Rocking the Solar Boat

Sir:

Re the Egyptian archaeological discoveries [TIME, June 7, 14]: I [must] correct a wrong impression . . . concerning an alleged "feud" among the archaeologists here [over] the recent discovery of the funerary solar boats south of the great pyramid. This [find] must be followed by further excavation and archaeological investigation which could only be, planned and carried out by a team. For this reason I issued a ministerial order nominating a committee including some of our leading archaeologists. The responsibility is too great to be left in the hands of one individual, and it is unfortunate that the young engineer, Kamil el Mallakh, should consider it his right to be left in complete charge . . . I assure you that nothing could be further from the truth than the assumption that there has been an attempt to belittle El Mallakh's work ... He has been made a member of the committee . . .

MOHAMED AWAD Minister of Education Cairo

Casualty Risk

Sir:

After reading your May 31 article on Texas insurance companies, I find it impossible to subscribe to such a renegade magazine . . .

CARL C. WALTERS International Fidelity Insurance Co. Dallas Character & Fate (Contd.)

Sir:

Thanks especially for your June 14 issue on Dr. Oppenheimer. It's the finest delineation of our American policies, foreign and domestic, that we've had in a long, long time, and it should be required reading for everyone.

FANNY MCDOUGALL

Tucson, Ariz.

Sir:

Concerning your inhuman equation of Senator McCarthy and J. Robert Oppenheimer: I must say that ... I have never read such a sickening . .. and unfeeling . . . piece ... I certainly agree with your opinions on McCarthy, but when you say that Oppenheimer puts his judgment above the law and "he has a basic disrespect for security regulations," it seems to me that you are not only playing partisan Republican politics, but you are submitting yourselves to the . . . greatest degree of misunderstanding . . .

R. M. I. BELINSKI Meadville, Pa.

Sir: . . . The McCarthy comparison seemed not only deplorable, it was shallow ... A democracy is supposed to have room for citizens "arrogant" as hell, not overly circumspect about dinner companions, not averse to playing hide-and-seek with policemen. The military in a democracy does not, of course, put up with such peccadillos in its officers ... To which club do the scientists belong? There's the rub. If our brightest minds now are all "in the Army"--without benefit of uniforms--the police state already has conquered us.

PAUL KIEPE Riggins, Idaho

Sir:

I read with admiration your "Two Above the Law." Such a clear exposition of issues should also permeate our colleges. Some professors regard investigations as facetious, assert that cases similar to that of Oppenheimer are threats to academic freedom and are a manifestation of anti-intellectualism. At the same time these pseudo-intellectuals fail to recognize the concept of national security or minimize its meaning . . .

SHANT MARKARIAN Providence

Sir:

Your comparison ... is an outrage. What is more, you are plenty bright enough to know it. To set himself above the Constitution, as McCarthy has done ... is tyranny. To seek new truths about the universe, as Oppenheimer has ever sought them ... is democracy in its noblest form . . .

MARGARET LEE SOUTHARD Hingham, Mass.

Sir:

The point of your article ... seems to be that no man has a right to place his own judgment above that of the state. Anything is "justified in the name of national interest and national survival." Such statements disturb me deeply. How is such a philosophy different from totalitarianism ? My ancestors came to this country as religious dissenters over 150 years ago to escape just such thinking. They wanted the freedom to obey their own consciences rather than the dicta of government . . .

ELAINE SOMMERS RICH North Newton, Kans.

Sir:

Atomic scientists who work their way conscientiously through the razor-sharp distinctions of the Gray report will have no illusions that it was conceived by anti-intellectuals. Trying to think up rebuttals to its spare, muscular propositions, as they will find out, is an exhilarating, exhausting mental workout.

(THE REV.) Ross CALVIN

St. James' Church Clovis, N. Mex.

Sir:

. . .The anti-intellectual battle is on ...

JOHN LEVINE Moncton, N.B.

