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National Fantasy Fan, v. 5, issue 4, June 1946
Page 9
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Addenda to Editor's Message: As I stenciled the last page, Bernard Baruch was making his momentous announcement on the radio concerning the foundation of the Atomic Development Authority, so any typographical errors may be attributed to inability to divide my mind completely. After stencilling the Burton Crane constitution, there remains nothing for me to do be re-stencil the Speer suggestions and run it off. Harry Warner, chairman of the Board of Directors, has given me the go-ahead on both items. Remarks by Dunkleberger concerning Speer's paper are appended. Additional Secretary-treasurer stuff has come from Winer, so that is all set. I have taken it upon myself to prepare only enough copies of this publication for members in good standing. Members "suspended" because of non-payment of dues will not receive copies, since it is now June, and if they haven't paid by now they do not intend to pay. The reason for this is the paper shortage. The paper shortage also explains the color of this paper. It was all the store had. /////////////////////////////////////////////// Seattle, Wash. Gentlemen: While leaving particular changes to Counts' committee, the president has placed before the entire membership and general issue of whether the present constitution should be amended or should be replaced. Portions of the president's message in the January National Fantasy Fan, and Evans' letter in that number, present one side of the question. I would like to argue on the other side, namely, that there is nothing to gain and much to lose by attempting to patch up our present constitution. The president says that junking the present constitution would be as inadvisable as junking a new car instead of fixing a faulty part. This is a false analogy. A new car is the product of hundreds of hours of labor; presumable it will run for several years with a few repairs. Our present constitution, on the other hand, has not proved able to run for even one year, and the labor of trying to fix it up is greater than would be required to write a new and simpler constitution (much of the work has already been done); and the new product will work much better than a patched-up version of the present constitution, which is faulty in its basic conceptions (division of authority, prolixity, and detail) and would be full of latent maladjustments. It would be nearer the truth, if you have to have an analogy, to consider the present constitution as an experimental model for a new car, which has proved to be sour, but which we are nevertheless asked to put into production for years to come. Evans' letter gives not a single definite argument in fav- 9
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Addenda to Editor's Message: As I stenciled the last page, Bernard Baruch was making his momentous announcement on the radio concerning the foundation of the Atomic Development Authority, so any typographical errors may be attributed to inability to divide my mind completely. After stencilling the Burton Crane constitution, there remains nothing for me to do be re-stencil the Speer suggestions and run it off. Harry Warner, chairman of the Board of Directors, has given me the go-ahead on both items. Remarks by Dunkleberger concerning Speer's paper are appended. Additional Secretary-treasurer stuff has come from Winer, so that is all set. I have taken it upon myself to prepare only enough copies of this publication for members in good standing. Members "suspended" because of non-payment of dues will not receive copies, since it is now June, and if they haven't paid by now they do not intend to pay. The reason for this is the paper shortage. The paper shortage also explains the color of this paper. It was all the store had. /////////////////////////////////////////////// Seattle, Wash. Gentlemen: While leaving particular changes to Counts' committee, the president has placed before the entire membership and general issue of whether the present constitution should be amended or should be replaced. Portions of the president's message in the January National Fantasy Fan, and Evans' letter in that number, present one side of the question. I would like to argue on the other side, namely, that there is nothing to gain and much to lose by attempting to patch up our present constitution. The president says that junking the present constitution would be as inadvisable as junking a new car instead of fixing a faulty part. This is a false analogy. A new car is the product of hundreds of hours of labor; presumable it will run for several years with a few repairs. Our present constitution, on the other hand, has not proved able to run for even one year, and the labor of trying to fix it up is greater than would be required to write a new and simpler constitution (much of the work has already been done); and the new product will work much better than a patched-up version of the present constitution, which is faulty in its basic conceptions (division of authority, prolixity, and detail) and would be full of latent maladjustments. It would be nearer the truth, if you have to have an analogy, to consider the present constitution as an experimental model for a new car, which has proved to be sour, but which we are nevertheless asked to put into production for years to come. Evans' letter gives not a single definite argument in fav- 9
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