At Last, an Honest Face
Sir / Thank goodness! Finally, a cover that shows intelligence, sensitivity and beauty--and has no relation to the Watergate situation. And who can question the honesty of Secretariat's face [June 11]?
LINDA MANWILLER
Stouchsburg, Pa.
Sir / As a horse lover, I not only enjoyed learning more about Secretariat's background and engaging personality, but I found the author's style to be delightfully descriptive and warmly sensitive.
(MRS.) ANNE IMBODEN
Baltimore
Sir / Anyone who has any doubts about the overall impact of science on our future society has only to look as far as Secretariat. The "designer" of this great horse is my nominee for the Nobel Prize in Genetics. Fortunately--this time--the positive traits were desired, but. . .
LAMONT D. NOTTINGHAM
Rocky Mount, N.C.
Sir / How many readers wrote in to remark that it was refreshing to see the front end of a horse on the cover of TIME?
MRS. JAMES MANUEL
Morgan City, La.
> Sixty-five so far.
Sir / This letter will be postmarked before the running of the Belmont. Secretariat will lose, I am sorry to say, because he has just appeared on the cover of TIME.
CAMPBELL W. MCMILLAN
Chapel Hill, N.C.
> Ha!
Resurrecting Common Sense
Sir / The Essay on common sense [June 11] was delightful, and I was especially pleased that you resurrected the wit and wisdom of Kin Hubbard.
There is so much of his material that is relevant today. Watergate buffs might enjoy the following, first published in 1912:
"It pays t' be honest, but it don't pay enough t' suit some fellers."
MIKE KRAFT
Washington, D.C.
Sir / Lack of common sense is not the only problem in America today. We have a few others.
Americans want to stop pollution but do not want smog-control devices because they cost money and use up too much gas. We want our laws strictly enforced, but if we are cited for speeding the officer involved is a stupid s.o.b. We want the Government to solve all of our problems without infringing on our freedom, raising taxes or making us undergo any real effort or hardship.
Most Americans lie, cheat, steal and indulge in arrogance, yet are outraged when they find their elected officials doing the same thing.
CLAY H. BERRI
Petaluma, Calif.
The P.O.W.s at Home
Sir / Colonel Theodore Guy [June 11] is a disgrace to the Air Force, all P.O.W.s and the United States of America. He is not "a stiff-backed professional officer," he is a "lifer" in the true sense. How one man in his right mind can request that eight individuals who suffered much the same hardships as he did be court-martialed is beyond my belief!
(PFC) MARY ANN DAVIS
WAC
San Francisco
Sir / The ex-P.O.W.s have paid their debt. Let's get on with living, not revenge. The P.O.W. was not in the service because he disobeyed orders--he was there because he obeyed them.
(MRS.) PATRICIA ANNE DAVID
Vallejo, Calif.
Sir / I am not interested in the adjustment problems of the returned P.O.W.s. The number of P.O.W.s is an infinitesimal part of the total war casualties: American and Vietnamese dead never to return and the psychic and physical wounds suffered by American veterans of the war, not to mention Vietnamese soldiers and civilians. The jubilation over the returned P.O.W.s should be confined to their family and friends. For the rest of us, it only serves as a surrogate for a sense of victory and a detour from a sober reflection on the war and our motives for entering and continuing it.
LINDA STENGEL
Newark, Del.
Salutes to Mr. Bradley
Sir / The newly elected mayor of Los Angeles, Thomas Bradley [June 11], should have been on the cover of TIME. Not because of his blackness, but because of his enduring courage in taking on the fight the second time around against an old pro like "Good Neighbor Sam" Yorty.
I salute Mr. Bradley for being nothing but a man and for going after what he believes in.
JOHN L. LEE
Vallejo, Calif.
Sir / Hooray for non-prejudice! We have had a non-mayor for so long that this might be the man to change our luck.
R. ALAN JAMIESON
Los Angeles
Soothed by Terror
Sir / I have loved every one of H.P. Lovecraft's horror stories [June 11] that I have ever read.
I was therefore a bit upset when Philip Herrera began criticizing Lovecraft's style. However, his parody was so good and true--and terrifying--that my initial reservations were swept away.
JOEL BRENNER
Bayshore, N.Y.
Sir / Forget about H.P. Lovecraft. Where can I get a copy of Philip Herrera?
ROBERT W. BUTLER JR.
Kansas City, Mo.
Picky-Picky Pay
Sir / I take exception to one phrase in an otherwise fair report on the current Hollywood writers' strike [June 11]. You imply that $3,500 for a half-hour TV script is "hefty."
First try getting an assignment in a diminishing market, then try splitting $3,500 with your partner Uncle Sam, Ronald Reagan, the William Morris Agency, the Writers Guild, and other unsolicited silent partners with names like S.D.I., F.I.C.A. and M.P.R.F. You will soon find that your hefty $3,500 has melted down to about $900 and change.
When you spread this over a period of four weeks (the time it can take to write one of these episodes for picky-picky, meeting-happy producers), it comes to a little over $200 per week.
GORDON MITCHELL
Studio City, Calif.
The Dangers of Concentration
Sir / I am an air-traffic controller, and I consider that the use of such a device as Karel Mentor's antidream machine [June 11] would display not only a lack of professional trust but would be distracting to the point of disaster.
An air-traffic controller must maintain the ability to receive input information from several sources at once and put this information to use without delay; to concentrate on one item can mean danger.
You may liken a controller doing his job to a man listening to his wife talk about the day's events, watching a TV news report, reading your magazine at the same time, and knowing what is going on in all three places. The flying public cannot afford to have the controller concentrate on one subject.
(S/SGT.) WILLIAM B. HOBSON JR.
U.S.A.F. Altus A.F.B.
Altus, Okla.
Degree of Progress
Sir / Your article "U.S. Raises for Blacks" [June 4] reported that "IBM has assigned blacks to supervise whites" in South Africa. This may mislead some readers into crediting IBM with a degree of progress that is not quite accurate.
To date, we have no instances of a black employee actually managing a white employee in that country.
FRANK T. GARY
Chairman of the Board, IBM
Armonk, N.Y.
Accomplishments of Watergate
Sir / As a former university student who saw action in Washington during the demonstrations and riots of '69 and '70, it strikes me as enormously ironic that a handful of conservative Republican lawyers and officials have accomplished what thousands of long-haired, rhetoric-spewing radicals could not--i.e., the destruction of the American people's faith in Nixon, the Cabinet and the Republican Party.
The President's last memo will read: "We have met the enemy and they are us."
JOHN FEITEN
Malibu, Calif.
Sir / After Watergate is history, there is one thing nobody will be able to take away from the businessmen in the White House. They met a payroll.
A.W. MICHALSON
Rockford, Ill.
Sir / Watergate has given us our next President: Senator Howard Baker.
(MRS.) YOLANDA BECKER
Auburn, Calif.
Sir / Need we burn down the house to catch a few rats in the attic?
JOHN P. THOMSON
Spokane, Wash.
Sir / Now I know what you mean by one of your favorite words--"overreaction."
J.M. MCKERCHER
San Francisco
Sir / As a "resident" of this prison camp, I find it regrettable that immunity from prosecution can be bandied about like a dangling carrot. Equality under the law: punish the guilty, and immunity to the innocent.
S.M. MILLER
Federal Prison Camp
Maxwell A.F.B., Ala.
Sir / It seems that Mr. Nixon wishes me to believe that the people he knows can mislead him, whereas heads of foreign nations can not. Unless he works more closely with the heads of foreign nations than with his own people, how can this be so?
RON BAMMEL
Phoenix, Ariz.
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