Wouk's Star

Sir:

. . . Not only have you risen a notch in my esteem, but you have displayed a rare, delicate and wonderful sort of quality in your Sept. 5 tribute to Herman Wouk . . .

ERNEST MEZO

River Rouge, Mich.

Sir:

What a shame that a novelist with the narrative ability of Herman Wouk should use it to advocate the intellectually obnoxious doctrines of conservatism, conformity, mediocrity, orthodoxy, discipline, authority and obedience. The great novelists were tormented with difficult questions; Wouk has easy answers. In the '20s, H. L. Mencken would have laughed him off the library shelves.

MILTON SUBOTSKY

New York City

Sir:

. . . Your vain attempts in the past to make a first-rate author out of that primitive, Hemingway, were ridiculous . . . Your present attempt to make a first-rate writer out of the third-rate Wouk is another TIME spiel. Still, while he is not in any way nothing except a hack, he is right about the bohemianism of literature . . .

JOHN KALUS

Cleveland

Sir:

If the reading public has reached the point where it is shocked by Mr. Wouk's advocacy of decency, honor, discipline, authority, chastity before marriage, etc., then the public is in a parlous state . . . Mr. Wouk's books are a healthy sign that U.S. fiction is taking a turn for the better . . .

PAMELA M. LOWRY

Toronto

Sir:

. . . It's about time the overglamorized woman who goes from bed to bed takes second place to the more interesting woman who tries to find her happiness while living in harmony with her conscience ... it isn't the easiest way, but the rewards are so great . . .

(MRS.) K. SNYDER Pittsburgh

Sir:

. . . You state Wouk "is a devout Orthodox Jew . . . who has achieved worldly success in worldly-wise Manhattan while adhering to dietary prohibitions and traditional rituals which many of his fellow Jews find embarrassing." Did it ever enter your reasoning that perhaps many Jews just don't believe in the dietary laws ? . . .

ALFRED L. COHEN

New York City

Sir:

Your story on Herman Wouk and his blast against the irresponsibility of the intellectual could well be pointed up by Thomas Molnar's analysis of the rejection by the masses of the intellectual [Sept. 5]. Wouk's espousal of the family unit as a stabilizing force, and his recognition of man as primarily a creature of God, is in contrast to what Molnar calls the "rootlessness" of the intellectual. The American public may be uncultured, but they know the basic facts of life.

ANITA TEPPER

Reseda, Calif.

Sir:

. . . The intellectual has ceased to be a power in most of the world for the simple reason that he's said so little so badly for so long. With occasional exception, the problem has been with us since the passive 1930s. The jelly-spined intellectual was upbraided then by Archibald MacLeish in The Irresponsibles. Despite recent attempts to discredit the eggheads, we need their visionary idealism to balance standpattism; we've a lot of that. Why not persuade intellectuals to sell their wares via TV in competition with other $64,000 questions? . . .

GEORGE P. TENNYSON JR.

Portland, Ore.

The New Code (Contd.)

Sir:

As one of the few survivors of the surrender of Bataan, I would like to comment on the new Soldier's Code: It is 13 years late and falls somewhat short of its mark. If our officers had behaved like officers and our enlisted men like soldiers, the deaths in prison camps located in the Philippines and Japan would have been 75% less . . . The very large portion of our deaths in these camps was due directly to poor discipline . . .

The code is a step in the right direction in that it recognizes the possibility of U.S. troops becoming P.W.s and the need for regulating P.W.s' actions as such.

(M/SGT.) HARRY T. SIMMS

U.S. Army Orlando, Fla.

Sir:

Better that surgeons cut out soldiers' instinct for self-preservation . . . than expect that code to be followed.

WILLIAM H. ABBEY

Charlton City, Mass.

Goodman & Son

Sir:

If my father, Edwin Goodman, who made Bergdorf Goodman the leading fashion store it is today, could read your Sept. 5 story on the Dior opening, he would be uncomfortably amused at the statement attributed to him regarding fashion imports [". . . You won't get any American designers to admit they have copied anything."]. But Edwin Goodman, who founded this firm . . . died two years ago.

ANDREW GOODMAN

President

Bergdorf Goodman

New York City

P: TIME regrets attributing to the late Edwin Goodman the lively opinions of his son.--ED.

Splitting Horse Hairs

Sir:

Your picture story [Sept. 5] on American horses was beautifully done. But shades of Hambletonian, Goldsmith Maid, Maud S., Dan Patch and Greyhound, how did you ever forget the most populous tribe of them all, the standardbred ?

