reader and solve it for him, you will find readers to read your story and editors to buy it. You will not be a real writer, you will not be able to take a deep satisfaction in your work, but you will be able to do something that, with all its faults, can still be called a story, and if you have all the other arts of the story writer except a sense of problem, obstacle, growth, flow or whatever you want to call it, your other arts will not avail. Your charm will be ineffective, your characterization will be misplaced, your message will not be delivered, and you will be a picturesque failure as a story writer.

In my last talk I referred to the way rhetoric and sentence forms were scorned by the more advanced writers. Not long ago I was curious to discover whether the advanced writers were able also to dispense with obstacles in their work, so I went through several back num

bers of the Dial and Broom. Not in a single instance did I find that the advanced writer was able or apparently made any attempt to do away with the obstacle or knot.

We have not reached a point in our practical writing where you can have some fun. We know what constitutes a story interest and we can write a story. This knowledge is a seed which will grow indefinitely if we tend and water it. It will take whatever form of literature our desires and talents dictate the short story, the novel, the play. Without any further instruction we can go off and practice by ourselves, conscious that we have an infallible test of what constitutes a story, so that we can say of what we write; "A poor thing, perhaps, but it is at least a real story." Richard Bowland Kimbali. (To be continued.)

NEW YORK, N. Y.

It is right, of course, to speak of "ex-President Taft or former Governor Brown," but it is not right to use these titles in speaking of something that Mr. Taft did while he was President or that Mr. Brown did while he was governor. The sentence, "The man was appointed to office by ex-President Taft," is wrong. It should be "The man was appointed to office by President Taft."

"During" is often misused for "in." "During May" means lasting through the month, and should not be used in speaking of an event happening "in" the month.

A postal card and a post-card are two different things. Postal cards are issued by the government, and bear a stamp. Post-cards, including picture post-cards, are of private manufacture, and to go through the mail must have a stamp affixed.

"Violoncellist" is right, not "violincellist." The phrases, "all of the states" and "both of them together" are better written "all the states" and "both together."

The term "Court of St. James's" is so written because it is the "Court of St. James's Palace," not the "Court of St. James." Up

to Queen Victoria's time the palace was the royal residence in London and envoys are accredited to the "Court of St. James's." During the season royal levees are still held there.

"Adeste Fidelis" is commonly seen in print "Adeste Fideles" is right.

In England "railway" is the common term. In the United States "railroad" is commonly used, but "railway" is being gradually substituted for "railroad," as "station" is for "depot."

To say "Try an experiment" is like saying "Try a trial." "Make an experiment" is right.

To many it seems natural to say "What kind of a man is he?" or "What sort of a man is he?" but the rhetoricians say it is better to leave out the article.

The past of "dive" is "dived," not "dove." A man's vocation is his regular calling. His avocations are side-issues.

THE WRITER is published the first of every month. It will be sent, postpaid, for $1.50 a year. The price of Canadian and foreign subscriptions is $1.62, including postage.

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The rate of advertising in THE WRITER is two dollars an inch for each insertion, with no discount for either time or space; remittance required with the order. For special position, if available, twenty per cent. advance is charged. No advertisement of less than one-half inch will be accepted.

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The publication office of THE WRITER is Room 46, 244 Washington street, but all com. munications should be addressed:

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P. O. Box 1905, Boston, 6, Mass.

VOL. XXXVII. FEBRUARY, 1925. No. 2.

Short practical articles on topics connected with literary work are always wanted for THE WRITER. Readers of the magazine are invited to join in making it a medium of mutual help, and to contribute to it any ideas that may occur to them. The pages of THE WRITER are always open for any one who has anything helpful and practical to say. Articles should be closely condensed; the ideal length is about 1,000 words.

Authors, playwrights, artists, and composers are urging the passage by Congress of a bill, drafted at the request of the Authors' League by Thorvald Solberg, register of copyrights, and introduced by Representative Perkins of New Jersey, which would completely

revise the existing copyright law, last revised in 1915. The bill is drawn to increase the term of copyright to fifty years, protect unpublished as well as published works, make copyright protection immediately available without any formality, include phonograph records piano-player rolls, dance productions, and works of architecture among copyrighted works, give authors exclusive rights to radio broadcasting their product, and provide for the entry of this country into the International Copyright Union. A proposal to abrogate the statute requiring the manufacture in this country of all books printed in English is opposed by the Federation of Labor. At a hearing before the House Patents Committee, Gene Buck, president of the Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, and a member of the Council of the Authors' League, being asked how much a song writer received for a real hit. replied: "There used to be a time when he could make $25,000, but today he would not make $10,000." Mr. Buck interjected that

John Philip Sousa sold "The Stars and Stripes Forever" for $35 and that Harry von Tilzer received $15 for "My Old New Hampshire Home." Mr. Buck urged that authors must be allowed to protect themselves from the radio, which he said had accounted for a sixty per cent. drop in song-writing in the last year. Writers may help toward the passage of the bill by writing letters to their congressmen.

