Juan for President, or Mayor

Sir: A superb cover story on Juan Marichal [June 10]. Bat-swinging incidents and beanballs are unpleasant but real phenomena of baseball. Any one incident, such as the Marichal-Roseboro affair, will not live long in anyone's memory. The memory that will linger is that at one time Juan Marichal was indeed "the best right arm in baseball."

NICHOLAS R. LANG Staten Island, N.Y.

Sir: A basic component of greatness in baseball is longevity. Juan Marichal's skillful assortment of pitches and love of the game ensure his being a 20-game winner for at least another decade. He may not be President of the Dominican Republic by then, but being the mayor of San Francisco isn't so bad.

ALLEN GROSNICK Springfield, Mass.

Sir: It's about time someone recognized the "real" Juan. As a native of Santa Cruz, Calif., I am a faithful Giant fan and arch Dodger foe. They can have their $130,000 Koufax. We've got Willie and Juan, and that's all it takes.

DAL A. COTTRELL Allendale, N.J.

Sir: A pitcher must be judged not by the number of different pitches in his repertoire, but by his effectiveness, particularly in "clutch" situations. Sandy has no peer in this department today; it is unlikely that there has ever been anyone to match him on that score. Nor is it fair to state that Koufax gets his "kicks out of setting strikeout records," any more than it would be fair to say Joe Louis got his kicks out of knocking opponents down. Marichal is a fine pitcher, but Koufax is a living legend.

VICTOR H. BLANK Woonsocket, R.I.

Voices from the Foxholes

Sir: As I finished reading about the frustrations and inconveniences visited upon the poor students facing the draft [June 3], I received the news of the death in Viet Nam of my nephew, Lance Corporal Philip Dorn of the Marines. No one had to twist his arm to get him to go and help out in the job he knew had to be done. He and the thousands like him who have enlisted have made possible the deferment of many students who are using someone else's future to educate themselves. I wouldn't trade one of the memories I have of my nephew for the whole, smug, overeducated carcass of one of these bearded, unbathed louts who are infesting our colleges and using them as a haven for their cowardice or as a sounding board for Red propaganda.

VICTOR DORN Shrewsbury, N.J.

Sir: Perhaps those students who 25 years ago "tramped off to the Post Office to enlist en masse" were of a different breed than the Class of '66. If that is so, I am ashamed to be a member of the present generation.

BARRY F. WESTFALL 1st Lieutenant, U.S.M.C.R. Phu Bai, South Viet Nam

Sir: As I prepare to go on an operation against "the enemy I don't know," I would like to know one thing: When will these college boys become men? They sound like a bunch of girls with growing pains.

(L. CPL.) JOHN K. MCDERMOTT Hue, South Viet Nam

Sir: A college senior who considers Viet Nam "so foreign" and "so remote" is confused about the realities of world politics. It is in Southeast Asia that the U.S. is preparing its answer to the Chinese Communist form of aggression. How can a student begrudge Uncle Sam two years of his life after having spent 20 years enjoying all the American freedoms, and with the reasonable expectation of 40 more years of enjoyment after his military obligation is complete? I do not think it unreasonable that the new car, career and family should wait a couple of years. If the draft is a threat to personal freedom, what then is Communism's worldwide campaign? And what is to be our reply to this campaign without a strong military establishment?

(SP4) STEPHEN MCCLURE U.S. Army An Khe, South Viet Nam

Sir: I wish Gary Wilson a successful career in geology. Perhaps he can begin by examining the rocks in his head.

(SP6) WILLIAM G. GUSHING 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) South Viet Nam

Sir: Your heart-rending explication of Actor George Hamilton's impecunious plight has softened the hearts and moistened the eyes of even the most leathery marine in this office. In a spontaneous charitable eruption, we have amassed a small contribution, consisting of Military Payment Certificates (the medium of exchange here in Viet Nam), and will gladly confer this meager token of our sympathy on the struggling young actor on his next U.S.O. appearance here. Mr. Hamilton should be warned that he may not be welcomed exclusively by souls like us, imbued with the spirit of human kindness. In the event of a hegira from his high-ceilinged mansion to this land of canvas canopies, we would ask him in his magnanimity to overlook the selfish taunts of privates earning $83.30 base pay per month with wife and children back in the States. I trust he'll excuse these impetuous youths for not understanding modern patriotism. Our best to Mr. Namath also.

(CAPT.) FRANCIS T. COLEMAN Legal Assistance Officer 1st Marine Division Chu Lai, South Viet Nam

Bonze or Banza?

Sir: Reading about the South Vietnamese Buddhists [June 10], whose primary purpose seems to be to foster instability in their country, I have come to wonder whether "bonze," the title of their leaders, is a derivative of banza, a Hausa word of West Africa meaning "emptiness, vanity, worthlessness, cheapness."

RONALD WISNER Peace Corps Volunteer Maradi, Niger, West Africa

Sir: The tastelessness and irresponsibility of TIME'S cynical report on the South Viet Nam immolations are repugnant. Such disrespect for individual human lives is not justified, despite the war's wholesale destruction of human life.

CHARLENE M. WOODCOCK Missoula, Mont.

The Long View

Sir: About "Covering Viet Nam" [June 10]: for perspective's sake, to my quote "Any idiot can cover a war," please add, "I ought to know because I've covered four."

