Man's Roots

To the Editors:

Your article on man's origins [Nov. 7] was fascinating. I find it somewhat strange that religious people refuse to accept the idea of evolution while accepting without apparent murmur other scientific knowledge. Such people hold out against evolution because they think it discredits the Bible. I believe Christianity would certainly survive if everyone frankly conceded that Adam and Eve were mythological characters.

Terrell E. Stewart

Columbus, Ga.

I believe that man was created in the image of God. If Mr. Leakey and the other anthropologists want to claim kinship with the apes and gorillas and monkeys, that's their pleasure.

Luz Gonzales

Springfield, Ohio

When I see God, I don't expect to be in the presence of an ape.

George Krick Jr.

Duncannon, Pa.

The missing link, of course, is the Bible, which tells us not only where we came from, but, what is more important, where we are going.

Gerald Rilling

Port Huron, Mich.

What if Leakey, or anyone else, should discover an intact Australopithecus africanus with only 23 ribs?

W. Smith O'Brien

St. Petersburg, Fla.

Seeing the term believe so frequently in your article, I was confused as to whether I was reading a theological treatise or a scientific monograph. To throw out the missing-link evolutionary theory and replace it with a more modern concept (based on an archaeological discovery in 1975 and supported by 3 million critical years of missing evidence) is even more ludicrous than to ask a non-Biblicist to believe the Genesis account of creation.

May I submit that should this modern concept of evolution be tried in a court of law, the case would be dismissed for lack of sufficient evidence.

(The Rev.) Terry Lothian

Somerville, N.J.

Don't look back: the Fundamentalist contingent is in hot pursuit. The conscientious scholarship of a Leakey notwithstanding, there are millions of people who still pray that any truth of evolution will not become generally known or believed.

Walter S. Boone

Valdese, N.C.

There just has to be more to wisdom than brain size.

Here we have old Homo habilis ensuring the survival of our species for 2 million years on the one hand, and on the other our "civilized" leaders, with twice the brain size, just waiting for a propitious day to blow us into eternal extinction with atom bombs.

Paul Liston

Seattle

Social Security Woes

The Social Security system is in financial trouble [Nov. 7] because the Congress has made it a general welfare fund, a process that has gone largely unnoticed by the average worker. Liberal legislators have discovered how easy it is to pass general welfare legislation under the Social Security (read old-age pension) banner. Giving away old-age pensions to college kids et al. continues.

John D. Van Dyke

Burlingame, Calif.

Social Security is truly a farce. After turning 22, I had an accident that left me disabled. Although I applied for every form of Social Security benefit, I was rejected because I had not worked the past five out of twelve years. Really now, how could I when I only reached the legal working age four years ago? After paying into the Social Security program for four years, I learn only that rules are rules, and the poor get poorer.

Torey Stanley

Oneida, Tenn

It's not surprising that the House was willing to raise Social Security taxes: Congressmen are not part of this system.

James D. Ertner

Portsmouth, N.H

Before the younger people start screaming about higher Social Security taxes, let me remind them that there is only one other alternative for most people, and that is to support their own parents in their old age. Then they will have to pass this burden on to their own children. The Social Security generation is the only one in civilization's history that has not had to shoulder this burden.

(Mrs.) Mary Moree Krewson

Stewartstown, Pa.

Put-Downs

Shouldn't the title of your story on fashions [Nov. 7] have been "Put-Ons, Rip-Offs and Un-Dress"? Practical? Luncheons? Meetings? In these clothes?

Somewhere beyond the ruffles and flourishes and the baggy pirate look, there must be real clothes that real people can wear to real places. Fashion? Phooey!

Judi Copek

Deerfield, Ill.

Weren't the see-throughs enough? Now Sonia Rykiel wants us to let it all hang out. Outrageous.

Kathryn W. Barnard

Tacoma, Wash.

