In & Out in Society

Sir: Just as I finish telling my eleventh-grade summer students that the art of satire is dying in our country, along comes your trenchant cover story on today's society [July 20]. Thank you for an evening's entertainment. STANLEY A. WERNER Beacon, N.Y.

Sir: Mrs. Guest, who is on your cover, and the man who dresses her, Mr. Mainbocher, are regulars at the Pavilion. It is Out only when it is closed. It is Out to the people who are not seated there by arrogance of the proprietor and snobbism. But as a restaurateur, M. Soule is the only one who runs a proper French restaurant inside and out of France. His prices are high, but he gives more in quality, in integrity and honest good cooking than any other chef.

While you are perhaps right that some of the nouveau society will not cross Park Avenue, I do so for the pleasure of my stomach, for la bonne table. LUDWIG BEMELMANS New York City

Sir: Along with many other Americans, I believe that what this country most needs (apart from the perfectly dry martini and the 20-hour week) is a good upper class.

By upper class we mean quite literally that: a class of people who are able, well educated and responsible, who are above the mass of the people in ability and sense, who will serve to guide, inspire and set the standards for those amiable but less capable members of society. It matters not whether a man is of good lineage or is self-made, whether he be as rich as Rockefeller or as Henry David Thoreau. But he must have some quality that distinguishes him from the mass, wisdom and standards that equip him for leadership. The people in your article do not meet these requirements. Mr. Guest inherited some money and plays a pretty fair game of polo. Mrs. Guest posed in the nude for Diego Rivera and flirted unsuccessfully with Hollywood.

These people are a sort that has always existed in prosperous, energetic societies. Light-hearted and lightweight, they are fun to read about; they jazz up the sometimes drab quotidian scene; they add froth and zest, but they are not made of the stuff to set the pace for a country of the breadth, height and complexity of America. W.E.G. TAYLOR New York City

Sir: Does Princess D'Arenberg wear a matching Elsa Maxwell with every costume? CHARLOTTE HARTWIG Melbourne, Australia

>Trap cher.--ED.

Sir: As an avid reader of TIME and a sometime handler of show dogs, I'm very curious as to the breed of dog pictured with Mrs. Winston Guest on the cover of TIME, July 20. It looks a bit like a Saluki. JULIA L. HUNT New Haven, Conn. > Mrs. Guest's dog, Sultan, is indeed a smooth-haired Saluki, Egypt's royal dog and perhaps the oldest known domesticated breed.--ED.

What Goes On in the White House

Sir: As a preamble to a discussion of "The Tax-Cut Decision" [July 20], the point is made that President Kennedy "made up his mind to test after the Russian blasts began, then waited to announce U.S. resumption until almost every segment of the nation was behind his decision." Is it not painfully obvious that he used every available facet of Government propaganda as well as an easily duped Fourth Estate to convince people that "there was no other choice"? GEORGE A. RICHTER JR. Abington, Pa.

Sir: On hearing the angry remarks of President Kennedy delivered one hour after the defeat of the medicare bill [July 27], I am reminded of a sign said to have hung on the wall over Gandhi's simple bed: "When you are in the right, you can afford to keep your temper; and when you are wrong, you cannot afford to lose it." C. T. BURNETT Denver

The House of Newhouse

Sir: The statement [July 27] that Mr. Newhouse had sought me out and offered to buy the Houston Post is untrue. I have no knowledge that Mr. Newhouse has ever been in Houston. I have never discussed with him at any time or place the sale of the Houston Post. The question of sale has never been considered by the owners. OVETA GULP HOBBY Editor The Houston Post Houston

> Newhouse says that he became enthusiastic about Houston's future on a recent visit, sent a newspaper broker (but did not go himself) to talk to Mrs. Hobby, was refused.--ED.

Sir: Circulation figures for New Orleans Times-Picayune should read 195,151, not 175,151. DONALD W. COLEMAN The Times-Picayune New Orleans

Sir: Many of us here on the Herald-Journal feel that if the purpose of TIME was to present Sam Newhouse as a cold, calculating, money-mad dollar digger, who dashes around the country trying to buy newspapers, you succeeded very well.

