LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

...Stephen Demos Brookline, Massachusetts The editors welcome correspondence from readers on all topics, but prefer to publish letters that comment directly on material previously published in The Progressive...

...We developed and ultimately approved the copy, and selected the photo...

...Rene Rondou Secretary Treasurer Bakery, Confectionery, and Tobacco Workers International Union Kensington, Maryland Before We Cheer Samuel H. Day Jr.'s opposition to the anticipated Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty ("Before We Cheer," Reflections, November issue) is clever, thought-provoking, and unwise...

...The possibility of a 50 per cent reduction in our tax burden is the inducement most likely to enlist mainstream America in the support of disarmament...

...Not until we create and support organizations, parties, and candidates devoted to this aim will we be deserving of broad-based support...

...Today, the overwhelming majority of hardcore disarmament opponents in Congress are Republicans...

...One could argue that the sale of any product resulting from the use of the human body is flesh peddling...

...Do they go along with restriction of communications among customers and visitors to the mall...

...Allan Adler Legislative Counsel ACLU Washington Office Washington, D.C...

...If a leaflet is handed to a willing recipient by a distributor who does not block an entrance, and if the leaflet does not incite to violence or commit libel, I don't see how the "owner" of a place where people interact can interfere...

...Good intentions are not enough...

...warheads were sufficiently perfected long ago...

...it does not state the ACLU's views on Standard Form 189, the particular nondisclosure agreement which is the subject of the controversy you discussed...

...The statement from which you quoted refers generally to the concept of requiring Government employees to sign nondisclosure agreements as a condition for access to classified information...

...In the case of something as rare as a Soviet-American disarmament treaty, worse is worse...

...If The Progressive had bothered to contact us, we would have told you that our union sought and secured from the Tobacco Industry Labor-Management Committee (of which we are a founder) financial support for the ad campaign opposing the regressive excise tax package now before Congress...

...Moreover, Day's argument that the INF treaty would dissipate vital public pressure for peace is questionable...

...I make sure not to tear out the subscription form...

...On the other hand, Congressional approval of INF would create a favorable atmosphere and momentum for future, more effective disarmament plans...

...Contrary to your statement, the ACLU was indeed "among the organizations that compelled the Reagan Administration to back down" on SF 189...

...But he is less persuasive in arguing that by placating the West European public, the treaty would decrease the likelihood of more meaningful disarmament in the future...

...The use of fetal tissue to obtain medical benefits is a positive byproduct of abortion...

...If a right-wing Republican President like Reagan cannot persuade sufficient numbers of Republicans to support an INF treaty, how can any disarmament treaty, which requires a two-thirds majority, be enacted in the near future...

...At a time when many peace organizations portray legislators who routinely vote for nuclear and other weapons systems as "peace" candidates, we need to take stock of what we have lost...

...Since the potential economic benefits are in proportion to the degree of disarmament contemplated, the peace movement's own timidity is the first obstacle it must overcome...

...If, however, Government nondisclosure agreements are modeled after similar agreements that have long had usage in the private sector, it is not at all clear that the Government cannot reasonably and constitutionally require them...

...A Congressional defeat of the INF would have a profoundly depressing effect on other contemplated disarmament proposals...

...Congressional approval of the treaty would create a favorable atmosphere not for "more effective disarmament plans" but for ineffective ones like the partial test-ban treaty of 1963, which purported to restrain the arms race but actually set the stage for its expansion...

...Daniel L. Raphael Seattle, Washington The ACLU and Nondisclosure Since the editors of The Progressive were apparently unable to read beyond the first sentence of my seven-page legal memorandum, you might at least have called me for a summary of its main points before plunging ahead with an inaccurate and insulting reference to the work of the American Civil Liberties Union ("A Setback for Secrecy," Comment, October issue...

...also points out, the only completely and easily verifiable disarmament option left is the dismantling of the nuclear processing and armaments industry...

...Worse is better" strategies are always dangerous...

...It was our decision not to list the Labor-Management Committee, for we felt that the ad's message and roster of sponsoring unions transcended the interest of any single industry group...

...Sometimes I return later and find those copies are still there and are still being read—and it feels so sneaky good...

...If The Progressive had peered a little harder through its self-righteous fog, or bothered to do a little fact-checking, you would have found that is exactly what The Progressive's readers got from our ad...

...The Progressive was right on one count: "Readers have a right to know whose pitch is being made" in an ad...

...If Washington and Moscow ever agree to a comprehensive test ban, it will be because of internal considerations, not because of pressure from the West European peace movement or public...

...public opinion and the U.S...

...I do volunteer work for one of the organizations you named as being so delighted to rub shoulders with the top-level warmakers...

...Recycling The Progressive To attract additional readers and eventual subscribers to The Progressive, I've recently made it a point to leave my read copies in the waiting rooms or reading racks at my dentist's and doctor's offices, at the barber shop, or at the place where I work...

...peace movement have never focused on the elimination of intermediate-range missiles in Europe...

...You will note that the ad speaks of the impact of all excise taxes, not just tobacco taxes...

...As for the West European public, Day does not explain how a protest movement highly focused on Euromis-siles advances a test ban...

