To the editor:

In Thursday’s column, George Will accused liberals of condescension in pointing out the problems posed by the monopolizing practices of Wal-Mart. For him, the practices are justified by one fact: Their prices are low. For him, the facts he cited are apparently not a problem: that 325 low-paying jobs at a single store would produce 25,000 applications; that for every two jobs it creates, Wal-Mart destroys one (at the low end of estimates); that Wal-Mart now has one-fifth of the nation’s grocery business.

And those are just the facts he cited. He failed to mention that many Wal-Mart employees need food stamps, the earned income tax credit, state health care subsidies, housing vouchers and other forms of public assistance to make up for their low wages. He also overlooked Wal-Mart’s wholesale destruction of American businesses and jobs, not just of direct competitors, but of suppliers and manufacturers through its purchasing policies.

Much of the criticism of Wal-Mart comes, not from identified liberals, but from independent studies, suppliers, taxpayers and current and former Wal-Mart employees.

As the world’s largest corporation, Wal-Mart’s effect on communities is a matter of public policy concern. For Will to accuse Sen. Kerry and Democrats of condescension for expressing their concerns is to try to distract us from the message by falsely accusing the messenger.

Paul Fairchild,

Lawrence