Hispanic Insight

To the Editors:

Applause, applause! Finally we have been presented with an understandable insight into those "foreign" people, the Hispanics [Oct. 16]. Born and educated as a middle-class Wasp, I have contributed to that "minority within a minority" by marrying a Cuban. I found myself welcomed openly and warmly into my husband's family. I have delightedly discovered that their life in this country is just like mine--work, school, keeping a home--but with an added zest, and an outpouring of love and vitality for everything around them.

Linda Lee Murphy Gonzalez

Oak Park, Ill.

Your article generally described Hispanics as newcomers to the U.S. How about us mestizos or, as we are more commonly known, chicanes. Along with the aristocratic Spaniards and the American Indians, we were here before the Mayflower. We didn't come to the U.S., the U.S. came to us. Who settled the southwest before the U.S. took it from Mexico?

Alma Pena

Chula Vista, Calif.

I, for one, must ask not to be referred to as a Hispanic American. I have lived in this great country for almost 15 years and have worked hard to earn the privilege of being an American. I will forever be proud of my heritage and rightfully so. However, that was yesterday; today I have chosen a new heritage for my children and theirs.

Alfredo J. Arguedas

Craig, Colo.

You neglected to stress the cult of machismo as one of the biggest drawbacks impeding the advancement of our people. Its evil locks men into self-styled pride, exploits and subjugates women and lures youth into the self-destructive violence of gangs. Eradicate machismo from latino culture and la raza will flourish as never before; mujeres and hombres alike will then move forward in equality.

Terri de la Pena

Santa Monica, Calif.

Had my father and his fellow Greek immigrants been given sympathy and federal money, they might have been the most successful immigrants this country has received.

Catherine J. Matthews

N. Miami Beach

I think it is totally unreasonable for Americans to be forced to conform to a foreign language. No other ethnic group in the past has ever expected this.

Mary DiRenzo

Coral Springs, Fla.

Hispanic Americans will indeed soon be the "biggest minority" precisely be cause the southern border of our country has ceased to mean anything whatsoever. We are busily solving Mexico's problems.

Jack C.

Claremont, Calif.

Four More Years

Hugh Sidey's article, "In Jerry's Crystal Ball" [Oct. 16], has to be a tongue-in-cheek story about Jerry Ford. How could he possibly reminisce about what he would have done if he had been given an other four years? He had more time in the presidency than Carter has had, yet what we got from former President Ford was swine flu shots with paralyzing after effects and WIN buttons.

Lorraine L. Raley Atlanta

Isn't it amazing how Gerald Ford would have managed the approval of the Panama Canal treaty more quickly, ended the Turkish arms embargo and sold planes to Saudi Arabia and, at the same time, would have moved ahead with a modest tax cut, kept the B-l bomber, gone ahead with the neutron bomb and the M-X missile and designed an energy policy to encourage new oil exploration and alternate sources without taxing them. All he needed was four more years. It seems that the poor little country boy from Plains, Ga., has managed to get some things accomplished without previous training in Washington's "big leagues."

Lorene Hassett

Chicago

Third-Class Travelers

First the airlines use all kinds of cut-rate fares [Oct. 16] to encourage us to travel with them. Then they turn around and tell us that we are third-class travelers and don't deserve all the good treatment we have been getting. The source of the complaints, we are told, is the "crowd-weary, briefcase-toting business man or woman." How many of these business men or women paid for their own tickets? And how many of them are on expense accounts?

Perhaps the airlines can make a profit from their first and business classes and don't need us after all.

William Biermaier

Minneapolis

When I bought an air ticket at the supersaver fare last month, I got a price break because I had to reserve and pay 30 days in advance. If the airlines are now going to impose additional service cuts (e.g., restriction to the back-cabin seats, fewer and slower refreshments), then I believe an additional fare cut is in order.

(The Rev.) David Gunderlach

Binghamton, N. Y.

Political Pariah

One wonders whether to be more surprised at the blatant hypocrisy of Strom Thurmond in going after the black vote in South Carolina [Oct. 16] now that they have some power, or the naivete of the black voters who intend to support a man who, for most of his public career, considered them a political pariah. If the blacks in South Carolina truly seek justice, let them begin by distinguishing, on election day, between true concern and absolute cynicism.

Richard W. Kelly

Allentown, Pa.

A Nurtured Monster

From your story "Lots of Smiles but Few Sales" [Oct. 16], it appears that the generous--but naive--foster parents have nurtured in Japan an avaricious monster. Perhaps it is time for manufacturers, labor unions and the "taxpayer revolt" to demand equivalent protective tariffs, import-license red tape, quotas, etc., for such a shrewd economic predator, who prospers hugely at our inflationary expense.

