LETTERS
Letters Vacation Postcards While I'm sure that many "weekend warriors" have shared William Bailer's dismay with the Army Reserves ["How I Spent My Summer Vacation," June], his experiences,...
...MARK MACY Billings, Montana Striking Back I am not qualified to challenge or confirm Robert Kaus's assertions as to the sources of labor lawyer Jules Bernstein's income and the character of his associates ["Strike It Rich for Socialism!," July/August...
...PETER MANDLER Jersey City, New Jersey I am the son and nephew of postal workers who benefited from the suit Bernstein brought against the U.S...
...None of this really matters, however, because Kaus isn't interested in evidence...
...As a part of the Naval Research Intelligence Program, I have worked on "analyzing telemetry from spy satellites," something Bailer chides as beyond the reservist's horizons...
...On (B), he's even further off base...
...Commander, USNR (Retired) Kttsford, New York Bar Bared Your article on the American Bar ["How to Fix Prices, Bribe Judges, and Delay the Inevitable" by Philip Stern, June] hit a sore spot...
...Trying to keep cases out of court is a major part of any honest lawyer's work...
...Concerned Americans are beginning to view the bar as they would a strip joint on Main Street, which profits from another of our weaknesses...
...Kaus should have confined himself to investigating how Bernstein earns his money...
...Bernstein and I are also colleagues on the national executive committee of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee...
...Why in this system should a lawyer refuse to collect his fees...
...Since (A) is patently absurd (remember Engels...
...Kaus calls "disorienting" the fact that Bernstein works toward a society in which great disparities of wealth are eliminated, while earning large sums himself...
...Kaus soon drops that argument...
...Perhaps Kaus will overcome his revulsion for the things of this world as he strikes it rich for himself—for anti-socialism...
...Is Kaus implying that the suit was unnecessary, that postal authorities would have awarded a settlement without the suit...
...JACK CLARK Brooklyn, New York...
...B) there was something shady, perhaps immoral, in Bernstein's accepting courtawarded fees...
...Kaus begins by ruling out sheer wealth as an object of investigation, saying the notion of a socialist millionaire is "not particularly damning, or even interesting...
...According to Kaus,-Bernstein was unsuccessful...
...By first disclaiming and then slyly returning to the "uninteresting" topic of socialists with large incomes, he risks the credibility of his entire expose...
...But Bailer's humorous experiences should not be used to indict the entire program...
...Letters Vacation Postcards While I'm sure that many "weekend warriors" have shared William Bailer's dismay with the Army Reserves ["How I Spent My Summer Vacation," June], his experiences, fortunately, were not universal...
...He's interested in smear...
...The problems of the Reserves are legion, and shouldn't be swept under the carpet...
...Attorneys then profit from our ignorance of their law...
...I could do it next week if necessary...
...On (C), the article's only evidence is that Bernstein attempted to dissuade some organized dissidents from suing the union...
...and (C) that Bernstein is personally culpable for undemocratic practices in the Laborers and Teamsters unions...
...Law has the critical responsibility of providing a force adhesive enough to bond people to a common set of rights and wrongs, yet flexible enough to allow for social evolution...
...Postal Service (although neither my father nor my uncle belongs to the union which pays Bernstein's salary...
...GEORGE D. VANARSDALE Lt...
...Among them: we perform' lower-priority work in support of the active fleet, work which otherwise wouldn't get done...
...This is but prelude to an extended attack on the way Bernstein spends his money...
...He argues (A) socialists should not have money...
...Having placed my biases up-front, I want to say that Kaus's piece is a shallow, naive hatchet job...
...The names of the alleged kingpins Bernstein never worked for get dropped...
...The American Bar has converted our legal system into an entanglement of complex laws and loopholes decipherable only by attorneys...
...so does the implication that Bernstein is personally responsible for undemocratic Teamster practices...
...Most of our projects are more mundane, but serve useful purposes...
...Bernstein is a lawyer who gets paid well for time in court...
...But I am troubled by inconsistencies in 'Kaus's treatment of the size of Bernstein's income...
...But he continually states his revulsion against material goods to maintain a nasty tone...
...Through innuendo, Kaus suggests that Bernstein is a mobster...
...A few pages later, it is suddenly interesting again...
...Although "familiar threats" are cited, the one named source says he remembers no threats...
Vol. 12 • October 1980 • No. 8