KEYES BEECH Chicago Daily News Saigon

To the Core

Sir: You describe Floyd McKissick, national director of CORE, as "winner in a covert internal coup that ousted longtime CORE Leader James Farmer" [June 10]. There was no coup, covert or overt, internal or external. There was no "ousting." My resignation was of my own volition. I made that decision in order to launch a literacy campaign under auspices of the Center for Community Action Education to supplement the fight waged by the civil rights movement, lest, when equal opportunity is won, we find that many are unable to enjoy their new freedom. At my request CORE set up a committee, on which I served, to screen candidates for the post I was relinquishing. Mr. McKissick, a longtime personal friend, was the candidate who had my support.

JAMES FARMER New York City

>TIME is happy to print Mr. Farmer's version.

Straight Razor

Sir: As his former boss and later when I made him a minority partner in my business, I am mortified that my good friend and geologist, Franc. R. Joubin, should write as he does of my career [June 10]. When Canadian Franc. Joubin was employed by me, the price of uranium had already been fixed by the U.S. at the rate of $8 or better per pound for all uranium-producing countries. Canada was not excluded. The North Span Uranium Mine was completely financed by Morgan, Stanley & Co. and the Chase Manhattan Bank to the extent of about $90 million.

The bulk of financing for the other mines came from the U.S. and Canada--not from Europe.

When Franc. Joubin was first employed by me, he could not put up $1,000 in one of my first syndicates. I loaned him the necessary $1,000. When Franc. Joubin left my employ, he had made between $2,000,-000 and $4,000,000.

Franc. R. Joubin should, and I suspect does, sing "God Bless Joe Hirshhorn" at least twice each morning as he is being shaved.

JOSEPH H. HIRSHHORN Cap d'Antibes, France

Raising the Flag

Sir: Although it flies the Italian flag, Alitalia [June 10] gets no direct subsidy from the Italian government. Yet, with the exception of 1958 when we bore the heavy expenses of inaugurating North Atlantic service, we have shown a profit every year since 1952.

JOSEPH H. LETOURNEAU Public Relations Manager Alitalia New York City

Sir: TIME refers to KLM as a heavily subsidized company. KLM has not received a single cent of subsidy since 1945. The Netherlands government owns 50.5% of the common stock; much of the balance is owned by American investors.

F. O. KlELMAN

Vice President KLM New York City

No Case Is Hopeless

Sir: TIME is to be congratulated for its interesting and authoritative article on arthritis and rheumatism [June 17].

As public attention becomes more sharply focused on health matters, particularly with Medicare going into effect, there must be greater depth of understanding of the causes of chronic disease and, disability, which will be straining medical-care facilities more and more.

Something can be done about arthritis. The major forms of it cannot be cured, but, with the knowledge we now have, more serious disability can be prevented in most cases. Moreover, with modern rehabilitative technology, severely crippled patients can be returned to meaningful activity. No case is hopeless.

WILLIAM S. CLARK, M.D. President

The Arthritis Foundation Denver

Specter of Sylvia

Sir: The specter of my teens was that Mysterious Upstart Sylvia Plath [June 10]. 1 was one of the also-rans who copped local awards and got published on everybody's amateur page, while Miss Plath carried off the big prizes. In college we were haunted by her, too, as she plunged into print in Mademoiselle and became a Seventeen fashion editor in their annual contest. Then she won a Fulbright. She had everything except an appreciation of life, even at its worst, and of her own possibilities.

(MRS.) MYRA DECHAINE Los Angeles

Sir: For TIME to state that Sylvia Plath "adds a powerful voice to the rising chorus of American bards who practice poetry as abreaction" (aberration?) is to sanction what today is the "in" thing to dp--lift the lid off the cesspool and revel in its bad odors. Spare us the ravings of the "confessional poet": poetry is no place for psychotic self-purgation. Miss Plath is typical of those who, in the words of Poet GustaV Davidson, have "corrupted poetry by emptying it of music, magic and meaning."

FRANCESCA GULI Rochester Four, the Hard Way

Sir: TIME loads the dice inexcusably in its report [June 17] on London's reaction to Osborne's play, A Bond Honoured. Writes TIME: "London's critics cast one look at the tasteless mayhem . . . and held their noses." Of the twelve major newspaper critics, at least four held their breath. Harold Hobson in the Sunday Times said of Osborne: "He is not only our most important dramatist; he is also our chief prophet." According to Ronald Bryden of the Observer, "the effect of A Bond Honoured in performance is marvelously theatrical." Alan Brien of the Sunday Telegraph thought it "a serious, ambitious and valuable play which matures in the memory and fertilizes the imagination," while for Milton Shulman in the Evening Standard, it was "a stunning parable with a magnificent theatrical impact." Perhaps TIME will honor its bond with fair reportage by letting these voices be heard.

KENNETH TYNAN London

Stoking the Fires

Sir: Thank you for setting us straight on Leopold Stokowski [June 3]. His genius has been far more profitable to the musical world than his few past antics have been abusive. Presently, all we are asked to contend with are his Dionysian method of conducting (which is, for many, a more valuable visual aid than some are willing to admit) and certain liberties he may take with an orchestral score. Those who may feel they are not supposed to like such things need to remember what Brahms once said to Conductor Arthur Nikisch after Nikisch's fiery interpretation of the Brahms Violin Concerto: "So--it can be done that way too."

(THE REV.) ROBERT B. MERTEN First Presbyterian Church Coudersport, Pa.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.