More War or Less

Sir: If we are coming to realize the gravity of the situation in Viet Nam [Feb. 12], we may even learn a lesson from history: wars are not avoided by appeasement. We failed to stand firm in Eastern Europe, China and Cuba, and Communism has continued its advance. In Viet Nam it would be far better to face the enemy now rather than later, when he may be able to threaten us with nuclear arms. We are engaged in mortal combat with a despicable, determined and desperate foe, and should neither give nor seek quarter.

ANDREW F. DEMPSEY JR. Lieutenant, U.S.M.C.

Jacksonville, N.C.

Sir: In determining its policy in Asia the U.S. must either forever give Red China what it demands or draw the line. I concur with Richard Nixon [Feb. 5] that now is the time to take a stand.

WALLACE ELTON

Hanover, N.H.

Sir: Nixon's use of the floundering war in Viet Nam for political hay is to be deplored. His proposal, if carried out. would perhaps not involve us in a hot war with Red China, but it would certainly earn us the lasting hatred and mistrust of millions of Southeast Asians.

MARIE ROZE

Maywood, III.

Sir: An appropriate commentary on the Viet Nam situation is to be found on the monument at Concord Bridge near Boston in memory of the British soldiers who died fighting the American rebels:

They came three thousand miles and died

To keep the past upon its throne.

PAUL JEWELL

Tucson, Ariz.

Sir: How to save South Viet Nam: send American aid to North Viet Nam instead of South Viet Nam. Soon coups, Buddhist suicides, riots will occur in North Viet Nam and South Viet Nam will be saved.

FRANK YANG

Rochester

Profits in Russia

Sir: Your cover story on economic reform in the Soviet Union [Feb. 12] was most welcome. By avoiding the inaccurate but oft-heard claim that the Soviet use of a profit measure to judge managerial efficiency is galloping capitalism, your story provided some needed understanding of a commonly misunderstood question. I do not foresee imminent total decentralization. Certainly a balance will be struck. And it will be one in which the political leaders retain control over the direction taken by the economy. In order to improve efficiency, more sensitive methods--those involving decentralized decision making--are needed. The current reforms may well represent a permanent shift to planning methods more appropriate to the present stage of development of the Russian economy.

HERBERT S. LEVINE

University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia

Sir: More significant than the Russians' turn to the profit system is, in my opinion, the fact that the pros and cons of the system are being openly debated within the Soviet Union.

RICHARD D. MARTIN

Arlington, Va.

The Bright Brass

Sir: Your cover story on the Joint Chiefs of Staff [Feb. 5] reminded me of President Kennedy's words to the graduating class at West Point in 1962: "The non-military problems which you will face will also be most demanding--diplomatic, political and economic." Your well-considered article should be required reading for all junior officers who aspire to the lofty positions you describe.

PATRICK E. WYNNE Lieutenant, U.S.A.F.

Chandler, Ariz.

Sir: When things get rough, they will send for the heroes to replace the military politicians.

GEORGE COTTON GILLILAND Colonel, U.S.M.C. (ret.)

Riverside, Calif.

Sir: As a gladiator with 15 campaigns behind me. it is apparent to me that the Pentagon's "thinkers and planners" are getting us gladiated the hell out of Southeast Asia.

IRISH WALLER

Boulder, Colo.

Sir: McNamara and the Administration finally put together a team to run the military. Everyone "reasons" together, and no one says no to the Administration.

PAUL KARNIK

Fair Lawn, NJ.

Sir: Would someone give the command "At ease"? I've been standing at attention ever since seeing your cover picture of the Joint Chiefs.

JOHN VASSILES

Kew Gardens Hills. N.Y.

Sir: I was amused by your article in the humor section on "McNamara's Band."

D. N. DOWLING

Mattoon, Ill.

Home Sweet Zoo

Sir: Almost all exotic animals [Feb. 5] are unsuitable as pets. Most have no idea of the time, money and trouble involved in looking after them. Many of them are very delicate, others require highly specialized diets, and yet others (particularly monkeys) are extremely dangerous when mature.

NIGEL SITWELL Editor Animals

London

Sir: The snake you identified as a boa is actually an African rock python. The python usually makes a hardier, longer-lived, more interesting, gentler pet than the boa, and is much larger.

CRAIG PHILLIPS

Arlington, Va.

As demonstrated by Herpetophile George Kleinsinger who has a boa (left) as well as a python.

Never Too Late

Sir: We read with surprise the item on Ethiopia [Feb. 12]. Addis Ababa's municipal center was totally financed by Ethiopian taxpayers. However, the municipality would welcome $2,500,000 from the U.S. to finance new projects in its five-year plan for other services.

