Letters: Nov. 27, 1964

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Sir: I have studied Mississippi politics and power structure for more than ten years, and I think that the former Attorney General Robert Kennedy, the Justice Department, its civil rights division, the Negro leaders-in Mississippi, and the civil rights organizations are barking up the wrong tree in Mississippi, with their lawsuits, contempt trials against registrars, their voting schools, registration projects, freedom parties, etc. This is nothing more or less than political foolery.

Voting in Mississippi is no simple civil rights issue. It is purely and clearly a political issue, and it must, therefore, be dealt with by the rules of the game of politics. The Negro in Mississippi, as elsewhere, does not need anyone to fight his political fight for him. What he needs is the security of his life, of his person, of his property, and of his family, while he fights his fight. Anyone who cannot offer this security to him may as well get out of Mississippi because he can only succeed in failing, thereby prolonging the life of "white supremacy."

JAMES H. MEREDITH University of Ibadan Nigeria, West Africa

Eugenic Sterilization

Sir: I am so enraged after reading your article "The Difficulties of Getting De-sterilized" [Nov. 13], that I feel sick!

Have we degenerated into a society in which the intellectuals and politicians can dictate a man's private sex life? Thousands of men desert their families every day—is sterilization going to make them responsible fathers?

(MRS.) JOYCE S. COHEN New York City

Sir: Mr. Andrade's "punishment" for having a penchant for producing children that he can't support may seem cruel to some, but it is more cruel to bring children into the world without thinking of what kind of a life they will lead.

I only wish there were more Judge Sprankles.

GLORIA DOUNELIS Detroit

Antaeus It Was

Sir: Mr. Hubert Humphrey erroneously credits "that mythological god Atlas" with the ability "to touch the earth and gain strength" [Election Extra]. Atlas was a Titan, not a god, whose function in Greek mythology was the support of the earth on his back. His strength was sapped, not supplemented, by the crushing burden.

The character Mr. Humphrey should have referred to is Antaeus, a giant who was held in the air by Hercules and thus slain when he was unable to touch the ground and regain his strength.

BERNARD ROSENBLATT Toronto

Unselect Schools

Sir: While Mr. J. K. Jackson's letter [Nov. 6] is misleading, TIME'S statement on Mr. Wilson's education is correct. Mr. Jackson seemed to infer in his final paragraph that past Prime Ministers educated by tutors fall below the status of those with a grammar school education. The very opposite is the case. A good private tutor is a more costly form of education than even that of Eton. I should know, for I was educated by the former and my brother at the latter, and I cost my father a great deal more with probably less to show for it save for a sound taste in wines and fast cars.

ADRIAN CONAN DOYLE Geneva