The Force of Conscience

Sir:

Cheers for your opener [July 12] on Dr. Eugene Carson Blake and friends in Baltimore.

This is the first evidence of real Christianity--a willingness to die on the Cross --that I've seen displayed by leaders of organized Christianity in this country in my lifetime. And I'm 63.

LEONARD WARE Washington, D.C.

Sir:

You failed to report our vigorous opposition to the flouting of the law by Dr. Blake. It is our contention that he is casting aside his Presbyterian creed and doctrine. Those who question Blake's action are not opponents of the Negro.

CARL MCINTIRE President

International Council of Christian Churches Collingswood, NJ.

Sir:

It is no credit at all that representatives of the white clergy are now to be found in the front lines of the civil rights battle.

The issue of civil rights, which was spawned in political expediency, might never have become the political football that it has if churches of all faiths had thrown open their doors to integration 50 years or more ago. The clergy should toil in its own vineyard.

PAUL R. PARKER Washington, D.C.

Sir:

Clergymen have demonstrated that no man can be a Catholic, a Protestant or a Jew and at the same time permit discrimination because of race. This is the real significance of the demonstration. In the past week, there have been similar demonstrations at Gwynn Oak, and others are planned. They will continue, I hope, until all Baltimoreans, Marylanders, and Americans realize that racial discrimination is a matter of conscience, not simply politics.

JOHN F. BAESCH Baltimore

Civil Rights Package

Sir:

The current crisis in the civil rights field [July 12] is partly due to the fact that for the first two years it was in office, this Administration abandoned its moral principles in order to salvage Southern support for its legislative program. No doubt substantial civil rights legislation is needed from this Congress, but the public-accommodations section is a particularly sensitive issue to both sides, and the Kennedy Administration should stop playing partisan politics with it.

WILLIAM J. GRAHAM JR. Arlington, Mass.

Sir:

Mr. Robert Kennedy defends the forced integration of public accommodations on the grounds that it is morally right, yet millions who believe that mixing of the races is morally wrong will not accept that the office of Attorney General confers the authority to establish morals.

MAURICE R. WINGO, M.D. Pass Christian, Miss.

Sir:

If the "public-accommodations" section (Title II) of the Administration's civil rights bill is passed, Southern restaurants and hotels predictably will form numerous clubs and associations admitting patrons by membership card only.

LEE B. JAMISON Laguna Beach, Calif.

Philosopher Buber

Sir:

I would like to commend you for your article [July 12] on Martin Buber. I feel that your words on the subtly profound philosophy of Buber, indicating that his life's thought might have a definite, here-and-now influence on the chances of Homo sapiens' continuing existence this side of holocaust, were complete, lucid, and maybe even eloquent.

ROBERT E. EPSTEIN New York City

Sir:

Your article on Martin Buber was very illuminating. As a Jew who is fiercely proud of the state of Israel, I nevertheless cannot understand how any group within or without Judaism could be "shocked" that Buber has devoted great efforts to the improvement of Arab-Israeli relations. This historic and emotional enmity undermines real progress in the Middle East; only if and when this poison is made innocuous can the Arab nations devote their energies to what is really important.

AUDREY SPATZ New Rochelle, N.Y.

The Old B23

Sir:

Are you sure that Tycoon George Love [July 5] lumbers around the countryside in an antique Douglas B23? If so, he possesses a rarity, as only 37 or 38 were built in 1939-40. Top speed was a blistering 280 m.p.h. at 12,000 ft.

ARTHUR WYNNE Willowdale, Ont.

P:For a look at Tycoon Love's rare bird, a genuine B23, see cut.--ED.

Ireland

Sir:

The July 12 issue featuring Ireland is absolutely magnificent. The map, pictures and text are worthy of being treasured as a fine book, which I intend to do.

JOSEPH STONE Cincinnati

Sir:

Relative to your fine article on Ireland, and with particular reference to the observation on Ireland's low suicide rate, allow me to suggest that a violent taking of one's life is unnatural and un-Irish, there being a perfectly natural, God-fearing way through women and whisky, and hard work.

WILLIAM H. KENNEDY New York City

Sir:

I refer to the statement in TIME, issue of June 7, to the effect that President Kennedy is the first U.S. President of 100% Irish descent.

Is it not true that both the parents of Andrew Jackson, the seventh President of the United States, were born at a village near Carrickfergus, in Ireland?

