Voice From Down Under

SIR:

HONEST CONGRATULATIONS TO PERU FOR WINNING THE DAVIS CUP.

BRADY ROBERTS

KAINANTU, NEW GUINEA

What Good Will?

Sir:

Although I realize that international diplomacy may be beyond the ken of the ordinary citizen, I wish someone would explain what cause is served by so-called "fact-finding" expeditions and "good will" tours to unfriendly countries. Surely U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Rountree, who had to flee for his life in Baghdad [Dec. 29], was not there of his own volition. What facts were disclosed in the go-minute meeting between Mr. Rountree and General Kassem that were not already known to U.S. Ambassador Gallman and which could have been transmitted to Washington in a diplomatic pouch?

MARCELLE RADGESKY Rome

Sir:

Your account of the murderous assault attempted on Mr. Rountree leads me to think that any day now we will be able to persuade the Iraqis to accept a generous contribution from us. Just to keep them friendly, you know (and out of the lap of the Russians)--like Nasser (whose trained mobs stoned Americans passing out free CARE packages), and Tito (who has kindly accepted $900 million from us, and voted recently with Russia on the Hungarian resolutions in the U.N.).

L. C. WILLIAMS

Milton, Mass.

Fewer Questions, More Answers

Sir:

You print the results of a recent Gallup poll on whether Dulles is right to keep U.S. troops in Kremlin-menaced Berlin [Dec. 29]. The most interesting result is not that 60% of those polled agree with Mr. Dulles but that almost one-fourth are not familiar with the problem that might bring on World War III. What we probably need is fewer public polls and more public education.

HENRY WEINER San Mateo, Calif.

Con v. Man

Sir:

A salaam in the direction of California and Compton College's President Paul Martin for the courage and ingenuity displayed in his attempt to use educational films and TV as one method of solving the current shortage of qualified college professors [Dec. 22]. In the face of the educational hornets' nest that has been stirred up by this undertaking, it might be well to examine the problem more closely.

If educational policy makers and the American public are willing to accept as "higher education" classes of 100 or more, in which the hallowed "two-way togetherness or communication" is nonexistent, then President Martin is correct in his experimentation. How much better would it be if those hypercritical educational associations cited in TIME were to get behind this project rather than spending their time throwing up roadblocks against what no doubt many of their members feel is a potential threat to pedagogic job security.

GEORGE W. GIBSON

Division of Audio Visual Education Harvard's Graduate School of Business Administration Boston

Sir:

The coming of TV teaching makes probable the ultimate reduction of the undergraduate college-teaching group to a few dozen brilliant performers who will be as famous and as highly paid as Pat Boone, Bob Hope or Liz Taylor. Faculties can be greatly reduced, and no more classroom buildings need be erected. Students can stay in their rooms, can stay in bed, merely turn on their TV sets; doubtless some old diehards will still insist upon lab, but perhaps the present ones will suffice.

MELVIN T. SOLVE Pescadero, Calif.

Sir:

People who are criticizing President Martin are trying to defeat an excellent program. If this fifth column would realize the positive side of an effort motivated by extremely brilliant men, then Compton would be heralded as the founder of an entirely new and worthwhile mode of education.

KEN SABO Compton College Los Angeles

Sir:

It would be impossible to "do the show canned" anyway. It must be paced to the speed appropriate for the class, and two classes are no more identical than are two people. The canned lecture was invented a few years back: it's called the textbook. A text has not yet replaced a good lecturer, and the day doesn't seem to be here yet.

WM. A. PRYOR

Berkeley, Calif.

Sir:

Put Compton College President Martin on film and bring back the faculty.

EDWARD T. PARSONS

Kittanning, Pa.

Manners Maketh Mon

Sir:

The remark quoted in your Dec. 22 issue, "Some Cockneys say wa'er and Americans say watter, but how do the Scotsmen say it?" reminds me of an incident that occurred during a debate in the House of Commons 70 years ago. The subject was the new water scheme for Edinburgh, and when the Scottish member sat down after making his statement, an English member stood up and said: "Would the member for South Edinburgh please tell the House if the people of Scotland spell water with two t's?" The Scottish member mentioned stood up and replied: "In Scotland we do not spell water with two t's, but we do spell mainners with two n's."

