Pacifism

To the Editors:

It is heartwarming to see that Western Europeans are concerned about the future of mankind [Nov. 30]. But that is no reason to close down their defense against a possible attack from the Soviet Union. The question that the European nuclear protest movement must answer is: Who's marching for peace in Moscow?

Art H. Beroff New York City

What makes Europeans think that unilateral disarmament would cause the Soviets to reciprocate? What makes them think it will preserve the peace in Europe? The reason there have been no recent hostilities in Western Europe is that we have possessed a clear nuclear deterrent. The pacifists are obviously defeating their own purpose.

Michael Alex Glendora, Calif.

To say that we in NATO will use only conventional forces in the face of a military threat is to condemn ourselves to defeat in advance. We are currently outmanned compared with the Warsaw Pact countries. Without nuclear arms we would be very seriously outgunned as well. Under these circumstances, no one can risk not resisting the Soviets.

Tom Belz

New York City

People opposed to unilateral nuclear disarmament seem to believe that dying in a nuclear war is somehow preferable to Soviet domination. If the choice is between death and life under the Kremlin, I choose the latter, along with the right to oppose such tyranny.

Mark Rogers North Arlington, N.J.

Nuclear weapons must not be stationed or built in Europe or anywhere on this planet. The human species does not have the right to doom the rest of the earth's inhabitants to destruction. No political or moral ends can be achieved through nuclear arms.

Nicola Anne DiMarco Buffalo

We should be encouraged by the pacifist tune adopted by the Soviet Union. Perhaps now both sides can take steps toward reducing their nuclear weapons.

William H. Green Jr. Wallingford, Pa.

If the world is as close to the brink of nuclear war as headlines say, Reagan and Brezhnev are meeting in the wrong place. There's only one spot where the masters of our fate should confer: Hiroshima. Its ghosts might give them pause.

Larry Foley Townsville, Australia

Man of the Year?

Pope John Paul II, for his impeccable courage, compassion and humility.

Curtis P. Orio North Haven, Conn.

Lech Walesa, the most common of men doing the most uncommon things.

Christopher A. Rodowskas Jr. Silver Spring, Md.

The Assassin, for the gloomy shadow he has cast across the world.

Rohintan Mody London

The Rev. Jerry Falwell, who, with his Moral Majority, has become loved, hated, respected and distrusted.

Carol L. Holmes Philadelphia

Voyager II, for showing us that this planet is only a small piece of glass in a cosmic lamp.

Robert L. Riley Kings Park, N.Y.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy, for communicating hope to the millions who are being dispossessed.

Royce Collingwood Gainesville, Fla.

Bottle Battle

Kudos to Massachusetts on becoming the eighth state to adopt a bottle bill [Nov. 30]. During our summer clean-up campaign we found beverage containers far surpassed paper-type litter. No matter what the bottle industry claims, their product has made our beautiful Arizona desert the garbage pit of America.

Doris Isaacman Tucson

In addition to the bottle, the aluminum beverage can, which accounts for more than 80 billion containers a year, presents a litter problem. However, that battle is being won through the initiative taken by private enterprise. Our company has recycled 10 million aluminum cans in our first six months of business and paid out about $100,000. This enterprising solution is certainly more in keeping with the American way.

Fred Gordon, President Can Management Corp. North brook, Ill.

Why not a mandatory deposit on newspapers, fast-food wrapping and magazines? Forcing consumers to transform our local food stores into garbage dumps just to get then-deposit back is an approach most states have rejected. The bottle bill regulation is not only inflationary but affects only 5% of solid waste disposal. The legislation hardly makes a dent in the litter problem.

William W. Sadd, President Glass Packaging Institute Washington, D.C.

Whenever I read about returnable bottles, I wonder why no one mentions the nonsensical federal law against returnable wine and liquor bottles. Amateur winemakers refill them with impunity; so do moonshiners. More important, the energy saved by not having to produce all that glass would be significant.

Conrad A. Balliet Springfield, Ohio

Protecting Passports

As the person responsible for protecting Americans traveling abroad as well as issuing their passports, I read with interest your article "Fake Passports" [Nov. 30]. I hope it helped convince the public that an American passport is a valuable document that some people will lie, cheat and steal to obtain. A simple way to guard a passport against abuse if stolen is for travelers to write down the passport number and keep it separately.

I regret the disproportionate emphasis in your article on possible bribery and lack of investigations. Both were overstated. There was no mention of a new and major antifraud innovation: the production by the Department of State of the world's first automated machine-readable passport that includes sophisticated antifraud features. These passports are currently being issued at our agencies in Washington, D.C., and Chicago.

Diego C. Asencio, Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Washington, D.C.

Allen's Folly

Richard Allen's problems arising from having accepted $1,000 from a Japanese magazine [Nov. 30] reminded me of a similar incident that occurred several years ago when I gave a lecture in Japan. Afterward, the chairman gave me an envelope with an honorarium, which I had not asked for. I accepted the gift, but asked him to recommend a good cause to which the money could be donated. Far from taking offense, the chairman mentioned the flood victims of Izu. The meeting closed on a note of everybody thanking everybody else.

Herbert F. Storm Delmar, N. Y.

Protest from Paradise

"Paradise Lost" [Nov. 23] shows once again the press's preference for a five-inch brush when a one-incher will do. There are several cities on the Gold Coast of Florida--Boca Raton is a good example--where the recession has not hit, where life is improving, and where paradise has been rediscovered.

William A. Konrad, Mayor Boca Raton, Fla.

People's Tenor

You are wrong to criticize Luciano Pavarotti [Nov. 30] for his commercialism and hype. He has taken opera out of the tiny domain of the musical elite and given it to the world. Thanks to Pavarotti, some south Georgia teen-agers now concede that opera is "not too bad." What more noble achievement is there?

Frances D. Dillard Waycross, Ga.

God's Choice?

As a nurse and a Christian, I find it difficult to believe that God would direct Oral Roberts to build an edifice such as the City of Faith [Nov. 16] in Tulsa, a metropolis already overloaded with hospital beds. Surely He would have selected a more deserving location, like Mother Teresa's mission in Calcutta.

Maria E. Hellyer Hong Kong

Faultless Fealty

Apart from the hoo-ha attendant to David Stockman's telling us what most of us already knew [Nov. 23], there is something disturbing about the fetish of dogged fidelity to leadership that has become so fashionable in recent Administrations. Like most other virtues, loyalty in moderation is a noble trait. Of late, however, it has taken on exaggerated proportions that are inimical to a democratic society. As currently defined, team playing does more than merely quash originality. It vouch safes us a generation of faceless robots to whom individual responsibility is equated with treason. In the extreme analysis, Adolf Eichmann, by his own admission, was the ultimate team player.

Donald Arthur Munich

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