3 Million Ecstatic Car Winners

To the Editors:

Let's forget the $12 billion tax rebate proposal as an economic stimulus. Instead, the Federal Government should use the money to purchase 3 million new cars at $4,000 each and give them away in a national lottery. Assuming an average annual salary of $12,000, the outlay would keep 1 million workers employed for a year. In addition, the tax revenues generated by the automobile-company profits, the taxes levied on the winnings and the workers' salaries would return a substantial portion of the "investment" to the Federal Government.

The benefits do not end here. Think of the response of those 3 million ecstatic winners in the 1976 elections toward an Administration that gave them the American Dream in 1975.

Only one prize per family, please. Warren H. Schoenfisch Falls Church, Va.

The American economic system is beginning to resemble the caucus race in Alice in Wonderland. Is it not something of a contradiction to cut taxes to facilitate the resurgence of buying power that will increase the demand for appliances and, especially, vehicles --and at the same time enforce a reduction in demand for the petroleum fuels that must drive the cars and power the machines that will manufacture the appliances?

John Rossouw Bondi Beach, Australia

The solutions presently being debated to cure our current ills range from gas rationing to crude-oil tariff increases (coupled with income tax rebates) to war with the Arab countries. Common sense indicates that you can also reduce gasoline consumption by making cars run more efficiently. Why not reduce clean-air standards to a reasonable level (as in 1971) and enjoy a 20% fuel savings without adding to inflation, creating more governmental bureaucracy or starting a useless war?

Granted, areas like Los Angeles would probably have to be excepted, but at least some short-term relief could be enjoyed while a long-term solution to alternative sources of energy is found. In addition to fuel savings, automobile prices could be reduced, and if safety standards are made reasonable, future price increases could certainly be avoided. Our plans call for another 20% reduction in fuel economy with the 1978 Clean Air Standards.

William Borglin Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

So the big motor companies are falling all over themselves to reduce the price of their cars. Oh, happy day!

There is a lesson to be learned here if only we will open our eyes and see it. Governments can huff and puff all they want to, but prices will come down when the public gets riled up enough to stay out of the marketplace--and only then.

I do not expect to see any real easing of inflation until governments quit coddling the public to the extent that the natural corrective forces of a free economy are deliberately thwarted by overprotectiveness.

William B. McLean Coraopolis, Pa.

Benton's Sting

Thomas Hart Benton, the "GrassRoots Giant," is reduced to an artistic pygmy by the time Robert Hughes has finished [Feb. 3]. It is sad that of all Benton's outstanding works, Hughes deems it fit to mention only The Jealous Lover of Lone Green Valley because it contains a portrait of ex-Pupil Jackson Pollock. Apparently Mr. Hughes is still smarting from the sting of Benton's caustic rejection of much of so-called modern art. Is he also among those seeking revenge?

Moses A. Levinstein Cincinnati

Your critic's judgment that future generations will not derive much aesthetic pleasure from Benton's "big machines" misreads the genius of this Midwestern artist.

Considering himself a mural painter instead of an easel painter, Benton, after completing the 18-ft. by 31-ft. mural Independence and the Opening of the West (1961) in the Truman Library, told us, "When I came out of the Navy, after the first World War, I made up my mind that I wasn't going to be just a studio painter, a pattern maker in the fashion then dominating the art world--as it still does. I began to think of returning to the painting of subjects--subjects with meaning--which people in general might be interested in. One of the ways [the artist] could do that is pay more attention to public meanings--meanings that people in general can share--and less attention to [the artist's] private aesthetic meaning, which they cannot wholly share without special training."

When asked to evaluate some of his major works, Benton replied, "It is not the artist but the interested spectators who finally determine the values of works of art. I'll let my case rest with them. As a matter of fact, I have no other choice."

We Midwesterners will stand along with Tom Benton and await the judgment of the interested spectators, not only regarding Benton's paintings but also his writings.

Benedict K. Zobrist, Director

Harry S. Truman Library

Independence, Mo.

The Sex Mechanics

It seems to me characteristic of the American mentality that before they would allow themselves to express their feelings about sex, Masters and Johnson [Feb. 3] first had to establish their credentials as sex mechanics.

E. Smader-Medina Berkeley, Calif.

Masters and Johnson's The Pleasure Bond is really a sophisticated tract, a plea for integrity and responsibility in marriage, a low-keyed argument for a husband-wife relationship of loyalty, trust, honor, openness and mutual love. What makes this case for the rehabilitation of some old-fashioned principles so impressive is the prestige of its authors. They are pioneering researchers and innovative therapists who subscribe to philosophical relativism. At the same time they are critical of emancipated moderns whose much heralded freedom may be a form of prolonged adolescent rebellion or unhealthy exhibitionism. They are also critical of religious liberals who fail to realize that compromise of sexual commitment tends to tear a marriage apart.

