My Grandson, the Robot

Sir: I used to lie awake nights imagining the suffering of my yet unborn grandchildren in the ecological nightmare of the future.

Now you have shown me that the genetically altered "Superbeings" of the future [April 19], with their pushbutton chest consoles and "drug cafes" may be able to endure anything that future holds through chemical adjustments, and so avoid all "human" suffering. Why should I lose sleep over my grandson, the robot?

(MRS.) ESTELLE O. MURRAY Glendale, N.Y.

Sir: Your article on the New Genetics is by far the foulest thing I have ever read. That these "scientists" should toy with problems of such universal and profound significance shows only that our educational system is an abominable failure, turning out unnatural, immoral and monstrous specimens of humanity. Are these creatures now to change our lives in the name of science?

PHEBE SZATMARI New York City

Sir: As the wife of a graduate student in microbiology, I am only too familiar with the "life scientist" and his insatiable desire to know, to understand and even to create existence. That desire is exactly what makes him human.

It is impossible to limit the quest short of killing off the quester: man himself. In deed, those who would set limits are the ones who tamper with "the natural order of things."

SUSAN L. McVEY Syracuse

Sir: Throughout your article on the New Genetics, one perceives a great uneasiness that maybe all this knowledge is a bad thing, that man is necessarily being forced into a moral dilemma. Being a rationalist, I cannot believe that it is better to be an ostrich than to be the thing that most distinguishes man from ape, a seeker after knowledge for the sake of itself. Misuse of knowledge results from ignorance. To believe otherwise is to believe that being out of contact with reality is less likely to lead to bad effects than is sanity. If man fails the evolutionary test, it will be because he knew too little or because, knowing enough, he had too little moral courage to apply it.

JERRE NAGYLAKI Boulder, Colo.

Sir: I'll be the first to applaud progress if it is beneficial and wise; however, I do not like the direction the New Genetics is taking. Scientists should not start tampering with man, regardless of how high their intentions are. Any scientist who harbors a desire to be God has an astronomical ego and is to be greatly feared and watched.

(MRS.) LUCY L. RANKIN Lancaster, Pa.

Sir: Where did you ever find those remarkable testimonies to the progress genetic engineering has made? From individuals pictured on your cover, who seem to be totally without sexual apparatus?

RICHARD McALEE Rochester

Sir: Your story on the New Genetics was fascinating, and here is a little memo for those scientists:

Uniform skin color for all humans, please. And mark it urgent.

JANE WOODROW Kenwick, Australia

Sir: I am troubled by the potential power of this science.

It seems to me irresponsible that scientists and theologians faced with the possibility of genetic manipulation and the question of who is to control it say that such manipulation "should not" be done. It would be better to face the fact that it will be done, if not by responsible scientists then by bureaucrats or power-hungry persons.

Perhaps the best use for genetic manipulation would be to create a future form of man with a permanent abhorrence to any genetic tinkering.

BARBARA J. STEPHENSON Davis, Calif.

Sir: In the diagram "Protein Synthesis," your artist showed the nucleic-acid fragment UGA as a "three-letter word" that "codes for one amino acid."

UGA is not a code for an amino acid; it is one of the few combinations that tell the machine that makes proteins to bring an end to the protein chain, acting just like the period at the end of this sentence.

THOMAS H. JUKES Berkeley, Calif.

Out of the Cocoon

Sir: So at last China's Chairman Mao climbs out of his cocoon and extends the hand of friendship to America [April 26]. But watch it, "Mr. America." For too long you have been a pawn and political scapegoat at the hands of the Communist bloc. While the world awaits the sordid outcome in Viet Nam, the Communists are hunting with both the hare and the hounds. So before this friendship becomes a courtship, make doubly sure that your great space secrets are buried safely where "no rust, or moth can consume, or thieves steal."

JOHN O'FLAHERTY

Watergrasshill, Ireland

Sir: Much gratitude is owed to the members of the U.S. Ping Pong team. Because of their friendly reception in Red China, we will hopefully be able to ease the tensions of more than two decades. Thanks is also due President Nixon, who acted swiftly to thaw relations with Red China. Premier Chou En-lai has stated that he would like to visit the U.S. Let's hope that if he does come, he will receive the same friendly greeting that the Ping Pong team received.

J. EDWARD LOVELL Ill Odessa, Fla.

Sir: How gullible can we Americans get! A U.S. table tennis team is admitted to Red China and is given an incredibly warm welcome. Meanwhile, Mao continues to pour military and advisory support into North Viet Nam. The same can be said of Communist Russia. Each talks of growing friendship and cooperation with the U.S. Ironically, this situation could find us, at the final Vietnamization and withdrawal of U.S. troops, shaking hands in friendship with two nations who have significantly contributed to the death and wounding of tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers throughout Indochina.

