Freedom & Cuba
Sir:
The most recent action by the U.S. and Great Britain, intercepting Cuban freedom fighters trying to free their homeland, is a big mistake [April 12].
We are not only doing Khrushchev's dirty work but also something against our best national interests.
EMERY GROSINGER
Detroit
Sir:
The U.S. should not prevent the Cuban exiles from raiding their island homeland. From the standpoint of our own self-preservation and our belief in the cause of freedom, we should be helping them. These Cubans are on a valiant mission to free their countrymen from Communist control.
ANN ROBB SMITH
Narberth, Pa.
Sir:
I hope that if the Communists ever seize my home I will be able to react with as much courage and effectiveness as that displayed by the Cuban exile groups in attacking Soviet ships.
Has everyone forgotten that the Administration's excuse for the Bay of Pigs fiasco was that the Cubans must fight their own war without direct U.S. involvement? Now that they are attempting to do so, the Cubans are thwarted at every turn by the same U.S. Government that betrayed them before but promised all support short of direct involvement.
LEO D. PATTERSON
Burlington, W. Va.
Freeman & Freedom
Sir:
I sincerely appreciate TIME'S contribution to greater public understanding of farm problems in its cover story of April 5 and its April 12 story illustrating USDA's program to adjust land use to meet growing needs for outdoor recreation. Yet the last sentence in your cover story is deeply disturbing in its implication that the freedom to plant extra acres of corn is more important than freedom to earn a fair living.
In any organized society, freedom is relative, and in a democratic society, various freedoms are matters of choice. We are free to enjoy the advantages of an educated people and modern scientific and technological advance only because we have chosen to pay for free, compulsory, public education. We are free to live under an orderly and peaceful society only because we have chosen to enact laws that restrict the freedom of us all.
To me, real freedom is beyond price, and is not something one bargains away for monetary gain. Yet long ago we gave up the "freedom" of sweatshop labor in return for the greater freedom that accompanies a higher level of living. Our farm policy is designed to preserve the one freedom without which individual enterprise cannot survive in farming--the freedom to earn an income comparable to earnings elsewhere in our economy--the freedom to earn enough to sustain an American standard of living.
ORVILLE L. FREEMAN
Secretary
Department of Agriculture
Washington
Sir:
Loss of freedom is not an issue in agriculture. The farmer isn't free and hasn't been for a long time. The price squeeze, open-market buying and closed-market selling, have destroyed the farmer's ability to compete in a free market.
It is a question of being a slave to business (marketers and processors of his products and manufacturers of things needed to farm) or being dominated by Government. On the whole, to the farmer, the Government seems the more charitable.
MARY HALL
Waukon, Iowa
Sir:
Certainly we farmers would love to have more freedom in our operations. But at what price? This is the burning question every farmer must answer for himself before he votes in the referendum May 21.
Should the Freeman plan be rejected, we would all be forced into a race to produce more wheat in order to protect ourselves against the drop in price which would certainly follow. This would loose such an avalanche of overproduction that Congress might well be inclined to pass more stringent controls than ever before. The farmer would indeed find that his short-lived freedom from the frying pan had landed him smack dab in the fire.
LEO FRIESEN
Hutchinson, Kans.
Malaysian Federation
Sir:
Your excellent cover story on Malaysia [April 12] again illustrates the dismal economic failure of Communism, as compared with the more prosperous economy of the free world. In this hemisphere, we have the thriving nations of Central America's "little Common Market" versus Castro's poverty-stricken Cuba. In Europe, there is booming West Germany located across the barbed wire from destitute East Germany. And now: Rahman's Malaysian Federation lining up against Communist-leaning Sukarno's Indonesia, a most impoverished nation. The West should ensure that no Communist interference will be tolerated in the forming of Malaysia.
R. D. CHRISTENSEN
Marion, Iowa
Sir:
Your study on the proposed Federation of Malaysia makes the erroneous suggestion that the wealth of the new nation lies mainly in materialism. In fact, it is also abundant in its varied cultures and religions, which through history have discriminated against profane ideologies. Furthermore, your omission of any reference to the relatively huge national investments being expended in educating the younger generation (about 40% of the total population is under the age of 15) into a single nation, detracts credit from an otherwise intelligent and perceptive article on my country.
HAMZAH SENDUT
Kuala Lumpur, Malaya
Sir:
A medal should be struck off forthwith to honor Mapmaker Chapin's latest effort. His Malaysia map is a brilliant tour de force that deserves suitable recognition.
S. FELTON POSEY
Rhode Island School of Design
Providence, R.I.
Egypt's Nasser
Sir:
As the Hebrew phrase goes, "Every respect" to you for your fascinating, excellently written cover article [March 29] on Egypt's Nasser.
