DISHING IT OUT

Sir / Cheers for Clare Boothe Luce [April 8], the widow of TIME'S founder, for speaking out against TIME'S egregious posturing and phobic Watergate reporting.

Count me among those Americans sick and tired of the incapacity of journalists to take punishment as well as dish it out; Americans proud we have "one helluva gutsy fighter" in the White House: Americans sick and tired of Nixon baiting who say it's high time to get off his back.

EDWARD C. AMES Toledo

Sir / Am I ever glad Mr. Reasoner and Mrs. Luce pinned your ears back. Indeed your pen is mightier than the sword--and as venomous as a snake.

JEAN LANGKAM Detroit

Sir / Thank God for Clare Boothe Luce, who so eloquently expressed the sentiments of so many millions of Americans.

L. WILFRID COLEMAN JR.

Bryn Mawr, Pa.

Sir / Hooray for Clare Boothe Luce!

My own feeling about members of the press is that they are prejudiced, arrogant, baying jackals.

If and when you are ever silenced, just remember you dug your own grave.

(MRS.) MARION L. FOX Ellicott City, Md.

Sir / Clare Boothe Luce, I love you-and Richard M. Nixon too! Shame on TIME.

(MRS.) MARJORIE J. KNUDSEN Ludington, Mich.

Sir / Mrs. Luce tells us in elegant prose that Nixon is "one helluva gutsy fighter." So is a cornered rat.

FINIS FARR Wyckoff, N.J.

Sir / I say that the reporters are playing their proper role in reporting all corruption, regardless of party or how high the office. TIME reporters are not responsible for Watergate: men high in our Government are.

(MRS.) JANET GOULD Gladstone, Ore.

Sir / No President has ever been more savage to the press than Mr. Nixon. The press has shown that it can take it with cool and courage.

It is true that he has put up a "helluva gutsy fight" to keep the press and the public from the truth. But the capacity to admire truth seeking and honest reporting of the facts is not widely associated with Mr. Nixon and that is why he does not recognize the virtues of the press.

SYLVIA WATSON GIESE Clarksburg, W. Va.

Sir / It is astonishing that Mrs. Luce berates the press for reporting the facts of Richard Nixon's dismal career. Her sour-grapes ukase harks back to the Byzantine protocol that required the beheading of the messenger who bore evil tidings.

J.C. CLIFTON New York City

Reduced Circumstances

Sir / Americans have always been eager and ready to come to the aid of the needy and distressed. Now let us rush to the rescue of our President beset by income tax difficulties [April 15]. I propose that a fund be established, to be known as "Nickels for Nixon," and the collection forwarded to any of his three places of residence. Time is of the essence.

If there is any delay in taking action, our President may be reduced to living in only two dwellings.

GEORGE JOHNSON Wausau, Wis.

Sir / The President's tax situation makes one thing quite clear: Mr.Nixon's favorite charity is Mr. Nixon.

JUDITH A. LIPP Fredericksburg, Va.

Sir / Probably the next thing we will hear is that Nixon has placed a mortgage on the White House in order to raise the funds to pay his taxes.

BERNARD BROWN JR. Encino. Calif.

Sir / If it is true that "nothing is certain but death and taxes," one can only wonder whether President Nixon thought he would live forever too.

DAVID SADKIN Buffalo

Sir / After months of your concentrated, crucifying articles against President Nixon. I am wondering what you intend to do when he has been proved innocent of any wrongdoing concerning Watergate.

I consider his tax liability to be the responsibility of his accountants, not his own.

CHARLES C. WING Albany, N.Y.

Any Wonder?

Sir / Please remove the wool from your economic eyes. 'Your article on the causes and cures of inflation [April 8] had only one significant statement regarding our present predicament: "In the U.S., the avowedly conservative Nixon presidency has piled up cumulative deficits of about $120 billion, the highest of any peacetime Administration in history."

Is it any wonder that this country is suffering from inflation?

MICHAEL G. HARKINS Taylor. Mich.

Sir / You did a commendable job of discussing inflation, but you failed to pinpoint the simple solution to the problem: return to the gold standard.

FRED W. KIRBY Columbus

Sir / After reading TIME'S article on world inflation, I would add that a thorough program of worldwide birth control should be employed if new agricultural areas (i.e., the Amazon and Congo basins) are to be developed by technologically advanced methods.

Increased productivity is relatively meaningless if it is accompanied by the population boosts so characteristic of history's past technical breakthroughs. Without population control, more food only means more people, more hunger--and more problems all around.

