Attica

Sir: The action taken by New York authorities in restoring order to the Attica prison is highly commendable [Sept. 27]. Surely those who criticize overlook the fact that the prisoners involved are desperately sick men whose ability to reason is seriously impaired if not totally destroyed. Such lawlessness cannot be tolerated; the action taken will, I hope, discourage future incidents of this nature.

ELIZABETH M. KEATING Jacksonville

Sir: It is remarkable to me that any state official was willing to trade so many human lives for the reassertion of state authority one day, one week, one month or even one year earlier than if negotiations had been allowed to proceed.

DAVID W. GUSTAFSON

Somerville, Mass.

Sir: The tragedy of spilling our blood at Attica can only be redressed by another universal spilling: of intelligent thoughts on the fundamental causes.

WILLIAM LIEBERMAN

St. Louis

Sir: Convicts involved in the Attica revolt should be uncompromisingly punished. An investigation should be made of the Black Panthers and William Kunstler regarding the extent to which they abetted the whole ugly affair.

It would be poppycock for anyone to attempt to explain away the convicts' actions with the oft-heard cliches that, after all, they were 1) innocent "victims of our harsh society," 2) in prison "only because they were black," or 3) "political prisoners." Governor Rockefeller did exactly the right thing. And now let's not have the courts get lenient with these murderous convicts.

E. C. JOHNSON

Chicago

Sir: Having been inside Sing Sing and other penal institutions (as an inspecting grand juror), I advise deliberation in assessing the Attica riot. Commissioner of Correction Russell Oswald made the only possible rational decision. He was facing primitive hysteria, obviously inflamed by subversives. He gave the same order that any field commander facing a public enemy in battle would have given.

RAYMOND BROWNE

Waccabuc, N.Y.

Population Quiz

Sir: In the Essay on population [Sept. 13] Otto Friedrich's optimism would be more credible if he could cite any advantages in having more people on the face of the earth, or in the U.S. What river would be purer? What slum would be more livable? What crime statistics would decline? How would life become more meaningful?

In approaching what could be the brink of catastrophe, we should rely on what we know how to do, lower the birth rate, while we also work on the bigger problems like reorganizing the world.

DAVID A. FROST

Rochester

Sir: Would it not be more prudent to hope that the optimists are right but to plan as if they are dead wrong? The results would be about the same, but if the optimists are wrong, the results will be certain catastrophe.

RONALD L. BUSH

Sinking Spring, Pa.

Sir: Re the birth control enthusiasts who want to tax a family with more than two children and put sterility drugs in the public water supplies: it is a pity that their parents did not have the foresight to have themselves sterilized before they had had one too many children. That would have been nipping the problem in the bud.

MARY LEE CAMARILLA

Kaufman, Texas

Sir: A problem greater than the population explosion is "population hysteria"--a new psychosocial disease created to a great degree by Paul Ehrlich and others like him who must be reaching an alltime high (or low) in misanthropy as they abandon science to preach the gospel of ecological paranoia.

SAMUEL A. NIGRO, M.D.

Cleveland

Sir: How utterly visionary to call for equitable sharing of the world's goods! Can you seriously expect this of a society in which the gentlest suggestion of self-restraint, of a more modest standard of living, even, conceivably (dare I say it?), of a no-growth economy, is jeeringly dismissed as loathsome, puritanic moralizing?

PHILLIP M. ALLEN, M.D.

Charlottesville, Va.

Sir: The Chamber of Commerce logic of Otto Friedrich's essay is appalling. May he be blessed with a winter in Siberia to fully appreciate that land's "vast" capacity to absorb human life, and a day on a Tokyo subway to get the feel of body-based wealth.

JEFF ISEMINGER

Berthoud, Colo.

Muskie and Other Democrats

Sir: Aside from the qualities I admire in Senator Edmund Muskie [Sept. 13], the one quality I have faith will bring him to the White House is his air of honesty. With such important issues at hand, I find it somewhat a shame to have to depend so heavily on a charismatic aspect of the candidate, but faith and a feeling of trust in a President have been missing for nearly eight years. In Muskie I see not only an "honest Abe face," but an honest attempt at bringing back faith and trust in our Government.

PAUL L. FADELLI

Richmond, Calif.

Sir: After reading about the Democrats' political hopefuls, I felt a bone-deep sadness; it appears that none of these men is qualified.

Another four years of Nixon will bring me and surely countless others to the brink of despair. Isn't there one man in our whole beloved country who can think beyond mediocrity?

(MRS.) JOAN HOFFMAN

Clearwater, Neb.

Sir: If TIME can make a schnook like Edmund Muskie look good, I wonder what it could do with a worthy candidate, like Senator George McGovern. It is so sad to realize that ability has nothing to do with politics. Only "public relations" can make a man win--right?

(MRS.) PEGGY J. WOOD

Wichita Falls, Texas

Sir: The election of Senator George McGovern to the presidency will be but one step in the crucial attempt to upgrade all American institutions. I suggest that you feature soon the only Democrat who has tossed aside the fac,ade of undeclared candidate. The name is McGOVERN.

J. JOSEPH GRANDMAISON

Nashua, N.H.

Sir: An Olympian independence? A Lincolnesque candor? Perhaps we should skip the U.S. presidential office and submit Supernova Edmund Muskie's name to the College of Cardinals.

(MRS.) YVONNE SMITH

Great Lakes, Ill.

Sir: I feel sure that Senator Edmund Muskie will never get the presidential nomination of his party. He is simply a wooden horse, a forerunner of John Connally or even Ted Kennedy, whether he knows it or not. He will of course be a second running mate.

ANGIE RAMOS GUERRERO

Austin, Texas

Too Late for Decency?

Sir: There can be no "decent" exit from Viet Nam [Sept. 13] because there was no "decent" entry. It is much too late for decency. Once more, we will have to settle for political expediency.

NELL K. SPITZ

Monmouth, Ill.

Sir: Contrary to your article, the events that are taking place in South Viet Nam's presidential election offer the best opportunity for the U.S. to make a "decent" exit from Southeast Asia. Under the existing circumstances, the U.S. should declare that South Viet Nam is unable to sustain a political democracy, that there is no reason for us to remain there, and that we should withdraw our remaining forces. By doing this, we would leave the image of a patient who died despite the extraordinary efforts of a good doctor.

JOSEPH R. SUTTON

New York City

Responsibility

Sir: Your article about the New York City Police Department [Sept. 13] states that "the [Knapp] commission rapped [Mayor] Lindsay for being partly to blame for the corruption."

The commission's interim report dated July 1, 1971 makes no reference to the mayor. The quoted statement must refer to a press conference remark made by me--speaking for myself and not the commission--relating to the ultimate responsibilities of the city's chief executive officer. The mayor immediately concurred with my observations, affirming his responsibility for every agency of the city government.

The commission's conclusions as to any individual responsibility for the specific problems it has been investigating will be set forth in its final report.

WHITMAN KNAPP Chairman

Commission to Investigate Alleged Police Corruption

New York City

Busing Opposed

Sir: The busing of schoolchildren [Sept. 13] because they are white, black or yellow seems to me the height of discrimination. This certainly is not equal treatment as provided by the Constitution.

JACK PERKINS

Wayne, Me.

Sir: It would seem that we have another common cause along the lines of taxation without representation: namely, the use of millions of dollars of our tax money for forced busing of our schoolchildren from where they are to where they're not. What is wrong with spending this same money where it can actually be of some use? We need to upgrade Johnny's neighborhood school instead of hustling Johnny 25 miles down the pike to one that is no better.

(Mas.) MARJORIE HAMAKER

Raleigh, N.C.

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