Dear Editor

...New York City William Graham Dominican Troubles Sam Halper's lively and otherwise informative article, "The Cloud Over the Dominican Republic" (NL, July 14), is marred by superficiality in its discussion of the sugar crop The Dominican Republic's economy is in bad shape for the same reason that much of South and Central America is languishing Through the years, U S interests, working hand in hand with local elites, have reduced the country to reliance on a single crop Adding to the indignity of being dependent on the capricious international market is the oligarchical structure of this industry, which is at the heart of the 40 per cent unemployment rate Halper mentions Instead of exploiting the rich land to achieve food self-sufficiency, the present system encourages countries like the Dominican Republic to grow one lucrative item for export, and then import food Whether the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) will take steps to diversify Dominican agriculture and curb the power of American food conglomerates remains to be seen It's doubtful, though, for as Halper points out, the previous PRD administration was rather lazy His report leads me to believe that breaking out of the Dominican Republic's cycle of underdevelopment will take more energy than the PRD can muster New York City C Figueroa Ecology At a time when plenty of people in government and business are doing their utmost to persuade us that ecology is incompatible with economic development, it is refreshing to come across a counterargument Darryl D'Monte's "Ecology vs the Economy in India" (NL, May 31), by dwelling on three different Indian cases, demonstrated a truth that polluters would like to obscure Ecology is nothing more than economics writ large, and focusing on immediate returns is unprofitable in the not very long run As D'Monte observes, "true development can only take place with the preservation of the environment—and certainly not at the expense of it " Boston Mary Clancy Nuclear Politics The politicizing of nuclear issues proceeds apace, judging from Thomas Land's report on the British Medical Association's stand concerning the after effects of a nuclear exchange ("Doctors on Nuclear War," NL, July 14) The BMA's supposedly "detailed investigation" is pointless because the doctors already know what they are going to find The essential outlines of the realities involved in an atomic explosion have been known for decades My own opinion coincides with the doctors'—civil defense is a swindle perpetrated by governments, a furtive effort to hide the horrors that are at the fingertips of our leaders The doctors are right to combat it How typical of the medical profession, though, to take what is a political battle and mystify it with a pretense that they are being "impartial" and "objective " We have gotten into the current nuclear mess largely because of this sort of exalting of expert opinion The BMA should spare us the hogwash and proudlv admit that in this case it is acting as a body of citizens, not of scientists Los Angeies John Knoll Let's hear it for the British doctors' If their effort to unmask the lies about surviving nuclear war put forward by Western governments is successful, it bodes well for the currenl fight against the arms makers New York City Aaron Horowitz Mailer In his review of Norman Mailer s latest collection, Pieces and Pontifications ("Minor Mailer," NL, June 14), Barry Gewen notes that (he writer's "ideas on sex seem to teeter on the brink of incoherence " There is no need for the qualifier Mailer's ideas on sex are incoherent Seattle Hash Jack Feldman The New Leader welcomes comment and criticism on any of its features, but letters should not exceed 300 words...

...Dear Editor Japan George P Brockway may be right in his analysis of Japanese productivity practices, and the dangers of copying them in this country ("America's Setting Sun," NL, June 14) Japan exploits its labor force in ways that would be utterly unpalatable to Americans, true—but the question remains How are we going to make ourselves more productive...