, it is refreshing indeed to hear someone speak calmly, wittingly, logically --all of which Mr. Friedman does so well.

MICHAEL WASHBURN

Corpus Christi, Texas

Sir: Imagine saying that corporate officials should have only the goal of making money, devoid of any kind of social consciousness! Should we then thank Professor Friedman for our water and air pollution, our congested highways, and our ghettos--all in the name of a free economy whose dubious goal is the pursuit of profit?

DONALD E. BLACK

Midland, Mich.

Sir: It is very obvious that Mr. Friedman has never been on relief. My mother-in-law has been. Just ask her whether she would prefer to receive an $80-a-month handout on relief, with all its degradations and red tape, or the same amount in Social Security insurance--for which she and her employers had paid the premiums over many years. In fact, just ask anybody who receives Social Security. Very few of them would state that Mr. Friedman wants to help the poor in any way.

DARIUS D. BUELL

Elmira. Mich.

Sir: I maintain that we'd better have a recession in 1970. or else risk serious depression a year or two later.

JAMES L. MARSHALL

Denton, Texas

Sir: I was flattered and pleased by your cover story on my work and ideas [Dec. 19]. Because the story was so highly accurate on factual details, one amusing lapse stands out. A favorite remark of mine was stated in a way that completely reverses its meaning.

Says the story: "He sometimes speculates that if Franz Joseph had instituted a minimum-wage law, his family might have stayed put and he would be a Soviet citizen."

What T often say is: "If the U.S. had had a minimum-wage law in the 1890s, my parents might not have been able to migrate to the U.S.. because there would have been fewer job opportunities available." If Franz Joseph had instituted a minimum-wage law, that would have reduced employment opportunities in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and encouraged, not discouraged, emigration.

MILTON FRIEDMAN

Ely, Vt.

Chosen People

Sir: I do not think we can listen to ourselves in TIME'S Essay on the decade of the '60s [Dec. 19] without a lift of the heart, the sense that the world is still something to be renewed and that human beings have been chosen for the task.

MRS. THOMAS S. DUNMIRE

Fort Benning, Ga.

Sir: Contrary to your assertion, the prospect of the "70s is precisely that we will be "crowded into marginal existence by famine." Only the most extreme efforts will succeed in avoiding this end, and those efforts will be effective only if they are instituted immediately. As for the "quality of human life," the only sure way to obtain quality is by limiting quantity. If there exists a broad consensus among scientists, it is that the imperative of our age is the population dynamic, and that, if the end comes, it comes not with a bang, nor even a whimper, but rather with a birth cry.

ROGER W. KOLVOORD

Department of Geological Sciences

University of Texas

Austin. Texas

Sir: We need to grow twice as much food as we do now in order to adequately feed the earth's 3 billion people. And the population is increasing by 70 million per year. A "grain glut" in the '70s you say. Wait and see.

KENNETH L. FITCH

Department of Biological Sciences

Illinois State University

Normal, Ill.

Sir: "The green revolution"? Not likely. With eutrophication and desiccation of soil and water by fertilizers, detergents and you and me, our only hope is that the pragmatism of the democratic process will be directed not to personal or corporate gain but rather to population control and protection of our greatest wealth: wildlife and wilderness.

K. J. KRUSHEL

Roslyn Heights, N.Y.

Everything Goes

Sir: For several issues you have been talking about cyclamate. monosodium glutamate, and other food additives that may be considered poison. Let's be sensible before we stop the use of everything and die of monotony.

PHILIP SADTLER

Philadelphia

Sir: What is it? "A pasteurized blend of water, hydrogenated vegetable oil, sugar, starch, sodium-phosphate, derivatives of mono-and diglycerides, sodium caseinate, polyoxyethylene (20), sorbitan tristearate. salt, cellulose gum, calcium chloride, vanilla and artificial flavor. Charged with nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide." It goes well with pumpkin pie. Answer: a dessert topping. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

(MRS.) JUDY DARE

New Orleans

Shedding Some Light

Sir: Re "Hitler's Last Great Gamble" [Dec. 19]: Any member of the U.S. Army's 28th Infantry stationed near the Our River separating northeastern Luxembourg from Germany who went on a reconnaissance patrol or was at a forward post during the three days preceding the attack knew that something big was brewing. For eight hours preceding the attack, the skies over the river were illuminated by giant searchlights enabling tanks and troops to assemble and cross the river --and all this was dutifully reported back to headquarters by us "dogfaces." U.S. Intelligence wasn't unaware. They either underestimated the situation or had some "method to their madness"--those of us who spent months in a German P.O.W. camp mulling it all over would like to know just what did happen to G2.

LAWRENCE I. FALSTEIN

Chicago

Overextended Credit

Sir: I was pleased to see the consumer revolution featured in TIME [Dec. 12], and I was happy to see Massachusetts law cited among other advanced consumer legislation in the country.

However, Massachusetts residents have three days, not ten, to reconsider and cancel contracts they sign with door-to-door salesmen. I am afraid your writers overextended our credit.

ROBERT H. QUINN

Attorney General

Boston

The Bird

Sir: Your article about Stephen Potter reminds me of a lecture that he gave at the University of Illinois when I was a student there. As I recall, the head of the English Department introduced Mr. Potter with the remark that he had never understood English humor and sometimes doubted its existence. The professor illustrated his view: He had heard someone telling the old joke about the male robin who, upon finding a brown egg in his nest, inquired of his wife regarding this phenomenon. She replied that she had done it for a lark. The professor remembered having heard the joke retold later by a Briton who told it intact, except for the tag line, which became: "I did it for a sparrow." This, the professor insisted, made it difficult to believe in English humor.

Mr. Potter took the podium and acknowledged the introduction with: "Thank you, Professor, but I'm terribly sorry that you didn't get the point of the sparrow joke." Of course.

G. L. ANDREWS

Chicago

Superchilled

Sir: Dr. Hoenikker invented an "unnatural" water called "Ice Nine" in the book Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. "Ice Nine" propagated itself by feeding on natural water and eventually ended up making the earth uninhabitable. The creation of "polywater" [Dec. 19] by the Russians and its subsequent re-creation in the U.S. and Britain bring to mind the dangers of such a substance if it should be let loose. Vonnegut's novel begins to sound like chilling prophecy.

MIKE TIERNEY

Bridgeport, Conn.

Aftershocks

Sir: You shouldn't have told us. If Nixon hears that it is possible that Red China could deploy an intercontinental subterranean earthquake [Dec. 19], he might feel an uncontrollable urge to deploy counter-platforms. That would mean years of costly research to find out the right height for the platforms and the proper intervals for all of us overweight citizens to jump. Then would come debates over whether it would work, whether it would be worth the money, and whether anybody cares. Meanwhile, some Russian-launched earthquake would come along and destroy us all. If you had kept your mouth shut, we could have lived out our lives in blissful ignorance.

PHILIP LORANG

San Diego

Sir: Fifty million motorists simultaneously applying their brakes from a speed of 60 m.p.h. would impart 50 times as much energy to the earth's crust as David Stone's jumping Chinese. Careful coordination could focus the energy at any point on earth. Unfortunately, the first Chinese jump would destroy our highways and prevent a retaliatory attack. Therefore a preemptive strike should be made at once.

J. B. BLEAKLEY

Sierra Madre, Calif.

Sir: Perhaps the Chinese could be persuaded to develop a one-strike capability by jumping off a 50-ft. platform. Surely this would be a gian' leap for mankind.

STEVE BUNDY JR.

Wilmington, N.C.

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