The Emperor's Clothes

Sir / President Nixon's speech on mining Haiphong [May 22] was an admission that his policy of Vietnamization has failed utterly. The Administration's disastrous leadership has now brought us to the brink of global warfare to rescue a small corrupt government and win a bloody war that the American people long ago disowned.

President Johnson had the good sense to step down when it became clear that his policies had failed. President Nixon, however, is bent on pursuing a bloody dead end in Indochina, while insisting that the American people recognize the emperor's new clothes.

EVERETT S. WARD JR.

Mendham, N.J.

Sir / President Nixon has repeatedly stated that he does not wish to be the first American President to preside over a defeat. One cannot but wonder how he feels about presiding over Armageddon.

DALE F. SYFERT

Gainesville, Fla.

Sir / Now if only the Russians have the sense to mine Saigon's approaches, maybe the war will really be left to the Vietnamese.

CHARLES DAVIS

Thousand Oaks, Calif.

Sir / The day the first combat troops were sent into Viet Nam, we committed ourselves to the protection of freedom in that country. We have a responsibility to the Vietnamese to end this war as soon as is humanly possible, in a way which is as fair as possible to both sides, and with as little bloodshed as possible.

Nixon has done exactly what we and the rest of the world have forced him to do. What would you do if you had the lives of 17 million South Vietnamese and several hundred American P.O.W.s resting in the palm of your hand?

DONALD H. SMITH JR.

Newtown, Conn.

Carping at Gabriel

Sir / Your Essay entitled "Why Be Afraid of Americans?" [May 15] is a shocking display of your morbid prejudice against Richard Nixon. I believe that if the President succeeded in calling down the Angel Gabriel and effected a settlement satisfactory to all parties, you would still carp.

J.S. CHAMPLIN

Rear Admiral, U.S.N. (ret.)

Altadena, Calif.

Sir / You say, "But there is a sensible, minimum American goal in Viet Nam that can yet be achieved: restoration of peace without imposing any Communist government in South Viet Nam." Good heavens, this is what the whole war is about! This is the maximum goal, not the minimum.

PHYLLIS A. RICHMOND

Mayfield Village, Ohio

Help for Mongoloids

Sir / Your story "Retardation: Hope and Frustration" [May 8] handled a very complex matter with great clarity. How disappointing, therefore, to find you presenting the Down's Syndrome child as he might have been described 25 years ago. Mothers of Mongoloids, a group of almost 100 St. Louis women, are devoted to raising these children at home. Only two or three of the children are severely retarded. The rest fall into two categories: the trainables, walking, talking, caring for themselves, attending schools, working; and the educables, who have learned to read and write.

My four-year-old Mongoloid boy goes to school, understands counting concepts to ten, knows his colors, and recognizes many letters of the alphabet taken at random. And he's not an outstanding case--he's simply had the advantage of good medical advice, a good school, and lots of love from family, friends and neighbors.

MRS. LEONARD JARETT

St. Louis

Sir / Your article will give a clearer picture of mental retardation to many people. However, the theme that institutions are bad and must be done away with runs through the article. The reason that institutions are bad is lack of money. For the severely retarded, institutions provide a society of peers and protection from a competitive society. Because we have Willowbrook is no reason to condemn all state-run institutions. I recommend that they be improved, that overcrowding and understaffing be eliminated.

For 25 years I have been the parent of a severely retarded girl; for twelve years I have been the parent of an institutionalized child; for 23 years I have been working for the benefit of all retarded children.

H. VAN DUSEN PULLEN

Chairman

Residential Care Committee of the

New Jersey Association for

Retarded Children

Westfield, N.J.

Inhumane Treatment

Sir / Your article on South Africa's "HighRise Apartheid" [May 15] left me violently outraged. May I ask how 60,000 people, most of whom are married, can "live and relax . . .under pleasant conditions," which include no heat, sex-segregated rooms, no elevators, no electrical outlets and five bathtubs per 100 people?

