SHORTER LETTERS

Evening Star, Issue 24328, 17 October 1942, Page 5

SHORTER LETTERS

APPEAL TO CORRESPONDENTS An appeal for shorter letters has beeit issued by the -censorship authorities. In a statement they point out that shorter letters not only help the security of the country, but have advantages for correspondents as well.

There is no intention of cutting down letters of reasonable size,. but too many ’ correspondents exert themselves to write at quite unreasonably length. .There have been three cases in recent months that give point to the appeal. In one, a woman wrote to a soldier in the Middle East, and managed to fill 132 pages. She deliberately set out to write as much as she could, and was proud of her achievement. She filled many pages with what was almost a “ hair by hair description ’’ of a permanent wave she was having while writing part of the letter. It must have been tedious reading for the unfortunate soldier —but probably not as tedious as it was for the censor who had to deal with it. About the same time . there was another letter of nearly 100 pages, and more recently still, two girls worked through a wet afternoon by having a competition to see who could writ# the longer letter. The .winner amassed the quite modest total of 38 pages, closely written These letters were quite unreasonable, but many of 10 and 15 pages could just as readily be reduced by half, and time saved.

Unreasonably long letters have _ two effects. First, they rouse the suspicions of the censor, who legitimately suspects that this mass of verbiage has probably been deliberately created to hide something that should not bo talked about, and make him waste his time looking carefully for something that is not there. Secondly, while that letter is being slowly and carefully examined, other letters aro waiting. The censors are able to deal with a certain volume of mail only, and the chances of something dangerous escaping are increased by needlessly long letters. A point for writers of long letters to remember is that the very long letter yiH always be set aside to be dealt with whew the censor has time. One of the first principles on which the censorship in .this and every British country works is that tha mails shall be delayed as little as possible, and in practice the delay is yerj' smallHowever, even a small delay will in many cases mean that letters will miss one of the now relatively mails. Long letters will almost always miss the mailsThe authorities are asking for smaller letters not because the censor tires easily, or because he dislikes work any more than anyone else, but simply because it is_ a> commonsense request for assistance with the war effort. What the correspondent overseas wants to know mainly is whether his family and his friends are well and happy. That does not need a great deal of writing. -