Wins and Losses at Ford's Summit

To the Editors:

Most of the speakers at the recent economic summit seemed to be at the wrong meeting. Rather than participating in a war against inflation, they sounded like conscientious objectors seeking a pardon from the battle. The various groups seemed more concerned about protecting themselves against the effects of inflation. Those few who did recognize the need for belt tightening generally advocated tightening the other fellow's belt.

Yet the summit will make a difference. It showed that inflation, though the nation's primary economic concern, is not the only one. Policy is going to have to be broader than merely banging the drum for the "oldtime religion" of monetary and fiscal restraint. Though the battle against inflation will not be abandoned, economic policy will likely be taking on added dimensions, notably those dealing with unemployment, supply bottlenecks and the problems of the poor. Murray L. Weidenbaum Professor of Economics Washington University St. Louis The writer was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for economic policy during the Nixon Administration.

The summit, at this moment, must be reckoned a success in one major dimension: it exposed President Ford to a much wider range of views on the functioning of our economy than he was likely to get from his official advisers. Thus it represents a welcome opening of the White House after five years of a President who shunned outside views.

The summit also served to indicate to the public the complexity of the current inflation and the lack of agreement on feasible solutions, even among experts. These are important pluses. Beyond that, much depends on how President Ford weighs conflicting advice and melds it into a program. He may have missed an opportunity in pre-summit meetings to enlist the cooperation of labor and business in moderating wage settlements in exchange for Government agreement to reduce taxes. The major task before us is to prevent the commodity price inflation of the past two years from getting built into wages. If that happens, we will have inflation for a long time. To avoid it we need guidelines on wages, plus some tax support to low-and middle-income families to make the guidelines acceptable. I hope the President got this message. Richard Cooper Professor of International Economics Yale University New Haven, Conn.

Does no one else find the statement strange that the one thing we cannot use to bring inflation under control is controls? Thank God the fire department does not use such logic. J.G. Sweeny Atlanta

You say that there are jokes about Philosopher Ayn Rand's becoming the Ford Administration's primary behind-the-scenes adviser now that her friend Alan Greenspan heads the President's Council of Economic Advisers. If previous Administrations had taken Rand's advice to stop interfering in the capitalist system, the U.S. wouldn't be in its present economic mess. Woolsey Teller Indianapolis

The way and wherefore of Greenspan's sympathy for Wall Street brokers became clear when I read of his fascination with Ayn Rand's Objectivism. Certainly it is understandable that his concern would lie with captains of finance rather than with those of us unable to accumulate anything of our own.

Imagine the elderly, the disabled, the poor, declaring with Rand's protagonist, John Gait "... that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for [me]." Suffering on low, fixed incomes, they can't even live for themselves. Well, let 'em eat dog food.

Howard Gurmankin Philadelphia CIA v. the Golden Rule

God bless the CIA. You can't fool with the golden rule in a crowd that don't play fair.

John W. Rice Tomah, Wis.

America needs strong, religious patriots like the CIA's Colby defending democracy and freedom throughout the world. As for covert operations, reality dictates that we must sometimes interfere with the internal affairs of other sovereign nations for their own good. After all, "they" certainly do it. An eye for an eye. Frank Meissner Cape Elizabeth, Me.

There is this quaint notion that in a democracy the people are sovereign. When it comes to the need for dirty tricks, the people behave very much like other bosses. They say to their hirelings, "Go ahead, but don't tell me about it." In the case of the CIA in Chile, Mr. Ford came out of the closet and told us about it, and we are all embarrassed. Our embarrassment is compounded by his insulting our intelligence by saying the U.S. was only interested in preserving democratic dissent in Chile. Washington has been notably restrained in its passion for democratic dissent in South Korea and South Viet Nam, not to mention the present police state in Chile. By covering up the unconscionable with the implausible, Messrs. Ford and Kissinger have again pulled us toward the mire of political mendacity. The large question is whether the U.S. can be both an imperial power and a democracy. Imperial-minded men are afflicted with a lust for secrecy that feeds their overweening pride in power. If the CIA sticks to intelligence gathering and gives up its covert operations, both the need and the appetite for secrecy might well be curbed. This proposal cuts to the political left as well as to the right. It means that the CIA should not simply switch sides and bat the good guys (read liberal or revolutionary) for a change. We should, as a matter of principle, put an end to our deadly Tinker Toy games of setting up and knocking down other people's governments. (The Rev.) Richard John Neuhaus Church of St. John the Evangelist (Lutheran) Co-Founder, Clergy and Laity Concerned New York City Lifting Mexico's Veil

The idyllic "island of stability and increasing prosperity in Latin America" you describe in your story on Mexico is indeed "no more." Perhaps it never was anything but a fac,ade, a plutocrat's paradise based on a purely quantitative development for development's sake that postponed the demands for political, economic and social justice.