These people are not animals; they are human beings with physical and emotional needs equal to those of any other race. I strongly recommend that we protest this latest horror and actively support a stringent boycott of all South African goods.

SHELLEY A. JANUARIO

Albuquerque

Sir / Man's inhumanity to man is exceeded only by his stupidity. Does South Africa's government actually expect loyalty and contentment to result from such brutal, needless suppression?

MRS.J.M.GEOHAGAN

Hampton, Va.

Sir / "We are also considering putting in heating," according to the South African official. Ain't that white of them!

LOLA MASKOVSKY

Cherry Hill, N.J.

The 20-Story Man

Sir / What looks like a cross between a lobster and a skyscraper, stands 20 stories high, weighs 7,000 tons and tears up 200 tons of earth with each bite?

The answer is Man, although you might think it is the Gem of Egypt [May 15]. In man's great haste to realize greater productivity, we shamelessly gouge 80-ft.-deep chunks of valuable land from the earth. Are the few dollars saved by this method of coal mining actually worth the wanton destruction of our environment? I don't think so.

Let's rearrange our priorities before we bite and gouge ourselves to death.

JACK MORRIS

Atlanta

Sir / I too encountered the Gem of Egypt on a recent trip along Interstate 70 in Ohio. It reminded me of old horror movies in which huge tarantulas and other assorted monsters crawl across the countryside terrorizing the citizenry.

HANFORD O'HARA

Washington, D.C.

A Better Example?

Sir / Hear! Hear! Congratulations to the United Churches of Christ in San Francisco for allowing the ordination of William Johnson [May 15].

It has always seemed curious to me that so many people would prefer to share their churches and neighborhoods with gangland killers rather than homosexuals. After all, isn't love, whether for the same sex or the opposite sex, a better example for our children than the current national fascination with Mafia heroes?

MRS. SUSAN L. CIVIL

Freeport, Fla.

Sir / After 40 years of life I thought I was shockproof. However, your article on the ordination of a homosexual minister has really done it. God help us if we have to turn to this type to lead us in worship.

RICHARD BEIDLER

Trenton. N.J.

Somber Reflection

Sir / The award of a Pulitzer Prize to Columnist Jack Anderson [May 15] causes one to pause for somber reflection. Granted that

Mr. Anderson has attracted a wide circle of bureaucratic informers. But does greatness lie in the ability to get Government clerks to divulge half-truths?

Hang in there. Jack, for you're still able to convince many people that muckrakers are divinely appointed prophets, and that all elected high officials--who actually bear the agonizing burden of responsibility--are just callous phonies who care only for reelection.

J.M. KOHLER JR.

Kohler, Wis.

Religious Eagles

Sir / It made me very sad when I read that Max Funmaker, a Winnebago Indian, was fined for possessing two dead bald eagles [May 8].

What the writer called "Indian lore" is actually Winnebago religion, many times older than this country. The eagle and its feathers are a significant part of that religion. Funmaker had a right to kill those two eagles.

It is not the fault of American Indians that eagles are more endangered than the buffalo today. It's the fault of people like the Wyoming rancher who slaughtered 50 eagles with the help of a hired gunman and a helicopter.

The judge fined Max Funmaker for practicing his religion. Shame on that judge.

TIMOTHY LOVE

Penobscot Indian Nation

Maine

Bankrupt Railroads

Sir / Secretary Volpe's feeling that "the whole [railroad] system will wind up broke and/or nationalized" [May 8] is indicative of general U.S. thinking on this subject. The two ends are hardly comparable.

The only solution for American railroads is nationalization. The only question is when and under what circumstances it can be done, selectively and on a voluntary basis. The weak rails can opt for nationalization, the profitable ones can continue to make money.

As long as high public officials equate nationalization with bankruptcy, then apparently the U.S. is doomed to repeat the errors of most European countries, which handed over their private lines to the public domain in such pitiful condition that decades were required to bring them back to any kind of sound operation.

JOHN R. DAVIS

Paris

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