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Sir: Your story on General Walker [Nov. 5] contains two misstatements of fact: 1) the AP cub reporter charged Walker with "encouraging the riots," 2) "segregationist" Walker sued AP. The two verdicts Walker won were based on false charges by AP that Walker "assumed command" of a mob of 1,000 people and "led a charge" against U.S. marshals. If Walker had been charged only with "encouraging riots," the verdicts would be improper. Under the facts, as proved in court, the verdicts were proper. Moreover, Walker is not a "segregationist."
CLYDE J. WATTS Oklahoma City
The Muse in Utah
Sir: Thanks for your review of my opera Miss Julie [Nov. 12]. Because I do not want to bite the hand that feeds me, I'd like to amend (or at least amplify) the phrase that "Utah is a boring state." No state, by definition, is in itself boring. As for The State of Boredom, to me it is synonymous with tranquillity (i.e., lack of distraction), which most artists will concur is the first requisite for getting anything done.
NED ROREM New York City
La Langue Francaise
Sir: As a French-born translator, I am surprised to read in TIME [Oct. 29] the epitaph of the French language. If English is spoken at many scientific gatherings, French is spoken at many others. At the United Nations there are many instances when the majority of speakers addressing the Assembly on a particular problem do so in French. I can assure you that the French-speaking communities all over the world have no reason to despair as to the vigor of the French language. A final point: you fail to mention that in Canada, French is the native and only tongue of more than 3,000,000 French Canadians.
Louis P. BÉGUIN Toronto