Judaism Scarred?

Sir: Your article on the Jewish Defense League's military-style training camp [Aug. 30] is only another sad commentary on how the "American way of life," with its emphasis on guns, defense and hatred, is scarring Judaism. I wonder how long it will take these young men and women to realize, as many other young Jews have, that our only liberation lies in moving to and settling in our homeland of Israel, that the only place really worth "fighting for Jews" is in the Jewish state.

LAURA BROWN Cleveland

Sir: As a member of the J.D.L., I know what it is like. You should not put us under the category of "militants." We should be under the heading of "Jewish survival." The J.D.L. is not a militant group but a group of Jews attempting to put an end to this antiSemitism. We've been used as scapegoats for thousands of years. We are trying to prevent another Hitler, and damn it, we're gonna make it! In my opinion every Jew and any Jew should be a member of the Jewish Defense League.

PHILIP B. BIRNBAUM Far Rockaway, N.Y.

Sir: Maybe we should ask where the J.D.L. intends to use these newly acquired skills. If they intend to tear my country apart, I am concerned. If they intend to protect the home they stole from the Arab, they should be training on that ground.

JOSEPH J. STRAUB Rochester

Sir: I am a black American and I want to express my anger about the militant Jewish Zionist camp in the Catskills. It is indeed hypocrisy that the so-called democratic leaders in our land and state permit such camps. Hitler called them youth camps; what does the J.D.L. call them? To say the Jews do not enjoy full equality would be a base lie, as they control the economy. Do these cubs intend to bomb Christian homes? Just what is the real purpose? If anti-Semitism becomes active, then the actions of the Jewish Zionists are the cause, and they must assume the full responsibility.

DORIS BROWN New York City

Viet Nam Election

Sir: Contrary to your implication, it wasn't Tricky Thieu or Big Minh [Aug. 30] but Henry Kissinger who splattered Vietnamese election egg over the face of America.

Following a private meeting with General Minh several months ago, I tried to tell Mr. Kissinger what he should have known anyway: that Minh would not accept his assigned role in a Kissinger-produced, Ellsworth Bunker-directed charade. Minh happens to be an honest man as torn inwardly as his country is torn outwardly by an endless, American-made war. Mr. Kissinger and Ambassador Bunker bear full responsibility for blocking South Vietnamese self-determination and destroying the best chance for peace since the war began.

The Pentagon papers say: "The explanation of how the U.S. mission became detached from political realities in Saigon in August 1963 is among the most ironic and tragic of our entire Viet Nam involvement." Unfortunately, it is no different in 1971.

HAROLD WILLENS Chairman Businessmen's Educational Fund Los Angeles

Nixon's New Economics (Contd.)

Sir: I wonder if the New Economic Policy was drafted on the drawing boards of Detroit. There are plenty of bugs in the economy besides the four-wheeled ones from Germany. I doubt that the 90-day warranty period is long enough to get the sedan of state out of the proving grounds.

KIRK V. DAHL Minneapolis

Sir: Nixon's new program, if backed by every American, should bring prosperity again and a great sense of security and hope for our country.

There should be no more indecision as to whom to vote for in 1972.

JEAN BELLON San Diego

Sir: Now that both Democrats and Republicans have proved that Keynesianism is a failure, it's time to try laissez-faire capitalism. Find out what capitalism is; then you won't permit this endless teetering on the brink of disaster.

(MRS.) GAYLE B. POMRANING San Diego

In Defense of Dreiser

Sir: Your comments about Robert Penn Warren's book in tribute to Theodore Dreiser [Aug. 30] are too fatheaded not to be rejected. Dreiser is not forgotten. He is read by many people in many parts of the world, and for good reason: he wrote earnestly and without cleverness about the loneliness and failure of people who might be said to be ordinary, except for Dreiser's noticing of them.