My attention was riveted to TIME as I rode a bus climbing into the Judean Hills from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. You could not have chosen a more appropriate time than Passover to discuss the modern Pharaoh who glares across the Red Sea at us. As the bus wound higher into the hills, the elderly lady seated next to me looked at the expression on my face, then eyed Nasser's picture, and, patting my arm, she said, "Never mind, never mind. God will protect us. Fifteen years ago we had nothing here at all. Now see," and she nodded to the kibbutzim riding the crests of the mountains.
CARLA SCHULTZ
Jerusalem
Sir:
Your cover article was of great importance. At last, you came to your senses and joined the path of truth and objectiveness.
The current decisive events that are sweeping all the Middle East emphatically confirm the open truth that Arab nationalism and unity are inevitable. As freedom is the prime concern of the Arab peoples, unity is also their spontaneous will.
It is preferable and wise, for all those concerned, to tackle the problems of the Middle East with understanding and reason, both pillars of trust and good will, which are the basic tenets of peace.
FAKHRI GEDAY
Jaffa, Israel
To Each His Own
Sir:
I enjoyed your article [April 5] about "The Boris Boom."
Unfortunately, you have overlooked one of the most significant personalities and voices ever to sing the role of Boris; namely, Alexander Kipnis.
His interpretation of this role establishes his authority among the great Borises of the past, present and future.
ROBERT S. FURMAN, M.D.
Milwaukee
Sir:
What about Ezio Pinza? He was a superb Boris, visually, audibly and dramatically.
E. KLEIN
Redwood City, Calif.
Sir:
It was refreshing to see corrected the impression that all of the notable (or newsworthy) singers of our day or any other are somehow sopranos or tenors! Is Boris Chaliapin, who did the sketch, related to Feodor?
JOSEPH A. KEPLINGER
Geneva, N.Y.
> Yes, his son.--ED.
At 80 M.P.H.
Sir:
Despite our monotonous and possibly dangerous Kansas Turnpike [April 12], we Kansans remain happy indeed to be: 1) out of the mud, 2) able to outrun most Indians and avoid ambush, 3) assured that the buffalo are fenced away from the road.
M. D. MCCOMAS, M.D.
Concordia, Kans.
Progressive Spirit
Sir: -
The recent article on Cardinal Bea and Father Kueng [April 5] is simply another of TIME'S contributions presenting something of the struggle that is taking place, and will continue to do so, among devout Roman Catholics who radically oppose each other in theology, ethics and politics. It seems to me that we non-Roman Catholics should encourage, and to the best of our ability even assist, Roman Catholics to clarify and articulate their profound views for the contemporary period in which we all in fact do live.
THOMAS T. LOVE
Cornell College
Mount Vernon, Iowa
Sir:
God, if there be one, bless Theologian Hans Kueng.
ROGER MENNELL
Lakewood, Ohio
The Nude Enduring
Sir:
My father, Frederic C. Torrey, was the San Francisco art dealer you spoke of who bought the Nude, and in whose home it hung until he sold it to the Arensbergs 20 years later.
After so many years, we had all "grown accustomed to her face," and so, before he sold it, my father had a large sepia photograph made to the exact size of the original to hang in its customary place on our stairway--where it is today.
DOROTHEA TORREY KELLY
Berkeley, Calif.
Lawd Tomorrow
Sir:
There's a past-tense feel to your reference to my old friend, James T. Farrell, in your [April 5] piece on Richard Wright's book, Lawd Today. He's very much alive and kicking up his usual fuss. Fact is, he has a tremendous, 20-novel cycle dealing with his pet themes, time and death, in the stocks, and now that Steinbeck (no offense intended) has won the Nobel Prize, there's no doubt in Jim's mind or mine that he's the next American on that list.
You've got a great magazine, but be careful when you tread among the immortals, either dead or alive! The fact that an artist like James T. Farrell can't get recognition today, while a phony like Baldwin, with his negritude telescope reversed, is quoted in judgment on Wright, indicates the pretty pass we've come to.
H. T. BOJARSKI
Fairfax, Va.
The Happy Hybrid
Sir:
The article on Cornell (April 5) was a masterful job!
Too bad the alumni fund raisers can't write as provocatively about the alma mater.
DIANE THOMAS '52
Annisquam, Mass.
Sir:
This "happy hybrid" you describe is the realization of Ezra Cornell's fundamental idea of "an institution where any person can find instruction in any study." Cornell's greatness lies in its ability to blend many kinds of people interested in many fields of study into one cohesive university.
I believe that I echo the sentiments of Cornell alumni everywhere when I say that I count myself fortunate for having had the opportunity to attend so dynamic a university, where graduates are stereotyped only by the thoroughness of their training. I hope that Cornell's new president will continue to preserve this tradition.
ROBERT A. NEFF
Bogota, Colombia
Sir:
As a student in the School of Agriculture, may I inform you, that the "open door" of the "cow college" is a two-way proposition--it swings more swiftly to knock you back out than it did to let you in.
MARY ANN TAUB '65
Ithaca, N.Y.
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