The Mercy of the Court

Sir: This has reference to your article entitled, aptly enough, "Mercy of the Court," which pertained to the tragic and untimely death of my father, John T. Mains, and the imprisonment of three other executives of hand-tool-manufacturing firms for alleged violations of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act [Dec. 21].

The tragedy of this case is more readily understood when one further point is brought out. Medical testimony was given by a highly competent and highly respected specialist of internal medicine, to the effect that "incarceration for no matter what length of time, or under what circumstances, could and/or would endanger" my father's life. This testimony was held to be "inconclusive" by the court.

Under these circumstances, my father, with the full knowledge that incarceration would in all probability be fatal, and with the full knowledge that his sense of honor had been trodden upon by judicial acts he felt were unjust, took his own life.

JOHN T. MAINS JR. Greenfield, Ohio

Sir: I am the daughter of Robert Raymond, one of the three businessmen now serving a three-months prison term in Milan, Mich, for antitrust violations. I am very proud of my father's healthy and unbitter attitude toward this situation, and very ashamed of our judicial system, a weak link in our Government. If my father was serving as a martyr for a cause, I would feel differently; but never before have men been given a prison term for this violation.

Big business goes on violating the act, and the Government continues merely to fine other companies, and my father and two other extremely respectable and outstanding men are in prison. The only thing this sentence has done is to make every businessman say, "There but for the grace of God go I!"

CAROLYN RAYMOND SANDER Southfield, Mich.

The Creche Sir: What a beautiful cover of an 18th century Neapolitan creche for TIME'S Christmas number of Dec. 28! If this is your first gatefold cover, let us hope that you will use more of them in the future, as you bring us reproductions of the world's priceless art.

ELIZABETH FROST REED Morgantown, W. Va.

Heck & Darnation Sir: Cheers for Florence Russell of Venice, Calif, [whose attempt to introduce the poetry of Ogden Nash, Walt Whitman, Ezra Pound to her English students was quashed --Dec. 28] Ten to one, that same segment of the public which suppresses freedom of thought identifies with those who clamor for better education. It is illogical to demand the one without the other.

WILLIAM BRIDGE Teacher, L.A. City Schools Pacoima, Calif.

Sir: It is not a teacher's place to shield us from what some people might deem objectionable reading material. Instead, they should teach their students to read and to judge for themselves what was meant, allowing them to form their own intelligent ideas of what is right and wrong.

Reading and thinking show signs of becoming almost lost arts today. Thank God (and I hope the people of Venice will pardon me the expression) there are people like Florence Russell, who are making an effort to revive them.

CAROL DICKINSON Junior, New Trier High School Glenview, III.

Sir: Regarding your article on Teacher Russell: I think Mrs. Herin's minister [who objected to the poetry] should definitely be censured. He probably at one time in his life threatened his congregation with fire and brimstone--heck and darnation.

WILLIAM PALACE New York City

Mumpin' & Grumpin'

Sir: Yer wee review o' a flic callit The Bridal Path [Dec. 28] werr itsel' a bit o' a clish-maclaverlie skirling indeed, indeed. Wha' wi' a' tha ap'str'phes an' dooble-Gaelic an' sich orrtheaugraficul odditees as wuid baefuddle e'en tha quare English boobies tae tha sooth, a mon cuid reedie feind 'is puir Glengarry a muckle addled amoong a' tha thistly syntax.

"Tae mony kooks weel speel tha porridge an' splinterr tha spertle," sang Angus Daftie MacTourist.

Och, bu' a wee chortle daes a body nae mischief, laddies; an' I ken ye by yer mumpin'.

DOUGLAS PETER MC!NTYRE Wareham, Mass.

Sir: To your reviewer: Lang may his lum reek.*

TREVOR ROYCROFT Mansfield, Ohio

Sir: Tell me--how was the picture?

DAVID I. LEVY Snyder, N.Y.

P: Braw. Unco' guid.--ED.

Last Survivors

Sir: On Dec. 19, 1959, Walter Williams, the legendary last survivor of the Civil War died, about 98 1/2 years after the beginning of that conflict. When did the last survivors of the American Revolutionary War and of the War of 1812 die?

