Conflict or Cooperation

Sir: Your excellent article on the strained relations between blacks and Jews [Jan. 31] forcefully points out a problem, of which many Jews in suburbia are either unaware or have not concerned themselves. This cancer, however, has now reached epidemic proportions, and it is time for positive constructive action from Jews and blacks to cure this sickness.

MORTON H. ARONSON

President

Temple Aliyah

Needham, Mass.

Sir: As one who has been greatly encouraged by the thoughtful and constructive Essays carried by your magazine in recent months on present-day economic and social problems, I was deeply disturbed and distressed by what I consider unfortunate, almost irresponsible reporting of the current tensions between the black and Jewish populations. Your failure to point to the positive, significant relationships between these two ethnic groups--which far outweigh the incidents of hostility--not only tends to exacerbate the situation, but reflects unbalanced and subjective reporting.

I refer to the substantial number of Jewish citizens who are active, contributing members of civil rights efforts and organizations--to the many who have played key roles in promoting integrated housing or stimulating black entrepreneurship--and to those who have been diligent in meaningfully involving blacks in industries traditionally dominated by Jews: retail sales, advertising, television, motion pictures, etc.

Most of all, I feel that the masses of black people who are obviously not anti-Semitic were done a great disservice by your failure to refer to the strong and positive statements made by the leadership of such organizations as the Urban League and the N.A.A.C.P. Rather, there was the tragic regression to the old irresponsible habit of singling out the vicious words of individuals who in no way can be considered representative spokesmen for black people.

I recognize that it is far easier' to report conflict than cooperation, but this is hardly a luxury that a reputable publication like TIME can afford at this critical period.

WHITNEY M. YOUNG JR.

Executive Director

National Urban League, Inc.

Manhattan

Sir: Let us cease arguing about which group had it tougher in the past, and instead concentrate on which behaves more responsibly today.

VIRGINIA U. PROUT

Greenwich, Conn.

Sir: How hypocritical of Rhody McCoy to expect the Jew to be more noble because of the persecution he faced but not to expect the same of the black man. And how conciliatory of him to state that black anti-Semitism is just following the mainstream of white antiSemitism.

CAROLE K. SILVERMAN

Manhattan

Sir: Can this be a Wasp plot to divide and conquer by setting two main opponents off against each other?

A. HURLICH

El Cajon, Calif.

Sir: TIME has achieved a new "high" not once but twice, in two successive cover stories. "To Heal a Nation" and "Black vs. Jew" are far and away the ablest, most perceptive and best balanced diagnoses of the nation's two most urgent and baffling internal problems: the deeper causes, and perhaps some prescription for cure, of the pervasive and profound malaise which afflicts the nation's psyche, and the highly complex and intractable confrontation of the nation's two largest and most influential minorities--an alienation which cannot possibly be understood or mitigated merely as resurgent "anti-Semitism." More; these two masterly pieces take places among the half-dozen most distinguished articles in TIME'S 46 years.

HENRY P. VAN DUSEN

Union Theological Seminary

Manhattan

Curing the Ills

Sir: We want to express our sincere gratitude for your excellent program "To Heal a Nation" [Jan. 24]. We hope and urge that you measure and criticize the present Administration's performance on the basis of its serious commitment to the legislative enactment of this program for social and domestic betterment.

As a journal of great influence you can prod our leaders into a sense of greater responsibility.

ROBERT BUSH, S.J.

PAUL J. BERNADICOU, S.J.

Collegio S. Roberto Bellarmino

Rome, Italy

Sir: Your analysis of the American scene should be reprinted in leaflet form and put into the hands of every American citizen it is possible to reach. Certainly it should be sent to all top government officials.

J. D. BLANCHARD

Groton, N.Y.

Sir: The advocacy of the reconstitution of the 50 states into twelve political entities by the Center for Democratic Studies at Santa Barbara has an amicus curiae in the U.S. Constitution itself. Article IV, Section 3 says that the "junction of states" is not prohibited if approved by the Congress and the states concerned.

CHARLES DELACY

Chicago

Sir: Right; the Constitution could stand some upgrading, done preferably by people whose responsibility matches the seriousness of the task. What qualifies the "tweedy" ones in Santa Barbara to take the lead in such a vital matter?

LESLIE O. VARGADY

Glendora, Calif.

Cabinet Complaints

Sir: So our new Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare is a chain smoker [Jan. 24]. Ho, hum--file Robert Finch under "Do as I say, not as I do."

LORRAINE G. ADAIR

Kingston, N.Y.

Sir: Sorry to read about Maurice Stans, the new Secretary of Commerce bagging a rare antelope in the Congo. I wonder if these people who kill in order to have more stimulating "cocktail conversation" are really people with human qualities, love for life, or if they possess any real compassion for anything.

