Man of the Year

Sir: Fifteen of us were arrested at a restaurant on the outskirts of this "progressive" little North Carolina town. Our crime was attempting to order Sunday dinner--or, in local parlance, "trespassing" in a "public" restaurant. Twelve of us are black, three white.

A young lady who had refused bail and been imprisoned here for 16 days, refusing to eat the food sent in to us by a segregated restaurant, went out on bond. She returned an hour later as a "visitor," her arms laden with hamburgers and coffee, her steps somewhat wavering from her fast and her eyes shining. Tucked among her gifts to us was the latest issue of TIME, with the painting of Rev. King under the banner: Man of the Year.

Thank you.

KATHRYN J. NOYES

Chapel Hill

Jail Chapel Hill, N.C.

Sir: I love you for making such a great decision. It took courage. But you are a courageous group. Your Man of the Year dominates all others.

JOHNNYE W. KING

New York City

Sir: It is my opinion that if King had not flitted from one city to another stirring up trouble, there would not have been the deaths and trouble in the country today due to the integration.

He should have been jailed as soon as he arrived in the different Southern cities, for he was there only to incite violence.

JOHN A. LAIRD

San Mateo, Calif.

Sir: In all my 30-plus years of reading TIME, even when I myself made your pages, I have never been so glowingly proud of you as a magnificent force as I was for your choice and your write-up of the Man of the Year.

MORRIS KAPLAN, M.D.

Denver

Sir: I was so incensed when I saw your selection of the Man of the Year that I felt like putting my magazine into the wastebasket.

KATHRYN GUNN

Lisbon, Ohio

Sir: Yours was a courageous and wise choice.

(THE REV.) THOMAS HARRIS

Methodist Rural Center

Kapit, Sarawak

Sir: I am astounded that a race racketeer should become Man of the Year.

TED KURLOW

Cleveland

Sir: I am bewildered. In memory of President Kennedy, cancel my subscriptions.

MRS. C. W. LETZGUS

Okemos, Mich.

Sir: It is without doubt that many will feel that your naming of Dr. King as Man of the Year is somewhat lacking in consideration of the man whose recent death has touched us all so very deeply. I cannot help feeling, though, that were he still alive, Mr. Kennedy would have more than enthusiastically applauded your choice of the man who has so eloquently and effectively devoted himself to the battle for civil liberties. It is a battle that Mr. Kennedy not only fought so hard for, but believed in so fervently. You have indeed honored the spirit of Mr. Kennedy, which remains among us, as you have honored Dr. Martin Luther King.

RICHARD H. DREW

Long Beach, N.Y.

Sir: Americans who travel abroad and are often shamed over questions concerning civil rights in America will rejoice as they read your Jan. 3 issue.

I plan to send several copies to friends abroad. I want to thank you for this constructive contribution to our continuing struggle for human rights.

S. RALPH HARLOW

Retired Member of Smith College Faculty

Northampton, Mass.

One Who Is Welcome

Sir: I am a student from the Somali Republic. When I read about the killing of Edmond Asare-Adoo, the Ghanaian medicine student in Moscow [Dec. 27], I thanked God I turned down three scholarship awards to Moscow before I got the U.S. scholarship I now have. Had I gone there I would "get beaten up every day," when now in the U.S. I am welcome every day.

MAHAMOOD ALI SHIRWA

Colby College

Waterville, Me.

The Hazards of Forecasting

Sir: It's a bit ironic to see TIME referring to my year-ago forecast for 1963 as gloomy. The facts are: 1) we were criticized at the time for being too bullish--our forecast was well above the average of the private forecasters; 2) by last spring I stated that we expected to achieve the upper end of our forecast range, $583 billion; 3) actual G.N.P. for 1963 will be about $584 billion; 4) this is not a forecast "undone" but a forecast confirmed.

WALTER W. HELLER

Washington, D.C.

