Air Controllers

To the Editors:

The old truth, that a man is only as good as his word, still holds. I do not want to trust my life to anyone who will break a pledge for his own gain. The air controllers [Aug. 17] certainly knew what they were swearing to when they took the oath.

Catherine Hitchcock Prescott, Ariz.

PATCO missed a critical element in justifying its illegal strike on the grounds that such protest is an accepted means for change in our society. The late Martin Luther King Jr. ably employed civil disobedience in his crusade for equal rights. However, he also taught his followers that those who engage in this practice must expect and endure whatever punishment the law demands.

Roger A. Neidel Nashville

To former PATCO members, welcome to the private sector. Jobs that pay $30,000 a year are rare. Social Security taxes are outrageously high. Retirement plans are not so generous. Holidays aren’t conveniently placed next to weekends. Vacations are shorter. You will constantly be angry as the government takes your money to pay exorbitant salaries and perquisites. We wish more government employees would join us.

Judith Richards Fairhope, Ala.

Is it not better to be afraid of unjust laws than to fear lawbreakers? We enthusiastically support Polish civil disobedience, yet we require of our civil servants totalitarian-like oaths that are illegal in the private sector.

Jean R. Miller San Diego

So President Reagan feels “badly” about stripping 13,000 people of their livelihood. Isn’t that touching? Does he feel as “badly” about jeopardizing thousands of air travelers’ lives as a result of his irresponsible decision.

Audrey Rothe Enon, Ohio

I have been a pilot and a controller. Comparing the stress and responsibility of the two jobs is like contrasting pro football quarterbacks with sportswriters. One needs only to consider the personal consequences of poor judgment to understand the vast difference in pressure levels.

Frank Powell Florence, Ala.

I want the swaggering kids back at their jobs at Chicago’s O’Hare.

Jim Tyra, Captain Continental Airlines Los Angeles

Begin Said . . .

In your story “Saved by the Moral Minority” [Aug. 17], you quote Prime Minister Begin as having said in parliament of his colleague and leader of the opposition, Shimon Peres, “The gentleman is a liar; the gentleman is a liar.” The Prime Minister never uttered such words. What the Prime Minister said was: “In the British Parliament it is forbidden to say, ‘The right honorable gentleman is a liar.’ It is also unparliamentary to say, ‘The right honorable gentleman is lying!’ It is, however, acceptable to say, ‘The right honorable gentleman told a lie!’ This, however, sounds equally not nice, and it was Winston Churchill who preferred a different definition. He said: ‘The right honorable gentleman committed a terminological inexactitude.’ “

Yehuda Avner Adviser to the Prime Minister Jerusalem

Interning Japanese

My family was among those Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II [Aug. 17]. S.I. Hayakawa can now say that it is “disgusting” and “not Japanese” to accept monetary reimbursement for internment only because he was safe and free in Chicago. I counter him by answering that it is “not American” to intern innocent people in camps because of the way they look.

Janice K. Nakaya Los Altos, Calif.

Your article on the Japanese internment camps was very moving, but let there be no attempt to shift the “burden of shame” to the U.S. Remember the national fury aroused by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor at the very moment their diplomats were negotiating in Washington. Reports of spy stories in Hawaii and on the West Coast, whether true or not, were almost universally believed. With the Death March on Bataan and the abuse of American P.O.W.s in Japanese camps, is there any wonder that jittery Americans from the Governor of California down expected the worst?

Every war has its innocent victims. Any attempt to redress such inequities a generation later is beyond the realm of possibility.

Louis F. Cahn Baltimore

The displacement of Japanese Americans in 1942 was not entirely without benefit. The Federal Government allowed Nisei to work in rural mid-America, far from the strategic areas. As a result, in 1943 the school board of St. Edward, Neb. (pop. 720), hired Peter Ida to teach in its high school. Ida was a gifted man who had a positive and lasting influence on me and my 27 classmates.

Jerry P. Lightner Aldie, Va.

Dog’s Life

We are full-time ranchers in sheep and cattle who are opposed to the use of toxicants [Aug. 10] in the control of predators. We have four Komondor guard dogs on the payroll, and they keep our livestock safe. If the zealots succeed in polluting the range with the chemical Compound 1080, our dogs will be the first victims, long before the wily coyote.

Luther and Jan Wilt Florissant, Colo.

Small Investor, Beware!

Re the article “Boom Time in Venture Capital” [Aug. 10], the securities division of my office has observed an increase in the number of inexperienced companies seeking initial financing through public offerings. Often the low stock prices of these enterprises make them attractive to inexpert investors who cannot monitor their performance. Consequently, these companies are mostly not appropriate investments for the small investor.

Michael Joseph Connolly Secretary of State Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Boston

Smart Sambo

To those who take exception to the restaurants named Sambo’s [Aug. 17] because of the similarity to “Little Black Sambo”; that tale takes place in India. Africa has no tigers, and black was used by the British to refer to the Indians. Besides, what’s so insulting about a boy who uses his wits and wins over four tigers? Sambo was one sharp kid.

Lorie Davis Southfield, Mich.