LETTERS

IN SEARCH OF A BETTER LIFE

"Why is it that so many people move to the country to find peace, and then try to make it over into the place they left behind?" KATHY BOWMAN LAUDER Benton, Maine

The mentality of people who think, "Let's move to this quaint, safe, small-town area and cut down its trees and farms to build our subdivisions" is appalling [NATION, Dec. 8]. Get a grip, folks! With all the new people coming in, the small town will no longer be small. What about working together in our cities and suburbs to make them wonderful and safe places in which to live? Then we won't destroy what little open space and small-town atmosphere we have left. ROBIN COYER Broadview Heights, Ohio

If brutal honesty, real-life experiences and the rich wisdom of rusticated neighbors don't appeal to you, you will not like rural America. THOMAS E. LOONEY Crossville, Tenn.

It's mostly educated people who say, "Let's move away from theaters, museums, big libraries and good schools to a small town. It will be a great place to raise kids!" Unfortunately, it's the kids who will ultimately pay the price. TATIANA LEBEDEVA Newton, Mass.

The same outsiders who thought my husband's tractor was cool now cuss about having to drive behind him when they are in a hurry. CAROL HARDISON Arapahoe, N.C.

According to your story, Americans are fleeing to small towns but the people who already live there are narrow-minded know-nothings. Of course, in big cities and their suburbs, the schools are perfect, all citizens are intelligent, and they welcome newcomers who want to tell them how to do things differently. If the people who live in small towns are so ignorant, how did this country manage to have two intelligent presidential candidates in the 1996 election who grew up and blossomed in small towns in Arkansas and Kansas? Next time take a more balanced look. ALICEANN WOHLBRUCK, Executive Director National Association of Development Organizations Washington

People who move from the city to the country have to learn new customs and habits from the locals, just as if you were living abroad. If you want what the locals have, you may need to become more like them. Perhaps it's their fresh perspective you need to appreciate. DONNA M. HERRING Alexandria, Ohio

We used to have a nice small town here. Then the neighboring town of Guymon decided to have a pig processor move its plant there. We will soon have 4 million hogs in our backyard, and the resulting sewage from them will be dumped into open pits. Sort of ruins the neighborhood and the small-town atmosphere, if you know what I mean. DON UKENS Hooker, Okla.

Speaking from 19 years of experience: You can take the girl out of the city, but you can't take the city out of the girl. BERTEIL MAHONEY Minnetonka, Minn.

Small-town America is a lovely place to drive through, but I wouldn't want to live there. I have spent 29 years of my life living in five major American cities and, sadly, 10 years in a small town in western Massachusetts. Admittedly, the Berkshires are beautiful, but life there leaves much to be desired. Opportunities for entertainment are severely limited, particularly during the lengthy winter; job prospects are bleak; and breaking into the good-ole-boy network is impossible. I will take the congestion, noise, excitement, entertainment, restaurants, friendships, activities, job opportunities, convenience and diversity found in the large cities of this country any day over the constricting life of small towns. KERRY M. HALASZ Alpharetta, Ga.

CLARIFICATION

Our report on small-town America should have noted that the figures on demographic shifts were supplied by Kenneth M. Johnson, sociology professor at Loyola University-Chicago, and Calvin L. Beale, senior demographer with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

THE GREAT ASIAN BAILOUT

The International Monetary Fund is a good international economic concept [NATION, Dec. 8]. However, IMF actions cost Americans billions of dollars as we bail out countries that have practiced foolish financial policies, and ridiculous balance-of-payment differentials work against U.S. consumers. A possible remedy is to simply apply import duties on goods from those countries that want to sell much more than they buy from the U.S. As the differential goes up, the import duty should go up. When the differential is reasonable, the import duty should be zero. ART JOHNSTON Reno, Nev.

Your story on the IMF and its intervention in Asian countries perpetuated the myth that the IMF is a wise and compassionate benefactor to a spendthrift Third World. In fact, the IMF aims to create favorable investment conditions for financial institutions, not to increase the prosperity of the average citizen. In Mexico, which you cited as an example of IMF success, real wages have fallen 25% since the 1994 bailout. Yes, capital flight and the free fall of the peso were halted, but about 50% of the Mexican population now lives in poverty, up from 30% before the IMF-directed "rescue." This is a ticking social time bomb, not an economic miracle. DAVID B. EAMES Larkspur, Calif.

BLOWING HOT AIR

What is wrong with America's politicians, who can't take a firm stand on global warming [ENVIRONMENT, Dec. 8]? Successfully dealing with this problem would have a double impact: reducing carbon dioxide emissions and leading to more careful utilization of some of the world's finite resources of oil, gas and coal. Why can't these politicians make sensible decisions? The U.N. climate summit in Kyoto has raised issues beyond the scope of "just" the environment. We need to make firm decisions about how to deal with global warming. PETER BAUDOUIN Zurich

If pollution really does cause global warming, why not pay close attention to nuclear power as an energy source that causes less pollution? However, for tree huggers, the mere mention of the word nuclear causes a churning of the bowels and a frothing at the mouth. When will someone stand up and ask, Why don't we consider nuclear energy as a partial solution? WILLIAM E. BERRY El Cajon, Calif.

REVOLUTION IN MAKING BABIES

Some critics may question the policy of using science and technology to aid reproduction [SPECIAL REPORT, Dec. 1]. To the parent hoping for a child, these new methods may represent God, as your article so clearly points out. But by utilizing such enhanced methods of fertility, we are going against the very basic principles of evolution. If the aim of evolution is to screen out unfit genes from a population and aid the perpetuation of superior genes, artificially induced fertility may bring with it a multitude of unforeseen repercussions. Regardless of how tempting reproductive therapy is, we won't know the negative side effects of this technology until we come to a stage at which we may not be able to do much about them. RASIKA WICKRAMASINGHE Mount Lavinia, Sri Lanka

A GROOM GETS COLD FEET

In all the uproar over the guy who left his intended bride in the lurch [ESSAY, Dec. 8], we must note that this nonevent was not an ordinary wedding. It was a megabuck marriage right up there with a corporate takeover. Perhaps the wayward groom decided that the cost of trading in his Porsche for a Ferrari was too high. Hardly anything to concern the masses. If the jilted wealthy bride really wants to get married, she can run an HEIRESS SEEKS HUSBAND ad, or tour Europe interviewing studs. When she finds the right man, she can mold him into her very own Prince Charming. KARL P. MUNZLINGER St. George's, Grenada

Essayist Lance Morrow says, "Something in every man abhors a wedding." Speak for yourself, Lance. Those of us lucky enough to find the right woman actually looked forward to our wedding and have been celebrating it ever since, as I have for the past 43 years. ERWIN LESSER Miami

Morrow assumes that all women want to marry but that no man does. Stereotypes! Women too dream of escape--from men with such limited and limiting assumptions. DIANE LARSON Seattle

SENTIMENTAL STAMPS

I read with interest about the Henry R. Luce postage stamp, scheduled to be issued in the spring [TO OUR READERS, Dec. 8]. I wish that when I bought stamps, I could get those with images of Luce and other great Americans on them. But all I seem to be able to find are stamps with pictures of flowers or "love swans." I suspect that someone in the post office has put his grandmother in charge of the distribution department. STEVE BEUTELSPACHER Baltimore, Md.