Kissinger for State

Sir / While I too believe that Kissinger will most likely be confirmed for State, I wonder with what divine authority you write "confirmed, as he deserves to be" [Sept. 3]? Have you presented Mr. K.'s unassailable qualifications for his nomination? Or shall we assume that he "deserves" it as a conviction for some misdeed? Perhaps it is that you believe he should be confirmed.

E. FLOYD SHERMAN Santa Monica, Calif.

Sir / What has Mr. Kissinger achieved so far? A temporary truce in Viet Nam -by giving legality to over 200,000 rebel Viet Cong troops -that nobody of sound mind would have agreed to.

He has opened new roads to China and Russia and helped in signing the nuclear disarmament treaty with the latter, thus slowly destroying the only American power left. And more of the same will come.

JOVAN D. SAVICH Chicago

Sir / As the proponent of a dynamic, flexible, goal-directed foreign policy, Henry Kissinger is the perfect man to shake up Foggy Bottom. He will surely bring a new style and attitude to the conduct of American foreign policy. Perhaps now we will see an increase in the ability of the U.S. to influence world affairs in proportion to our economic, military and industrial strength.

JOSEPH G. LAW JR. Mobile, Ala.

Sir / Mr. Kissinger lends a touch of class to a very unclassy Administration.

MICHAEL LEVIN Roslyn Estates, N.Y.

Confession and Communion

Sir / I can't tell you how I enjoyed your article "When to Confess [Sept. 3]." I am 14 and have been raised a Roman Catholic, but I haven't been to confession for a year and a half, purely because I no longer believe in it. The idea that the Vatican disapproves of waiting for the sacrament of penance till a child is nine or ten burns me up. I know the definition of sin; yet I have no sense of sin. I ask God for forgiveness at least once a week for all my sins, consciously or unconsciously committed. When I used to go to confession, most of the sins were half made up. so what good was confession to me anyway?

RIMA N. SILENAS Erie, Pa.

Sir / Ecumenism is being dealt a further blow, and the warm humanity of the dead Pope John is being eroded by the ascetic Bishop of Rome who now requires toddlers to lisp in the confessional, "Forgive me. Father, for I have wet the bed."

HAROLD I. EATON Margate City, N.J.

Sir / To receive Holy Communion in the Catholic Church worthily, one must believe that he participates in the actual sacrifice of the cross with Christ, in the eating of this same sacrifice, made present on the altar. He must believe that he eats the physical body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ.

It would seem that, in all cases, one who can understand and assent to this would have the intellect to understand simple sin. It would not be unreasonable, there fore, that he should go to confession before Holy Communion.

Maybe Holy Communion is given to young persons too soon, but anyone who can worthily receive Holy Communion can worthily receive the sacrament of penance.

C. KENNETH MILES Springhill, La.

Steadfastly Obsolescent

Sir / Re your Essay: many of us never abandoned those "obsolescent" ideas [Sept. 3]. We felt that the new ideas were based more on wishful thinking than on fact. We call ourselves "conservatives."

FRANK S. QUINN Charlottesville, Va.

Sir / Maybe it is time for some really new ideas, such as dissolution of the 50 states, making us the United State of America; collection and isolation of all drug addicts for rehabilitation -as they would be if they suffered leprosy and were thus considered a threat to the population; no births for a year; consistent behavior by the executive who now endorses the Watergate hearings but is mendacious in his own office.

JEROME AGEL New York City

A Marine Defends Argos

Sir / I was at the Battle for Argos [Aug. 27]. Though it is true, as David DeVoss reports, that we Marine Corps reservists bitch and moan, the men did a hell of a job working with the regulars on this operation. They not only battled the Yerminites (aggressors) but the hot blistery sun, snakes, scorpions and the rest of nature's elements and pests. Mr. DeVoss chose to write about a few insignificant, petty remarks. Why did he not write about the harsh conditions and how the men fared with them, the harmony of the reservists and the regulars working side by side, the effort and time that went into this operation? If and when we are called upon to do our country's job again, maybe he will remember Argos and the time that we took to prepare ourselves to save our country's life and heritage.

We do find it difficult to find good men, but with articles like this what else can you expect?

SGT. P.C. DECHIRICO H&S Co. 6th MT Bn Middlesex, N.J.

A Protest from Peoria

Sir / Please identify the Peoria that John Ehrlichman and others refer to by saying, "It'll play in Peoria" [Sept. 3]. If they mean that the citizens of Peoria, Ill., will settle for less than the whole truth about Watergate, then they are dead wrong.

DANIEL EAST Peoria, Ill.

Another Mary Tyler Moore

Sir / I can think of several reasons why Actress Valerie Harper might want to tone down her good looks with unwashed hair and baggy caftans for her part as Rhoda in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, but to appear as "a plausibly bachelor career girl" is not one of them [Sept. 3].

In fact, the most plausible representation of a single working woman (only a male chauvinist would use the terms bachelor and girl to refer to a mature woman) is someone who is trim, well groomed and stylishly dressed -much like Mary Tyler Moore herself.

REBECCA E. GREER Articles Editor Woman's Day New York City

The Big What?

Sir / It will be surprising if the guardians of Women's Liberation let you get away with calling Mss. King, Court and Goolagong the big triumvirate of distaff tennis [Aug. 27]. Surely you meant to say the big triumulierate.

