Wilson's Way

Sir: With perception and surprising accuracy, you catalogued the United Kingdom's basic problems and hoped-for solutions in your April 30 cover story. Britain was tired of Conservative complacency, and the world in turn was tired of Great Britain. A Tory at heart, I still realize that in Harold Wilson lies the best hope for Britain and the Atlantic Alliance.

GLENMORE TRENEAR-HARVEY Washington, D.C.

Sir: Harold's tie is crooked and he looks hunchbacked. Otherwise, tres bien.

REBECCA HIPKIN Port Deposit, Md.

The Many & the Few

Sir: The American people have good reason to be proud of our men serving in Viet Nam. TIME'S April 23 cover story achieves its objective of "closing the gap of uncertainty" about what these dedicated men are doing. We appreciate the efforts of your correspondents and editors.

ADM. U.S.G. SHARP Commander in Chief Pacific

Sir: You can be assured that we military personnel stationed here in Viet Nam all feel the same way as the men who were interviewed by your staff. What we need most is the support of the American public.

(S/SGT.) JOHN M. WARRINGTON APO San Francisco (Viet Nam)

Sir: All through history the many have been saved by the few. Thanks for bringing to our attention the fact that we have these "few" who are willing to sacrifice for the rest of us.

(THE REV.) JOSEPH B. EDDEN, S.J. Auriesville, New York

Sir: What a remarkable contrast to your Feb. 5 cover story heralding the new Joint Chiefs of Staff with the phrase, "Thinkers and managers replace the heroes"! You have rediscovered the heroic among the managers of modern warfare: gladiators do make team men.

PAUL A. MICKEY Kingston, NJ.

Sir: Re Major McAllister's death: the young men who have never known war in person badly need a guide to the real meaning of fidelity, pride and heroism. Major McAllister was such a guide.

WILLIAM B. ROGERS Chevy Chase, Md.

Sir: TIME has helped perpetuate the blind and primitive myth that participation in war is somehow "noble" and "honorable." How long must we continue to rationalize the greatest of atrocities as the greatest of glories? Until we begin to bury our dead in silence instead of building them monuments, and mourn the dead enemy instead of exalting our sons as victors, we shall not have peace.

A. B. JOHNSTON III Detroit

Sir: Before I had read your story, I thought that the bomber pilot in Dr. Strangelove was an exaggerated characterization. Thank you for pushing the ejection button on my fool's paradise.

JAMES IRONS Riverside, Ill.

Sir: Mussolini's son Vittorio once expressed the "enjoyment" he felt when he bombed a cluster of Ethiopians. Now Captain Lee of the U.S. expresses the same savage emotion. In the nuclear age, this kind of blood lust will result in the evaporation of Lee--and thee.

EUGENE HINKSTON Major, U.S.A.F. Reserve (Ret.) Los Angeles Pierce College Woodland Hills, Calif.

Sir: It seems uncanny that thinking people with an awareness of history should protest the kind of stand against aggression in Viet Nam that was needed in 1938 in Europe. China's claim that she is furthering the interests of a common race in Southeast Asia is just as phony as Germany's claim was in 1938. To the professors and my fellow students and Senator Morse, may I say that there are six letters to justify our firm stand in Viet Nam: Munich.

RICHARD E. BRODSKY Brown University Providence

Sir: One of the features that attracts me to your publication is the continuing maps on Viet Nam. Each one seems to consolidate an entire week's military operations in a clear and understandable manner: Messrs. Chapin Jr. and Donovan should be commended.

RICHARD SORGEN Rockville Centre, N.Y.

Russell's Reserves

Sir: I read with appreciation your article on my appointment as Senator from South Carolina [April 30], especially the rather extravagant and obvious typographical error in fixing my so-called wealth. I only wish it were accurate.

DONALD RUSSELL

Washington, D.C.

No typographer, but fellow politicians in South Carolina estimated the Senator's wealth at $40 million.

Democracy's Alternatives

Sir: In your excellent Essay about democracy [April 23] you mention the practical obstacles that in many cases prevent the introduction and proper functioning of democracy. However, there are instances where it is not only practically but theoretically impossible to install a form of government that would conform to your definition of democracy. The present situation in Argentina, correctly described in your article, is a typical example. The only alternative to the existing situation would be a full-fledged dictatorship under a Peronistic regime.

H. TIMME

London

Sir: In what historians will certainly refer to as the Neo-Renaissance or perhaps the Age of Reason, TIME can take a bow as the great disseminator of truth for widespread consumption. I am speaking of course about the TIME Essay, a badly needed type of quasi-philosophic journalism that makes the reader think more profoundly and with a greater perspective. Specifically, I am referring to your keen insight into the nature of democracy.

STEPHEN H. BLINN Berkeley, Calif.

Sir: The "hope for democracy" is not economic escape from socialism, for socialism and democracy are not incompatible--as Finland, Sweden, and Great Britain show. But economic aid from the West will influence Africa and Asia in deciding whether to become democratic socialist or capitalist as opposed to totalitarian socialist or capitalist. This is the key; and if we refuse to create the "strong, educated middle class" of your article, there is little hope for peace or democracy.