Rykiel, Kenzo, et al. design clothing that makes women appear as if they doubt their sexual identity and must bare their breasts to prove to the world that they are women. Either this or it is once again apparent that the designers do not like women and do whatever is necessary to make them look garish and foolish.

(The Rev.) Gabriel B. Baumgardner

Princeton, Ill.

For Fast Relief, Try ...

As one who suffered from migraine headaches [Nov. 7] from early adolescence to his mid-30s, I would say Dr. Brainard's description of the pain is an understatement. Few things helped until I skeptically began the practice of Transcendental Meditation. I have not only not had a single migraine headache, but cannot recall a headache of any kind in the five years since I began TM.

Rafael J. Gonzalez

Oakland, Calif.

Biofeedback works! I transfer all that pain to my hands or even my feet. My hands become very warm and pulsating. No headache, no tension, and no feeling of general weakness afterward.

Renee Seufert

Nashville

To draw the blood away from the head, I take a cold shower or sit in a tub of cold water, taking care that the cold water does not touch my head or neck.

Finding the cause is important. In my case, chocolate and onions are the culprits.

Fritzi Womer

San Diego

After ten years of suffering and trying all the "cures," I went on the Weight Watchers diet and presto, my headaches were less frequent, shorter in duration and mild enough to allow me to go about my life. The old adage "You are what you eat" certainly applies to migraines.

M.E. Graham

Libertyville, Ill.

Judging a Judge

I was amazed to find myself quoted as a defender of Utah's Judge Ritter [Nov. 7]. The quotation was taken from a lengthy conversation with a reporter that occurred many months ago. Although Judge Ritter's record has redeeming aspects to it, his reported conduct on the bench in violation of many of the standards of conduct established for judges makes evident that his voluntary retirement would be the most sensible solution to the situation in which he is embroiled.

E. Wayne Thode, Professor of Law

University of Utah

Salt Lake City

What Palau Saves

How nice of Evangelist Palau [Nov. 7] to fly down to South America with his Bible from his clean Oregon home to preach Jesus to the lost "machismo minded" Latins.

Indeed, the politicians support Palau. The poverty and suffering they don't care to relieve make them appear to be scoundrels. But Palau makes them respectable, and he comes cheaper than land reform or democracy.

I say shame on the Roman Catholic bishops who endorse such a creature to "save" the poor!

Oliver C. Chichetto

Bridgeport, Conn.

I find no argument with Palau's views or crusades, but I do wish to point out that the novelist you quote, Romulo Gallegos, is not Colombian. He was born in 1884 in Caracas, and we Venezuelans are very proud of him for many reasons. He was not only one of the great Latin American writers, but also a great teacher and our first constitutionally elected President.

Clemente Cohen

Director General de Informacion

Ministerio de Informacion y Turismo

Caracas

Keep Mount McKinley

The Americana [Nov. 7] note about the proposal to change the name of Mount McKinley to Denali, an Indian word for "the Great One", omits points in favor of retaining the presidential name.

Responses to a questionnaire sent out by Alaska's Senator Ted Stevens showed that 73% of Alaskans want to keep the name Mount McKinley, while only 23% favor the change. Alaska now has a Denali Pass, Denali Camp, Denali State Park and Denali Highway. This makes that name rather commonplace, compared to that of the martyred President who, history records, was a leader in labor-law reform and in making the U.S. a dynamic world force--among other achievements.

You say President McKinley never visited Mount McKinley. It would be interesting to see if other Alaskan landmarks--Mount Foraker, Jefferson Peak, Fillmore Peak, Mount Cleveland, Grant Peak, Lincoln Island, Wilson Creek or Point Hayes--were visited by people for whom they were named. All information I find indicates they were not.

Ralph S. Regula

Congressman from Ohio

Washington, D.C.

Indians have been exploited in many ways, but guess which political party is responsible for using them as a front for de-Republicanizing our topography?

(The Rev.) Arnold R. Lewis

Madera, Calif.

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