Mr. President. last Saturday both the New York Times and the Washington Post editorial pages carried strong condemnations of the Soviet headtax on exit visa applicants. In his article. James Michener forthrightly describes the Soviet decree as "extraordinary blackmail" and calls for "everyone interested in education. in the intellectual life. in science. in art and in industry to voice his protest now." In its lead editorial. "Trading With Moscow: A Question of Values." the Washington Post describes the tax as "a gross violation of human rights" and notes that in terms of the human rights "the Soviet Union has probably gone backwards over the last 10 years." The editorial concludes that political pressure to link American trade concessions with the question of persecution of Soviet Jewry is justified in this instance.