...LETTERS to the Editor Just Shut Up and Shop Regarding Keenen Peck's article on free speech in the shopping malls ("Just Shut Up and Shop," October issue)—Tom Paine, Martin Luther, and Haldeman Julius must be turning in their graves...

...Thomas C. Hemling Cowpens, South Carolina Truth in Advertising Your editorial, "Truth in Advertising" (Comment, September issue), was patently unfair to this organization and other unions sponsoring the ad protesting increased excise taxes...

...Then again, your stance could be just another instance of men trying to control women's bodies...

...It's our "pitch," as you put it, the same one the labor movement has made for a long time...

...My work is not without misgivings, and your short analytical piece explains my uneasiness: There's so much gusto for the great game of nudging legislators and wrangling with their aides that any kind of overarching perspective is reduced to a ritual...

...The fact that we tapped the resources of the Labor-Management Committee to be able to place the ad and reach the public did not, in our eyes, diminish our sponsorship...

...All letters may be edited for clarity and conciseness...

...Use of such tissue may present a great breakthrough, providing cures for Parkinson's disease, nerve disorders, diabetes, and leukemia...

...If the tissue acquires a monetary value, how is this different from many other forms of what you call "flesh peddling"—the sale of human bodies by mercenaries, professional athletes, prostitutes, surrogate mothers, coal miners, workers exposed to hazardous substances...

...I want to do business with merchants who support the free flow of ideas...

...Day ignores the probable negative effects of an INF defeat...

...The Committee is made up of unions which represent workers in the tobacco industry, with management represented by the Tobacco Institute...

...Samuel H. Day Jr...

...More importantly, the West European peace movement simply does not have nearly as much influence on the superpower arms race as Day apparently believes...

...Charles L. Smith Berkeley, California The Flesh Peddlers Your observations on the medical use of tissue from aborted fetuses ("The Flesh Peddlers," Comment, October issue) seem to reflect a narrow viewpoint...

...Our union and others have every right, if we so choose, to side with the industries which employ our members on issues of public policy...

...Madison, Wisconsin Peace organizations suffer a major loss of credibility when, in their efforts to gain support by appearing "moderate," they ignore the new reality that cruise missiles render irrelevant not only the concepts of the Strategic Defense Initiative and first-strike victory, but also their own long-cherished goals of a nuclear test-ban treaty and verifiable reductions in numbers of missiles and warheads...

...We still consider ourselves the sponsor...

...Rather than diminishing the momentum of the nuclear arms race, the proposed treaty would merely rearrange nuclear-weapons deployment while the competition continued unabated...

...It would help legitimize mutual disarmament with the Soviets just as Richard Nixon's trip to communist China legitimized U.S.-Chinese detente...

...The fact that the editors of The Progressive may disagree with us on these issues is no reason to puff up one's chest, trash us, question our motives, and generally carry on as if there were some kind of witch hunt going on...

...Just two paragraphs later, the memorandum characterizes the terms of SF 189 as "vague and subject to overreaching ex post facto interpretations which would illegally and, we believe, unconstitutionally broaden the Government's authority under this agreement to reach disclosure of unclassified information and other communications that are not prohibited by law...

...It would undermine the argument that Soviet disarmament compliance cannot be verified...

...As Samuel H. Day Jr...

...Those are our members pictured...

...Joe Gallagher Los Angeles, California mmediately after reading The Progressive, I leave my copy in a waiting room somewhere...

...Nondisclosure agreements are readily subject to constitutional and other legal objections when they impose obligations for prepublica-tion review, extend beyond properly classified national-security information obtained in the course of employment, provide for enforcement without due process, and subject covered employees to sanctions which are disproportionate to the nature of their actions...

...Anyone for disarmament...

...Ronald Reagan wants an INF treaty because he needs to recover from the exposure of his Iran-contra fiasco and because Mikhail Gorbachev is making so many concessions...

...Alan J. Port Athens, Illinois A Peace of the Action Imuch appreciated your editorial, "A Peace of the Action" (Comment, November issue...

...Funding comes primarily from management...

...Richard Gutman Chicago, Illinois The author replies: Richard Gutman seems to have missed the point of my article, which was that the proposed Euromissiles treaty is a step away from, not toward, nuclear disarmament...

...What is the position of the merchant-tenants of the Wisconsin shopping mall about which Peck wrote...

...Gorbachev, in turn, is making concessions primarily because of Soviet economic and national-security concerns...

...Therefore, it is not limited to the narrow interest of the tobacco industry...

...The fact that the tobacco industry and others happen to agree with us on the question of regressive excise taxes (as The Progressive apparently does) does not make our position less legitimate...

...If I can't talk with the friends I see at a store or hand them a leaflet they'd like to see, I don't want to shop in such a stifling atmosphere...

...This is usually before the date on the cover, making it likely that people will pick a fresh magazine over a three-month-old copy of Time or Newsweek...

...In fact, the ad was initiated by this union...

...Day is correct in asserting that the INF treaty's 4 per cent cut in the world's 50,000 nuclear weapons would be relatively insignificant compared to a comprehensive nuclear test or production ban...

...The nuclear arms race now centers on guidance systems...

...But you should also recognize that the issues to be dealt with are complex and merit more than reflexive, emotional consideration...