But you missed the man by a country mile.

Not one word did TIME print about the $2,000,000 gift Sam Newhouse has made to Syracuse University as the initial contribution for the establishment of a splendidly conceived communications center in the school of journalism--the press, radio and television. It will be one of the finest in the country.

No feeling for journalism?

The barest mention was made of the Newhouse Foundation. The purpose of this foundation, and it may have $200 million in its coffers some day, is for charitable and community welfare projects, and the trustees have unlimited authority to act.

We in Syracuse are proud of the open-handed record of Sam Newhouse in supporting our community institutions.

We respectfully submit that there is no newspaper owner, or publisher, in this country today who will have accomplished more for journalism or for people of the communities in which his newspapers appear than this same S. I. Newhouse.

It should be remembered, too, that the undersigned is not an apple polisher--we don't have to be in our organization. ALEXANDER F. JONES Executive Editor Syracuse Herald-Journal Syracuse

Term of Trial

Sir: Let me commend you on your article about oral contraceptives [July 20]. We are all anxious to solve the population problem, and most of us believe it can best be done with reliable contraceptives. There seems to be no doubt but that these pills, taken by mouth, will suspend ovulation in the female, but it is inconceivable to me, an embryologist, that any chemical of sufficient specific potency as to suspend the normal maturation of eggs in the ovary can be free from adverse side effects. The absence of side effects for the short period of five years is an insufficient trial period. Some cancers have a latent period of 17-35 years following the irritating cause. It would be much safer to prevent the union of sperm and egg by the more conventional methods of contraception than to embark upon a widespread use of a pill, the full effects of which cannot yet be known. ROBERT RUGH New York City

Faith & the Ouija Board

Sir: Thanks for the mention [July 20]. Like St. Sebastian, I've been waiting for the worst. I liked the people with whom I was in contact. It was not the fault of one that the meat goes through the grinder to come out Timese, which is a mixture of mayhem and literary Metrecal (cuts you down to size)--nor of the other that the camera does not lie.

As for the review of The West Wind, a lot of books and a long life have provided me with a sedative philosophy. I wish some of the inaccuracies were true--the one about the richest writer, for instance. What fun! The next time we meet it will be in Milestones. I shall write you then too. Just dust off the Ouija board. FAITH BALDWIN Norwalk, Conn.

Modern Age Aliases

Sir: Three cheers for S. I. Hayakawa [July 13] and the Anti-Digit Dialing League. ROBERT E. FORMAN aliases: 137-806 (bank account number) 473-20-6385 (social security number) 655-728-245 (hospital insurance number) 18-232-926 (life insurance policy number) 221836 } (various 5-2472 } credit 643-701-443-6 } account numbers) Oshkosh, Wis.

Air Force Chapel

SIR: SORRY TO ADD CORRECTION TO YOUR WONDERFUL AIR FORCE CHAPEL COVERAGE [JULY 27]. WINDOW'S COLLAGE, DESIGNED ON FLOOR OF MY LIVING ROOM, MADE BY JUDSON STUDIOS OF LOS ANGELES, THE DALLES GLASS BY BLENKO GLASS CO. OF WEST VIRGINIA, NOT CHARTRES. WALTER A. NETSCH JR. SKIDMORE, OWINGS & MERRILL CHICAGO

Sir: You had a wonderful article on the controversial but gorgeous Air Force Academy Chapel. The color reproductions, layout, and representation were excellent.

But we wish to point out that Winterich Studios did individual color sketches and fabricated all of the "faceted glass windows set in concrete" for the Catholic and Jewish chapels. OTTO C. WINTERICH President John W. Winterich & Assoc., Inc. Bedford, Ohio

Europe in Color

Sir: As a college student recently returned from Europe, I want to congratulate you on the photographs for "The New Europe" [July 13]. They are the most exciting pictures I've seen of Europe. They point out that Europe is not all castles and quaint villages. JON HUBER Eureka, Calif.

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