Refugees

Sir: In your article [Sept. 21] you state that the Arabs were evicted from their ancient homeland. They were never evicted and this was never their ancient homeland. You mention further that they were driven into the squalid misery of refugee camps. They just picked up their squalid misery and moved it to another location.

Apparently you haven't seen how they live under normal conditions. It is a well-known fact that the Arabs living in Israel have better living conditions and education than in any of the Arab countries.

(MRS.) BETTY OUZER Rochester

Sir: In spite of the outrage of the P.F.L.P. skyjackings, let us recognize these actions as the result of years of oppression of one people by another. Eventually, the oppressed react with violence, as the P.F.L.P. is doing, as black militants in America are doing, as any oppressed people does, when no recourse or redress is available.

GORDON MUMMA Manhattan

Sir: The truth is: those Arabs who left Israel left of their own volition during the 1948 War of Independence. They hoped to return very quickly to share in the booty of a defeated Israel. It seems they made a mistake in judgment. Now, having lost the gamble, they still insist on a payoff.

GENE GALT Oak Park, Mich.

Sir: The Palestinian commandos kept approximately 300 airline passengers captive in airplanes on the Jordan desert for one week. Yet the world stood by and allowed hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees to remain on the Jordan desert in tents for 22 years.

(MRS.) PAMELA COLTON JILL DERBY (THE REV.) J. BARRY WILLIAMS Sacramento, Calif.

Up in the Air

Sir: I have the solution to end all hijacking [Sept. 21]. The airlines should arm all passengers as they board the aircraft. This way a hijacker could be conveniently shot by the nearest passenger when he attempted to commandeer the aircraft. At first, perhaps, a few innocent victims would be shot and we might lose an airplane or two, but sooner or later the message would get across that aerial hijacking is no longer a desirable or profitable thing to do.

LARRY MURPHY Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Sir: The solution to air piracy is simple: 1) immediately deny air passage to any holder of an Arab passport; 2) give suitable rewards for performance to airplane guards, e.g., $5,000 for executing a hijacker in the act or $1,000 for wounding one. Sadly, our modern leaders lack the guts to do what has to be done.

WILLARD ROSE Muskegon, Mich.

Sir: The first place to start hitting back is where it will hurt the most--in their ECONOMY. All airlines should stop all flights to every Arab country that aids the terrorists, and people of all free countries should refuse to do business with them. Perhaps then the Arabs would deal with their own dissidents.

SELMA SEGAL Columbus

Sir: A possible solution might be to completely seal the pilot and crew's quarters from the passengers. Each would board from separate entrances. The only possible contact, once everyone was in place, would be one-way voice communication from the pilot to passengers.

NEIL J. GEORGE Cleveland

Sir: Require: 1) fingerprinted cards that would be verified at checkin; 2) complete inspection of freight, baggage and aircraft, search of all passengers at checkin, and rigid quarantine of all cleared passengers until takeoff; 3) airlines to be deprived of all interline privileges in order to prevent hijackers from joining a cleared flight by connection. Passengers who wish may fly "risk airline" and take their chances.

JOAN FITZPATRICK BOCK Merritt Island, Fla.

Sir: What ever happened to the American who, when faced with extortion threats from pirates of Tripoli, responded, "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute!"?

JOEL A. MOSKOWITZ, M.D. Manhattan

Vocal Vituperation

Sir: One does not have to be an effete snob, a nattering nabob, or even a Democrat to be thoroughly offended by the contrived, consciously catchy mixed metaphors daily being flung at us by Spiro Agnew [Sept. 21]. One gets the impression that this buffoon is just discovering his power to appeal to people's prejudices for his own purposes. Probably Agnew has already planned his first post-V.P. book: Selected Smashing Speeches by the Sensation of the '70s. One suspects that he is also running for the title: Most Vocal and Vituperative Veep of the Century.

(MRS.) MARY YOUNG COUSAR Jacksonville

Sir: Agnew's acerbic animadversions affront, antagonize and alienate attentive Americans.

DUDLEY RISLEY Edmonds, Wash.

Sir: Spurious Spiro, the smirking, spleenful spokesman of the sated, smug, self-satisfied society.

H. PETER LAURITZEN Boca Raton, Fla.

Sir: Agnew's alliterative aphorisms, although apparently arousing activists' acrimony, are all able and acerbatingly apt.

RUSSELL M. TREE Port Huron, Mich.

