Letters: Nov. 24, 1967

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Better than Sugar

Sir: At a time when the Negro is extremely suspicious of all praise given him or to one of his peers, and overly sensitive that behind the "sugary" praise there lurks hidden meaning, let me congratulate you on your article [Nov. 17] about the newly elected mayors, Carl Burton Stokes of Cleveland and Richard Hatcher of Gary, Ind. This was indeed a splendid article and one which I felt to be very sincere. It brought out good points on both men, but the praise was not "sugar-coated." It was one of the few articles I have read on the Negro which was truly sincere, straightforward and unpretentious.

MARGARET JUSTICE St. Albans, N.Y.

Sir: The Stokes victory clearly proves that it was the individual, not the name. His zest and vigor, coupled with his platform for office, won him many friendly votes.

(SP4) STEPHEN BREGSTONE A.P.O. San Francisco

Sir: The minority group pulled a nifty trick in Cleveland. First it urged all voters to consider the Man rather than his Race. Then it went to the polls and voted 99% for Carl B. Stokes.

WALTER W. SEIFERT Columbus

Sir: Sorry, but John Gardner is the Secretary of HEW. I'm the Secretary of HUD.

ROBERT C. WEAVER

Washington

That Soviet Society

Sir: Congratulations on the brilliant exposé on contemporary Communism [Nov. 10]. However, the total effect may lead your readers to believe that the Soviet Union is a diminishing threat to the security of the U.S. This is not so; the abandonment of the cocoon of the Marxist mystique of historical inevitability exposes only the giant moth of Russian nationalistic aggression—cunningly Stalinist. This contention is substantiated by a report in your NATION section. The identical "liberalized" Soviets who now espouse Libermanism and plan to triple their output of autos have secretly developed the Fractional Orbital Bombing System designed to thwart U.S. nuclear defenses. We cannot afford to fall into a false complacency when dealing with the Soviets. They have not yet proven any sincere desire to coexist.

A/1C JOHN J. NEUBERT Duluth Air Base Duluth, Minn.

Sir: I am not unAmerican, on the contrary, I am an admirer of the U.S. since 1947 working in the accounting department of a great American company. But I think the comparison between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S. must not be made on the basis of the year 1967, but on the basis of the U.S. about 1870 and the U.S.S.R. 1967. On this basis you will find a striking similarity between the young U.S. and the young U.S.S.R.: in both countries violence (see Western films), slavery, poverty and log cabins. In the young U.S. was capitalism to place the cornerstone of the greatness and the liberty of a nation, using the slavery of the Negroes and the cheap labor of white immigrants; now the poor Italians and Irishmen are independent and some of them rich and opulent men. I am sure the Negroes will be in the near future. In young U.S.S.R. Communism is to put the same cornerstone using the slavery of its own people.