Vietnam
SIR,—Nobody will be surprised to find Quoodle in support of American policy in Vietnam, but I hope nobody will be impressed by the curious argument he uses to dispose of the remarkable fact that fifteen thousand students marched to the White House to demonstrate against it. Fifteen thousand— few of them resident in Washington—is surely rather a lot. We have yet to see fifteen thousand steel- workers marching against nationalisation.
Quoodle tells us triumphantly that fifteen million did not march. (Fifteen million Americans, or students? There aren't fifteen million students in
America.) But if we are supposed to forget that voluntary action is always implemented by a minority, and to judge the significance of events in percentage terms, then perhaps Quoodle could tell us how many Frenchmen did not storm the Bastille, how many Christians did not go on the Crusades, and how many Romans-99.9 per cent, I daresay—did not keep the bridge with Horatius.
9 Hardy Road, Blackheath, SE3
MERVYN JONES
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