Sir:

Credit to Gordon Gray for squarely facing the issues involved. The board has made it clear that their decision cannot be regarded as '"anti-science." But they have made it equally clear that their decision is ''anti-individual." In demanding that the individual relinquish responsibility for his actions, the decision should be regarded as "anti-religion."

It is drawing a thin line to grant "the right to express . . . deep moral conviction" and "the privilege of voicing . . . deepest doubts," but to deny "emotional involvement." The privilege to express and voice is surely an empty one, if the privilege to act is withheld . . .

JAS. P. HUSTON Toronto, Ont.

Sir:

Of the few editorial voices raised in support of the Gray board, TIME'S defense of its finding that Dr. Oppenheimer is a security risk is by all odds the ablest, most nearly persuasive. Yet even it fails to convince; for the board has dynamited its own findings in two particulars. First, in saying that Dr. Oppenheimer's loyalty plus a high degree of discretion are not enough. National security must be absolute, says the board. But to call for absolute security in a relative world is to erect a standard that only dull, timid, mediocre men can satisfy by their absolute conformity.

First rate minds are, by their nature, explorative, adventurous, dynamic . . . The board impeached its decision a second time when it indicated that it would have made an "alternative recommendation ... if we were allowed to make mature, practical judgments." In effect this says that because of the "rigid conscription of regulations," it was obliged to make an immature, impractical decision . . . The intolerant Reds are less rigid than we. For they use, without qualms, the scientists of their late enemy, Germany, to advance their production of atomic and H-bombs, whilst we are refusing to use the best native, loyal brains we have! . . .

BENJAMIN KIZER Spokane

The War Dead

Sir:

While on active duty in Europe, I had the opportunity of visiting the U.S. cemetery at Hamm, Luxembourg. At that time, September

1953, I was informed by our guide that there were 5,062 G.I.s buried there, not 30,000, as TIME [May 31] said.

Who is correct, TIME or my guide?

LIEUT. THOMAS L. LEEURAIN JR. U.S.A.R.

Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Declarations & Decisions

Sir:

After having read some of the letters [TIME, June 14] on the Supreme Court's decision on segregation, I could not refrain from answering them. These so-called human beings . . . who have the unmitigated gall to set themselves above all other peoples have forgotten the Christian creed and above all have forgotten that it is only by the grace of God that their skins are white instead of brown, yellow or black . . .

(MRS.) ALICE Y. DAVIS Canandaigua, N.Y.

Sir: I have just finished reading those letters criticizing the Supreme Court's decision. This is the sort of bigotry that bitterly disillusioned me ... as a child. People like these dissenters, most of whom are from the South, are driving the Negroes to Communism . . .

T/SGT. FRANK F. Russo U.S.A.F.

Reno Sir: It was difficult for me to believe that I was reading literate letters from intelligent Americans. Amusement became amazement, which in turn became horror, and then inevitable anger sprang up ... Perhaps when the younger generation grows up and the older one is dead these unfortunate attitudes can be destroyed . . . Then this hate and resentment, so carefully preserved along with other Civil War relics, will become positive emotions designed to build a better world . . .

ERIC W. HUGHES JR.

USA Ft. Jackson, S.C.

Sir: In a time when so much is needed--some bright evidence of human understanding, vision and intelligence, wisdom and courage --to show the world that the U.S. has qualifications for a leading role in this world, your Supreme Court came out with it ...

ANDRES KENDE Mexico City

Why Nobody Sang about Timken

Sir:

In the June 14 Music section, you made this statement: "So far, nobody has written a song called Sliding Along on a Timken Tapered Roller Bearing with You, Baby." Probably one of the reasons that no such title has been given to a song is the fact that Timken tapered roller bearings, unlike old-style friction bearings, roll rather than slide. This is one of the features that will make it possible for the railroads to get a return of 22% on their investment when they equip all freight cars with roller bearings.

S. T. SALVAGE

The Timken Roller Bearing Company Canton, Ohio P:How about Roll, Roll, Roll Your Timkens Merrily down the Tracks?--ED.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.