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Voice of the Imagination, whole no. 36, October 1944

Page 4

4     VOICE OF THE
Fan of the Hour, JACK SPEER, compilator of the FANCYCLOPEDIA, notes via V-mail from Nafrika: I believe the August VoM's the best number in a long time. Weren't putting your best foot forward for that Time reporter, were you? We would be lucky to get a writeup so little unfavorable as your hypothetical clipping (which imitates Time's style rather well). Personally, I'd be tempted to send him back his 15[[cent symbol]].

So-- Stef in Spanish, eh? Considering the French s-f book I found, and the reports of a major movement in Germany, we're going to need some linguists to keep up with such things for The Great Bib.
Your "A Globslopulous Publication" makes a farce of listing publishing houses. The devil take you.
About the returning soldiers: The great majority of them are eager to get out of the Army and back into good old civilian life. After a few years, tho, when they've sunk into the routine jobs and unhappy marriages that seem to be the lot of the average man, they may look back on the war years as the best time in their life. They'll go to the American Legion conventions to get drunk with their old buddies and try to recapture their youth, and reminisce about the golden days when they were young and strong and free (!) and had the world before them. Maybe.
Another angle is their technical training. This is a good thing in a way, because lots of skilled men will be needed to run the post-war inventions. A tendency for reduction of the common-laborer class has already been noted; after the war, a great deal more work will doubtless be done by machines under the direction of a few men, and more men will be required for supervising ((Snafu! Preceding word shoud be servicing)) machinery and other expert work. Rothman is perhaps rightly alarmed at the prospect of less liberal education and more vocational training in the future. On the otherhand, the great number of skilled workers may do a lot to raise the general level of living and thus relieve the inhibiting effect of semi-poverty. It comes to the old question of whether the common people, if given perfect freedom to act (which is a nearly nonsensical concept), would apply themselves to cultural and other high-level pursuits, or spend their time going to burleycues, shooting craps, boozing, and grasping for more property and power. Do people really want liberal education, or has it been forced on them by the rulers of the republic?
By the way, the Congressional ban on the Army transmitting political material is a disgrace. One can't help feeling ashamed when he sees in the Union Jack highly controversial articles by such men as George Bernard Shaw, and letters commenting on social questions, while the Stars and Stripes has even had to discontinue its Reader's digest supplement. at the age when you should be becoming a flaming progressive, the soldiers may find little material for the fire to feed on. Is this going to mean a generation even more indifferent to politics than the 1920s? It's likely that the captains of industry will succeed for a while after the war in creating greater abundance than ever, and the returned soldiers will be content to concern themselves with their personal affairs for a decade or more. Then comes the great secondary war depression (somewhere in the 1950s). I hope to Foo when that time comes, people will say, "We did a big share of the feeding and clothing and arming of the world in addition to fighting two wars with our own troops, while those ten million men weren't engaged in production, and the civilian standard of living didn't suffer. There's no sense in people going hungry now. We're going to insist on a solution to their situation." Maybe.
Fie, Speer, you're rambling. A point I should have made in that last paragraf is that as long as the people are getting an abundance of goods and services, they're not likely to be much concerned at the fact that cartels and domestic monopolies are getting absolute control of the necessities of life. The co-ops will have a rough going.
I believe "Zoroastrianism" is the correct spelling.
Well, Eloise Becker and one or two other contributors should have given JWThomas a little old illusion or two. By the way, is she related to Doc Becker? (No, Eloise is one of the Wood Beckers! Ooh, after that I'll bet she'll be pecking on the Forrest. Then I'll be a Blue J!)
Mason's letter reminds me of a bit of poetry by Tom Slated that I may have quoted in a SusPro article:

"Omit where can; use telegraphic style.
Result: suggests remaining words worthwhile.
Purpose: to make the reader muddle through. 
Shall use? OK, if what suggests not true."
Dunkelberger's Plans for Slans strikes me as the most intelligent thing I've seen by him.
"A Fan's Mind" is striking, helped wonderfully by being in two colors. #
Speer appends a newspaper headline declaring: AKKERMAN, BENDRY VASLNI occupes par les Russes. (Which permits me to demonstrate that this typryter of Morojo's rites in francais as well as Esperanto--also getting in a plug for the Universalanguage, heh.)