CRAIG JONES Placentia, Calif.

Sir / While you diagnosed inflation rightly as a "global disease" and commendably called for international cooperation in curing it, I feel that you did not go far enough in analyzing its etiology or suggesting specific remedies. I would expect TIME not to close its eyes to human incongruities, such as 10% of the world's population consuming over 50% of the world's resources, when it begins to consider global issues.

S. SRINIVASAN. M.D. Cleveland

Justice and Kent State

Sir / I am forced to disagree with Dean Kahler's statement in "Justice at Kent State" [April 8] that the "American system of justice finally prevailed." As you noted, all those indicted for the Kent State shootings were enlisted persons. Surely the officers present had some control over the actions of their men or. if they had lost control, would (or should) have brought charges of their own against those responsible. Since no charges were made, it must be assumed the officers ordered the action or were involved in a cover-up of their own.

JOHN L. KNUTSSON Aurora, Colo.

Something for Everyone

Sir / After reading "Milkmen Skimming Off More Cream" [April 8] about the Associated Milk Producers Inc.'s largesse extending over the whole political spectrum, from the campaigns of Richard M. Nixon, Hubert H. Humphrey and Wilbur D. Mills through the printing of the Lyndon Johnson book, I have come to the conclusion that dairymen display forthright honesty in their advertising, as witness the tag line in their television commercial-"Milk Has Something for Everybody!"

ROBERT D. HUSSEY Hollywood, Calif.

Sir / We are soured on milk prices. Reading the facts behind AMPI's campaign contributions makes our blood curdle.

AMPI's "support" of Mr. Nixon makes it all too obvious that what rose to the top was not cream, and it certainly wasn't sweet.

DONNA WHIPPLE PATRICIA MILLER Indianapolis

Charity in the Flesh

Sir / As a Parsi and a Zoroastrian, I read with interest your story about "The Towers of Silence" [April 1].

It is an acknowledged fact that Parsis are known for their hospitality and charity. "Parsi. thy name is Charity" is an oft heard truth, and it is this charitable nature that has given birth to our custom of exposing the dead bodies to vultures. A pure Parsi believes in charity and donation even after his soul leaves his body. "Let the bird feed on my flesh and my bones return to Mother Earth." That principle underlies our practice of confining our dead to the dokhmas.

(MRS.) PARVIN A. DAMANIA Bombay

Is There an Offer?

Sir / We have experienced a devastating rash of tornadoes [April 15]--more than 300 dead and hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. Is there one country on this planet that rushed to our aid?

MARILYNN ENGEL LINK Tulsa, Okla.

White Primitives

Sir / In reading about streaking [March 18], I am reminded of the early white explorers of Africa who at the sight of nude Africans termed them "black monkeys," "the primitives," etc. Today we see pictures of nude whites on campuses and streets. Shall we now call this new breed the white campus primitives or the city monkeys?

BUSHU LATAR Victoria, Cameroon

Sir / The one thing this current fad of streaking has proved is that all men are not created equal.

JOAN N. BEYER Point Pleasant, N.J.

Reforming the Reformed

Sir / Your article on the new Jewish Reform Haggadah for Passover [April 8] once again demonstrates that those who stray from traditional Orthodox Judaism eventually realize the necessity of returning to a tradition that has no need for "reform" because it is a modern, fulfilling way of life, which already contains within it all the processes for any necessary change.

As usual, the misguided, unnecessary search for new meaning ends successfully only within tradition, demonstrating that it is not Orthodox Judaism that needs to be reformed. It is Reform Jews who need desperately to be educated.

(RABBI) IRA A. KORFF Nantasket, Mass

Black Hole

Sir / Before the three astrophysicists try catching a black hole by the tail to orbit around the earth [April 1], they had better try using the black holes they seem to have in their heads.

Assume that they could do the impossible and get the thing into orbit between the earth and the moon. In the vacuum of space, what would the tremendous pulling power of the black hole do to the moon and its effects on our tides? What if the black hole crashed into the earth's surface because of the pull of the earth's gravity? If they tamper with the forces of nature in space, they might destroy us all.

JACK TOBIN Phoenix, Ariz.

Sir / The article on using mini-black holes for generating power bordered on the unimaginable. But I could not help arriving at this thought: a pellet a day will keep King Faisal away.

H.J. KUSCHNERUS Grosse Pointe Park, Mich.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.