Letters to the Editor To the Editor of the "Nonru-CHzNA Dany News" telegraphic address, they omit to put their telephone number. This, surely, is bad advertising.
Tt must be a great assistance to) clients and customers of professional and business people who, desiring to call the office of the individual or Sm,—The Correspondence Column basi been for a great many years a feature of British newspapers; in it are aired the views of many who Otherwise. would never see their effusions in print; in it are items and opinions which otherwise might never come before the public eye. But, after all, it is solely by the courtesy of the Editor that this column exists; I doubt if his circulation would be affected if he cut out the "Correspondence Column," which is by no means universally read, Yet, undoubtedly, it is read with great interest by many, Let us not forget, however, that to get a letter published is a privilege; and privileges should never be abused, Perhaps I, an obscure but assiduous reader of this Column, may be allowed a few general comments on what I have read therein.
In the first place, some effusions far too effusive; so much so, that one wearies of them long before the end—and the argument has often trailed off into obscurity, Secondly, religious arguments should be avoided; thousands of great scholars and thinkers have spent their lives writing long books in defence of their particular beliefs; how then can such vast and intricate subjects possibly be settled by letters to the Editor? No one who has read deeply in the subject rests satisfied with superficial arguments; but such vast subjects can only be dealt with superficially in the space of the Correspondence Column, Nor is it fair that those who have not read deeply should be influenced by unsubstantiated statements on so important a subject, Incidentally, one "wonders if those who so glibly use the words "Catholic" and "Protestant" ever pause to consider the true meanings and implications of those words, Again, one often reads criticism of amateurs who, while amusing themselves do their best to amuse or edify those who come to see or hear them. These criticisms are anonymous, but are aimed at particular individuals; is this quite fair? The victim is utterly defenceless, and knows not even if the critic speaks with amy authority or real knowledge; in any case, the dissatisfied critic, can always write (hot anonymously, please) a personal letter to the criticized, which would then be sure of attention, without causing the quite unnecessary embarrassment aroused by a public firm concerned om a matter mentioned in a letter, or in reference to an account, can immediately see the telephone number and save the trouble and time of looking up the Telephone Directory Shanghai Feb. 9.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.