Letters: Feb. 23, 1968

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D'ye Ken?

Sir: The Galbraith story [Feb. 16] is a brilliant analysis of truth and reality. In reading it, one is struck by the fact that our country produces many such men whose wisdom should guide our destiny. Yet, as the 1968 elections approach, it appears that the American people will once again be denied the opportunity to select their President from the ranks of the truly qualified.

DAVID L. MEARS San Francisco

Sir: Economists criticize Dr. Galbraith because he is really much more than an economist. He is a critic of the purposes and direction of human life. Economics is only the vehicle that man makes to carry him through the world of nature. Which is more important: the fashioning of the vehicle or the enjoyment of the ride?

ALAN MAGARY Woodbury, Conn.

Sir: Gerald Scarfe's cover of John Galbraith is distorted, unrealistic and grotesque, and perfectly parallels Mr. Galbraith's socioeconomic philosophy.

H. H. HAMMER Manhattan

Sir: Surely, your delightful piece on John Kenneth Galbraith should have made note of the Galbraiths' tiny Negro maid, Emily, the only person who has ever put Ken down.

Her own story is that when she entered the household, Ken sought to assert his domination by constantly using his 6 ft. 8 in. to place things out of her reach. Emily used her lack of height to place his toilet articles, etc., out of his reach. The standoff quickly developed into mutual admiration and respect, and Emily has long remained an indispensable member of the family.

PHILIP POTTER The Baltimore Sun Washington, D.C.

The Face of War

Sir: Your picture coverage of the bloody fighting in South Vietnamese cities was shocking and sickening [Feb. 9]. There are those who will cry "bad taste" or "obscene." The fact is that war is obscene, but unrealistic complacency about it is as dangerous as it is uninformed. Hopefully, candid reporting will make shockingly clear to hawk and dove alike the horrible consequences of a peace-at-any-price policy, as well as the urgency of exhausting all channels to obtain a just peace.

JOHN BACHMAYER, '71 St. John's Seminary College Camarillo, Calif.

Sir: Like most other Americans, I have become steeled to the "television war" watched on the early news across the dinner table. Television coverage of the attacks on the U.S. embassy, therefore, caused only a momentary pause in the trajectory of my peas from plate to mouth.

In the sanctity of my office, I leafed through the Giap cover story while eating lunch. On the first page of your color spread covering the embassy attack my eating came to an abrupt end. No one, certainly, would applaud your printing of such photos, but maybe such gruesome sights are what we need to be brought back to the grim reality that the news on TV is not just reruns of Combat, where the guy killed this week will return to co-star next.

RONALD T. MENET San Pablo, Calif.

Sir: I look at your pictures of our boys' bodies dumped on a truck in a country that no longer matters, and I weep. I am tired, tired, tired of this war. Why can't we get it over with or get out?

(MRS.) JANE BATTEY Media, Pa.