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Sir: You'd better unite and fight, you manufacturers of washing machines, dryers, irons, ironing boards, sewing machines, bleaches, detergents, spot removers, etc. We housewives might just begin to understand the synonymy of "nudity" and "freedom" and the many advantages derived therefrom!
MRS. ROBERT H. WAGHORNE
Baton Rouge, La.
Politics and the War
Sir: In the article "The War: Out By November 1970?" [July 11], TIME points out one of the reasons why the nation's youth have lost faith in American ideals. You state: "Nixon is worried that a continuation of the war could destroy Republican candidates in the 1970 mid-term congressional elections."
A young man is asked to serve his country, and perhaps sacrifice his life, for a cause of questionable morality and justice, while his President is worried about the irrelevant matter of the election of Republican candidates.
It is small wonder that young Americans are repelled by, and revolting against our values, priorities, insensitivity, and callous self-interest.
(MRS.) JANE R. TYRIE
Pittsburgh
The First Are the Last
Sir: Your perceptive article on the Havasupai Indians in Cataract Canyon [July 11] touched on problems not, unfortunately, limited to the "people who live by the blue-green water." The fact is that most reservation Indians are struggling mightily to overcome the decades of deprivation, dependence and despair. The reason: the first Americans are the last Americans when it comes to social and economic progress.
It is, however, unfair to singularly blame the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, which has admittedly in the past been highly bureaucratic and highhanded. The painful truth is that the various Congresses (which appropriate funds) and Administrations (which determine policy) have oftentimes been less than enlightened in their concern for and support of the American Indian.
PAUL FANNIN
U.S. Senator
Phoenix, Ariz.
Sir: So the Havasupai aren't status crazy, don't worship and are not slaves to the machine, don't make war or systematically poison the earth, and they practice sequential, or Hollywood-style, marriage.
Let's leave them alone in their real-life Shangri-La. Their way of life may be better than ours.
ED VAN DYNE
Troy, Pa.
First Crusader
Sir: Your piece on DDT [July 11] is an excellent summary of the controversy that has split American science for 20 years, and we are grateful to you. However, in stating that the National Audubon Society "has just joined the public crusade against DDT," you leave a highly erroneous impression.
National Audubon's President (now emeritus) John H. Baker was the first conservation leader to warn the nation of DDT's hazards, back in 1946. In 1958 Baker called DDT "the greatest hazard to life on earth" and called for a federal $25 million crash program of research; but he was labeled irrational and alarmist; the president of a large chemical company tore up his life membership in the Audubon Society.
From 1966 through 1969, Audubon endorsed, and used its Rachel Carson Fund to support, the court challenges to continued use of DDT which have been undertaken by the fundless Environmental Defense Fund.