To the Editors:

I say let New York [Oct. 20] fall flat on its face.

Mike Buhmiller Kali spell, Mont.

I am for letting New Yorkers fend for themselves.

Teresa M. Brodeur Worcester, Mass.

New York City is a disgrace to democracy.

Jim Madison Denver

For decades, the rest of America and the world expected the Big Apple to be the prime source of sustenance for the poor, homeless, huddled masses. Now, because it's gone broke trying to fulfill the American dream for so many, we turn our backs.

The blame isn't just New York's. It's also America's.

(Mrs.) Susan L. Me Vey Walkersville, Md.

As America has rebuilt many of the greatest cities in Europe, shouldn't it help its own?

Pamela Losey Totnes, England

Asking the Federal Government to help New York City get out of debt is comparable to the blind leading the blind.

Carol Wallace Effingham, Ill.

As a member of the college generation of the '60s, I feel strange talking about something as unfashionable as national pride, but that is what is at stake here. We can't let our biggest, most adventurous, most exciting city go down the drain. Manhattan, is not just an island; it is a part of our heritage. Have we forgotten how to be proud of it?

Virginia Hick University City, Mo.

You cited the sizable salaries earned in New York City. You failed to mention the high cost of living, however. After one summer of Manhattan's rents and grocery bills, I appreciate California for more than its sunshine.

Cheri Peterson Fuller ton, Calif.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Your cover depicting Mayor Beame as a tramp asking for a handout is a duplicate of a cartoon in Judge magazine in 1890 portraying New York City as a beggar.

Don A. Mayerson New York City

I am not surprised New York City is broke. Next door to me on the beach in Hawaii are two ex-New York City firemen who are drawing lifetime pensions of $4,000 and $13,000 per year respectively from the city. Both of them "fell" off the truck, and now New York City is financing their lifetime vacations of surfing and lying on the beach.

Richard W. Grigg Sunset Beach, Hawaii

Rage Over Rape

"Revolt Against Rape" [Oct. 13] was an interesting article; but, as a male-chauvinistic-pig district attorney, I have found that men are far more sympathetic than women to the victims in rape prosecutions. The woman juror thinks "I wouldn't do that," and the man juror thinks the same thing.

Robert W. Baker, District Attorney

County of Shasta

Redding, Calif.

After being raped at gunpoint and watching the same thing happen to my best friend, and then doing the "right" thing by wading through two days in the uninterested, if not abusive L. A. police department and hospital, with no results, I ask along with Steinem, "What do we do with our rage?"

Rape is a great radicalizer. If the courts, legislators and police departments refuse to defend us, we must defend ourselves.

Jill Wilson Lander Santa Barbara, Calif.

For middle-class dowagers on juries to believe that young, braless, freewheeling rape victims are asking for it is tantamount to believing that just because a woman wields a fashionable purse in public (which most of these jurists probably do) she is asking to be mugged and robbed.

Wendy Lasser Macinskas Souderton, Pa.

Love Story Indeed!

Oriana Fallaci [Oct. 20] calls her interviews love stories. Yeah, love of Fallaci for Fallaci. Doesn't she admire anyone she interviews?

Love story indeed!

Lawrence J. Nolan Norwalk, Conn.

How utterly refreshing, how gratifying to hear that one small courageous voice screaming and yelling for justice, for eye-to-eye confrontation of honesty, brutal or otherwise.

Brava, Oriana!

Angela J. Papan Hollywood

Honest Moynihan

Daniel P. Moynihan [Oct. 20] speaks a language that leaves little room for misinterpretation--honesty.

If the United Nations is to be a forum, I'm glad Moynihan is the voice of the U.S. Maybe now we can drop the mask of tact and in so doing, gain back some face.

Patricia A. Reilly Bergenfield, N.J.

The problem is not that Ambassador Moynihan called Amin a "racist murderer"; most Africans will not argue with that. Rather it is the implication in his assertion that it is by no means an accident that Amin is head of the Organization of African Unity. This obviously is false. I know of some African leaders who have openly dissociated themselves from Amin's leadership and politics. President Nyerere of Tanzania is one. I think Moynihan has committed a diplomatic blunder.

Boniface Onubogu Duisburg, West Germany

Sinai Skies

Reporter Donald Neffin "Sinai Life:

Bugs and Bedouinism" [Oct. 20] promises the American technicians in Sinai "swarms of fleas, mosquitoes, scorpions, snakes and Bedouinism."

I served for a year recently as a physician for Bedouins in Sinai. There are extremely few cases of snake and scorpion bites and almost no cases of "Bedouinism" among "civilized" people. The technicians will enjoy the nicest quiet, the most wonderful night skies in the world, and a beautiful climate.

About Bedouins: you can safely leave your car and things in the desert among the Bedouins and find them many days later untouched.

MosheZamir, M.D. Mines, III.

Warrior Kalem

I am amazed at the tone and substance of T.E. Kalem's review of Eric Bentley's new play Are You Now or Have You Ever Been [Oct. 6]. If Mr. Kalem were writing in the era of John Foster Dulles, I could better understand his cold warrior rhetoric.

Bernard E. Hobson Houston

T.E. Kalem's review of Eric Bentley's play was the most inspiriting in this long, dull moral season. Sometimes one feels that there is only Solzhenitsyn who remembers Stalin, and that the rest of the world is successfully engaged in making a madman out of him for remembering. Eric Bentley's own courage is best defined by his craven conduct during the student uprisings at Columbia in 1968. Kalem's refreshing evocation of the 1950s and defiance of fashion remind me that it was TIME that fingered Lattimore in 1950: simply by quoting from his work.

William F. Buckley Jr. New York City

The Soaked Perffesser

That sporting biography of Casey Stengel [Oct. 13] was a real gem. I have only once been tempted into a ballpark, and that was because Berra, Mantle and Stengel were on hand. On that occasion a detractor with a well-aimed can of beer soaked the perfesser, who dismissed the incident by growling to the ever-present reporter: "Just hope it was Pabst!"

Colin Ben bow Warwick, Bermuda

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