Grain Weapon

To the Editors:

I, for one, am damn glad that President Carter has embargoed grain sales to the Soviets [Jan. 21]. It is high time we stopped feeding our enemies in the pursuit of profit. If the Soviets want to feed their people, let them beat their tanks and cannons into plowshares.

Robert E. Spohr Hamilton, N. Y.

The embargo on grain will come to be known as a grievous error in judgment. Grain will find its way to the U.S.S.R. through bogus buyers and sellers and middlemen.

A simpler and more effective solution to the President's urge to strike back at the Soviets would have been to double the price of corn, soybeans and wheat for the Soviet Union and its satellite countries.

Donald M. Laughlin La Jolla, Calif.

The attitude of the U.S. grain farmer toward President Carter's embargo has led me to coin some bumper sticker slogans for the '80s:

"America--Love It or Sell It." "My Profit, Right or Wrong." "The Only Good Red Is One Who Keeps Us in the Black."

"Make Money, Not War."

Denise Keeney Bodey Bethlehem, Pa.

Farmer Ronald Johnson hopes "the American farmer doesn't have to be the goat." Never fear, Farmer Johnson. With continued Government grain supports, the American housewife will continue to hold that position.

Virginia B. Laire Joppa, Md.

Standing Up to the Soviets

We should definitely boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics [Jan. 28], for this may be not only the U.S.'s but the free world's last chance to stand up to the Soviet Union peacefully and show it that it cannot pursue aggression whenever it wants.

Rodney Graham Meriden, Conn.

I suppose the same muddled thinking that endorses business as usual would accept U.S. participation if the 1980 Games were scheduled in Tehran.

James F. Goris Florence, Ky.

It is an outrage that a boycott of the 1980 Olympics is even being considered. The U.S. athletes work under their own steam, without Government aid, toward the biggest achievement in sport, and now the Government wants to use them as a weapon. What could be more unfair?

Gigi de Jong Norman, Okla.

With due respect to the Olympic contenders, the point must still be made that if grain, technology, private business, etc., are being withheld from the Soviet Union, causing billions of dollars worth of loss to individuals and businesses, why should sports be treated differently? Why should the athletes be exempted?

Himmat S. Mehta Flint, Mich.

If the International Olympic Committee is dedicated to keeping politics out of sports as it claims, perhaps it should rescind its own decision to exclude the South African athletes for political reasons. Has the committee not already set the precedent for political interference?

Smuts van Rooyen Berrien Springs, Mich.

The White Delight

We deserve our own noun--niphophile, meaning a snow lover. There aren't many of us. And John Skew's "Waiting for the Big One" [Jan. 14] deserves eternal preservation. In southwestern Michigan the situation is abominable. By this time last year we had been blessed with more than 70 in. of white delight. All we have to keep us niphophiles going is the nearly poetic prose of snow aficionados like John Skow.

Jack Dick Battle Creek, Mich.

I have been a native Montrealer for 24 winters, and this is the first time I can remember not having snow on the ground in the middle of January. I loved it. At least I thought I loved it, till I read John Skew's article. He made me pine for the white stuff.

Robin Baily Birenbaum Montreal

I have yet to meet a New Englander (except possibly for children and skiers) who was hoping for snow. Granted, it can be a lovely sight initially, but within hours it is a dirty mess, causing havoc and inconvenience on all sides. If there were a rallying cry in New England in the winter, it would be: "Give us anything, but don't give us snow!"

Ellen Barson Hamden, Conn.

Costs in Costa Rica

In your story "The Poor Suffer the Most" [Dec. 24] about the pain of the increasing cost of oil to the less-developed countries, you quoted me as saying that "our 1972 oil needs cost $11.8 million. Our 1979 needs will cost at least $103 million." What I really said was, "Our 1979 needs will cost at least $203 million."

Rodrigo Carazo

President of Costa Rica

San Jose

Cutting Off the Bottom Rung

Your article "Climbing That First Job Rung" [Jan. 21] should have been the cover story. Economist Walter Williams claims that the rising minimum wage almost guarantees maximum unemployment for the young and unskilled. Because of the unearned rise in hourly wages, how many people age 14 to 17 are out of a job? We've cut the bottom rung off the economic ladder.

Gregory C. Chmel Fort Wayne, Ind.

I disagree with Walter Williams' suggestion to drop the minimum wage law for people under 20. If we're considered responsible enough to hold a job, we should be respected enough to receive the minimum wage.

Lewis E. Sander Roanoke, Ill.

That Princeton Look

Re your description of Governor Jerry Brown in Des Moines looking like a Princeton undergraduate [Jan. 21]: send me a check to cover the cost of the three-piece suit and the muffler, and I will gladly conform to your archetype of a Princeton undergraduate.

Joseph M. Quinn, '80 Princeton, N.J.

Mining for Gold

The "Great Sell-Off" story on gold [Jan. 14] was lethal. Now that the undertakers' gold-mining activities are out in the open, the survivors are in a good position to negotiate funeral services based on a review of the deceased's dental work. William D. Lewis Albuquerque

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