Letters: Jan. 3, 1969

Long Live!

Sir: Your story on Bach [Dec, 27] was the best Christmas cover story for a long, long time. Every word brought illumination and joy; you had the symmetry, the inevitable Tightness in every part. You have an art of your own. I left a reading of every word with a sense of completeness; the Bach violin partitas began sounding through my mind as I got up. You caught the heart of the Bachian Restoration in a magnificent end-of-year cadenza. What is better for space travel than the accompaniment of Bach? Long live Bach'

HAYDN LEWIS GILMORE Tunkhannock, Pa.

Sir: I don't know the author but: My hat is off to Johann Bach. For whom my sentiment is ach; Not once, but twice, a model spouse. With twenty children in the house.

Some fathers would have walked away In what they call a fugue today. But he left no one in the lurch And played the stuff he wrote in church. RICHARD H. WANGERIN President American Symphony Orchestra

League,Inc Vienna, Va

Fuel to the Fires

Sir: Hurray to those brave Arab Commandos [Dec. 13] for their daring attacks on unarmed civilians, women and children. The fedayeen can sit by their campfire basking in the glory of blowing up school buses. Meanwhile, the U.N. adds fuel to the fire by censuring Israel for trying to preserve its very existence. What country in the world will come to the defense of Israel? Or is their fantastic progress in democracy and self-achievement too much for a mediocre world to tolerate?

WALTER SIMPSON, O.D. Westfield, Mass.

Sir: The article implies that Arab governments cannot oppose the will of their peoples. This smacks of sophistry since the will in question is largely a product of the 100% government-controlled news media. Were these media to preach peace rather than hate, it is highly probable that public opinion would change.

The Israel that the commandos want to "liberate" has a population of 90% Jews and 10% Arabs. One is strongly reminded of the recent liberation of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union.

PHILLIP EIN-DOR Pittsburgh

Sir: In 1947, instead of self-determination and a plebiscite, a minority group of a country was given carte blanche, and it now runs a political state based on religious theology—a "democracy" only to Jews, not to Moslems or Christians.

After 50 years of lack of understanding and duplicity on the part of Britain, France and then the U.S., culminating in the partition of Palestine, the Arabs have given up hope of equitable treatment by the West. In desperation they are resorting to tactics similar to those used by the Israeli terrorist groups over 20 years ago. Those of us who have actively fought anti-Semitism ought to be able to recognize injustice when it is directed toward others.

SYLVIA A. DE FREITAS Manhattan

Right or Wrong?

Sir: Your article "Welfare and Illfare" [Dec. 13] is repugnant to me. No citizen has a right to any wealth except what he produces. There is no "national abundance" for anyone to claim. There is only the wealth of individuals produced by individuals. The Constitution guarantees political, not economic rights. I have the right to pursue happiness, not to happiness itself