HAROLD K. FABER San Francisco

P:The last recorded survivor of the Revolutionary War was Daniel Frederick Bakeman, who died April 5, 1869 at 109. The last War of 1812 survivor was Hiram Cronk, who died May 13, 1905, aged 105.--ED.

Completing the Incomplete

Sir: In conferring upon an ordained Methodist minister "episcopal orders" [Dec. 21], Bishop Pike has implemented the only hopeful method to achieve the next major objective in church union--mutually recognized ministerial standing among the various Protestant churches. It is based upon the assumption that the orders of any particular church, however "valid" are "incomplete," since they represent only a fraction of the total tradition and riches of Christendom.

But the "incompleteness" in the orders of the Methodist church applies to the orders of all churches, including Bishop Pike's Protestant Episcopal church.

The bishop stands in need of reciprocal admission to the riches of the great Methodist tradition. If he is consistent, he will apply to the Methodist Bishop of California for parallel admission to the orders of that church.

Bishop Pike has demonstrated his readiness for courageous and prophetic action on many fronts. Such a move on his part might mark the most significant concrete advance toward church union in our day.

HENRY P. VAN DUSEN President Union Theological Seminary New York City They That Take the Sword . ..

Sir: TIME'S Dec. 28 picture and story on the late Roger Touhy offer dramatic proof of the timeless axiom: "All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword."*

ROY C. BURI Philadelphia

Sir: If Roger Touhy ever stuck a gun in your ribs (figuratively), you knew exactly where you stood. Mr. Touhy was an honest burglar (although I don't think he was at all cheap, as the word implies, because he was strictly big league).

I think there should be more such fundamental honesty among businessmen who sing Jesus, Lover of My Soul dutifully in church every Sunday (for sales *Long may his chimney smoke.

Matthew 26: 52. reasons) and then take your money on racket-squad sales contracts the other six days in the week.

R. M. COSTIGAN Bellevue, Wash.

Homeowner's Plague Sir: I note that although Architect Owings may have met the challenge of the Big Sur country with concrete saddles, eight caissons, rigid A-frames, etc. [Dec. 28], he has yet to solve the problem which plagues owners of homes beautiful and not-so-beautiful--a leaky roof.

ELAINE L. FRIEDMAN Highland Park, 111.

P:I Says Mrs. Owings of their cliff-hanging house: "It rains up rather than down when we have a storm. The leak happened the first week we were in the house, when we didn't realize this. We had the place caulked, and we've never had a stain since."--ED.

Birth-Control Debate

Sir: You report that Bishop Pike advises that when we ought to avoid the birth of children, we "are under obligation to use the most effective methods to prevent" that birth [Dec.21].

Two of the most effective means that come to mind are sterilization and abortion. Do we then have an obligation to use these "most effective methods"? If the bishop seeks "the most effective method" to prevent births and one which is also indisputably moral, I offer--continence.

JACK L. TOTTY Baltimore

Sir: I question how many bishops and priests have tried to complete college years with a child arriving almost every year. Who pays for a "rhythm" miscalculation--the Roman Catholic Church? I have many friends who are Roman Catholic who advocate the rhythm method, but who are forced to use contraceptives in order to afford keeping the children they already have. If the church had to support the children it might find it possible to change the doctrine.

MRS. DAVID WELSH Mansfield, Pa.

Sir: Those diplomats, politicians and ecclesiastics of my homeland who are touting the opinion that the U.S. has no responsibility for educating the less fortunate in this area are displaying: 1) lack of ability to see a need realistically, 2) fear of exerting forthright opinions on a problem that happens to have religious and political overtones, 3) maybe even ignorance.

MELVIN D. SCHMIDT Foreign Relief Secretary National Council of (Protestant) Churches in Indonesia Djakarta

Cuckoo

Sir: My college junior daughter uses the term "kook" but can't define it. What is its origin and meaning, please?

JOHN W. MURPHY

Ann Arbor, Mich. P: "Kook" derives from cuckoo, and that's what it means.--ED.

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