Is Abortion a Boon?

Sir / Your arrogant article that would have us believe abortion to be a modern boon to man is most reprehensible [Feb. 4].

Your story implies that Catholics are the reactionaries blocking the path to social enlightenment.

As a Jew, I hold the right to life of an innocent just as sacred as any Catholic may.

It is true that Catholics are particularly mobilized against abortion. Why shouldn't they be? Are not Jews particularly mobilized against genocide--or is that wrong?

How is it possible that a line of distinction can be drawn between kinds of human life?

ISSAC H. GOLDBERG, M.D.

New York City

Sir / No one should try to impose his moral values on society by denying anyone the use of abortion. We believe that God wants us to control birth, just as diligently as we now control death, to achieve population stabilization. Man never was at the center of the universe as he once thought; he has yet to learn that he cannot continue to multiply forever. Abortion should be available to any woman.

ELIZABETH B. FRASER-SMITH

Los Altos, Calif.

Sir / I fear that casual abortion will lead to worse evils than unwanted children do, but laws denying abortion only to the poor constitute class discrimination. I wish all that energy could be directed toward finding a safe, sure method of birth control.

MARILYN MORK

Long Beach, Calif.

Sir / There are very few guarantees in this life: when one eats, one risks getting fat; when one drives, one risks accidents; when one has sex, one risks pregnancy. Inconvenient timing is not a good excuse for ending the life of a fetus.

MARLENE WAGNER

Lansing, Mich.

State of the Union--and Nixon Sir / The President, in his appearance before the joint session of Congress, delivered an effective 40-minute preamble, but his five-minute speech on the State of Richard Nixon was grossly inaccurate [Feb. 11]. We have already suffered under five years of Watergate: three while it was operating secretly as Administration policy, a fourth during the covert coverup, and the fifth one of a cover-up of the coverup. That's five years too much.

J.G. PRATT Keswick, Va.

Sir / President Richard Nixon, in giving his State of the Union address, was seen by millions. He looked well. He sounded fine. He was brilliant.

The stories of his health, well-being and the unflattering pictures appearing in TIME cause wonder. Is distortion what TIME Magazine is all about?

ALICE M. KROUSE

Nashville, Tenn.

Sir / The attitude of some members of the House Judiciary Committee comes out in the following letter that--I imagine--they want to send to the President:

"Dear President Nixon:

"We would very much like to impeach you. Since we have no formal grounds (as yet), we ask you kindly to let us know what impeachable offenses you have committed and to send along all proofs thereof.

"If you do not comply with this request, we will say that you are uncooperative and only trying to cover things up. You must see that you cannot win either way, so why don't you just resign and thus save everyone trouble?"

EDWARD E. MAYER

Greencastle, Ind.

Sir / Why does President Nixon find it so easy to take responsibility for great things, like Henry Kissinger's foreign policy initiatives, yet so hard to take responsibility for a little thing called Watergate?

ELIAS FEUER

Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Sir / I think the reason Congress can't make up its mind on the impeachment of President Nixon is a case of too many pots hesitating to call the kettle black.

IRMA S. MCNEAL

Pittsburgh

Pass/Fail

Sir / Experiments in pass/fail grading [Feb. 4] are failing mainly because they originated not as part of a systematic effort to change the educational system but as a minor concession to students who wanted more profound changes. Most of our students still need the phony, commercial kind of motivation that grades provide. Until values change and the change is reflected in our institutions, abuse of the pass/fail option will take its place among purchased term papers, casual cheating, taking cinch courses, dropping out, and other familiar expressions of student contempt for American education.

PETER DZWONKOSKI

Hamden, Conn.

Sir / As are all freshmen at M.I.T., I am graded on a pass/fail basis for one year.

Having completed half a year, I think that pass/fail relieves some of the pressures on a student and leaves more time for extracurricular activities. Second, I find that pass/fail encourages many new students to opt for the harder, more advanced courses --courses a student being graded might skip for slower-paced versions in which he was more likely to get an A or B.

