Three Weeks Before San Francisco

Sir: Scranton's drive for the Republican presidential nomination may be a bit too late in the game. However, I feel that Scranton would make an ideal standard-bearer at a time when the Republicans need someone to unify their party if they are to defeat Johnson in November.

PAUL F. LLOYD

Herwinton, Conn.

Sir: Governor Scranton's decision to run for President would be humorous if it did not come at this time. All that he can do now is embarrass himself and his party and, because of his public exposure, bar himself from any future consideration by the party leadership.

CHARLES M. LYONS III

Boston

Sir: The great tradition of the Republican Party is one generally of progressive moderation, and it is in this tradition that Scranton stands.

J. T. MOORE

Winfield, Kans.

Sir: It begins to appear that the uncommitted delegate to the Republican Convention will have one of three choices: Governor Scranton, whom the majority of delegates don't want; Senator Goldwater, whom the majority of the voters don't want; and Richard Nixon, whom nobody wants.

CHARLES L. SHANK, D.D.S.

Harrisonburg, Va.

Sir: The hare and the tortoise should give more thought to running as a team. With Goldwater willing to send in the Marines after two minutes of careful deliberation and Scranton willing to consider every decision for a year or so, the G.O.P. would have a balanced ticket.

KATY MCCLANAHAN

Wichita, Kans.

Sir: Ike has been my idol from as far back as I can remember. But his failure to say which candidate he favors, even if it's that nut Goldwater, has made Ike look like a senile old Milquetoast.

LORRAINE LANSER

Elkhorn, Wis.

Sir: Your superb cover story on Senator Barry Goldwater [June 12] is one of the most precise and up-to-date articles I have yet to read. I am very glad to see, for once, the true interpretations of his standings on national and world affairs.

MARK J. HETTEL

Monroeville, Ohio

Sir: At least one small part of the vast journalistic empire sees Goldwater as a man--not a monster; with normal dedicated followers--not lunatics; as a staunch Republican who really believes what he preaches--not a showman out to impress the press; and finally, as an honest, but perhaps too frank gentleman who has been mercilessly treated by the mass media.

CAROL PEACE

Freeport, N.Y.

Sir: There are thousands of supporters of Senator Goldwater who are not extremists, who don't belong to the John Birch Society, who are "responsible" Republicans, who are for the betterment of our country, and who are not trigger-happy imbeciles--contrary to what the "superior" Republicans and Democrats emit from their opinionated and twisted heads and tongues.

TERRY GATES

San Francisco

Sir: I'm a Democrat, and I am voting--if I get a chance--for Barry. It looks like the internationalists and New Dealers are scared someone might stop the big spending. It would be wonderful if we could get a "pro-American" for a change as President.

MRS. M. L. GRANDEUR

Great Bend, Kans.

Sir: For 30 years the lily-livered liberals have had their way in the Republican Party. We conservatives have supported them. Now we have won a victory and now these poor-sport boobs have their lips hanging clear to the ground. Is there any reason, after 30 years, why the conservatives shouldn't be given an opportunity to see what they can do?

SHIRLEY J. WEIDIG

Costa Mesa, Calif.

Sir: I'm embarrassed! I am a Republican and a Californian, I whisper, hoping no one will hear! To think that a man like Goldwater could be elected in our California primary and headed for the nomination is almost more than I can take.

MRS. G. POST

Pasadena, Calif.

Sir: After the California primary, Governors' convention, Ike's statement and your cover story, I've just one question: What does a moderate Republican with strong civil rights beliefs do next November? Now I know what "the man without a country" felt like--completely lost.

LUCY A. WARD

Lockport, Ill.

Sir: Republican attempts to influence Goldwater "toward mainstream positions" amount to a hypocritical sham unprecedented in American political history. It would be far more responsible and honest for the G.O.P. to nominate a nonextremist, 20th century-thinking person in July.

FRANK L. HAYNES JR.

The Bronx, N.Y.

Sir: If Barry Goldwater gets the Republican nomination, I shall be forced to return to my old Christian frame of reference and choose the lesser of two evils. That choice will be Lyndon--the lesser.

MRS. JOE FRED SOMERVILLE

Norman, Okla.

Sir: As a Democrat, I hope Senator Goldwater emerges as the victor of the July convention; no better way could be found to ensure a Republican defeat in November, at both the national and local levels. As an American hoping that voters will have a choice between two competent candidates, however, I can only be for Governor Scranton.

RONALD P. WOLFF

Peoria, Ill.

Sir: Who really won the California primary? L.B.J., of course.

FREEMAN FRANK

Melrose, Mass.

Rights, Fights & Fears

Sir: Senator Dirksen not only laboriously represents his state of Illinois, but represents a proud figure of the nation in legislative strength. That was a most excellent portrait and a fine article [June 19] depicting one of America's most famous and beloved Senators.

(MRS.) FAITH HAKALA

New York City

Sir: Although I am a firm believer in civil rights, I venture to suggest that unless New York's Negro minority is taught to live in fear, New York's white majority will continue to live in terror.

DAVID W. SIFTON

2nd Lieutenant, U.S.A.F.

Patrick A.F.B., Fla.

