Letters: Mar. 7, 1983

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As a former Peace Corps volunteer in Western Samoa, I find it as difficult to agree with Derek Freeman's narrow analysis of the Samoan culture as I did with Margaret Mead's. As Anthropologist Bradd Shore accurately pointed out, Samoans can lead contradictory lives. Moreover, they are very adept at telling people what they wish to hear, saying one thing and doing another.

Joseph Grossman

Davis, Calif.

As a full-fledged Samoan, I am glad that Derek Freeman showed the other side of the coin. Samoans not only condone free love and have no guilt but are also jealous and violent.

Nikolao I. Pula Jr.

Alexandria, Va.

Pope's Collection

Your review of "The Vatican Collections: The Papacy and Art" [Feb. 14] is a disturbing testament to the insensitivity and isolation of art critics. Exhibitions like the one now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art give people who cannot afford a trip to Rome, London or Paris an opportunity to see great works.

Thomas A. Devine

Providence

As an artist, I wince at the motives of museums that feel impelled to hype art beyond its original intentions. It would have been better for Philip Morris and the Met to focus on the art of our time and support an understanding of the present.

Jon Swan

Brookline, Mass.

Rejected Baby

Regarding your Essay "The Baby in the Factory" [Feb. 14], it should be noted that in the 15th century four out of five babies died before the age of two. Abortion was unthinkable. In the 20th century, human life is cheap. The problem in the case of Baby Doe does not arise from surrogate parenthood or test-tube pregnancies. It is that the achievements of medical science have given us an attitude of "If not this baby, then another." There are simply too many humans to care about one life.

Sally S. Temko

Tinton Falls, N.J.

We cannot view the production of a human life with the same cool detachment with which we order a new car. A baby cannot be sent back to the factory. Couples who have a child via a surrogate mother must accept the result in the same way that natural parents do.

Betty Kurkjian

Dunwoody, Ga.

Bailing Out

Your article "White Knights and Black Eyes" [Feb. 14] mentions the "golden parachute" package fashioned by Bendix directors for William Agee during the merger battle of the Bendix Corp., Martin Marietta and Allied Corp. Paying Agee so much money would not be in the best interests of Bendix stockholders. The cozy relationship between boards of directors and top executives amounts to corporate incest.

Walter P. Liesegang

Louisville

The biggest threat to American business is not Japan. It is pennywise, pound-foolish executives like William Agee who squander money on wasteful corporate mergers. For him to be skewered by his own ambition is poetic justice.

Rick Hall

Houston

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