Letters: Dec. 20, 1968

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Diplomatic Not-So-Niceties

Sir: Your revealing article "The Second Phase in Paris" [Dec. 6] gave me serious doubts as to the sincere .desires of the four parties concerned to achieve a "just and honorable peace." It seems absurd that mature men, especially those honored in the ranks of world diplomacy and charged with the awesome responsibility of ending a war that has become one of the most unpopular and ethically debatable in history, could spend months haggling over such minuscule points of procedure as the shape of the conference table and the number of doors leading to the main hall. It was estimated that the number of allied and enemy casualties during the week of Nov. 24 well exceeded the 2,000 mark. I hardly think that this squandering of human life can be condoned by a failure on the part of the negotiators to agree among themselves on such trivia. If they cannot quickly settle these questions, what faith can we place in them to negotiate a lasting settlement of the war?

CHRISTOPHER STONE

University Park, Pa.

Sir: I suggest that the negotiation site be changed to a heavily bombarded sector of the DMZ with continuing military action all around. Then the diplomats would dispense with all the diplomatic niceties about what kind of conference table to use and would negotiate an end to the whole stupid mess.

ANTHONY L. DIBIASIO

Cranston, R.I.

Never Better

Sir: I was surprised to learn from your article on .Robert Finch [Dec. 13], that 1 was "ailing." I thought I felt fine.

Several years ago I underwent throat surgery to remove a cancer. The operation was a complete success but it left me with some hoarseness which makes me sound like a cross between Ev Dirksen and Andy Devine.

Since I have announced that I intend to seek re-election in 1970, I fully expect that there will be, as there have been in the past, irresponsible efforts to distort the facts about my health. I hope that TIME and other responsible publications will not fall for this political trick.

I have just fulfilled a campaign speaking schedule which took me to 30 states, from Florida to Alaska. I never worked harder, felt better or approached the new Congressional session with more enthusiasm, and if there is ever a problem with my health, I will be the first to say so. (My golf handicap was just cut by two strokes.)

GEORGE MURPHY United States Senator

Los Angeles

Loco Motive

Sir: "Who Stole the Locomotive?" [Dec. 6] brought back some unique memories. Right after the war, the Hungarian state-owned MAVAG works was ordered to build scores of locomotives for the Soviets as "war restitution." I was in charge of a team of engineers, working in a small town near the Russian border, that commissioned and transferred these engines to the competent Soviet authorities.