CHARLES R. KOCH

Oxford, Ohio

P: Most authorities, e.g., the U.S. Trotting Association and Blood-Horse, doubt that standardbreds are more populous than thoroughbreds. But for a well-bred example of Reader Koch's favorite breed, the three-year-old trotter and Hambletonian Winner Scott Frost, see cut.--ED.

Sir:

Was not Tennessee's "Walking Horse" bred to alleviate matutinal discomfort caused by Tennessee Sour Mash?

WASHINGTON DODGE

New York City

P: Isn't Wall Street Analyst Dodge overlooking the pleasures of southern comfort?--ED.

Amendment's Amendments

Sir:

Your Sept. 5 treatment of the Fifth Amendment issue was a remarkably lucid, informative and objective summary of both sides of the controversy. Lawyer [C. Dickerman] Williams' cogent arguments inject a welcome measure of common sense into an issue so muddled by smears, emotion and innuendo. Why not make such debates a regular feature ?

JOHN H. DOYLE

Syracuse, N.Y.

Sir:

TIME characteristically describes ''The Fifth Amendment" as a "Debate" in its index, when it is actually a one-sided rationalization of what are apparently TIME'S views. Why not really make a debate of this vital issue by giving as much space to Dean Griswold's views as to those of Williams?

NAT HENTOFF

New York City

Sir:

It is not the character of the testimony, but the fact that it is compelled ... I can assure you that the Fifth Amendment has been too dearly won to be sold out to the pack of political hacks and people such as Attorney Williams . . .

ROGER T. HAWKINS Washington

Sir:

... Individuals, purged by congressional "inquisitions," are condemned, no matter what they answer to the questions fired at them. If a witness were to admit to having once belonged to the Communist Party, he is immediately a social outcast, no matter what the reasons for his membership, or his severance, unless, of course, he turns into a Louis Budenz and "rats" on others who are members of the party. In the latter situation, our erstwhile patriot becomes a national hero. If our witness invokes the Fifth Amendment, he is then automatically found guilty--by his silence ... If he claims he is not, or has not . . . been associated with any organization ... the shadow of doubt lies in the minds of those who know he was a witness in such hearings ...

(PVT.) PETER L. FISHEL U.S. Army Fort Jackson, S.C.

Sir:

The prohibition against compulsion contained in the Fifth Amendment was evolved by courts of common law through many centuries to prevent the use of torture in inquisitorial proceedings. The current controversy over refusal to answer appears to revolve around the inferences to be drawn from such refusal. Obviously, an inference of possible guilt is reasonably drawn from such a refusal. One who refuses to answer is a "suspect," but he is not a "convict" subject to the full sanctions of the criminal law, because the issue as to guilt is not proved ... by silence alone. Our problem with Fifth Amendment invokers is: What should society do with "suspects"? Suspects should not hold positions of trust, but on the other hand, mere suspects should not suffer criminal punishment until and unless they become convicts . . .

The Amendment is vital to our adversary system of justice; it prevents the worst abuses of the inquisitorial method and should be retained, but the public may draw such inferences, and utilize whatever social and political, but noncriminal, sanctions against those who invoke it that it sees fit.

JOHN R. WILLIAMS West Palm Beach, Fla.

Mistaken Identity

SIR:

RE TIME'S STATEMENT IN ITS SEPT. 12 ISSUE THAT FIRST NATIONAL CITY BANK'S HONG KONG BRANCH "STARTED TO HIRE NATIVE WORKERS WHENEVER POSSIBLE, BUT SLOWED DOWN WHEN IT FOUND THAT IT WAS LOSING ITS IDENTITY AS AN AMERICAN BANK SELLING AMERICAN

SERVICE": NATIONAL CITY THROUGHOUT ASIA HAS, SINCE WORLD WAR II, REDUCED THE PROPORTION OF AMERICANS IN ITS SENIOR RANKS AND INCREASED THE PROPORTION OF LOCAL EMPLOYEES IN SENIOR POSITIONS. IN DOING SO IT HAS UNDERSTANDABLY SOUGHT TO RETAIN ITS IDENTITY AS "AN AMERICAN BANK SELLING AMERICAN SERVICE," AND HAS ADJUSTED ITS EMPLOYMENT POLICY TO THIS NECESSITY. BUT SO FAR AS I KNOW IT HAS NEVER HAD CAUSE TO FEEL THAT IT WAS "LOSING ITS IDENTITY AS AN AMERICAN BANK" IN HONG KONG OR ELSEWHERE.

JOHN OSBORNE

Hong Kong

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