Falklands Fight

To the Editors:

Britain has missed a unique opportunity [May 10]. Even though they are clearly in the right, the British could have rejected force as a solution to the international crisis. Instead they chose costly chauvinism.

Kenneth L. Crowell

Canton, N. Y.

Will we ever tire of seeing the faces of frightened young men behind a gun fighting some politician's war?

Arthur J. VanDerburgh

Portland, Me.

By imposing sanctions against Argentina, the U.S. has once again chosen a disastrous foreign policy. America should have followed a strictly neutral course. Latin America is a big and powerful bloc with huge mineral and food resources. Unfortunately, the U.S. underestimates Latin America and will come to regret its latest step.

Enrique J. Spitzer

Buenos Aires

Newsmen in Buenos Aires report that the Argentines will never forgive or forget America's support of Britain in the Falk lands crisis. Using the same logic, we Americans of World War II vintage should never forgive or forget the sympathy, comfort and support given by Argentina to the Axis.

Samuel Winslow Smith

Summerville, S.C.

Alien Roundup

Your article "Dragnet for Illegal Workers" [May 10] presents a biased view of the U.S. immigration laws and their enforcement. What should the INS investigators and Border Patrol agents be doing if not upholding the laws? That is their job. Paul L. Adams Arlington, Va.

It is hard to deny that Project Jobs has some legitimate and noble goals. However, it is chilling to see our Government single out an ethnic minority and blame it for economic hard times.

Lewis Rubinstein

Richardson, Texas

Job Market

Your article on the job opportunities for engineers [May 10] only encourages too many college students to enter the profession. Employment may be booming for new graduates, but for mature, experienced engineers the unemployment rate is high. Consider the May 6, 1982, Chicago Tribune classified ads: engineering situations wanted, well over 150; engineering help wanted, four.

Walter H. Merker Jr.

Downers Grove, Ill.

Case for Capitalism

Walter Isaacson's discussion of Michael Novak's book The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism [May 10] revealed an essential truth. Neither patriotism, altruism nor caritas will inspire humans to produce. Only capitalism, as Novak says, tends to expand the wealth of all by providing incentives for productivity. And the greatest incentive that capitalism holds out is money.

Eugene T. Morgan

Tampa, Fla.

The ideal of capitalism is to generate long-term wealth for the general welfare. Unfortunately, in everyday practice capitalists extract as much short-term profit as possible. As America concentrates more of its wealth in fewer but larger corporations, we will forsake our moral strength and ethical honesty. Novak may believe what he has written. However, his theory abandons all values save that of the dollar.

Mark Franceschini

Westminster, Colo.

Muddy Bottom

I sympathize with the Vermonters' annual battle against the onslaught of mud [May 10]. Bemidji, 240 miles north of Minneapolis, sits in the middle of woods, bogs and lakes and is no newcomer to dealing with mudology. A standing joke around here is let a Volkswagen go ahead of you. Then drive over its roof when it falls into a mudhole.

Brad Swenson

Bemidji, Minn.

Vermont has, in addition to mud, an environmental program designed to make children aware of nature. During a demonstration of why autumn leaves turn color, I asked the third-graders, "Most states have only four seasons. Do you know what our extra season is?" I expected a response of puzzled faces. The children shouted "Mud!"

Deborah L. Wilson

Montpelier, Vt.

Ralph Waldo Who?

Lance Morrow's timely tribute to Ralph Waldo Emerson [May 10] may have salvaged singlehanded the man's work from burial. Past generations of students were probably bored stiff with Emerson, but today we would be hard-pressed to find a public school where Emerson hasn't long ago been replaced by tales of streetwise punks--all in the name of relevancy.

James C. Schaap

Oostburg, Wis.

Your Essay will remind Americans that their philosophical heritage should be reconsidered. In 1837 Emerson wrote, "This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it." America could renew itself with some of Emerson's idealism.

Tom Youngblood

San Francisco

Sunsphere's Architect

"No Knocks for Knoxville" [May 3] was a well-written analysis of the 1982 World's Fair, except for one error. I was not asked to develop a "symbolic tower," nor have I had anything to do with the design of the structure. I have been associated with the job as the project architect involved in the drawing and construction phases only.

Bruce B. Thompson

Knoxville, Tenn.

Puff Piece

Editors Greenfield and Bradlee of the Washington Post [May 10] are guilty of hypocrisy. Editors decry publicists as flacks, yet scream when information isn't available. Whether editors like it or not, the press and the public relations profession are in a partnership. Only when newspapers build up their reporting staffs so that they can do the job alone will the need for the professional public relations person go away.

James P. Patterson, President

Shoreline Communigraphics Inc.

Largo, Fla.

Public relations professionals are often the press's best friend. We keep a dialogue going between business and the public. We are constantly battling top executives who instinctively want to bar the press except on management's terms. We do not deserve the opprobrium heaped upon us by our "friends" in the media.

Paul S. Forbes, President

Paul S. Forbes & Associates

Fairfax, Va.

In the Chips

While welcoming your new Computers section [May 3], I am a bit worried about those microkids. Learning how to use those machines is O.K., but I hope youngsters have some encounters with animals, trees and nature too.

Marco Relevant Ancona, Italy

At last an article on computer intelligence that does not waste time worrying about what to do when computers get smarter than we are. Roger Rosenblatt is right in saying that a machine can think only in limited terms. But he understates the point of my book What Computers Can't Do and so sets the limits too high. I argued that computers will never be able to understand even simple children's stories of the sort easily comprehended by any three-year-old. In light of such limitations, people who worry about the advent of even mildly intelligent machines are like alchemists who have not turned a single pebble into gold but are already concerned about the risk of transmuting the whole planet.

Hubert L. Dreyfus

Berkeley, Calif.

The thought of having those computer kids around makes parents shudder, both in America and Japan. But there is a difference. American parents pay to get computers for their schools. Japanese parents, on the other hand, do nothing. Even teachers think it is unnecessary to have computers in the classroom. Japan won't be an industrial giant for long. American businessmen can relax.

Hitoshi Noguchi

Fukuoka, Japan

Profaned Name

With regard to the article "Sinking a Name" [May 10], please note that the Corpus Christi (Body of Christ) telephone directory lists: the Corpus Christi Flea Market, the Corpus Christi Mud Pit Services, the Corpus Christi Amusement Co., the Corpus Christi Speedway, and the Corpus Christi Pistol and Rifle Club. Where is the righteous indignation of Bishop Drury over these slurrings of the sacrament of the Eucharist?

Patricia A. Tyler

Corpus Christi, Texas

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