NONA CHAFFIN

Thousand Oaks, Calif.

Gilt-Edged Retirement

Sir: I am wondering how many hungry people could be fed with the half-million dollars it will cost the taxpayers for Millionaire ex-President Johnson's first year of retirement [Jan. 31].

MRS. E. M. WILDE

Baltimore

The Commander's Compassion

Sir: My husband and I have been blessed with four boys--the oldest will register for the draft in March. Our greatest joy in life will be to see these boys mature and live on as our heritage.

We owe thanks to Commander Bucher and his compassion for the lives of his men [Jan. 31].

MRS. GEORGE DOYLE

Downers Grove, Ill.

Sir: Your Essay on prisoners of war tops them all. I am deeply thankful to you for saying so well what I have been saying privately. You said it all with one exception--condemnation for whoever withheld the Government's "confession" for those eleven long months.

(MRS.) M. HAMMOND

Portland, Me.

Shades of Henry VIM

Sir: Thank you for bringing to the attention of the American public the disgusting injustice that has long plagued the Catholics in Northern Ireland [Jan. 31]. Granted, the British have come a long way since the days of Henry VIII-but they still have a long way to come before Northern Ireland comes out of the Dark Ages.

LYNN CHENEY

St. Joseph, Mo.

Americans All

Sir: Your Essay on Wasps [Jan. 17] and the readers' response, speak volumes about "the great American nightmare." Aren't they all--or shouldn't they all be--Americans, without so subtly and so childishly reclassifying themselves according to who their great, great ancestors were?

MRS. CARLOS A. VAZQUEZ

Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico

Worth the Price

Sir: In your "People-Smuggling" story [Jan. 31], you chide these fellows for carrying on a "strictly commercial venture." In 1953 such a profiteering fellow led me and five others across the Austro-Hungarian border; the risks were fantastic and he collected a well-deserved $1,000 for each of us after doing an excellent and very unemotional job of it. Later that year he was shot by border guards. He was going back to smuggle out his fiancee. Believe me, no mere profiteer was he, but I would not take a penny less for that kind of an occupation.

TIBOR R. MACHAN

Goleta, Calif.

Flu Manchu

Sir: As a British sufferer from A2 HK-68, I protest against the use of the term "Hong Kong" flu [Jan. 31]. The crown colony was the first victim, not the originator, of the epidemic. The virus was clearly manufactured in the secret mainland laboratories of China, probably under the malevolent supervision of Sax Rohmer's archfiend, the Devil Doctor himself.

The illness could more properly be named Flu Manchu.

DEREK SMITH

London

Drop Everything

Sir: If all Glen Campbell is waiting for to have it made--"If I can just make a 40-year-old housewife put down her dish towel and say 'OH!' "--he has it made. I'll drop anything, including my 2 1/2-year-old daughter to watch him

BETTY C LAVENDER

Tallahassee, Fla.

Adventure in Adversity

Sir: Having been to Morocco last summer, I would hardly label it a holiday haven [Jan, 31]. It could be more aptly termed an adventure in adversity. The oppressive heat, omnipresent filth, and the questionable quality of the food are some of the obstacles that confront the tourist in a rigid test of endurance.

Yet, compared with the interminable plight of its people, such discomforts are minor.

CAROL SIMONETTI

Elmont, N.Y.

Sir: I found your article most disconcerting. In my entire life I have seen nothing so perverse as these jet-age pleasure seekers unwittingly mutilating the natural charm of an isolated environment--destroying the very reason for which they came. In a short time the salient features of Morocco will not be deserted mosques or lonely hills but the tinsel and glitter of hotels, the ugly stretches of concrete highways, and most regrettably, the ubiquitous tourist.

GREGG RABE

Minneapolis

That Animal That Is Woman

Sir: Concerning your article "Ethology: That Animal That Is Man" [Jan. 17] you are speaking only of the adult male portion of humanity. Let's hear with no more delay of some of the fantasies and other relevant data pertaining to the majority of the species: the female. I received a gnawing and finally persistent feeling as I read this article that an enormous portion of the story had not been written.

MRS. G. E. VAILLANT

Cambridge, Mass.

The Bitter Words

Sir: Regarding your review of my book The Bitter Woods [Jan. 31]: the book is very frankly a study of "rational men doing a skilled job" at all echelons. These include my father. For a lot of blood-and-guts stories, look elsewhere. Since I tried to make The Bitter Woods readable, I would be disappointed if it did indeed resemble an "exercise at a war college." However, I remind you that this is no treatise on toilet training for infants.

JOHN EISENHOWER

Valley Forge, Pa.

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