Stuart Pratt Sherman, editor of the New York Herald Tribune, praises Sherwood Anderson as an explorer who has seized a torch and lighted new vistas of human experience. Of the incident which started Mr. Anderson on his literary career when he stopped in the dictation of a letter to his stenographer, and renounced the business world in favor of the "discovery of himself "Mr. Sherman says "Fifty years hence, I think, the literary antiquarian will point to this passage and sayThere is one of the historic moments in American literature.'"

There is sound sense in the article, "On Rules in Writing," in this number of THE WRITER, by Frederick Palmer, who is vicepresident of the Palmer Institute of Author

ship. An expert writer may be superior to rules, but he should know that there are rules, and what their injunctions and prohibitions

are.

"If not good enough, don't publish," writes a contributor, sending a manuscript. Editors generally comply with such requests.

LITERARY SHOP TALK.

[This department is open to readers of THE WRITER for the relation of interesting experiences in writing or in dealing with editors, and for the free discussion of any topic connected with literary work. Contributors are requested to be brief.]

An index is used for finding a given section of a work in the shortest possible time. Indexes have a much wider use than this for the free-lance writer, however.

The index for the last half-year of any magazine is a reliable market indicator. It shows the kind of articles and stories that that magazine is in the habit of using. Moreover, indexes show which of magazines have recently used subjects that you have in mind.

the current materials on For instance, if you see that McNutt's Weekly has just published an article on "How Glass Bottles Are Made" you will be spared the postage of sending to the editor your effort on "Glass Bottles: How They Are Made."

The Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature is a comprehensive index of all the magazines, and is convenient if you wish to compare the types of material used by different publications. Compare the subject index of Harper's with that of Scribner's; compare the subject index of the Ladies' Home Journal with that of the Woman's Home Companion. You will find some illuminating "market data."

Another use for the index is to study styles in titles. Looking over an index of System you will find that it prefers the personal, informal note in titles, such as "How We Handle Wages," "We Keep an Eye on Detail." Noting this you may consider your article on "Making the Best of Workers," which the editor has recently returned, and you

The Gibson Art Company (Cincinnati, Ohio), publisher of greeting cards, says that back of every greeting that is sent is a feeling of friendliness and good will, and that the purpose of every greeting is to express this sentiment in a cheery and genuine way. Every greeting is a personal message, and should contain a wish or a tribute. Greetings should be easy to read, whether in prose or verse, and thoughts should be expressed clearly and naturally. Greetings should be submitted to the Gibson Art Company on separate sheets of paper of uniform size, accompanied with addressed and stamped envelope for return. As a rule, two lines are better than four lines, and four lines are better than eight lines. It is well to make greetings as general as possible, but the Company uses a number of cards for specific purposes.

The Pacific Builder and Engineer (Arcade Building, Seattle, Washington) is creating a new staff of correspondents in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska. The work calls for daily reports of construction, civic improvement, and engineering news, for which the publishers will pay thirty-three cents a 14-em inch, "boiled to the bone." Correspondents have occasional opportunity for feature and personality writing, for which special rates are paid. Walter A. Averill, the

editor, says that he needs people who mean business and who are prepared to give consistent service week in and week out.

Keith's Magazine (100 North Seventh street, Minneapolis, Minn.) is in the market for articles on home-building and interior decoration. Such articles should contain from 800 to 1,500 words, and, preferably, be illustrated by clear photographs, measuring 8x10. The magazine can also use a limited number of articles on gardening, and short articles, of from 200 to 500 words, on any of the subjects mentioned are always available. No poetry is used. Manuscripts should be typewritten, indicate the number of words, be mailed flat, and be accompanied by return postage. Prompt decisions will be made, accepted manuscripts will be published within a short time, and payment will be made upon publication.

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Wirt W. Barnitz, editor of Journeys Beautiful (150 Lafayette street, New York), says that he is now in a position to decide upon manuscripts within three or four weeks after receipt. He adds that the magazine pays for material according to its worth. "If the subject matter is good and the composition poor, of course the writer cannot expect us to pay exceedingly high rates, as it requires a great deal of time and labor to re-do material of this sort. However, where the subject matter, composition, photographs, and everything else are excellent," he says, "we are willing pay well for the copy." Articles for Journeys Beautiful should be in narrative form and written in the first person, and personal experiences and even adventure should be woven into them. Description is wanted, but description should not be overdone. A manuscript should be written in rather a light vein and should flow along freely, and good humor is very desirable. A manuscript stands a better chance if accompanied with good pictures or pen sketches. Articles should contain from 1,500 to 2,000 words. Mr. Barnitz is exceedingly interested in articles which have to do with by-ways of travel. No fiction is used in the magazine.