BRYAN ISON

Cambridge, Mass.

Sir / Pass/fail is far too easy for all of us. Midnight oil never burned anyone. But many fields enjoy the fruits of the labors of those who have felt its flames.

DONALD BOYD, D.D.S.

Grand Rapids

How Many Is "Many"?

Sir / The analogies were false in the article on the fairness of the NBC documentary on pensions [Feb. 4].

When a fire is reported, it is not necessary to report simultaneously that the vast majority of houses did not burn down. Everybody knows from their experience that this is so. But most people do not know that the vast majority of pension plans are financially sound and "good."

Edwin Newman's statement that "there are many good" pension plans is misleading. Considering the thousands of such plans, the word "many" could mean only a relatively small minority and thus could unduly alarm the uninformed listener. Honest reporting would have said that the vast majority or almost all plans are good, but that there are a few exceptions.

ROBERT J. MYERS

Professor of Actuarial Science

Temple University

Philadelphia

Sir / Pensions: The Broken Promise exposed some existing problems in privately administered pension plans that require more thorough investigation to bring about correction. In this particular instance, the good is acceptable and requires no comment; the bad is deplorable and should be brought to light for remedial action.

The interpretation by Accuracy In Media is infantile. The follow-up by the F.C.C. of that ridiculous complaint shows lack of mature judgment.

ROSEMARY MCCARTY

Moscow, Pa.

Surgery at Concordia Sir / When a large segment of the Concordia Seminary in St. Louis demonstrably turned against biblical truth, and the former president, John Tietjen, condoned --yes, even defended such subversive aberrations; when previous synodical leadership allowed this to continue without effective corrective efforts; then the firm actions of Jacob Preus and the present seminary board [Feb. 4] came as a most salutary first stage of corrective surgery.

Though painful to the parent body, it was most necessary to preserve my alma mater as a Christian institution.

(THE REV.) EUGENE N. SELTZ

Hopkins, Minn.

Sir / While it grieves me to see reports such as yours on the trouble at Concordia Seminary, I am grateful that you bring facts to light. The Preus administration has so censored our internal media that we are dependent upon sources such as TIME to find out what is happening there.

(THE REV.) ARTHUR M. WEBER

Cornwall-on-the-Hudson, N.Y.

Prize Description

Sir / Because a reader has criticized TIME for calling me a gadfly [Jan. 21], I want to tell you that I like the term. One of my fellow Canadians gets the prize, however. He called me a "baldheaded snaggle-toothed baboon with pig's eyes." I could not have done better myself!

GORDON SINCLAIR

Islington, Ont.

Overdone Roast Sir / No sour grapes, I assure you. Your reviewer just didn't like the Royal Shakespeare Company Richard II. Productions that challenge the traditional responses to Shakespeare must expect the occasional--roasting from traditionalists. But your preamble must be corrected, if only for the record.

Far from this visit to Brooklyn being our U.S. debut, the R.S.C. has played throughout America no fewer than nine times since 1962. The R.S.C. was given its title (by royal charter) in 1961. The National Theater was not founded until 1963. So it is quite inaccurate to describe the National Theater as "the older troupe." Of course your statement that the R.S.C. "ranks second only to the National Theater" is a matter of opinion; but, biased though I obviously am, I think an opinion poll might reveal a different answer.

TREVOR NUNN

Artistic Director

Royal Shakespeare Company

London

Alcoholic Baboons

Sir / Was it really necessary to subject baboons to such barbaric cruelty to determine whether alcohol or poor diet is responsible for liver damage in humans [Feb. 4]? I'm quite certain that the abundance of alcoholics in our country would have provided Drs. Rubin and Lieber with more than enough specimens for this ridiculous experiment, an experiment that only proved something we have already been aware of for many years.

ENE DEMSKIS

West New York, N.J.

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