Harlem & Rochester

Sir: As one white downtown New Yorker who has grown weary and annoyed with a deluge of overblown, excited and conflicting newspaper reports on "those uptown riots," I was startled and shaken to read your Harlem story [July 31]. Your clear and unsentimental reporting on the recent events had me applauding your integrity. It was the most poignant and powerful piece of writing I've read anywhere on the subject.

NANCY R. GIVOTOVSKY New York City

Sir: As an ex-Harlemite and a social worker who has long felt that too much has been written about the area with little or no corrective action being taken, my initial reaction to your article was one of indifference. However, this attitude was short-lived, as I found your story thoroughly informative, well researched, and loaded with new insights about an area of which I have long considered myself quite knowledgeable.

WILLIAM TOBY JR. Brooklyn

Sir: As a Negro, I know the frustration and anxiety that most Negroes go through, but I emphatically doubt that my white brothers do. I hope that your fine article on Harlem helped clear up some of their gross ignorance. As your article pointed out, there is a grave shortage of employment, housing, educational, and recreational programs in Harlem. But we must note that this dilemma is not restricted to Harlem; this situation exists throughout the country.

DON L. LEE Chicago

Sir: We are training a group of young people, mostly unemployed, here at Watermelon College in the South, with the intention of dispatching them to New York City to correct the deplorable conditions existing in Harlem. We are sure that the good people of New York will greet our crusaders with the same enthusiasm that the people of Mississippi have displayed toward their do-gooder visitors from Ohio.

ROY G. CLARK Odessa, Fla.

Sir: As a lifelong resident of New York City, I feel that a great deal that goes on here never reaches the headlines--mainly facts about the corruption that is rampant throughout the city. As you point out, there must be something terribly wrong when a policeman is afraid to make an arrest for fear of losing his job. I have two relations who are policemen, and I can assure you that this is not a myth: this is an everyday occurrence.

VINCENT F. HICKS New York City

Sir: Cops are public servants, not public pincushions. If a gun ought not to be used "in extremis," why arm our protectors at all?

J. K. WITHERSPOON JR. Brooklyn

Sir: To say that all citizens were frightened during the Rochester riots is an understatement. More than that, we were just plain angry at this flagrant disregard for the responsible efforts being made to reduce racial tensions.

Not until force was met by force did things begin to quiet down; then up went cries of police brutality. Nonsense! Rioters shouted "Freedom now!" Humbug! It's privileges that these few are looking for --or else! They reduced a cause to nothing more than blackmail. These race agitators here in Rochester have succeeded only in losing what they probably want most: respect.

MARCIA FINCKE Rochester

Sir: Your good white Christian ancestors brought my good African savage ancestors to America against their will and against your religion. Once here, you fed them your table scraps and butcher slops. Animal entrails were among the slops, but African ingenuity--praise de Lawd--was the victor, and chitlins "wuz" born.

But I protest TIME'S announcement of this heavenly delicacy to the whole world. You whites have taken our suntan, our curly hair, our funky music, indeed our women, in violation of your sacrosanct mores.

But please be advised that if the price of chitlins, hog maws and collard greens soars immediately after your Harlem issue, it will result in open warfare.

Mrs. LEROY TREVATHAN Cleveland

Sir: Never before have I seen such a beautiful cover painting as that on your July 31st issue. It was a touching and thoughtful study. Mr. Hoban has a rare gift, and I am grateful to him for sharing it with the world.

MAGGIE THURBLE Boston

Goldwater

Sir: I still abhor Goldwater's philosophy, but your story [July 24] made me like the man. It was a fair, even flattering article, the first I've seen for a long time.

M. E. GOTTEMOELLER Dearborn, Mich.

Sir: Upon reading "Who Are the Goldwaterites?", I just leaned back in my chair and sobbed. Month after frustrating month, I have been trying to get people to understand that we are not fanatic crackpots, but sincere and concerned citizens who have a beautiful dream of the greatness this country could once again have. The message had finally gotten through to someone, and I was able to get the best night's sleep in months.

SUE PIERCE Cut Off, La.

Sir: Lyndon Baines Johnson is going to get his ears pulled in November. There are more "radical right-wing extremists" than he can imagine. These "extremists" are Americans who are fed up with fellow Americans' dying in a crummy war without a name and lacking purpose. These "lunatics" are sick of L.BJ.'s vote-getting programs that destroy individualism.

HAROLD RATHMAN Wenatchee, Wash.

Sir: You say that Goldwaterites "don't write obscene letters to editors who disagree with them," but they did jeer and refuse a fair hearing to Governor Rockefeller. You say they are "well-behaved," but the televised view of the convention hardly bore this out. You say, "They don't hate Negroes," but a good many around here do. You say, "They aren't nuclear-bomb throwers," but Senator Goldwater has indicated to us that he is.

ROLAND MONCURE Leaksville, N.C.

Sir: As a page at the convention, I witnessed many behind-the-scenes incidents. I was amazed to read that Goldwaterites are "reasonably well educated and informed" and are "nuts about Goldwater without being nutty." If this is so, it is unfortunate that the arrogant, pushy, rude, and generally obnoxious minority of the Senator's following made its presence felt. From the booing and harassing of Rockefeller to battles with sergeants at arms, most of the convention personnel found the Goldwaterites at the Cow Palace to be generally intolerable.

