By the Way

? A clue to the level of compassion behind the minimum wage law: Labor Department inspectors in Los Angeles fined the owners of a car wash who let two Mexicans work there for tips only. Labor Department honcho Herbert A. Goldstein told a reporter that "it is very egregious" to pay someone only tips. After all, says Goldstein, "I can't remember ever tipping at a car wash." This guy gets a nice government salary and he can't dig 50 cents out of his pocket to place in the calloused, outstretched hand of the poor immigrant who towels off his car? "The labor market here gets uglier by the hour," says one of Goldstein's assistants. No kidding.

? Oops. We've had a run of bad luck with artists' credits. The photo accompanying the column on Hungary in the February issue was taken by Barry Randell. And the illustrator responsible for the scientists on pigback ("Pork Invades the Lab," March) is Kevin Pope.