John Kulik

Keene, N.H.

In your article on the U.S. trade mission to Japan, there was a very clear error. The trip was not "paid for entirely by Washington." The American businessmen paid all of their travel expenses, plus a $1,000 to $1,800 fee to the Department of Commerce to help defray the costs of the mission.

Frank Weil, Assistant Secretary of

Commerce for Industry and Trade

Washington, D.C.

The Oldest Professions

Your article "Bitter Battle over Bases" [Oct. 9] subtly suggests a shakedown by the Marcos government in the current negotiations over U.S. military installations in the Philippines.

Instead of underlining issues such as Manila's demands for a Filipino base commander, local court jurisdiction over U.S. personnel accused of crimes against Filipinos and, certainly, the not small matter of rent (why should the bases be rent free?), TIME obfuscated the Philippine position by delving into how much money is being infused into the Philippine economy by whore-patronizing American sailors. Prostitution is a problem that knows no national boundaries and indeed, like journalism, is one of the world's oldest professions.

Alejandro del Rosario, Press & Information Officer, Philippine Consulate New York City

Poverty in the Philippines has fostered the feeling that "the Americans have so much, we should have some too." As a result, Olongapo has the brutal reputation of the most dangerous liberty port in the Pacific. Dependent families are scared to leave the base. The facilities you mentioned are their only recreation.

How ironic that we are withdrawing from South Korea where we are truly welcomed and appreciated and contemplate paying $1 billion to stay and be abused in the Philippines.

(CT13) Larry E. Vecera, U.S.A. Austin, Texas

The attitude toward the U.S. exhibited by the Philippines exemplifies that of harlots. They can't stand you, but they'll take your money.

Ginette T. Hochman

Ewing Township, N.J.

If there is anti-American feeling building in the Philippines, we have only one place to put the blame: on ourselves.

True, the 1947 U.S.-Philippine agreement stipulated that the bases were to be rent free, but it also included an under standing of military assistance and protection for the Philippines, which was later gutted by the Nixon Doctrine (Guam, 1969). Is it any wonder, there fore, that the attitude of the Philippine government now is, "If you want to main tain bases here, pay rent for them!"?

It's time to stop our "Ugly-American Diplomacy" before we lose our most loy al anti-Communist ally.

Martin Kantoff

San Mateo, Calif.

Diplomatic Immunity

The new law requiring diplomatic personnel in this country to have liability insurance is fine [Oct. 16] as far as it goes, but what does it do to indemnify American citizens who have been killed, injured or financially ruined before the law takes effect?

It is the duty of the U.S. Government to indemnify its citizens fully for the amount of their pain, suffering, financial loss and legal expenses. No government worth its salt can fail to protect its citizens' rights in cases where there are disputes with foreigners.

Alan W. Raymond

Pleasantville, N. Y.

Less immune, my foot! I agree with President Carter's decision to sign the bill that will grant only ambassadors, attaches and other high-ranking embassy officials and their families total immunity, but I still think this part of the diplomatic community has too much freedom. Why should a foreign diplomat in the U.S. be free to do things that a citizen of the U.S. cannot do?

Raymond Labadie

Pittsburgh

Man, the Cancer

Your article on the Endangered Species Act [Oct. 16] displays the insensitivity with which man exploits the environment for his own short-run economic gain. What a pity that the earth's innocent creatures must pay for this exploitation with their existence. One could look upon man as a cancer consuming the earth, choking other varieties of life in its path as it progresses.

Shirley Lontz

Moorhead, Minn.

Regarding your reference to the Furbish lousewort as a weed. Biologically, the Furbish lousewort is a native American. It is the Dickey Lincoln Dam that will be the weed, not the lousewort.

Tom S. Cooperrider

Kent, Ohio

Fantastic Express

I am outraged with Richard Schickel's review of the movie Midnight Express [Oct. 16]. I just saw the film and thought it was fantastic. Obviously he has no sympathy for Billy Hayes or for the thousands of other prisoners scattered in horrible jails throughout the world.

I also found Schickel's emphasis on homosexuality totally exaggerated. Certainly the film does not warrant his comment, "one of the ugliest sadomasochistic trips, with heavy homosexual overtones, that our thoroughly nasty movie age has ever produced."

Victoria Unger

Rochester, N. Y.

Rightly or wrongly, there are many young Americans in foreign jails. This film was instrumental in starting negotiations between the U.S. and Turkey for the exchange of prisoners. On that basis alone. I consider Midnight Express to be the movie of the year.

Bob Miller

New York City

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