JAMES C. THOMSON Edinburgh, Scotland

Humph for Humphrey

Sir:

It will take more than the praise of Pundits Arthur Krock, David Lawrence, Eleanor Roosevelt, et al., to convince me that Hubert Humphrey is a better man for the Democratic nomination than Senator Kennedy. The 'cocky Mr. Humphrey would not stand a chance against the sophisticated Mr. Rockefeller or the calm and confident Mr. Nixon.

J. T. MCDOWELL Sacramento, Calif.

Polling at the Post Office

Sir:

Re your article [Dec. 22] on the Federal Civil Rights Commission in Montgomery, Ala.: Some corrective effort by the executive department would remedy the Alabama voting process in 1960. The Federal Government has a well-protected office in almost every hamlet in the nation under the direction of the Postmaster General. For the purpose of electing the President, Vice President, U.S. Senators and Congressmen, these offices should be used as registration centers and polling places.

HUGH J. GILMARTIN

Denver

With Some Dismay

Sir:

I imagine Walter Lippmann was not left undismayed by your statement, "He is undismayed by the fact that many of his readers might find it hard to distinguish between his solutions and those preferred by the Kremlin [Dec. 22]." Are all solutions for resolving the cold war tension destined to automatic rejection if they bear a similarity to Soviet proposals?

Those who would eagerly label as "appeasement" every alternative to the militant obstinacy of brinksmanship must not share "Lippmann's belief in the ultimate ascendancy of reason."

ED SOLIDAY Wood River, Ill.

Sir:

On Lippmann's neutralizing German fractions--a word to this "great thinker" and "undismayed" columnist: Think a little harder!

F. J. SMITH

Freiburg, West Germany

Sir:

Your journalistic excursion into the life and mind of Walter Lippmann was quite interesting. My reading of this "intellectual giant" (?) has been for the avowed purpose of keeping myself informed concerning his obvious lack of intellectual and moral discipline in evaluating the tremendous problems ui our times. I am numbered among many who would be most grateful if Lippmann would take a stand that could endure the test of time, in other words, a stand characterized by the tenets of a philosophical-political-moral truth.

(REV.) WILLIAM DORAN CURTIS St. Joseph's Church Jasper, Minn.

Aye atque Velasquez

Sir:

How long must your readers submit to the desecration of TIME'S pages by Picasso's pixilated picturizations? Perhaps Picasso cannot be prevented from producing such abominations as his version of Velasquez' Las Meninas [Dec. 22], but you don't have to encourage him.

JAMES M. BLAKE Springfield, Mass.

Sir:

I was never able to make anything out of the work of this saiaud Velasquez, that is, until Picasso and his dachshund sacrificed four months of their expensive time to interpret his Las Meninas by repainting it into "emphatic fragments." Thanks for reproducing the result.

BORIS ARTZYBASHEFF Old Lyme, Conn.

No Royalties for Pasternak

Sir:

The royalties from the sale of Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago must amount to a great deal. Can you tell me if he will be allowed to accept this money or will his stinking government keep it?

MRS. ROBERT CLARK Seward, Alaska

P: So far, neither the Kremlin nor Author Pasternak can lay hands on the $250,000 in royalties which are being held in a European bank.--ED.

Bang!

Sir:

TIME'S review of The Inn of the Sixth Happiness [Dec. 22] was more jejune than usual. The sophomore-with-typewriter who pecked out this tirade quite evidently cannot distinguish between sentiment and sentimentality. The movie has more "treacle [than] the Great Boston Molasses Flood." Why not park your lad next to his cliche factory and pray for a small explosion ?

(REV.) ANTHONY S. WOODS SJ. Church of St. Francis Xavier New York City

The Governors' Ladies

Sir:

That Dec. 22 photograph of the Harrimans and the Rockefellers is the most. The smiles of the ex-Governor and Governor look genuine, but look at the haughty complacency of Mrs. Rockefeller and the questioning bewilderment of Mrs. Harriman.

R. W. WILSON Athens, Ohio

Sir:

A politico knows it's his duty To smile, win or lose, it's a beauty. But who can't surmise From their wives' telling eyes Who got the boot, who the booty?

E. J. WHITE

Cali, Colombia

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