Letters, Jan. 8, 1973

(2 of 4)

I grew up with LIFE. It played a significant role in my maturing. I read those exciting early issues with real delight. In my classes I taught from it. And I have had few pleasures in my professional career to match the one that occurred when LIFE devoted an entire issue to one of my short novels. It was a distinction I like to recall.

Most important to me were the color pages on American art. I treasured them and in years that were to come made my own collection of such art, guided in the early days by the magazine's good judgment.

I know that things must change. I only hope that what takes LIFE'S place will be half as good as it was.

JAMES A. MICHENER Denver

Sir / Your reporting on the demise of LIFE magazine only pointed up what is really wrong with America today. Nobody wants to take the blame directly. They all blame the problems on today's economy, and point out the complex society and its changing attitudes. Somebody at LIFE magazine was at fault, and nobody can tell me the opposite.

ROBERT A. LODI Somerville, Mass.

Pay for Housework

Sir / Anthropologist Elliot Liebow [Dec. 18] makes a valid point in saying that housewives should be treated as workers, but he doesn't carry it far enough. Liebow seems to feel that it's fine for the Government to support welfare mothers because they raise children and maintain homes. This is work and they should get paid for it.

Fine—but the question is who should pay for this work? Perhaps mothers should expect pay and support from persons who value their work and who accordingly will contract to reimburse them for it. Fortunately such a class of persons does exist. It is known as "husbands."

IRVING REICH New Hope, Pa.

Sir / You might like to know that the Pennsylvania Commission on the Status of Women has advocated worker status for all homemakers with or without children, citing the failure of the G.N.P. to reflect the value of the housewife's services, without which little else could get done.

I would personally go even further to recommend Social Security benefits for housewives. That would give their work the status it deserves and the only one we Americans respect—dollar value.

As for the rest of the workfare philosophy, how hypocritical of us to demand that impoverished mothers seek employment while we refuse to provide comprehensive child-care facilities.

ARLINE LOTMAN Executive Director Pennsylvania Commission on the Status of Women Harrisburg, Pa.

The Value of "Good Morning"

Sir / Your article on law enforcement, "Walking a Beat" [Dec. 18], was excellent. I am a rookie law-enforcement officer who has walked many a mile on the streets of our nation's capital. I have found that many citizens are astounded by my simply saying. "Good morning" or "How are you today?" At this level citizens can become closer to an officer and realize that a cop is like them: human, not an emotionless machine.

F.G. HELWIG JR. Washington, D.C.

Shambles Is Not the Word