> In January last year, Heller and his Council of Economic Advisers estimated the 1963 G.N.P. at $578 billion, but hedged that prediction by saying it could vary $5 billion up or down. By May, Heller had changed to a more optimistic view, favored $583 billion, $1 billion short of the nation's actual 1963 output.--ED.

From Ruby's Lawyer

Sir: I advocate some TV for some trials so that laymen can truly see our wonderful law in action and thereby have more respect for it. But I was not "outraged" by Judge Brown's decision denying it in the Dallas case [Jan. 3]. As a guest of the Texas courts, we can take it or leave it. It would be better to start court TV on less publicized cases first, and even then not all of them. The "Dallas establishment" hiring a public relations firm is shocking.

MELVIN M. BELLI

Attorney at Law

San Diego

Don't Rub It In

Sir: Daddy, tell us that story about the Big Five again [Nov. 22].

E. B. MOORE

Bellaire, Texas

High-Walled Subcontinent

Sir: Your article on Australia's immigration policies [Dec. 20] is grossly misleading in tone.

I particularly deplore your use of the phrase "immigration apartheid." The whole objective of Australia's immigration policy and, in fact, the very nature and organization of the Australian society, are the complete antithesis of apartheid, which, as generally understood, means the segregation of racial groups within a country.

We seek to ensure that our society is so composed that, regardless of their race, all citizens of Australia--not to mention the thousands of Asian students and other visitors--are fully accepted and have equal rights without encountering any of the barriers which apartheid creates.

HOWARD BEALE

Ambassador to the U.S. Embassy of Australia

Washington

Sir: I am a Nigerian journalist in Australia. In fact, I am happily married to a white Australian.

On the day I read your vividly authentic piece on the White Australia policy I also heard on one of the local radio stations that the Australian ambassador in Washington was up in arms against TIME for printing the story. If this radio report is true, then I have news for the ambassador.

Australia's Minister for Immigration, Mr. R. A. Downer, openly admitted that "persons not of European descent are not eligible to enter Australia for permanent residence."

While in Australia there is no open racial intolerance against dark-skinned people (except against the indigenous aborigines), the country is certainly plagued with a superiority complex, racial ignorance and snobbishness.

OLABISI AJALA

Sydney

Sir: Thanks to the foresight of certain 19th century legislators, we do not have our lives poisoned by a Negro problem, a Chinese problem or an Indonesian problem. Are you advocating that this country should become a dumping ground for Asia's surplus population? What would they do if they did come here? This is the age of the bulldozer, not of coolie labor.

H. FIELDS

Sydney

Local Joke?

Sir: The Whitney Annual's "Wide Net" is a joke [Jan. 3]. It did not include Los Angeles, the nation's second most important art center. It should be renamed "The Whitney Annual of American Art to Be Found in New York Galleries."

FELIX LANDAU

Felix Landau Gallery

Los Angeles

> Among the painters from California whose works were exhibited in the Whitney show are Richard Diebenkorn, John Hultberg, Gordon Onslow, Arthur Okamura, Robert Hanson, Rico Lebrun and William Brice, the latter three from Los Angeles.--ED.

Since Purcell

Sir: What is particularly irksome about your article on Benjamin Britten [Dec. 20] is that you adopted a current notion that Britten is England's greatest composer since Purcell. Britten may be a master at the craft of composition, but his work is usually sapped of emotional content. One listens to it with the feeling that it is only the framework of something that desperately needs insides.

Even the War Requiem falls short of its very high intentions.

An English composer--since Purcell--whose content could match excellent technique was Ralph Vaughan Williams. His Sixth Symphony, written during the London bombings, is a far more stirring appeal for peace than the War Requiem or, for that matter, anything that Britten is capable of composing.

MARTIN S. MITCHELL

Brooklyn

The Painter

Sir: Thank you for a fine cover and an excellent article on a truly great American, my uncle, Andrew Wyeth.

I was particularly pleased to read about Andy, as we know him. Your writers have done a fine job.

DAVID J. ROCKWELL

Emporia, Kans.

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