Sir: If the so-called civil rights bill is passed, we shall be forced to live in a police state identical to Communist countries, where people are forced to accept the friendship and love of people they do not want. Where will be the freedom of the individual, for which we are screaming all over the world? I salute Governor Wallace, Goldwater, and any other person who is against the bill of privileges.

OLGA BARANCEWICZ

Brooklyn

Sir: Re Goldwater's vote against cloture and the civil rights bill: is it not time to dust off a few campaign slogans for the white knight? How about the Civil War Copperhead appeal: "The Constitution as it is, the Union as it was, and the Negroes where they are."

R. B. TYRRELL

Anaheim, Calif.

Sir: Upon reading the "Cloture Roll Call," and being an absentee Colorado voter, I was amazed to find a Colorado Senator listed in the "uncommitted" column. This triggered a blunt airmail letter from me to him. I imagine that I was not alone and that senatorial mail was heavier than usual following your June 5 issue.

L. R. NICHOLL

Claremont, Calif.

> Republican Senator Peter H. Dominick voted for cloture.--ED.

Unconfirmed President

Sir: I can only say that I am appalled that Canon du Bois has chosen to make an issue out of the President's Communion [June 19]. Certainly the law of the Episcopal church supports Canon du Bois; yet, it seems to me that in this special case, at this crucial time, for this critically important man who carries so many of the burdens of the world on his shoulders, charity should have tempered the canon's judgment, urging him to keep a godly silence.

(THE REV.) E. PERREN HAYES

Rector

St. Stephen's Woodlawn

The Bronx, N.Y.

Doctors' Bills

Sir: I challenge Professor Harris' assertion that the average physician's income has crept up to "a current national average of $25,000 or more" [June 12]. For my colleagues' sake I could wish it were true, but I wonder if the professor has mixed up gross income with net income. Physicians in private practice have to pay office secretaries, nurses, rent, etc., often up to as much as 40% of their gross income.

JAMES L. WILSON, M.D.

Professor

The University of Michigan Medical Center

Ann Arbor, Mich.

> Professor Harris wrote that costs as a percentage of gross income have declined from 40% in 1929 to 37%, leaving physicians in private practice with an average net income of $25,000 a year.--ED.

Sir: The entire cost of surgery is borne by the patient, while the doctor pays nothing for the use of hospital equipment, supplies, any of his idiosyncratic preferences in regard to instruments and the staff that assists him. The doctor collects his whopping fee besides. In what other work situation does the professional have all his staff and equipment provided at no cost to himself? Individually, most doctors are great, and some give much more than they receive. En masse, however, it would behoove them to revaluate their philosophy of fees.

PATRICIA VAUGHAN, R.N.

San Francisco

Christian Science Schism

Sir: As a member of the Mother Church (First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston), I admit there is a staunchly upheld bit of propaganda that there is no controversy within the church organization [June 19] but that simply is not true. It hinders rather than helps the Christian Scientist movement when Mr. Douglass pretends otherwise. He knows, as do all informed Christian Scientists, that there is a wide and definite schism in the church between the absolutists and the relativists. Moreover, it is natural for us to interpret Mrs. Eddy's writings from whatever level of understanding we happen to have reached. As for modernizing her teachings, if Mr. Douglass can say he has never heard a member wistfully remark that Mrs. Eddy would have changed this or that teaching had she lived longer, or were she alive today, he is owning to imperfect hearing, which, of course, he could not possibly manifest.

MRS. ROBERT C. KEATING

Los Angeles

Rickety Roman Empire

Sir: The shade of the Emperor Julian may have been disturbed by your reviewer's mention of him as a ruler of the "Holy" Roman Empire [June 12]. The absurd adjective is usually assigned to the medieval empire ruled over 400 years later by Charlemagne and his numerous successors. It was a rickety German enterprise, barbarian in its beginnings, Christian in religion, and Latin in its culture--such as it was. In short, it was a rare combination of things most despised by the Hellenist Julian.

ALBERT LYND

Belmont Hill School

Belmont, Mass.

Crash Controversy

Sir: Your recent article points out a fact that is well known to doctors who attempt to treat victims of auto accidents involving small cars [June 12]; the occupants sustain severe injuries in an accident. We are in thorough agreement with the studies that show that occupants of small cars suffer a far higher rate of injury or death in auto accidents. This has been our experience in treating these unfortunate people that we constantly see brought into the emergency room. It does not have to be a two-car accident. Some of the worst accidents we have seen have been one-car accidents in which one of these small cars failed to make a turn and rolled over, causing severe neck injuries.

A. J. GHERINI, M.D.

S. D. CALABRESE, M.D.

Gilroy, Calif.

Sir: I am surprised that Commissioner Mulcahy didn't take a picture of an Olds running down a pedestrian in order to create public resistance to buying shoes!

MICHAEL D. KENNEDY

Cullowhee, N.C.

Sir: Master Showman Mulcahy could have belabored the obvious with cornier cogency if, instead of pitting Buicks against Dauphines, he had mangled motorcycles with Mack trucks or baby buggies with diesel locomotives.

W. A. BONNER

Palo Alto, Calif.

Pun in the Mud

Sir: I can't understand paying to see women wrestle in the mud [June 12], but chacun `a son goo.

MARVIN BERNSTEIN

Hollywood

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