DAVID C. HORSMAN Indianapolis

Sir: Your Essay on democracy failed to mention the Somali Republic. In TIME's coverage of last year's elections in Somalia [April 10, 1964], you wrote: "If one-party democracy is often hard to tell from no-party dictatorship in Africa, Somalia is an exuberant exception. Somalia's election was the straightest in its young history--and one of the freest in all Africa." The article went on to note that the election was "held in the midst of a continuing shooting war with Ethiopia." The Somalis are puzzled as to why the U.S. continues to give arms to Ethiopia, a country which the Somalis feel is ruled by a dictator, while a democracy of the type that the U.S. is trying to promote throughout the world is largely ignored.

BORIS SOJKA

Altadena, Calif.

Sir: As firm believers in historical accuracy, we were deeply shocked by your statement that "not a single nation has ever freely voted to turn itself over to the Communists." You should be aware that the sovereign Republic of San Marino, in 1945, freely elected a Communist regime. It was comprised of hard-core Stalinists. However, let us remind you that San Marino was an independent republic hundreds of years before the first Pilgrim placed his foot on Plymouth Rock.

ROGER E. GREEN ALEXANDROS PROTOPAPAS Harvard University Cambridge, Mass.

As TIME pointed out (Oct. 14, 1957) San Marino's democratic parties recaptured control of Parliament.

Samaritanship

Sir: In connection with "Good & Bad Samaritans" [April 23], Judge Nott of the Court of Claims recognized in 1893 that military officers could be tried by a civil court for aiding a girl who was being molested--or tried by a military court for not aiding her. The judge said: "To commit an assault on any person is an offense at law; but under the other code, not to commit an assault, as where a ruffian was insulting an unprotected girl, might be deemed conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman."

ROBERT R. RENFRO Portsmouth, N.H.

Sir: When Good Samaritan Lawrence Boyd was discharged from the hospital a couple of weeks ago, he was presented with a bill, paid in full by an anonymous citizen--the one and only grateful "leper."

PEGGY TASANO Northbrook, Ill.

Still Falling Out

Sir: If TIME thinks that fallout stopped falling because a test ban treaty was signed, it shows your lack of information, not Dr. King's [April 30]. The great atmospheric reservoir is still loaded with strontium 90, and so is milk. Latest available figures for milk show the following readings for the third quarter of 1964: Little Rock, 38 picocuries per liter; New Orleans, 48; Boston, 31; Jackson, Miss., 37; New York, 25; Charlotte, 38; Minot, N. Dak., 49; Portland, 30; Pittsburgh, 29; Chattanooga, 39. These figures compare with a maximum recommendation of 33 p.c. made by the International Commission on Radiological Protection.

DONALD KEYS National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy, Inc. New York City

Old Southern Custom

Sir: Your report on Judge Hare of Alabama [April 23] notes his pronunciation of Negro as "Nigra." This pronunciation is prevalent in the South because we do not pronounce harsh vowels. It is not intended to be degrading, and with the exception of some people of newly acquired sensitivity, it is not received as such.

JOHN A. HAGINS Beaufort, S.C.

Sir: Re Judge Hare's claim that "Ebos" are incapable of achieving IQs beyond 65: during two years in Nigeria, I taught several hundred different Nigerian high school students, almost all of them Ibos. Their ability to learn was, if anything, slightly better than that of average white American high school students. Furthermore, their relatives are the operators and beneficiaries of a remarkably efficient free-enterprise market economy that requires ambitions and skills quite comparable to those of the American business community.

FRANCIS ANDREW HART Salt Lake City

Freezing for Bleeding

Sir: Your article on cryosurgery [April 30] serves to bring to the public knowledge about some of the achievements and some of the still experimental work in this field. Certainly the work in which I am engaged is largely in the latter category. I am quoted as reporting: "In many cases of excessive bleeding from the endometrium (lining of the uterus) caused by tumors, application of ultracold through a larger cannula for two to ten minutes will usually destroy the tumors and thus make a hysterectomy unnecessary." This is inaccurate, as the method has never been used to treat bleeding arising from such tumors. Rather it has been used in an attempt to decrease excessive bleeding due to non-tumorous uterine conditions (intractable menorrhagia), for which ordinarily a hysterectomy would be required.

WILLIAM G. CAHAN, M.D. Memorial Hospital for Cancer and Allied Diseases New York City

Crackle, Pop, Tchaikovsky

Sir: My TV set and I have endured the whiningly incredulous woman who asked kindergarten questions about frozen cheesecake. We bore the candle-carrying pilgrim who spread moron-to-moron carpeting on the air in behalf of coffee. But TIME's approval of the food-shot-from-guns commercial as a combination of naturalness and whimsicality [April 23] is just too much. The 1812 Overture was written to express an awful conflict between Napoleon and Russia. It rises to a crescendo of what was once the Russian national anthem! Perhaps the whimsicality comes in when the old Quaker (undoubtedly a pacifist from way back) smiles benignly, ignoring the fact that war is being used as his salesman in a high-handedly stupid commercial.

CATHARINE CONNELL New York City

Cracked Smile?

Sir: TIME'S coverage of Virginia's newest citizen, Egyptian scribe Sema-tawy-tefnakht [April 23], was both factual and entertaining. Your story raised an interesting point: Is the scribe really smiling, as TIME says, or was the corner of his mouth chipped when his statue was broken 2,600 years ago? As with Mona Lisa (and some people I know), his smile is an elusive thing that seems to come and go, depending on the lighting.

R. S. REYNOLDS JR. Chairman of the Board Reynolds Metals Co. Richmond

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