JOHN HENDRICK London

P: That they were, and both from County Antrim, settled by Protestant Scots during the reign of Elizabeth I. On June 22, 1833, Jackson declared to Boston's Charitable Irish Society: "I have always been proud of my ancestry and of being descended from that noble race, and rejoice that I am so nearly allied to a country which has so much to recommend it . . ." --ED.

Sir:

Enjoyed your article with excellent illustrations, though I took exception to some of the well-written material. I think that you could have omitted the leprechaun from the otherwise fine cover.

Was there any significance, or were you being a little naughty with the publishing date of July 12 for the article, which coincides with Orangemen's Day?

WILLIAM J. MCENERY National Vice President Ancient Order of Hibernians in America Providence

P:And did you notice the color of that leprechaun's hat?--ED.

Shriver's Peace Corps

Sir:

Your cover story [July 5] was a constructive effort to assess both the progress and the problems of the Peace Corps. I am sure it will help the public to understand the Peace Corps for what it is: tough-minded Americans who combine idealism and pragmatism to help the world's developing nations.

Almost 5,000 men and women, most of them single, have already gone abroad in the Peace Corps, and less than one-half of 1 % have had to be returned for indiscreet personal behavior. (The official and volunteer mentioned in the bawdyhouse episode were both dropped from the Peace Corps, for example, long before your article was written.) Only one incident has actually been embarrassing, and that, as the whole world knows, involved a postcard, not promiscuity.

The record of all but a few, however, is one of which their parents, friends and fellow citizens can be justly proud.

BILL MOVERS Deputy Director Peace Corps Washington, D.C.

Sir:

First off, let me say your article on the Peace Corps director, Sarge Shriver, was wonderful reading. However, your information about Shriver's war experience is sketchy. He was on the battleship South Dakota with me from commissioning in March 1942 until I left her in February 1944. He was assigned to the antiaircraft weapons with an exposed (topside) battle station. We never took the time to label heroes, but if we had, Sarge would have been high on the list. If he ever qualified in submarines, it must have been very late in the war.

W. O. BACKUS Cdr., U.S.N. (ret.) Carthage, N.Y.

Sir:

Isn't it true that the Peace Corps is a mere offshoot of the International Voluntary Services, Inc., which was started during the Eisenhower Administration? In fact, in 1953 John Foster Dulles started things rolling with an appeal for the same type of dedicated personnel that churches were sending overseas. These were not necessarily religious people but people dedicated to helping their fellow men; people who would live alongside those they hoped to help and teach the fundamentals of agriculture, with sanitation methods and community development thrown in for good measure.

HELEN GARDNER Opportunity, Wash.

P: The IVS is among the many precursors of the Peace Corps, the roots of which go back through a century of missionary activity, Tom Dooley's MEDICO, the Experiment in International Living, and Britain's Voluntary Service Overseas. The privately supported IVS has 170 workers in Laos, Cambodia, Viet Nam, Liberia, Jordan, and a new group headed for Algeria, which will bring its roster to 200.--ED.

Boyer in Algeria

Sir:

In addition to reading about Dr. Byron E. Boyer's work with the temporary plastic covering for burn cases [July 5], your readers may also be interested to know that Dr. Boyer contributed his services during the month of March of this year to work with our MEDICO emergency medical team in Algeria.

PAUL SPRAY, M.D. Oak Ridge, Tenn.

Harry Isn't Kidding

Sir:

You have made a liar out of your correspondent, who assured me that your story [July 5] would be serious. With you, betrayal takes the form of poor reporting and little-girl nastiness, poorly written. The word proverb is first misused, then tossed into a centrifuge of verbal idiocy. The sum total of an eleven-hour interview is as follows: my father was an atheist.

HARRY PARTCH Petaluma, Calif.

Sir:

Since Harry Partch apparently thrives on being misunderstood, it will no doubt annoy him to learn that there are many who do like his music.

The "imperfections in his instruments" do not seem like such in the context of his really important scores--Revelation in the Courthouse Park, Oedipus, The Bewitched --rather than those TIME cited.

DAVID WARD-STEINMAN Assistant Professor of Music San Diego State College San Diego

Automation

Sir:

In your July 5 issue you state, "Management Consultant John Diebold invented the very word automation." According to our best information, the word automation was first used by Mr. Del Harder, now retired but formerly vice president, manufacturing, of the Ford Motor Co. Mr. Harder is credited with coining the word automation to describe the way Ford was manufacturing automatically.

PAUL F. COWIE President American Machinist Metalworking Manufacturing New York City

P: While writing a Harvard report in 1951, Diebold decided to simplify automatization into automation, thereby coining his own word, but he learned later that the word was actually first used by Ford's Harder.--ED.

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