Fine Grain Farmers Sir:
Congratulations to the farmers— we didn't know they were of such fine gram.
THE LOUTZENHISERS Glen Burnie, Md.
Sir,
I am proud to claim common citizenship with the U.S. farmer. His referendum vote clearly demonstrated that the national backbone, though morally soft and pliable in most sectors, stands straight and strong in the agricultural area. We sorely need this "old frontier" independence; God forbid that the New Frontier plow it under.
MRS. E.H. TEMPEST Norfolk
Astronaut Cooper Sir, What a revealing comparison of the attitudes of the American and Russian space explorers: a cosmonaut cries out in space, "I am Eagle ! I am Eagle!" while our astronaut humbly prays, "Father, thank you."
MABEL M. MARTIN Wesleyville, Pa.
Push for Equality
Sir,
"Not one of the Chicago and suburban newspapers, nor any of the local radio and television stations, reported the Birmingham demonstrations as factually, sincerely, and with such profound respect as it was in the Nation section of May 17. I am convinced that irrespective of a subscriber's agreement with TIME, one must read it in order to be honestly informed.
CHARLES BROOKS TALIFERRO East Chicago Heights, Ill.
Sir:
The description of Martin Luther King as an "inspirational but sometimes inept leader was extremely unfortunate. As one who has represented Dr. King in the courts of Alabama and Georgia and who has had many opportunities to watch him directing the affairs of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, I think that the term inept neither fair nor accurate. It is unfair because it attempts to equate the leader of a great social revolution with a high-powered corporate executive. It is inaccurate because, with limited financial and human resources at his disposal, he succeeds in overcoming enormous odds.
WILLIAM M. KUNSTLER New York City
The calculated hate, planned unrest, useless destruction of private and public property and needless agitation between I colored and white races in Birmingham wei only made worse by your insidious reporting of this situation. Why, oh why, do you condone mob violence by the Negroes and yet deplore mob violence by whites? No reference was made by your reporter to the pillaging and looting of a private store by Negroes before they unmercifully burned this store and then stoned the firemen in an attempt to prevent them from controlling the fire. Mob violence under any guise or for any cause, just or unjust, is tragic and criminal.
DONALD L. COLLINS Birmingham
>The Saturday night rioting broke out after the May 17 TIME had gone to press, but an account was included in most copies: "Thousands of enraged Negroes surged through the streets, flinging bricks, brandishing knives . . . put a torch to a white man's delicatessen, fought off firemen as they arrived to put out the blaze."—ED.
Sir: I thought water cannons were used in East Berlin.
FAWZY RAHAMIM Teheran, Iran
Sir,