Priestess or Witch?

Sir / Your article on foods and fads, "The Perils of Eating, American Style" [Dec. 18], showed good coverage in most areas. I resent, however, your treatment of Adelle Davis as a kind of prepackaged witch or ridicule figure.

My family and I have been following most of her recommendations for a year, and find that many of our health problems have disappeared. If Adelle is a priestess, I've finally discovered where to put my faith.

I don't bypass doctors, but considering the limited number of hours of an M.D.'s training in nutrition, I'll stick to nutritionists for my eating advice.

ROBERT B. ZIELKE New Milford, Conn.

Sir / Congratulations for your article on "Eating May Not Be Good for You." Everyone has to come to his senses and realize that bad eating habits can destroy the body. I have lost 118 lbs. in the past twelve months. It is a new life for me.

RAY OWENS Mechanicsville, Va.

Sir / For people who are overweight and want to reduce, a lot of talk about eating only evades the issue. Exercise is the solution to obesity. See that jogger running round the lake, America? He knows. Look at him and eat your heart out.

STEVEN PAUL JOHNSON Minneapolis

Sir / We are mixed up about food here in America for the same reason we are mixed up about virtually everything else: the special madness which holds that we are machines, not men.

I have only recently returned from five weeks in the Republic of Ireland. The food isn't particularly great, but it is fresh. When I returned to New York, nothing tasted right. I got no lift from my food; only listlessness and discomfort. Our food is not really meant for human consumption --only for machines.

EDWARD LANGLEY New York City

Sir / It is not necessarily the foods we eat and our lack of exercise that are causing us to have so many health problems. We are living in times that are too fast moving, with too many pressures placed upon us. No amount of vitamins or organic foods will alleviate the pressures of living in a nonstop society like 20th century America.

CHRISTINA A. NORDEN Woodbury. N.Y.

Sir / As a former hospital dietitian and food-industry home economist, I want to congratulate you on your superb nutrition story.

I plan on keeping this article to support my views when confronted by some modern food faddist.

(MRS.) JOAN KEMPER GREISCH Evanston, Ill.

Goodbye to LIFE

Sir / The demise of LIFE magazine [Dec. 18] is a great loss for all Americans. Seeing it go hurts me. For the 15 years that I knew LIFE, I could see the world more clearly. LIFE was an American institution. It was there during times of war and depression, and it was there during times of national pride and reflection. Who can say goodbye to a journalistic giant that captured the essence of the human condition?

TODD A. BROWN Wayne, N.J.

Sir / In a strange town I heard the sad news and on a borrowed typewriter I send my condolences.

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

Sir / It was certainly news to me to see the outrageous statement concerning Margaret Mead's "private life" that was attributed to me [Nov. 27]. The word "shambles" characterizes nothing of the reality, public or private, of Dr. Mead's life.

WARREN SWIDLER New York City

Troublesome Stuff

Sir / Re "Taking Aim at Job Training" [Dec. 18]: critics of this program have a point of view akin to that of gold miners in the old West who threw away "troublesome stuff," which later turned out to be silver. On Jan. 22, 1973, Heavyweight Champion Joe Frazier will go up against what was the human equivalent of "troublesome stuff": George Foreman. He was a juvenile delinquent when he heard a public-service "spot" suggesting Job Corps as a solution. He came to Litton Industries' Parks Job Corps Center, and began working toward a high school diploma, which he earned. But he was still an alley fighter who got into trouble. One day the director, Dr. S. Stephen Uslan. said that if Foreman liked to fight, he should get in the ring and channel the energy that way. George went along. Then it was a whole new world. Golden Gloves champion. Olympics gold medal winner. And a visit to President Johnson in the White House, to thank him for having fathered the Job Corps program. which he told the President gave "young people like me a chance for hope, dignity and self-respect."

BARNEY OLDFIELD Director, Special Projects Litton Industries Beverly Hills, Calif.

Help for Addicts

Sir /1 read with interest your piece "A Glimmer of Light?" about drug treatment [Dec. 11]. I also agree with Psychiatrist Vernon Patch that the chances of remaining drug free after leaving most institutions hardly ever amount to more than 3%.

However, the Hoving Home, which I help fund, has a remarkable cure rate. The dropout rate after one month is only 10%. And those who graduate do remarkably well. At the present time, 96% of those who have been out over three years are still clean and living constructive lives.

WALTER HOVING Chairman Tiffany & Co. New York City

The Search for Bormann

Sir / Your report of Bormann's furtive movements about Latin America [Dec. 11] obscures the reason for the search. Perhaps, if you had shown a picture of bodies stacked like cordwood next to the crematory, people would be reminded of why Martin Bormann deserves to be remembered.

LEONARD GOLDSCHMIDT Hartford, Conn.

Pot at Sea

Sir / What is the difference between William F. Buckley Jr. smoking pot on a sailboat three miles out at sea [Dec. 11] to "see what it's like," a 16-year-old girl who tries it "to see what it's like" and gets caught, and a 23-year-old Viet Nam veteran who gets arrested and convicted for receiving a package of grass addressed to his friend?

The girl gets put on probation, suspended from school, treated as "disturbed." The veteran can get no job and becomes an expatriate. And everyone is delighted that Buckley is turning on too.

PEGGY BURT Columbus

Sir / William Buckley's marijuana--was it delivered to his yacht by helicopter or carrier pigeon?

(MRS.) EVELYN L. HARVEY Atlantic Beach, Fla.

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