The writing of Theodore Dreiser, who tends to take forever to tell his story and to get his effects, is necessary to read only if a reader starts to read it and refuses not to go on to the last word. It can happen, even today, even in America. And if it happens, it is because of the vitality of the writing. Durability follows vitality. When you dismiss Dreiser and belittle Warren, you are being laughable but not funny, which TIME has always tried to be for some preposterous reason Dreiser and Warren are writers. Your employees are not writers, they are jobholders. The difference is fundamental.

WILLIAM SAROYAN F resno, Calif.

Sir: Dreiser and his effect on and position in the history of American literature are hardly unnoticed. To the contrary, scholars, writers, students and friends of Dreiser from Russia, Sweden, Japan, Canada and the U.S. gathered in August at Indiana State University to celebrate the centennial of his birth.

The young people of today are reviving interest in his works. Despite Miss Duffy's review in TIME, this great pioneer in literature will have his "place in the sun." TEDI DREISER LANGDON Atlanta

> Mrs. Langdon is a grandniece of Dreiser.

The Basic Values

Sir: The treatment of Galley [Aug. 30] seems to be an advertisement for killing Vietnamese citizens. This man has been convicted of the murder of at least 22 Vietnamese civilians, and yet he lives in a private apartment with rent, food and utilities paid for while his girl friend cooks dinner! Poor people who have done nothing illegal all their lives live worse than that, and what of the people in jails who were convicted of lesser crimes?

If this is American justice, it's about time we stopped worrying so much about our pocketbooks and started worrying about the basic moral values.

BARBARA WEILER Silver Spring, Md.

Neither Dreams nor Cherries

Sir: I am scared stiff to hear that the youngsters are going to vote in the U.S. next time [Aug. 23]. What the hell do these kids know about life?

I am 71, and last year I crossed the Atlantic in a small yacht with the help of only one young man of 24. This will show you that I am not an old baboon, grumpy, with old-fashioned hobbies. I have gone through a lot of things the hard way, and I have had to learn that life is not a dreamy bowl of cherries, and that only experience can ripen a man and bring him to his senses.

With demagogues going after the votes of these youngsters, I feel sorry for the future of the U.S.

PIERRE DORIAAN Caracas

Sir: As a member of those 11 million newly enfranchised voters, I feel that it would be a waste if we did go 2-to-l for the Democratic Party. I believe the Democratic Party is just as screwy as the Republican Party. If we hand over our vote it will be worth nothing. If our vote is to mean something, we had better not sell out to either party.

If we remain together, vote as a bloc, and stay out of the politico stuff, we will have both political parties bending over backward to get our vote.

MIKE KOSCINSKI Spotswood, N.J.

Sir: Heaven knows I tried. But when the board of registrars meets at the Buckle and Bows kindergarten and at the fire station and here and there, if at all, and only between the hours of 9:30 and 3:30, one gets the impression that those in power don't care whether anyone gets the vote.

The week of my vacation was also the week of rest for the board. They must work very hard at evading potential voters. I tried very hard to catch them.

WALTER WADE WELCH Montgomery, Ala.

Chinese Strategy

Sir: I am curious. Is the odd-looking vessel so strategically placed at the feet of Premier Chou En-lai during audiences with Western visitors [Aug. 23] a spittoon, a good, old-fashioned chamber pot, an incense burner or a Chicom fire extinguisher used for dampening Western overtures? (MRS.) ANDREA R. WALCOTT Kingston, Jamaica

> The vessel is a spittoon, a common feature in Chinese offices and homes.

Old Smiles

Sir: I'd like to say that the smiling-face gimmick that is sweeping the country [Aug. 30] is hardly new. Teachers in primary grades have been using the Smilie, quickly drawn on papers, to show young students that their work is correct and neat. It encourages the little ones as well as being fun.

I hate to admit it, but I've been using the smiling face for about 20 years, as have many other teachers I know.

BARBARA K. TUTTLE Newport Beach, Calif.

Sir: Surely Smilie Face is old enough to be a senior citizen. Treasured letters from my paternal grandmother contained drawings of this same cheerful character as long ago as 1911.

BETSY BIRDSEY FRASER-SMITH Los Altos, Calif.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.