Letters: Nov. 27, 1964

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Sir: Since the blighted areas are usually the oldest and, as such, the closest to the center, they represent potentially the highest real estate values, made for high-density, high-rental and high tax-base use —not low-income housing. The converse is, of course, true of the peripheral sections and suburbs. Thus it makes the most sense to develop housing there, benefiting from lower land cost, less expensive construction and smaller revenue loss, and to relocate tenants prior to slum-site clearance. New kinds of commuter areas would thus be created, and with the provision of public transit, they would have the desirable effect not only of improved environment for the relocated and a more homogeneous urban-suburban population pattern but also of reduction of traffic congestion in Central City.

NORBERT N. TURKEL, A.I.A.

Riverdale, N.Y.

What Chou Grows

Sir: Your cover shot [Nov. 13] shows Chou barefaced. However, in a photograph supposedly taken the following day at the parade, he is distinctly mustached. Is it you ... or glue? ∎ (MRS.) LYNDA MEERSON Elmhurst, 111.

∎Just a day's growth, and some fuzzy photography.

Sir: The China-Russia rift is sure to mend. Look what China offers! Better barbers.

K. A. BRUFFEE Charlottesville, Va.

Aligned, Not Allied

Sir: One of the maps accompanying the excellent survey "Communists" [Nov. 13] identified Finland as "Aligned with Russia." Finland was strictly neutral before 1939, has resolutely hewed to the same line since 1945, without any alliance or "alignment" agreements.

JOHN H. WUORINEN Professor of History Columbia University New York City

∎ "Aligned," in that instance, meant in response to the pressing circumstance of vulnerable proximity.

Man & Superman

Sir: Read with special interest the article on computers [Nov. 6]. My brilliant husband (one who is more objective would probably call him merely intelligent and clever) played three-dimensional, four-level tic-tac-toe with a computer that playfully responded during the course of competition: "Good try there," then "Let's see you get out of this," and "Now, really." When Jim won, the machine, showing the good sportsman it is, gamely conceded: "It is amazing, but you did it." Good for the ego.

MRS. JAMES M. APPOLD Saginaw, Mich.

Those Kennedy Judges

Sir: As a citizen of the middle district of Georgia and of the city of Columbus, I wish to correct the false image projected by your article upon Judge J. Robert Elliott and the federal court of the middle district. In Columbus, his hometown, the schools were integrated as scheduled under the plan submitted by the board of education without a riot, a boycott, or a sit-in. The stores, restaurants and theaters in Columbus cater equally to people of every race.

VINCENT F. BERGQUIST JR. Atlanta