During the past four years, President Luis Echeverria has gone far in repairing the mistakes of our successive administrations since World War II. The "luckless" Echeverria of your article has extended the basic infrastructure --roads, schools, hospitals, irrigation --to more isolated regions than any previous President. He has decentralized industry, multiplied new agro-industrial enterprises in the countryside and given the Indian communities full possession of their lands and forests, plus the means to make them productive. He has been the first President to grapple with the problems of the population explosion and ecology and has extended unprecedented rights to women in our macho society. And he has achieved the highest degree of official honesty and fiscal efficiency in our history. But above all, Echeverria has restored freedom of the press and promoted a national dialogue. I am thankful that the dark veil of fear and silence has been lifted from my country's face. Carlos Fuentes McLean, Va.

The writer is a prominent Mexican author, best known for his novel The Death of Artemio Cruz.

The Kennedy Decision The announcement by Senator Edward Kennedy that he will not seek the presidency in 1976 is the best news we have had in a long time, particularly when we need something to cheer us up. I am sure the average American will not cry in anguish at the decision. Possibly it should be notarized. John A. Levering Moab, Utah

Senator Kennedy had a tragic accident that will never be erased from his mind, but the hatemongers still keep it alive. With due process of law, the drowning was ruled an accidental death. Let us treat the case as we would if the person involved were not named Kennedy. The presidency would be graced by a man of the Senator's stature. Mrs. Charles F. Dinan Pittsburgh

Too Cool in Boston? TIME'S story on the news coverage of school integration in Boston [Sept. 30] scratched the sensitive surface of an essential issue in journalism. What is responsible coverage of an emotionally charged subject? Busing for integration is a perfect example. So is Watergate. So was the Viet Nam War. On the coverage of busing, no agreement was ever reached among Boston's highly competitive papers and broadcast stations. Sure, we agreed that we should be responsible, but all of us view being "responsible" differently. Boston's news organizations saw opening day as generally calm, with trouble occurring in one section of the city. The national press reported that "violence marred the opening of Boston schools." Bus stoning resulted in four minor injuries in South Boston that day. About 80 schools opened without incident. In retrospect, it was the quietest day of the first couple of weeks. To inform the reader properly, we must print facts in their true perspective. We have had 60 reporters on the Boston busing story, and have printed every provable incident, pro-and antibusing, evenly and responsibly. There should be more thinking in the news business everywhere on this issue of responsibility and evenness, not less. Thomas Winship Editor Boston Globe Boston

The city these newspapers, television and radio stations serve--to say nothing of the rest of the nation--is entitled to know all the facts of the Boston school situation. It is one thing to insist on integrity in reporting. We all expect that from each other. It is another to dilute the news intentionally, on no matter how high a principle, and then expect the reader, viewer or listener to respect the completeness and integrity of journalism in the future. Walter W. Hawver Jr.

News Director

KTRK-TV

Houston

Erotica in Charleston

I was visiting in Charleston, W. Va., during the height of the furor over textbooks, and it was truly a frightening experience. Voices of reason there will tell you that most of the books under attack are used in classrooms all across the country. They were carefully selected by professional educators, who surely are better qualified to judge than fundamentalist preachers and their wives. Truth, justice and Christianity, not to mention education, will not be served if the book burners have their way. Mrs. Therell Anscott Atlanta

The book burners are making an ass of West Virginia the way the Scopes trial made a monkey of Tennessee. John A. Hubicsak State College, Pa.

Your article stated that the children kept out of school during the "Battle of the Books" lost more than the miners who struck. If they had spent months reading such literature, what would our impressionable youths have lost?

There are many books available for supplementary reading that do not contain "anal eroticism" and "descriptions of prostitutes." Leaving the adjective "erotic" out of it, aren't those who approved these books reaching a bit far when they include poems about pubic hair in English class? (Mrs.) Dana Acord Peterstown, W. Va.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.