So, perhaps, since biblical authority no longer motivates post-Christian Americans to practice sex within a framework of exclusivity, fidelity and permanency, the authority of Masters and Johnson may win a fresh hearing for this ancient but not outmoded ethic. The Bible does not teach that God is antisex. Indeed, none other than Paul, reputedly the enemy of pleasure, declares that "God has given us richly all things to enjoy"--including sex.

Vernon Grounds, President

Conservative Baptist Seminary

Denver

Assad's Answer

In TIME [Feb. 3], President Hafez Al-Assad of Syria was quoted as answering a question from the TIME newstour group that in 1973, the Israelis pushed the Syrian army 17 kilometers in the north and 25 kilometers in the south. In fact, the President said this with reference to 1967 and not 1973.

Assad Elias, Press Secretary

To the President of the Syrian Arab

Republic, Damascus

Woe to Chou

TIME'S cover story [Feb. 3] risks going out on a limb in proclaiming "a victory for Chou--and moderation." Information available to us indicates that your conclusion was correct only in the sense that Chou was allowed to keep the job he has held since 1949. It is obvious that Chou is on his way out.

Basically, in the drama being played out in the Chinese Communist regime, two groups are jockeying for position for the post-Mao era. It is a power struggle pure and simple. Labels of "radical" and "moderate" are at best misleading. Foreign policy considerations are not even an issue. To pin your hopes on Chou, who is just as surely responsible for Chinese Communist policies as Mao, from Korea through India to the Indochinese peninsula, can only lead to self-delusion with results detrimental to America's own interest.

James C.H. Shen

Ambassador of the Republic of China Washington, D.C.

Cartoon Essence

Anti-Confucius demonstrations notwithstanding, a single TIME Essay, "Editorial Cartoons: Capturing the Essence," [Feb. 3] is worth a thousand pictures.

Hy Rosen

Editorial Cartoonist Times-Union, Albany, N. Y.

Retiring Maynard Jackson

After my recent victory over the former heavyweight champion of the world, Muhammad Ali, many people are waiting for my next bout in defense of my title. However, I have searched my conscience and decided that my most important contributions will probably be made in the political arena. Therefore, I am retiring undefeated as the heavyweight champion of the world.

I do want to emphasize that my recent bout with Muhammad Ali did have a serious side. The bout was held to let the people of Atlanta know more about the many contributions being made to our nation by the black business community. All of us are hit by fluctuations in our nation's economy, but black and other minority businesses are often irreparably damaged by the strains of recession and inflation. These enterprises are frequently marginal operations, the first to feel the pinch when consumers cut back on their spending. The only way these struggling businesses can survive is through the conscious efforts of those who are sensitive to their needs.

To be small and minority-owned in these times of economic debilitation makes the struggle more difficult, but in words worthy of a champion,

All things are possible;

Just look at me.

Who 'd have believed

That I'd beat Ali?

Maynard Jackson, Mayor Atlanta

Nursing-Home Holes

Your article and comments on nursing homes [Feb. 3] were welcome and timely. A year ago, I could have cared less; but then a year ago, I had no idea that my father would be a patient in one of these holes for six months. He had no insurance, and my brother and I had no extra funds to move him and pick up the medical tab.

Each Saturday at the nursing home was Lysol day, and the halls met with a wet mop down the center, enough to produce the "clean" smell that camouflaged the real one. To the aides, "on duty" simply meant TV duty, as most of their time was spent in the TV room.

Without fail they saw to it that my father's Social Security check was in their hands, in exchange for a few pieces of meat, applesauce, milk and crackers. I guess a good name for this place would have been "Roach Haven" considering the number of them that kept him company. He wasn't the greatest father, but he is a human being and deserves to be treated like one.

God, do our elderly citizens deserve this treatment?

Phyllis J. Molnar Grosse lie, Mich.

Wrist-Slap Punishment

In recommending the wrist-slap punishment given the high school football coach who falsified two students' transcripts in order that they might qualify for N.C.A.A. college football scholarships at the University of Oklahoma [Jan. 20], District Attorney Ron Wilson showed enormously bad judgment in rationalizing the coach's action as a "laudable reason to do wrong." Wilson seems not to have considered the possible effects such action might have on a student not suitably prepared to do college work, who ultimately fails to keep up with the pace of academics and athletics, putting in jeopardy his scholarship and self-esteem as well. If some of these students can thrive under such multiple pressures, fine; but Wilson's reasoning is foolish, shortsighted and unfair to those who cannot.

Jean M. Leo The Bronx

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