ZEUDE GABRE HEYWOT Mayor

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

General v. General

Sir: General Weygand [Feb. 5] was a great interservices and inter-Allied chief. He sacrificed himself in 1940 when he accepted the post of commander-in-chief at a time when the battle was already lost. He was brutally dismissed in 1941 on Hitler's orders. He had won the respect and affection of all the French veterans. The decision of the government, denying him a funeral at Les Invalides, has had a disastrous effect on public opinion.

CHRISTIAN DE GUILLEBON

Nancy, France

Sir: No doubt many would-be heirs of Napoleon will object to your impertinent Milestone about the shame of General Maxime Weygand. But your judgment was quite right; the old soldier typified the weakness of his time and of his country. Compared to the now-disparaged "Anglo-Saxons," Weygand and his colleagues were made of mousse. Surely only Gallic "rationalism" combined with characteristic grandeur could induce any Frenchman today to think otherwise.

PHILIPPE BECKER

New York City

The Whitmore Affair

Sir: Richard Wright's novel Native Son deals with an attack similar to the Wylie case [Feb. 5]. Fortunately, the outcome of Whitmore's case is extremely different, for the lawyers and jury of Wright's novel convicted the Negro suspect and sent him to his death. The disgust I felt after concluding Wright's novel was joy compared to my reaction to the Whitmore case.

LEWIS DAVIS

Easthampton, Mass.

Sir: I know a retired policeman on the vice squad in New York City. He told me they used to beat up prisoners with rubber hoses, but he insisted that they did it only to prisoners they knew were guilty. I wonder how prevalent in the U.S. today this philosophy is among policemen.

JOSEPH MURPHY JR.

Clinton Corners, N.Y.

Sir: Who wouldn't be "shaking" after 26 hours of grilling? J'accuse!

PATRICK DESBONNET

Roslyn Heights, N.Y.

Forests First

Sir: TIME states that Weyerhaeuser "is converting its forest holdings in five states into summer homes, lakefront recreation centers [Feb. 5]." The fact is that of some 3.6 million acres of forest lands held by the company, only 7,000 acres have been segregated for real estate development in the five states.

BERNARD L. ORELL Vice President

Weyerhaeuser Co. Tacoma, Wash.

TIME should have watched its its.

The Baton Waves

Sir: It's about time that a respected musician had the courage to expose the hoax that conductors have perpetrated on the music-loving public.

As orchestral musicians, my colleagues and I have long suffered under overpaid, mediocre leaders who have charmed the ladies of the symphony associations in the tea-and-crumpet circuit. I can only hope that Piatigorsky's book [Feb. 5] will help awaken the public.

PETER CHRIST

Alhambra, Calif.

Sir: Piatigorsky's suggestion, "Virtually any mediocrity can rise to fame as a maestro," has little truth in fact. The American conductor, in particular, must be a dedicated, articulate and consummate musician if he is to survive the limitations imposed by our culture.

ALFREDO ROGERI

Flushing, N.Y.

Attacking Emphysema

Sir: We heartily commend you for focusing attention on the most rapidly growing health menace in our country, emphysema [Feb. 5]. Your expectation that this disease might be the subject of intensive attack by medical scientists is indeed sound. The U.S. Public Health Service is already engaged in a forceful campaign to spur such an attack.

ALBERT ROBERTS, M.D.

Department of Health, Education & Welfare Washington

Riding Hurd

Sir: I always thought that Hurd's technique of egg tempera [Jan. 29] was on the scrambled side, strictly for soft-boiled quacks. But your article and accompanying full-color reproductions have made me an egg-tempera enthusiast forever--sunny side up!

DAVID HORNBERGER

Kijabe, Kenya

Sir: Re Peter Hurd's postcards: If he lived in the Soviet Union he would no doubt be known as one of the more talented exponents of socialist realism. Perhaps Communism and capitalism have more in common than their diehard adherents think.

RAMON E. DU PRE

Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles

Sir: Hurrah for Peter Hurd! I call his work real art, as distinguished from the amorphous blobs and insane squiggles of the so-called "modern artists."

CHARLES DENSFORD

Pipe Creek, Texas

The Teen Scene

Sir: Great! What an article! Maybe your cover story on teen-agers [Jan. 29] will convince "the public" of the serious attitude with which the younger generation is confronting its outstanding educational opportunities. Teen-agers have never been told about themselves so comprehensively.

BRUCE R. LORICH

University Park, Pa.

Sir: Kiss off all your zero-cools for insight. TIME is a bad scene.

PETE LIEBERMAN

Seattle

Sir: True, I don't think of myself as a "knight in shining chinos riding forth on a rocket to save the universe," but I do feel like one of a million rhesus monkeys being studied and probed.

R. DERGE

Palo Alto, Calif.

Chairman of the Bored

Sir: Doesn't Norodom Sihanouk have anything better to do, but write you letters [May 8, 1964, Jan. 8, Feb. 12]? He must be a very bored chief of state.

MRS. B. G. YOUNG

Minneapolis

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