Dear Marion,

Thank you very much for your letter and for your sympathetic
response to my music foundation inquiry. Thank you also for
your constructive suggestions about the autofused radiator.
From several telephone calls I've ascertained that nearby junk yards
in Chelsea and Revere will buy the radiator for a small, undefined sum,
but require it to be delivered to them; they will not pick it up. 
Trash disposal services offer to come to the house; one for $50,
another for $119.  I could save money and aggravate my estate tax
problem by nudging the radiator, resting on some sort of mat or
quilt to protect the floor, inch by inch to the head of the stairs,
then letting it, tethered by multiple nylon ropes, slide down the
stairs into the front hall. Then nudging it further out the front
door and into the trunk space of the old green car, I could drive
it to one of the welcoming junk yards. Soccer playing Benjamin and
fast rowing Rebekah could help me, as well as 54 year old, somewhat
overweight Klemens. I'm reluctant however, to impose on them. No
matter with how much care, one is unavoidably flirting with injury.
My tentative decision: to pay for the removal and perhaps to get
rid of the useless electric organ in the basement at the same time.
Since we plan to leave for Konnarock on September 3, I'll postpone
the disposal until after we've returned, probably toward the middle
of October. Meanwhile I've obtained two 1 1/4" threaded steel plugs
and have closed the open ends of the supply pipes to the radiator,
which although detached from its moorings, is holding its place in
the corner of the old bedroom, as useless as before.

Thank you also for your perceptive comments about the casting of
the proposed music foundation. We will do just as you suggest,
but at a later stage. Initially we have no prestige, no glory
to offer to propective members, directors or officers, only the
uncertainties entailed in enlisting in a nascent, undefined,
untested organization chartered by a do-it-yourself lawyer.
No, thank you very much. Once the trumpets have sounded, and
the drums have rolled, the halls have reverberated with sufficient
applause, and the conductor has gotten over the hay fever from
all the bouquets, then the dignitaries will be ready to climb on
the bandwagon, but perhaps not until then.

Probably I'll have to proceed on my own. Laura who knows many
of the important characters in the town and in the state, and who
herself is on the Board of Trustees of the local music school,
has been consistently scornful and dismissive of all of my efforts,
and can hardly be expected to enlist. Rebekah likewise is embarrassed
by my initiatives. Klemens will help as much as he can. For Nathaniel
the decision will be an interesting test. Margaret of course will do
anything I ask. Since the corporation's bylaws will permit members'
and directors' meetings by telephone conference call, my cousin,
who is very smart and imaginative might be willing to help me get
started by lending her legal presence to the project.

As you may have surmised, the proposed music foundation has a dual
purpose: to create a social and economic background and support for
Nathaniel's professional aspirations, but also as an essential 
component of my estate planning, an account of which I will render
without violating Onkel Fritz' prohibiton against financial disclosure.
I suspect my strategy will interest, perhaps even entertain you.

Over the years I have transferred many assets to Klemens and the
grandchildren, some by outright gift within the ten thousand dollar
annual exclusion, some by disclaimers of various inheritances. From
reviewing the code, the regulations, and tax court decisions, I
infer that in the interest of collecting as much revenue as possible,
it is the policy of the Treasury routinely to challenge the legal
validity of such transfers, often on the flimsiest of pretexts;
and although if the law were interpreted without bias, if Themis
or Justitia were truly blind, and had no knowledge to which of the
contestants the benefits of her decision would accrue, - I would
have nothing to be concerned about. But given the government's
blatant contempt for the law, there's no predicting how severely
they'll savage my estate after my death, especially since I can't
be there to sue them.

One cannot avoid the realistic assumption that just as highway police
are promoted on the basis of how many speeding tickets they issue,
and prosecutors are elected to high public office on account of the
number of people whose lives they ruin by sending them to prison,
so the Treasury officials who review tax returns are likely rewarded
in proportion to the amount of purportedly delinquent taxes they
collect. At this juncture, the Meyer Music Foundation, or the
Belmont Music Foundation, - the name doesn't matter, - assumes
unexpected significance; because if a decedent had stipulated in
his will that only those assets in his estate which were subject
to the estate tax credit should pass to his heirs, but that all
other assets, those potentially subject to the estate tax should
be donated to the Music Foundation, then the enhancement of the
potentially taxable estate by disallowance of intervivos transfers
would not lead to an increase in the amount of tax collected,
but only to an increase of the assets of the Foundation.  Under
those circumstances a time-consuming audit of a large number of
complex legal documents would be economically self-defeating for
the Treasury, since there is no forseeable circumstance under
which such an audit could increase the collected revenue. I can
hear the IRS superviser scolding his auditor: What kind of an ass
would even consider an audit from which there's no chance to
recover a single cent in taxes, an audit which would unavoidably
cost us money, no matter with how many disallowances we slapped
that son-of-a-bitch.  I'm frightened.  My strategy is too good
to be true, - and it probably isn't.  The ploy is so obvious,
that I can't understand why it isn't discussed in the voluminous
literature. Perhaps that estate tax lawyer to whom you're sending
me will have the answer; but unless the impracticability is
inescapable, I'll want to try it anyway. The ultimate difficulty:
that I won't be able to look down from heaven to find out what
happened, - and at least judging from Dante's description,
in the place to which I'm going, there's no picture window
through which I can look up to find out what's going on above.

The other interesting aspect of the proposed strategy is that
while the transfer of assets between a private foundation and
and a disqualified individual is subject to a 200% penalty
for self-dealing, Nathaniel would be permitted to render
uncompensated services to the foundation. (In fact he might
even be compensated for his conducting, provided the compensation
were "reasonable", an issue about which the IRS is very strict.)
Under the circumstances, the opportunity to conduct an orchestra
would be obviously valuable for Nathaniel, quite apart from
any compensation. I wouldn't feel nearly as bad to know that
my hard earned estate would be used to provide Nathaniel with
an opportunity to conduct Mozart, than to think that it would
go to pay for water-boarding at Guantanamo.

My pre-occupation with music foundations and estate taxes
notwithstanding, I haven't forgotten about molecular biology,
although I haven't been able to spend nearly as much time
repairing my ignorance as I would like. I keep thinking there
is a parallel between physics and biology. The physicists spent
centuries looking for the atom; and when they found it, they got
more than they bargained for, electrons, proton, neutrons, - and
now a shower of subatomic particles which make a mockery of
the search for the unitary elemental substance which was to
explain everything. In biology it was the cell, then the nucleus,
the nucleolus, the chromatin, the organelles, and now an aminoacid
soup so thick as to be practically indigestible to a mind like
my own which makes a virtue of simplicity, clarity and order.
The analytic ardor of centuries past has cooled. What I think
I observe is a frenzy of synthesis, where ever more elaborate
structures and relationships are postulated in an attempt to
model complexities which remain beyond at least my comprehension.
There is also, I believe, a correlation of the intricacy
of contemporary society with its extremely effective means of
communication and the complexity and richness of the observations
and conclusions of science, with vast, unfathomable practical
consequences.

Now that I've gone off the deep end, I'll quit.

Jochen