H. N. Swanson, editor College Humor (110 West Chicago avenue, Chicago, Ill.), writes

that College Humor is a magazine of Youth and wants gay lilting songs of youth, and will be glad to develop new poets. "We have set ourselves to the business of catching larks," he says, "and we won't be content with. blackbirds." The magazine is now a monthly, and is using twice as much original material as heretofore.

Store Operation (205 Caxton Building,. Cleveland, Ohio), which will enlarge its type page to 7x10 inches with the February issue, is anxious to receive "brass-tack," detailed articles on the best and most practical methods used in the operation and management of department, dry goods, and large specialty stores. Mr. Martin, the editor, writes: "First of all, we are not interested in articles on mechandising or selling methods or stunts. Our publication reaches only the men and women who direct the non-selling activities of stores management, accounting, credits, packing and delivery, supplies and equipment, maintenance, service to customers, adjustments, training of personnel, stock control, expense budgeting and control, and store layout. We do not want generalizations every article must suggest helpful methods plans, or ideas to store executives. We do want concise, explicit articles, of from 300 to 3,000 words, that tell how individual stores are solving their various operating problems, and will pay a cent a word for such matter. All material must be authentic and approved by the executives who furnish the information. Forms and pictures are desired with articles. Typical subjects on which material is wanted are: Better office management methods; distributing delivery costs; preparation for efficient handling of Christmas season deliveries; how budgeting expenses saves money; methods for cutting delivery costs; economic buying and use of supplies; keeping a perpetual inventory of stock and its advantages; reducing the cost of maintenance; methods of minimizing labor turnover; unusual equipment and its use; speeding up work in packing and sorting rooms; central wrapping departments; solving the parking problem for customers; training future store executives; and moneysaving store service departments (laundries, employees' lunch rooms, print shops, etc.), their equipment and operation. Articles on special

layout and equipment of new stores, with pictures, are also wanted." All manuscripts will be reported on promptly. Payment will be made on publication, with the assurance that acceptable material will be published with celerity. The editor will also be glad to examine suggestions for articles, or to assign topics to trade-journal writers who can produce live method articles.

The McKinley Publishing Company (701 Baltimore avenue, Kansas City, Mo.) is preparing to change the character of one of its publications and devote it almost entirely to the interest of the owners of and employees in gasoline filling stations, and will be glad to consider material of all kinds touching upɔn this subject, whether fiction, success stories, practical stories of management, human-interest matter, humorous material, or anything in line with the purposes of the publication. The Company also hopes to locate, through consideration of material submitted number of people who can work out ideas in this field upon an assignment basis. The price paid for this work will depend on the quality and importance of the material purchased.

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True Adventures (461 Eighth avenue, New York) wants exciting stories of real life, outdoor, true adventures not single incidents, not travel material out thrilling narratives of he-man adventure on the out-trails of the world, told convincingly real adventures of the sea, our West, the Northwest, Alaska, the South Sea Islands, and so on. have short sentences, with frequent paragraphs, a simple vocabulary, and running subheads about every 300 words. Third-person stories will be considered, but first-person stories are preferred. Persons submitting manuscripts should first examine a copy of the magazine.

Stories should

Outing (73 West Broad street, Cincinnati. Ohio) wants some articles on sports-hunting, fishing, camping, motor camping, hiking, and similar subjects.

The National Humane Review (Albany, N. Y.), published by the American Humane Association, is in the market for interesting

stories, not exceeding 1,200 words, suitable for children. Stories should deal with animals, or kindness to animals, or should deal with nature - something like natural history for younger readers. The Review also wants photographs, either with or without stories, and pays two dollars each for all that are used. The rates for stories are not fixed, but the Review is unable to pay high prices.

The Dell Publishing Company (46 West Twenty-fourth street, New York) is in the market for short stories (not exceeding 4,000 words) and serials (of about 25,000 words. in six parts) that will fit any of its three publications -I Confess, Marriage, and Cupid's

Diary.

The requirements for I Confess are firstperson stories of the confessional type, told in an intense mood, concerning a crisis in a person's life.

The requirements for Marriage are stories that contain a serious marriage problem, preferably in the first person, together with articles that bear upon some of the human interest phases of married life.

The requirements for Cupid's Diary are clean love stories of the romantic type, such as make a strong sentimental appeal to women.

Payment is made at from one cent a word up to two cents a word, depending upon the strength and suitability of the material.

The World Traveler, which is now published by the World Traveler Magazine Corporation, 247 Park avenue, New York, with Charles P. Norcross as editor, is at present overstocked with manuscripts.

Practical Electrics is now the Experimenter (53 Park place, New York).

The Mystery Magazine ceased publication with the issue for January 15.

The Southern Methodist University offers three prizes for original poems; a Nationa! prize of $100, open to all undergraduates in American universities and colleges; a Texas prize of $50, open to all undergraduates in Texas universities and colleges; and a local prize of $25, open only to undergraduates in the Southern Methodist University. Each contestant is limited to one poem, or group of poems, not