September 2, 1991

Ten years after the wan face of homelessness first captured the nation's attention, empathy is turning to intolerance as cities impose harsher restrictions on homeless people to reduce their visibility or force them to go out on their own. New York City, Santa Barbara, Calif., and a number of other cities are acting out of both frustration and desperation, pressed by hard times and by a public that has grown increasingly impatient with a problem that has worsened despite the programs aimed at relieving it and previous shows of good will.

Envoys Arrive in Yugoslavia Officials of the European Community arrived in Yugoslavia to set in motion a cease-fire monitoring plan, but reports of clashes continued. Page 3. Impact of Wetlands Plan The Bush Administration's proposal to ease restrictions and hasten the development of wetlands could have the opposite effect. Page 8. Andrew Young and B.C.C.I. The Bank of Credit and Commerce International forgave a loan of $150,000 to a consulting firm led by the former Atlanta Mayor. Page 25.

Since Willie Nelson's "Who'll Buy My Memories? (The I.R.S. Tapes)" went on sale in June, it has sold only 160,000 copies. Under Mr. Nelson's unusual arrangement with the Government, the collection of 25 songs must sell at least four million copies if it is to erase the singer-songwriter's tax obligations. "You got to be positive," Mr. Nelson said in an telephone interview last week. "It's not unheard of. I could sell three million albums. I've done it before." He hopes sales will improve when the collection is available in stores; it is sold now only through phone orders advertised mostly on late-night television.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union and the humiliating purge of the K.G.B. have injected new urgency into the painful debate over the role of the American intelligence services in a world where the Communist competition has left the playing field. Even before the tumult that began in Moscow last month, Congress was forcing the Central Intelligence Agency and the military intelligence agencies to rethink some of their priorities -- and even their budgets -- to adjust to a declining Soviet military threat.

For all their exuberance, participants in Monday's Labor Day parades have rarely had so little to celebrate. No problem illustrates labor's waning influence better than its failure to join with its historic ally, the Democratic Party, to exploit an issue that both acknowledge could be a runaway vote getter: a declining standard of living for most workers.