EDITORnThomas FlemingnMANAGING EDITORnKatherine DaltonnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSnChilton Williamson, ]r.nASSISTANT EDITORnTheodore PappasnART DIRECTORnAnna Mycek-WodeckinCONTRIBUTING EDITORSn]ohn W. Aldridge, Harold O.J.nBrown, Samuel Francis, GeorgenGarrett, Russell Kirk, E. ChristiannKopff, Clyde WilsonnCORRESPONDING EDITORSnOdie Faulk, ]ane Greer,nJohn Shelton Reed, Gary VasilashnEDITORIAL SECRETARYnLeann DobbsnPUBLISHERnAllan C. CarlsonnASSOCIATE PUBLISHERnMichael WardernPUBLICATION DIRECTORnGuy C. ReffettnCOMPOSITION MANAGERnAnita FedoranCIRCULATION MANAGERnRochelle FranknA Publication ofnThe Rockford InstitutenEditorial and Advertising Offices: 934 NorthnMain Street, Rockford, IL 61103.nEditorial Phone: (815) 964-5054.nAdvertising Phone: (815) 964-5811.nSubscription Department: P.O. Box 800, MountnMorris, IL 61054. Call 1-800-435-0715, innIllinois 1-800-892-0753.nU.S.A. Newsstand Distribution by EasternnNews Distributors, Inc., 1130 Cleveland Road,nSandusky, OH 44870.nCopyright © 1990 by The Rockford Institute.nAll rights reserved.nCHRONICLES (ISSN 0887-5731) is publishednmonthly for $21 per year by The RockfordnInstitute, 934 North Main Street, Rockford, ILn61103-7061.nSecond-class postage paid at Rockford, IL andnadditional mailing offices.nPOSTMASTER: Send address changes tonCHRONICLES, P.O. Box 800, Mount Morris,nIL 61054.nThe views expressed in Chronicles are thenauthors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect thenviews of The Rockford Institute or of itsndirectors. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot benreturned unless accompanied by a self-addressednstamped envelope.nChroniclesnA MAGikMNE Of AMEKICAN CULTUREn4/CHRONICLESnVol. 14, No. 2 February 1990nPOLEMICS & EXCHANGESnOn ‘Beavers, Banners,nand Bulls’nJohn Reed commented in his Letternfrom the Lower Right (Decembern1989) that, as he watched bulls in Spainn”dispatched . . . with varying degreesnof artistry,” he found the “spectacle” tonbe “riveting,” not “disturbing.” His lacknof discomfort at the sight of an animalnbeing tormented and killed for entertainmentnsays more about Mr. Reed’sncharacter than it does about bullfightingnas a so-called “sport.”nIn Mexico in 1975, my wife and Inmade the mistake of attending a bullfight.nIt was one of the most repulsivensights I’ve had the misfortune to witness.nThe sight of the confused andnuncomprehending bull, painfully goadedninto an artificial aggressiveness, andnthen killed to the frenzied cheers of annaudience composed of moral midge’ts,nremains as sickening to me today as itnwas then.nJohn Henry Newman said that “crueltynto animals is as if we did not lovenGod.” I’ve been reading Mr. Reed’sncolumns for some time now, and, whennhe writes on the subject, his sympathiesnare never with the animal. Mr. Reednmay be incapable of summoning fromnwithin himself empathy for a sufferingnanimal, but his writing for Chroniclesnwould be easier to take if he tried to bena little less amusing on this subject andna little more thoughtful.n— Don PerkinsnMt. Clemens, MInOn ‘The TiesnThat Bind’nReading over my review of AllannCarlson’s Family Questions (Octobern1989), I discovered an egregious error.nThe famous Dartmouth College casenis 1819, not 1873. I must have beennthinking of the Slaughterhouse case.nApologies to constitutional law fansneverywhere!n— ]ean Bethke ElshtainnNashville, TNnnnOn ‘Reparationsnfor Slavery’nIn his September Cultural Revolutionsnpiece, Don Feder discusses the proposalnfiled in the Massachusetts legislaturenrequiring the state to pay reparations tonthe descendants of slaves. The idea ofnreparations for past US “sins” is gainingnground in other areas. In April 1988,nthe official periodical of the MethodistnChurch in Oregon and Idaho (thenUnited Methodist) commissioned anguest editorial written by one PaulnJeffrey. Jeffrey cited all the past evilsninflicted on the Nicaraguan people bynthe United States since the 1800’s andncalled for billions of dollars in reparations:nthe payment, of course, to benhanded over to the Sandinistas, thenlegitimate representatives of the Nicaraguannpeople!nJeffrey is one of several “missionaries”nsupported by the Oregon Methodistsnwho work in Central America asnpropagandists and intourist agents fornthe Sandinistas. He is staff editor of thenCEPAD Newsletter, a document thatnnever lacks for something anti-nAmerican to say. (CEPAD is a NicaraguannMarxist-Protestant umbrellangroup; it has never criticized the Sandinistasnfor anything.) The newsletternis written and formatted in Nicaragua,nbut it is printed and distributednacross the USA by the United MethodistnChurch in Oregon.nThe strong leftist coterie that surroundsnthe bishop’s office in Portlandnhas helped pioneer a number of ideologicalnissues that have become popularnat the national level, both in thenChurch and in Congress. So, perhaps,nif Feder has patience, he will see reparationnpayments to the Sandinistasnmoving into the big time, and joiningnMass. Bill 1821 as another expensivenloony tune.n— Dr. Alfred G. RatznBend, ORn