Fowler & The Dollar

Sir: That was a splendid cover story [Sept. 10] on Henry Fowler, a very dedicated man and one who is tops in his field.

PINKNEY G. DURHAM JR. Natchitoches, La.

Sir: The story on monetary reform is shoddy treatment of the issues, with oversimplifications and inaccuracies and misrepresentations. As someone who deals daily with problems posed by deteriorating currencies, I find it notable that plans for reform avoid mention of the most fundamental one--monetary discipline!

GEORGE T. STEVE Chicago

Farm Report

Sir: Never in such a brief space has there been a better analysis of the "farm mess" [Sept. 3]. I want you to know that we appreciate your outstanding work.

CHARLES B. SHUMAN President

American Farm Bureau Federation Chicago

Sir: Your cover story was a colorful puff on Charlie Shuman, but that's about all. It is obvious that your reporters never got within a country mile of an honest-to-God farmer with manure and dirt on his boots. Farmers laugh aloud at the bickering efforts of farm organizations to solve problems. Most farmers belong to a farm organization only to participate in low-cost insurance programs or cooperatives, which are growing bigger all the time. The Farm Bureau itself is looking into the idea of buying a huge supermarket chain. Farm organizations are big business, as Shuman is aware.

HERB KARNER President

Newspaper Farm Editors of America Tulsa, Okla.

Sir: As past president of Newspaper Farm Editors of America, I found your story well done, much more balanced than farm people usually see in national or big-city publications. Thank you for bringing out some highly important facts that the public seldom hears about.

BILL HUMPHRIES Farm Editor

The News and Observer Raleigh, N.C.

Sir: Your story is a cogent and objective presentation of a complex subject. But under no circumstances can the National Farmers Organization be classed as rightist. Neither is the N.F.O. loath to accept government direction or largess.

JAMES C. THOMSON Editor

Prairie Farmer Chicago

Sir: As a farmer, I compliment you on your excellent story on Charles Shuman, a man I've long admired. It was an accurate, fair account of agricultural problems and the Farm Bureau's position.

KEN McINTYRE

Harwood, N. Dak.

Traffic Solution

Sir: Your Essay "Ode to the Road" [Sept. 10] has accomplished the impossible. It has solved the traffic problem and at the same time presented the Government with a new, lip-smacking spending program: just think, a subsidy to car manufacturers for not producing cars.

PHILIP C. WALLWORK Boston

Foreign Aid Affairs

Sir: I thought your foreign aid Essay [Sept. 3] most interesting. In view of the mixed results of our foreign aid, and in view of the balance-of-payments deficit, it would seem that curtailment of wasteful aid programs presents the best opportunity to plug the dollar leakage. It is vital that every aid project have a specific objective, and that we see progress toward that objective or abandon the program. The objective must be reasonable, obtainable and in keeping with our resources. More funds should not be granted until past authorizations are spent, or better still, Congress should cancel all past authorizations and re-examine aid to regain control over distributions.

CHARLES P. STETSON President

Stetson Securities Corp. Fairfield, Conn.

Tales of Childhood

Sir: There is something pathetically juvenile in the President's having to distribute souvenir pens to grown men after signing a bill [Aug. 20]. The pen he gives out has no meaning; it reminds one of a birthday party at which each small child has to "get something" to avoid hurt feelings!

HELEN M. ROGAL Hartford, Conn.

Sir: While L.B.J. is trying so desperately to give an image of the Great White Knight or of Robin Hood creating a Sherwood Forest, I am reminded of another childhood tale, The Tar Baby. As the President's honey-toned, sugar-coated words come dripping from your pages or a radio, I find myself smothering an immense urge to warn all the little rabbits: "Don't be fooled, 'cause once you're stuck, you can't get unstuck!"

(MRS.) NEVA STREVER El Paso

Cultural Apogee

Sir: There's long been doubt as to the single outstanding event in Chicago's cultural history. Founding of the Chicago Symphony by Theodore Thomas? Founding of the University of Chicago, the Art Institute, the Museum of Science & Industry? TIME has dispelled all doubt [Sept. 3]. The glad tidings that Claudia Cassidy is getting the hell out is easily our cultural apogee. From here on, the only direction we can go is up. Paint her as purple as her prose, change her name to Claudia Caterwaul, and turn her loose in the emerald pastures we have all, for endless years, prayed she would soon retire to.

TOM PAYNE Wilmette, Ill.

The Negro After Watts

Sir: As a native Angeleno, I was shocked by the riots. Many articles have been written on the Negro problem, but your Essay, "The Negro After Watts," is by far the most realistic approach and summation of the situation. May I commend you on a truly outstanding commentary.

VIRGINIA KENDRICK Palos Verdes, Calif.

Sir: I was shocked at Dorothy Davis' letter [Sept. 3] on police brutality. When those "millions watching TV" saw a policeman kick a suspect, did they notice the suspect, just before, trying to attack the policeman during a routine search? Why don't these bleeding hearts open their eyes and brains?

DAVID WURTZEL Los Angeles

Sir: Man of the Year--Chief Parker!