GEORGE D. VAILL Bethany, Conn.

A Piano for Mozart, Please

Sir / As one pianist who has been struggling, like the artists you describe [Sept. 3], with poor concert grands in many musical centers of the Western world, including Paris, London, Brussels and Zurich, I would like to find out when Steinway & Sons (by and large the best pianomakers in the world) will stop making concert grands geared exclusively for the Tchaikovsky. Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Prokofiev type of works and start making again lovely, mellow-sounding instruments suited to playing Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Schumann.

ANDOR FOLDES London

Sir / While I agreed, as you quoted me in your article "Concert Not-So-Grands," that it is hard to find the technicians and materials of days gone by for the building of fine pianos, or anything else for that matter, I went on unhesitatingly to remark that

Baldwin was continuing to produce concert instruments of indisputable excellence, and had indeed introduced in its Model SD-10 the most remarkable breakthrough in a century of piano manufacture. After all, only a piano as revolutionary as the SD-10 would have attracted artists like Byron Janis and Andre Watts.

JACK ROMANN Manager Concert and Artist Department Baldwin Piano & Organ Co. New York City

The Ethics of the Soap Box Derby

Sir / The uncle of the disqualified Soap Box Derby winner who admitted suggesting an illegal device [Sept. 10] seemed to be operating under a set of ethical principles known as the Watergate Rationale: 1) Winning is all that counts: 2) If we had not been caught there would have been nothing wrong: 3) The competition was probably doing the same thing so this was just a case of getting an even break: 4) But now that we have been caught, we realize that we made a mistake: 5) Please believe that our previous victories were won honestly.

I hope that the Senate inquiry will help end this era of questionable ethics.

J. GORDON t EGG South Pasadena. Calif.

Israel and Oil

Sir / The public boycotting of Chevron stations in response to the letter from the chairman of Standard Oil Co. of California urging temperance toward the Arabs [Aug. 20] is indicative of deep Israeli influence, and of the widespread lack of understanding of the Palestinian problem. Perhaps some day the pro-Israel viewpoint will be weakened by a boycott of the public by the Chevron stations, owing to lack of Arab oil.

PETER VALIANTE Nurnberg. West Germany

When Scaremongering Will Stop

Sir / May I add a dimension to the bearishness you attribute to me and other "scaremongers" in your story "Selling Gloom" [Aug. 20]?

Our troubles today stem from the inadequacy of the Nixon Administration in the discharge of its responsibility for managing the economy. Other policies can and will be made, and they will work. When they do. I will be happy to be a bull again.

ELIOT JANEWAY New York City

Speaking Up for New York City

Sir / Your report concerning crime in the Virgin Islands [Aug. 27] attempts to define it in these terms: "A homicide rate higher than that of New York City."

I think all New Yorkers are beginning to resent such references to our city. Certainly there is too much crime in New York City, but there is also a massive anti-crime effort. Surely TIME has received the latest FBI reports showing that of the nation's 25 largest cities, 18 have overall rates of crime higher than New York's.

And while you are factually correct when you say that the Virgin Islands has "a homicide rate higher than that of New York City," it is gratuitous and unfair to cite New York for that tragic comparison. The fact is that among the nation's major cities, Detroit, Washington, St. Louis, New Orleans, Cleveland, Baltimore, Chicago, Memphis, San Antonio, Dallas, Houston and Phila delphia all have 1973 homicide rates higher than New York's.

To be that far down the list is the result of many factors, including a great deal of hard work and sacrifice by New York's police department. Yes, it is small comfort to anyone, because we still have a long way to go. But that is precisely why the fight for public safety continues as the top priority of New York City and most city governments in this country.

JOHN V. LINDSAY Mayor New York City

A Suggestion for Bobby

Sir / Your article about Bobby Riggs, "How Bobby Runs and Talks, Talks, Talks." says that he plays with many handicaps [Sept. 10]. I have another one to suggest to him, and that is not to talk for one whole day, before, during and after a match. That is something he could never do.

STEPHANIE BECKER Mamaroneck, N.Y.

Sir / He may have the biggest ego since Napoleon and resort to anything in order to win his varied wagers. But he has got many men over 40 out of their easy chairs and onto a jogging track or tennis court. For this reason, and this reason alone, Bobby Riggs is the man of the hour.

DOUGLAS R. HOLM Tucson, Ariz.

Sir / Who does Bobby Riggs think he is? The Merchant of Tennis?

JOHN PILGE Santa Cruz, Calif.

Sir / Your cover of Bobby Riggs makes a perfect bull's-eye for my dart board.

MS. SHEILA SIMMONS Austin, Texas

Sir / Bobby Riggs is a menace to tennis. His antics demean the game, as does his attitude toward women participants. I would like to see this clown prince beaten into the ground by a female opponent.

PETER HAHN Tarpon Springs, Fla.

Sir / On Sept. 20, may Dumbo fly over and drop a wet noodle on Bobby Riggs' head.

JULIE SCOTT Denver

Sir / I met Bobby Riggs at the seniors' tournament in this city last winter, and found him chivalrous, courteous, and very charming. He was not a bad tennis player either.

ELIZABETH ELLIOTT MONTGOMERY Pittsburgh

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