When the Knee Is Free

Sir: I am sure when John Burr Fairchild [Sept. 14] is a bitter old man, he will regret 1970, when he did his best to turn all of us who are young at heart into bitter old women with his midis. When women's knees were free, their spirit was free. They became younger, more energetic, happier. The midi makes them old, dowdy and grumpy.

BETTY S. TYLER Monroe, Conn.

Sir: Fairchild is shrewdly aware that many women are insecure enough to put garbage bags on their backs if fashion decreed it.

(MRS.) MOLLY MONICA Berkeley Heights, N.J.

Sir: May the midi become the Edsel of fashion!

ELEANOR L. RUDER Morris Plains, N.J.

Sir: The mid-calf is a bum steer.

PETER LAWTON Gladwyne, Pa.

Sir: The needlepoint designed and stitched by Judy McGuggart on your cover was a great and ingenious change from the usual portraits of famous people. To those of us who do needlepoint, this clear reproduction is worth a whole course in the art of canvas embroidery.

AVIS GARDINER Stamford, Conn.

Bold Buildings

Sir: You have ingeniously demonstrated something too long overlooked. Too many colleges and universities are more concerned with the creation of architectural showplaces [Sept. 21] than with the creation of an environment that meets the needs of learners and teachers. Sadly, too many new campus structures are not even good monuments. Little wonder students and faculty respond negatively to many of these "bold buildings."

HARVEY GOODFRIEND San Diego

Sir: What a pity the superb buildings cannot do the instructing. Let's hope, now that the teacher-shortage crisis is over, perhaps more emphasis can and should be placed on quality instructors to man these intellectual palaces.

DYAR HADDAD Springville, N.Y.

Sir: Thank you! I have spent many dollars and much time trying to figure out why college students did what they did.

Burning their own buildings, breaking windows, beating up police, etc. But TIME has given me the answer. Anyone entering buildings as shown would certainly go mental if they were not already.

My mind is at ease; I can rest more peacefully, happy that at my age I only have a few more years to live.

MARY SULLIVAN Hudson, N.H.

Sir: I will bet my bottom tax dollar that the majority of campuses in this country are pinched for money. As a result of shortages of funds, all they can afford are piles of bricks called buildings but resembling shoe boxes.

WALTER FLUEGEL Duluth

Black Rage

Sir: It was no better than I expected: With all that could be said about Black World magazine [Sept. 21]--its discovery of new literary talent, its providing a platform for young intellectuals, its extensive reporting of black art and literature, its encouragement of literary talent, its building of cultural bridges among African peoples, its attention to black publishing enterprise, its openness to divergent views from the black community--TIME magazine focused on "range" and "militancy." It is as though TIME's editors had decided in advance the thrust and essence of the story they wanted to publish and then selected from among all the information they received only that which fit their preconceived theme. And that is what I expected TIME would do.

HOYT W. FULLER Managing Editor Black World Chicago

A Big Surprise

Sir: I was amused by Julie Nixon Eisenhower's comment [Sept. 21] that teaching is a career where "you never get dissatisfied." Her idealism is admirable, but take it from a former teacher, she is in for a big surprise.

ROBERT E. KINGSBURY Virginia Beach, Va.

For the Little People

Sir: Your story about Mr. Frank Sinatra [Sept. 21] has done a grave injustice to a man who over the years has done more for the "little people" of the world than almost anyone else in show business. Mr. Sinatra has been a personal friend of my husband and myself for quite some time, and I have had many opportunities to see his concern for the individual. I am sure you will agree that the story of Frank Sinatra's charitable deeds around the world has been the topic of many conversations. Mr. Sinatra has never asked for recognition of these deeds. In fact, he is embarrassed if they are brought up. Mr. Sinatra, not only for his great talent but also for his civic concern, justly deserves the title the King.

RAQUEL WELCH Nicosia, Cyprus

Nonproductive Females

Sir: Big deal. Three women have made Woman of the Year [Sept. 7] in 45 years (Madame Chiang Kaishek, the Duchess of Windsor and Queen Elizabeth II), all ridiculous choices. When you pass over females like Eleanor Roosevelt, Margaret Chase Smith, Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, Edith Green, etc., for nonproductive females whose contributions to society have been nil or destructive, it completely shows a typical male's lack of thought.

MARTHA R. MONROE Salt Lake City

Sir:

Though Women's Lib we all do hail, The Holy Spirit must be a male. If you still want to be contrary, Why not check with Mother Mary?

PHILOMENE VERLAAN Pensacola, Fla.

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