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You will not understand this because you apparently do not make your living by using Microsoft's Windows' operating system, but Gates' face clearly does not belong on the cover of TIME magazine. It really belongs on a WANTED poster. WILLIAM B. FANKBONER La Quinta, Calif.
TO CATCH A SPY?
Wen Ho Lee's picture has been splashed all over the media [NATION, March 22], Congressmen have attacked the Chinese government, and Lee has lost his job because he came into contact with Chinese officials. Yet despite the hype, American officials have not pressed charges against Lee because they don't have enough evidence. We are ruining the life of a man who may be innocent, and we are attacking a country whose foreign policy has been defensive and nonaggressive with respect to America. Americans should stop and consider the situation before acting irresponsibly. J. BYRON WONG New York City
Worse than being biased, your article is racist when it implies that Wen Ho Lee would spy for China because he is Chinese. Why would Lee, a Taiwanese by birth, help China reclaim Taiwan? Obviously, you have not learned from your mistake in World War II when you mistrusted a great many American citizens because they were Japanese or of Japanese descent. VINCENT LIM Singapore
If Nazi Germany and the former Soviet Union were the monsters of the 20th century, China has all the makings of becoming the monster of the 21st century. The Chinese government steals technology from the U.S., sells arms and technology illegally to other countries, violates human rights with impunity, amasses nuclear weapons, continues to occupy Tibet and threatens Taiwan's safety and security. Yet it always gets a sweetheart deal from the U.S. and is crowned a most favored nation. By the time we finally wake up, the monster will have emerged full-fledged. CHARLES PUTHOTA Milwaukee, Wis.
Is Wen Ho Lee the 1999 Dreyfus of the U.S.? THI DO Kingsport, Tenn.
BATTLE OF THE SPRAWL
TIME pointed to useful strategies for halting urban sprawl [NATION, March 22]. Important as these are, none will stop the sprawl steamroller without another essential element--reform of the property tax. This tax inflates land prices and spurs nonuse and abuse of city sites, driving development out into forests and fields. It raises your taxes when you build and maintain homes or stores but lowers them if you let properties decay. These pocketbook incentives for destroying communities are a prime cause of the out-migration that fuels sprawls. WALTER RYBECK Kensington, Md.
As a farmer, I share the concerns of those who face losing their farms to development. I certainly understand the temptation and the frequent financial need to take the money and run. This issue, however, has an important element not mentioned in your article. Too often it is the best land that is developed. For food and fiber production, all land was not created equal. If our production from land is going to be forced into more intensively farmed areas, it is in the interest of all to keep the best land in production and manage development with that in mind. DWIGHT R. CHERRY Willard, Ohio
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