CHARLES P. BARRETT Watervliet, N.Y.

Bugged or Bugging

Sir: It is not a case of who is bugging Congressman Hale Boggs [April 19] but rather what is bugging him. If he had a clear conscience he would not be bothered. If someone taps my phone, he will soon get annoyed at the uninteresting listening. Anyone who has lived with a rural party line can live with bugging. Only shyster lawyers and their clients need beat their breasts about wiretaps. The rest of us simple folks have little to worry about.

GEORGE C. GOULD Elmira, N.Y.

Clear-Cutting

Sir: Your article "Tumult Over Timbering" [April 19] contains both errors of fact and misrepresentation. The statement that the Forest Service's "budget is hiked when it does more timber business" is false. Forest Service appropriations are authorized annually by the Congress without regard to the revenues from annual timber sales. The forest industry has consistently urged that a portion of receipts from timber sales be used for timber growing. The question as to whether clear-cutting is "good or bad for the country's 182 million acres of national forests" is moot. (The actual figure is 186 million.) Only 97 million acres of the national forests are classified as commercial forests. Of that, about two-thirds is slated for commercial forest management because of streamside, roadside, watershed and recreational withdrawals. It is untrue that clear-cutting "reduces food sources for birds and small mammals." The reverse is true. It is erroneously stated that "U.S. forests are now being cut faster than they are being replanted." That statement is false. Cubic-foot volume growth exceeds annual harvest by 30%.

JAMES R. TURNBULL Executive Vice President National Forest Products Association Washington

> TIME erred in some details, but feels that it described the dispute fairly. Some of Mr. Turnbull's assertions are arguable. For instance, while federal law dictates no relationship between the appropriations for the Forest Service and timber-harvest revenues, an expert study last year indicated that such a relationship exists in practice. Also, the service concedes that it is five years behind in replanting areas that have been clear-cut.

A Rose for Daniel

Sir: Throw a rose to Captain Daniel [April 19], who, in the wake of indecisiveness of other public figures, has the forthright daring and clarity of thought to say what he feels, regardless of the kind of acceptance it might receive.

JAMES M. RICHARD Oklahoma City

Sir: Either Captain Daniel is grotesquely naive or untutored in U.S. history. Atrocity in warfare, social and military, is as common to us as hot dogs--and too often glorified. The trial of Lieut. Galley is consequently a self-pious exercise in hypocrisy. And in view of historical truth, let Captain Daniel spew his indignation elsewhere than on the President's desk.

FREDERIC HENRY Key Largo, Fla.

Sir: I strongly resent TIME'S presuming to speak for the Army in regard to Captain Daniel's leaving the service. I don't pretend to speak for the Army, but as one of its members, I find the departure of any competent, hardworking, courageous officer to be a sad occasion.

RICHARD L. Cox JR. Major, U.S.A. Knoxville, Tenn.

Sir: Contrary to TIME'S suggestion that Prosecutor Aubrey Daniel has the respect of his peers, I would doubt that very many professional officers in any of the services have much respect for a man who publicly chastises the Commander in Chief.

CHARLES H. CHRISTIANSEN Lieutenant, U.S.A.F. Scott A.F.B., Ill.

An Old Racket

Sir: Apparently term-paper hustling is an old racket [April 19}. My university students warn that one must always order a paper that will receive a grade commensurate with one's previous performance. Thus, deliberate Cs and Bs may be requested in preference to the interesting, fascinating, informative, original A. When I rebuke the practice, the reply is, "But the politicians' speeches are written for them, and look at all the books and articles that are ghosted."

ANN PEYTON Thomasville, Ga.

Sir: One of my professors at Northwestern University is now requiring us to hand in our notes taken for the term paper. We're also required to maintain a critical bibliography on all "sources" used. RICHARD A. JANIS Evanston, Ill.

For Silver or Prestige?

Sir: Pope Paul VI's Easter-time blast at resigning Catholic priests [April 19] is staggering even to those of us who have become relatively inured to the aberrant nature of papal statements in recent years. If Paul's sentiments represent the church he claims to serve, we former priests are happier somewhere else. Judas, we recall, sold his master for a material profit. One wonders whether any institution in history has so consistently sold out on its principles and ideals as the Roman branch of Christendom--not now for 30 silver pieces, but for prestige, legal immunity, tax exemptions and Government funds for its schools.

FRANK DERRIMAN Brighton, Australia

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