Chain of Command

Sir / I do not find it appalling that L. Patrick Gray III considers the FBI just "part of the chain of command" or that he cooperates in every way possible with the Chief Executive, who should be above suspicion. What is appalling is that our Chief Executive is not above suspicion but smack in the middle of it.

CHARLES H. WITHROW

Cincinnati

Sir / While I am in sympathy with the general tone of your article, advocating impartial law enforcement and non-politicization of the FBI, I must take exception to your criticism of Gray's remarks that he was just "part of the chain of command" that leads to the White House. Surely he must be responsible to somebody. What would be the alternative? Perhaps another branch of the Government, giving us the legislative, judicial, executive and investigative?

HENRY J. SHOTTER

Spokane, Wash.

Sir / We are only demoralizing the whole FBI and undermining the discipline and respect that the top cop deserves. He is, like you and me, only human and has party preferences. That does not mean he is not well equipped to do a good and honest job in the FBI.

(MRS.) MARIA V. FLOSS

Orlando, Fla.

Time for Europe

Sir / It certainly was TIME to focus on a growing Europe [March 12] that is grappling for maturity. More power to its planners, politicians and economists.

PETER SCHULZ

Cincinnati

Sir / You said people want to retain their own nationalities and are reluctant to believe in a united Europe. I think you are wrong. Wherever you go in Europe, and I have verified the fact myself, you can hear young people saying "We Europeans." It is impossible to build Europe in seven days. We have our past, our traditions and our civilizations. We do not want to get rid of them, but only take the best in each.

JOELLE NUTTIN

Viersen, West Germany

Sir / Do we have the right to be critical of Western Europe's nation states because of their massive inequities and their failure to create communion after 15 years of Common Market experience?

Statistics show that such "massive inequities in education and income distribution" have not been erased over a much longer period of time in our own 50 states.

R.D. MANNING, M.D.

Prairie Grove, Ark.

Sir / Thank you for the very fine article on minorities in Europe. It is the existence of these minorities that justifies the dream of a unified Europe--a Europe where the central authority will be far enough away to leave more freedom to the ethnic and cultural minorities that are now crushed by our national governments.

ANTONIO E.M. ATTANASIO

Lecco, Italy

Sir / A foreign traveler can literally get lost in the cultural war between the French-and Flemish-speaking peoples of Belgium. By law, all road signs give town names and distances in both languages. Local activists have the habit of obliterating the offending language with black paint. Retaliation in kind follows. A few years ago, while driving to a Brussels suburb, I came to a point where five roads met. There were five direction signs in both languages, all blacked out, leaving me or any other stranger to guess which one to take. Luckily, I spoke both French and Flemish and was able to ask a native. When I asked him for la bonne route in French, he refused to answer as a matter of principle, but when I asked for de weg, he obliged, somewhat startled!

HAROLD FEENEY

Commander, U.S.N. (ret.)

Corpus Christi, Texas

Sir / Your new European edition should meet the long-awaited demands of many readers on this continent.

ALFRED DARMANIN

Brussels

Too Much?

Sir / Granted that TIME often displays a penchant for catchy alliteration and sometimes assumes the role of debunker. Still, isn't calling the likes of Washington, Franklin and Hamilton "the Mayflower Mafia" [March 12] a little too much?

STEVE DAVIS

Atlanta

Dedication to Hope

Sir / I am a victim of cancer. You have done a great service to me, and so many like myself, who hunger for information upon which we might pin our hopes. Your cover story on Dr. Good [March 19] has provided such hope, and I thank you for it. But most of all, I thank Dr. Good for his dedication, as well as all the other unsung heroes who are, at this moment, in their laboratories searching for a way to keep us alive.

SHIRLEY SPINDEL

West Hempstead, N.Y.

Sir / The article on immunology and Dr. Robert Good is one of the best I have ever read on the subject, including some good medical texts. It is regrettable that my own profession of osteopathy has not followed through with research along these lines, as suggested by its founder, Dr. Andrew Taylor Still, who stated some 75 years ago that "nature has been thoughtful enough to place in man all that the word 'remedy' means."

BEN C. SCHARF, D.O.

Seaford, N.Y.

Sir / The science of immunology dates back considerably farther than the year 1796. In the year A.D. 1000 the Chinese physician Yo-Meishan successfully inoculated the emperor's grandson with dried crusts of smallpox to render him immune from a serious attack. This practice of inoculation was introduced into England in 1721 by Lady Mary Wortley Montague, wife of the British Ambassador at Constantinople, who had had her son inoculated in Turkey.

JOHN T. LOFTUS

Chicago

Sir / It is paradoxical that when an understanding of immunology is opening new avenues of attack against cancer, our Government is draining the lifeblood of biomedical research by drastically decreasing its support. What sense does it make for the Administration to pay lip service to a "crusade against cancer" while cutting off money for training the Robert Goods of the future?

GORDON G. POWER, M.D.

LAWRENCE D. LONGO, M.D.

Loma Linda, Calif.

No Admission

Sir / Your book review on The Company and the Union by William Serrin [March 19] states: "In the end, U.A.W. members cheered a settlement that, by Woodcock's admission, could have been won before the contract deadline, which meant that the strike itself was little more than a blue-collar catharsis." Of course, I did not make such "an admission," because I could not have done so. Mr. Serrin only implied, without any evidence, that the settlement offer was available in September. Even he never attributed such a ridiculous admission to me.

LEONARD WOODCOCK

President International Union, U.A.W.

Detroit

The House That Jane Built

Sir / Your shabby treatment of Jane Fonda filming A Doll's House [March 12] is nothing more than a pandering to that part of your audience that believes all feminists are viragoes and/or lesbians. Miss Fonda is a talented artist and a courageous person who deserves at the very least unbiased coverage by your magazine.

MRS. WILLIAM G. KATZ

Van Nuys, Calif.

Sir / Your article regarding the movie adaptation of A Doll's House has, I am sure, confirmed not only in my mind but also in the minds of many other Americans the fact that we do not need Jane Fonda. Ms. Fonda is not an actress but an activist and antagonist, i.e., antiwar and pro-Women's Lib. I hope that the American people will not spend their money to see a movie in which an "actress" who has done more harm than good in trying to get our P.O. W.s home does her thing.

DOREL FIELD

Mercer Island, Wash.

The P.O.W.s and the Protesters

Sir / P.O.W. Colonel Risner said the protesters were responsible for the last year or two of his imprisonment--something the great majority of the American people always knew. Now would seem to be a good time for great protesters such as Senators Brooke, Fulbright, Church and McGovern to seek amnesty from the President and from the P.O.W.s for their considerable part in delaying the peace.

CHARLES DURLING

Brockton, Mass.

Sir / Most demonstrators believe that they were able to shorten the war. At least they did not start it! As for myself, even knowing that my protests may have lengthened the war, I would have kept on demonstrating. Conscience is a strong thing when you are part of a country that is in the wrong.

DANIEL R. MCMAHON

Brigantine, N.J.

Cleanest Sport

Sir / Re the disgusting wife-swapping deal between Yankee Pitchers Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich [March 19]: I would like to see Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn throw these two immature clowns out of the major leagues, not so much for what they did but for being stupid enough to let the whole country know about it. Baseball is not only our most popular sport, but it has always been our cleanest, physically and morally. These men have done a disservice to baseball and the kids who love it.

EARL PRICE

President

Senior Babe Ruth League

Greenwich, Conn.

Sir / I'm not saying we should elect Mike Kekich and Fritz Peterson to the Hall of Fame, but whatever postgame activity they choose is their business.

LEONARD MATTEO JR.

Hamden, Conn.

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