MICHAEL MORFIT Littleton, Col.

Sir: Judge Learned Hand provided the answer to the Headless Horseman of the Purple Sage long ago: "A society so riven that the spirit of moderation is gone, no court can save; a society where that spirit flourishes, no court need save."

ROBERT HALSEY Avila Beach, Calif.

Sir: Goldwater excelled himself in an example of hogwash when he stated in his speech that he stands for: "The emancipation of creative differences."

(MRS.) MARCIA DAVENPORT* New York City

Sir: Horatio Alger histories are fine, but it is hard to imagine Mr. Miller sitting down to important, polished and tense discussions with such world leaders as Lord Home, Erhard, De Gaulle or Khrushchev, let alone having tea with the Queen of England. I hope the Democrats have better foresight.

HERBERT H. GROSS Brooklyn

Sir: Suppose we sent Barry Goldwater to the White House and found out he had not been "misquoted" after all?

MADELINE KING New York City

Sir: As a Jew, I resent your identifying Barry Goldwater as part Jew. A Jew is one who has been born of Jewish parents (one or both) and has had a Judaic upbringing, education, or feeling. As far as the Jews are concerned, Goldwater is a Christian.

ROSE BUDMAN Downsview, Ontario

Sir: There is another side to today's "economic, social and moral decay" that so upsets the "new conservatives." Compare it with the morality of the '90s, the '20s and the '30s. Remember the tolerated squalor of poor houses and insane asylums, the beating of strikers and circulation of blacklists, the unregulated business monopolies and woman and child labor, the squandering of natural resources and poor sanitation, etc.? The unchecked corruption, collusions and connivances of state and local governments in past generations should make some present situations seem angelic.

(MRS.) BETTY JARDINE Iowa City, Iowa

Sir: It seems strange that the Southern vote becomes tainted and a millstone around a candidate's neck only if the candidate is a Republican. Where was the virtuous press when the Democrats had their own way in the South? If the Alsops, Restons, Lippmanns, Pearsons, and other columnists would spend more time reporting accurately the realities of the precarious American position in domestic and world affairs, and less time attempting to be defenders and promoters of a dying New Deal, they might regain the right to be called journalists.

ROBERT B. SURRICK Media, Pa.

Sir: May President Goldwater ever have near him a kind, understanding newsman to read his wilder statements back to him and inquire gently, "Was that really what you meant, sir?" Such a man could be to Goldwater what the cricket was to Pinocchio: the conscience of a conservative.

WILLIAM MILLER Montreal

Sir: It is hard for a Kansan or any resident of the vast territory west of the Mississippi (always excepting California) to recognize this country's problems as seen through the eyes of the urban Easterner. Civil rights? There are not enough Negroes to worry about. Unemployment? Nonexistent. Urban renewal? We don't even know what it is. Education? Sufficient and adequate, for the most part. Should there be any wonder, then, that the Westerner and Southerner look upon Senator Goldwater's nomination with great favor? Not because we are a bunch of red-eyed, flag-waving simpletons, but because he best exemplifies our political idea. The fact is that there are no national issues; there are regional differences. There is no nation`al Government; there is an amalgam of regional Governors, pulling and tugging and compromising. I hope the Republicans finally come to this view and support their party.

J. CURTIS NETTELS Pittsburg, Kans.

Sir: You say Goldwater supporters are nuts without being nutty? I say a nut is a nut is a nut.

JANE AKFIRAT Dearborn, Mich.

Detroit Newspaper Strike Sir: Your article on the Detroit newspaper strike [July 24] is a mischievous melange of misusage and misinformation. The statement that it is "Knight's avowed policy to de-unionize his plants" is both false and malevolent.

JOHN S. KNIGHT President and Editor The Detroit Free Press Detroit

Sir: The Detroit News is certainly not "in total sympathy" with what you say is John S. Knight's labor policy, and we certainly doubt that Mr. Knight is.

PETER B. CLARK Publisher The Detroit News Detroit

-- TIME is pleased to put these statements of labor policy on the record.--ED.

New Contraceptives

Sir: Your scholarly article on intrauterine contraceptive devices [July 31] was very timely. These devices hold great promise for physicians who, like myself, still feel that the data on side effects of the oral contraceptives are inadequate to dispel the fear of problems arising from "mucking around" with the endocrine glands. The fact that with these devices the patient has no daily task to forget or perform incorrectly should aid their effectiveness and acceptability immeasurably. MICHAEL LANE, M.D. Pittsburgh

Rewarding Service

Sir: Re your story on the "Tutor Corps" at East End Neighborhood House in Cleveland [July 24]: as one of the legion of East End alumni now spread across the country, I am happy to see that the big yellow house on the hill is still providing needed services to its community. Some 20 years ago my friends and I relied upon East End for the only recreation available. Many of these friends are now doctors, artists, lawyers, pilots, and recognized professional men and women. I am happy that East End continues to do as well today as it has in the past.

ROBERT A. DACEY Boulder, Colo.

-Author of Valley of Decision, My Brother's Keeper, Mozart, etc.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.