(MRS.) HARRIETTE ASHTON Manhattan Beach, Calif.

Down with Dewey

Sir: I would like to be one of many librarians who wish to congratulate you on your excellent article on libraries [Sept. 3]. This story will hasten the day when the classic image of the librarian will be destroyed forever. Many outside the profession do not realize the tremendous task facing librarians trying to get information to patrons as quickly as possible.

CHARLES W. SARGENT President, Rio Grande Chapter Special Libraries Association Albuquerque

Sir: The ice in this librarian's "not-very-well-stacked" body was not in her eyes but in her heart when she flipped through TIME. The information explosion, besides requiring more efficient methods to help the researcher, also creates a huge need for more librarians. Library schools such as the one I graduated from in June will never be able to attract talented young college graduates unless the public and TIME stop propagating the image of tie fabled bun-wearing librarian and help us depict the new librarian.

MAUREEN CARNEY Cleveland

Sir: The people who write the books that may henceforth be made available by elecronic networks wonder how they will live if the entire return to them is the royalty on one copy. Authors do not want to keep he "information explosion" from reaching those who need knowledge. What they urge is recognition of the fact that photocopying, search and retrieval, and elecronic networks between libraries add up to a publishing revolution just as much as did the introduction of printing by movable type. Let us find a way of seeing that writers are not automated out of existence.

REX STOUT (President) ABE BURROWS ELIZABETH JANEWAY HERBERT MITGANG LEO ROSTEN JEROME WEIDMAN THEODORE H. WHITE HERMAN WOUK The Authors League of America, Inc. New York City

O Dad, Poor Dad

Sir: If my father were the mythical average steelworker making $4.40 an hour [Sept. 3], I would be going to Harvard and driving a Spitfire. But, alas, my father is an average steelworker making $2.28 1/2 an hour, and I go to the University of Massachusetts and walk. O, Daddy, where is your extra $2.111/2? Poor Daddy!

GEORGE F. PUKANICH Amherst, Mass.

Church & State

Sir: You call us "watchdogs of secularism" [Sept. 3]. You should have called us watchdogs of religion. The trouble with you people is that you share the Roman Catholic illusion that if only the churches can become a division of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, the new age will be here. What could God do if he had enough Government money? This is the way to kill religion as a spiritual force; it is good to see you on the job with your usual prescience.

C. STANLEY LOWELL Associate Director Protestants and Other Americans United for Separation of Church and State Washington, D.C.

On Fluoridation

Sir: Thank you for publicizing the report of Drs. Hodge and Smith on the benefits of fluoridation [Sept. 3]. TIME'S prestige may favorably influence many fence-sitting communities. Accuracy requires pointing out that conscientious dentists apply stannous and other topical fluoride agents semiannually, not every three years. Also, topical fluorides are supplemental; they are not substitutes for water fluoridation.

J. CLARK GLEESON, D.D.S. Director, Division of Dental Health Pennsylvania Department of Health Harrisburg, Pa.

Sir: Your article places the facts in proper balance and should help immeasurably to dispel confusion over this proven preventive measure.

FRANKLIN M. FOOTE, M.D. Connecticut Commissioner of Health Hartford, Conn.

Sir: Your story contains two major omissions. First, there are alternative ways of giving fluoride protection that you did not mention: adding tablets or drops to the child's drinking water. Second, between 10% and 20% of children drinking fluoridated water develop tooth mottling even at the recommended dose.

ARTHUR L. THOMAS Eugene, Ore.

>Say the experts: 1) alternatives are unreliable; 2) absolutely untrue.

Maurenbrecher v. Manry

Sir: Why are people making all that fuss about Robert Manry's 3,200-mile crossing of the Atlantic. [Aug. 27]? The Dutch retired Air Force lieutenant general, Hans Maurenbrecher, sailed, all by himself, more than 12,000 miles from Holland to New Zealand between July 14, 1964 and April 22, 1965.

HENK W. O. TIDDENS Rijswijk, Holland

How to Power a Powerboat

Sir: For a nautical-mile-long cruise [Sept. 3], has anyone tried a 6,076-ft. extension cord?

CARL F. WEISS Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Crime & The Computer

Sir: There is no such thing as a minor traffic violation [Sept. 3]. The self-righteous Mrs. Placente could have slammed her Corvair into a carload of school children.

JACKIE HYMAN Nashville, Tenn.

Sir: Wouldn't the police have found it a great deal simpler and cheaper to send a prowl car with a warrant to Mrs. Placente's home sometime during the past 16 months?

JOHN ALLISON Marceline, Mo.

Not All Scandinavians Are Swedes

Sir: While we can happily confirm S.A.S. profit figures [Sept. 3], we should point out for the record that S.A.S. is not exclusively Swedish and that we have not been a party to the air union discussions among certain other European carriers. S.A.S. is the result of a 20-year-old merger of the interests of Danish, Norwegian and Swedish airlines.

TORE H. NILERT President Scandinavian Airlines Systems, Inc. New York City

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