A Matter of Thoughtlessness
By Editor
We are sure our correspondents wish to do the SIGNS OF THE TIMES no injustice. Many of them, nay, most of them are thoughtful of this, and we wish to thank them. Others, who are doubtless both just and generous, are thoughtless. For instance, we frequently get post-cards, asking for information which if furnished may mean the expenditure of much valuable time, and the writing of a letter. Surely such a request ought to demand at the very least a postage stamp, or a return stamped envelope. Just recently comes a request without even a stamp for reply, asking a copy of a letter of about ten pages typewritten. To copy this letter means from one to two hours of a stenographer’s time, who has an abundance of necessary work to do. It would seem that it is a small matter to enclose ten cents postage as part appreciation of the expected reply. The editors are here to help our subscribers to an extent even more than is justly called for, but when such requests are purely personal, it would seem that the extra labor involved on the part of the house of publication should be appreciated to the extent of a postage stamp. Hundreds of such requests aggregate quite a sum to us; the expense is a mere trifle to each one.