Trouble in the East

Sir: The Japanese have good reason for being uneasy over their connection with America, I fear. I think they know—or guess—that when the Hundred Years' War between the big powers boils up into shooting again, both sides will hang back as long as possible from the irrevocable insult: direct attack on each other's home soil.

So not by policy but more by instinct, the powers will confine their fighting to "neutral" areas as long as they can. I suspect the "neutrals" realize this and know that there may not be much they can do to prevent it. But they don't have to like it.

RICHARD R. MOORE Rochester, N.Y.

Sir: The rotten harvest from the decision to recall General MacArthur is now being reaped: a signal victory for Communism, because of our ineptitude in foreign affairs. GEORGE S. WOOD JR. Alexandria, Va.

Sir:

Would someone please tell me when the Japanese "students" have time to study? RUDOLPH HOROWITZ New York City

Sir:

The reception given Eisenhower in Manila indicated strongly that our "best" friends in Southeast Asia are the Filipinos.

MARGARET HINCK Brooklyn

The Time of Peril

Sir:

We should have read our Kipling prior to the Paris summit collapse and when the spirit of Camp David prevailed. In 1898 he published The Truce of the Bear, containing the line, ". . . the bear that walks like a man!" The poem tells of a clawed and blinded old hunter who says:

When he stands up like a tired man, tottering near and near; When he stands up as pleading, in wavering, man-brute guise, When he veils the hate and cunning of his little, swinish eyes; When he shows as seeking quarter, with paws like hands in prayer, That is the time of peril—the time of the Truce of the Bear!

C. FRANK STONE III Arlington, Va.

Sir:

Our frequent losses in the current world war are not to be blamed on Republicans or Democrats. They are due to the fact that success depends on national understanding of the struggle and determination to win, and as a people, we in 1960 are unwilling to believe there is a war on and therefore unable to take the measures necessary to win.

STANLEY G. LANGLAND Minneapolis

Sir:

You probably remember the picture in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow by Repine, titled The Cossack's Reply to the Sultan.

After reading Khrushchev's invectives against the President, it seems to me that the same semibarbarian manners are still the ones of the Russians three centuries later. Just change costumes and faces and you can give it the title, Khrushchev and His Commissars Composing His Speech for the Summit Conference.

R. M. GOULDNER Wichita, Kans.

The Best Man

Sir: Your June 6 account of Adlai Stevenson's remedies for the relief of tension with the U.S.S.R. is indeed timely. Mr. Stevenson's proposals would not only remove tension but also the U.S. from the world scene.

SAMUEL BIGELOW Concord, N.H.