Entrepreneurs Earn High Pay, Too (int'l edition)

In ''Big players offer better pay'' (Economic Trends, Aug. 23-30), you point out the high wages earned at larger companies. The primary reasons given are: a) lower skill requirements among small firms, and b) superior performance of large firms. There is probably another reason that is not mentioned: People who otherwise would be employed at large firms are often self-employed or employers themselves, but do not show up in the stats for small businesses.

Many of these entrepreneurial people are earning figures far higher than their corporate counterparts. Are these figures being ignored? And even if they aren't, it is possible that many of the economic benefits they receive may not be reflected.

Raymond Anderson
Johannesburg

What the New Millennium Will Bring (int'l edition)

''21 Ideas for the 21st Century'' (Cover Story, Aug. 23-30) was one of the most thought-provoking series I've seen in nearly two decades of subscribing to BUSINESS WEEK. Always a reliable source of information, you outdid yourself in providing enormous food for thought about a great deal more than just ''business.''

But along the way, you may have perhaps violated a few of your own admirable precepts, namely: 1) Don't make dubious predictions, and 2) Those who forecast by extrapolating ''from today inevitably get tomorrow wrong.''

Lo and behold, among the first few sentences of the second treatise, one finds the following: ''If that rate of proliferation continues for another century, the U.N. or its successor will have nearly 2,000 members''! Were you just checking to see if we were paying attention?

Gary F. Turner
Munich


My vote for the 22nd idea for the 21st Century would be the empowerment of women in politics, business, religion, higher education, science, law, and medicine

As Idea 3 predicts, the next century belongs to the best and the brightest, working in teams with talented leaders. Women are particularly good as team builders, working towards a consensus as opposed to hierarchical management. This is true in all fields of endeavor. Women have been living by their own clocks forever, so they should fit right in to Idea 5's timeless scheduling, and because they will have fewer children, according to Idea 16, they will have more time to devote to their careers. Females will also fit beautifully with Idea 17 by political campaigning over the Internet at a younger age, when they are still rearing children. The remainder of the ideas should also benefit women as well as men.

As you state, smart managers and leaders will pursue several paths at once to maximize all their options. That's what we women are best at.

Laurel Anderson
Executive Director
The Women's Campaign School
at Yale University
Trumbull, Conn.


It is a shame your writer for education did not interview someone who could give a more realistic picture of the challenges of a responsive high school.

The demands on today's high schools necessitate more time for their clients--not less. Expanding basic knowledge, technology, multi-lingualism, human relations, family education, and community service cry out for more time, for more resources, for better staff training.

To conclude by citing some social traditions (proms, rallies, etc.) as boring reminds one of the adage that you get out of life what you put in to it. That is what a few adolescents may soon have to learn. If they do, they will enjoy and get out of life more now and tomorrow. Even college.

Norm Goldman
Pennington, N.J.

Hong Kong Has Something Shenzhen Can Never Duplicate (int'l edition)

I was reading ''Hong Kong's loss is Shenzhen's gain...In legitimate and not-so-legit trade'' (Spotlight on China, Sept 6) and I believe that Hong Kong retail businesses do still have a competitive advantage.

I travel to Hong Kong once a year, and I make sure I spend at least a day at the Shenzhen border shopping for hard-to-find bargains back home. But there is something that Hong Kong retail shops have that Shenzhen cannot provide: duty-free products. In short, Hong Kong is either the first shopping place before Shenzhen or the last stop after Shenzhen, and people pick shopping that is personal and valuable. Shenzhen may be a knock-off and pirate heaven, but Hong Kong still can be a different shopping place.

Roy Jao
Taipei

Is AIDS a ''Tougher Foe'' Than Smallpox? (int'l edition)

In ''An AIDS vaccine is no longer a dream'' (Science & Technology, Sept. 6) it is stated that Dr. Donald P. Francis, who helped to eradicate smallpox, is now engaged in conducting ''the first advanced-stage trial of a vaccine against a tougher foe--the virus that causes AIDS.''

According to K.B. Roberts' book Smallpox: A Historic Disease, more than 100 million people have been killed by smallpox, and more than 200 million were blinded and scarred.

It is clear that AIDS is one of the great scourges of humanity today (ranking No. 4 on the death list, according to figures provided by the World Health Organization). But based upon the above numbers, to describe AIDS as a ''tougher foe'' than smallpox is to step out on a limb.

Jack De Lowe
Raanana, Israel