###

I think you have an explanation coming to you after reading yoru editorial, says

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4 VOICE OF THE Fan of the Hour, JACK SPEER, compilator of the FANCYCLOPEDIA, notes via V-mail from Nafrika: I believe the August VoM's the best number in a long time. Weren't putting your best foot forward for that Time reporter, were you? We would be lucky to get a writeup so little unfavorable as your hypothetical clipping (which imitates Time's style rather well). Personally, I'd be tempted to send him back his 15[[cent symbol]]. So-- Stef in Spanish, eh? Considering the French s-f book I found, and the reports of a major movement in Germany, we're going to need some linguists to keep up with such things for The Great Bib. Your "A Globslopulous Publication" makes a farce of listing publishing houses. The devil take you. About the returning soldiers: The great majority of them are eager to get out of the Army and back into good old civilian life. After a few years, tho, when they've sunk into the routine jobs and unhappy marriages that seem to be the lot of the average man, they may look back on the war years as the best time in their life. They'll go to the American Legion conventions to get drunk with their old buddies and try to recapture their youth, and reminisce about the golden days when they were young and strong and free (!) and had the world before them. Maybe. Another angle is their technical training. This is a good thing in a way, because lots of skilled men will be needed to run the post-war inventions. A tendency for reduction of the common-laborer class has already been noted; after the war, a great deal more work will doubtless be done by machines under the direction of a few men, and more men will be required for supervising ((Snafu! Preceding word shoud be servicing)) machinery and other expert work. Rothman is perhaps rightly alarmed at the prospect of less liberal education and more vocational training in the future. On the otherhand, the great number of skilled workers may do a lot to raise the general level of living and thus relieve the inhibiting effect of semi-poverty. It comes to the old question of whether the common people, if given perfect freedom to act (which is a nearly nonsensical concept), would apply themselves to cultural and other high-level pursuits, or spend their time going to burleycues, shooting craps, boozing, and grasping for more property and power. Do people really want liberal education, or has it been forced on them by the rulers of the republic? By the way, the Congressional ban on the Army transmitting political material is a disgrace. One can't help feeling ashamed when he sees in the Union Jack highly controversial articles by such men as George Bernard Shaw, and letters commenting on social questions, while the Stars and Stripes has even had to discontinue its Reader's digest supplement. at the age when you should be becoming a flaming progressive, the soldiers may find little material for the fire to feed on. Is this going to mean a generation even more indifferent to politics than the 1920s? It's likely that the captains of industry will succeed for a while after the war in creating greater abundance than ever, and the returned soldiers will be content to concern themselves with their personal affairs for a decade or more. Then comes the great secondary war depression (somewhere in the 1950s). I hope to Foo when that time comes, people will say, "We did a big share of the feeding and clothing and arming of the world in addition to fighting two wars with our own troops, while those ten million men weren't engaged in production, and the civilian standard of living didn't suffer. There's no sense in people going hungry now. We're going to insist on a solution to their situation." Maybe. Fie, Speer, you're rambling. A point I should have made in that last paragraf is that as long as the people are getting an abundance of goods and services, they're not likely to be much concerned at the fact that cartels and domestic monopolies are getting absolute control of the necessities of life. The co-ops will have a rough going. I believe "Zoroastrianism" is the correct spelling. Well, Eloise Becker and one or two other contributors should have given JWThomas a little old illusion or two. By the way, is she related to Doc Becker? (No, Eloise is one of the Wood Beckers! Ooh, after that I'll bet she'll be pecking on the Forrest. Then I'll be a Blue J!) Mason's letter reminds me of a bit of poetry by Tom Slated that I may have quoted in a SusPro article: "Omit where can; use telegraphic style. Result: suggests remaining words worthwhile. Purpose: to make the reader muddle through. Shall use? OK, if what suggests not true." Dunkelberger's Plans for Slans strikes me as the most intelligent thing I've seen by him. "A Fan's Mind" is striking, helped wonderfully by being in two colors. # Speer appends a newspaper headline declaring: AKKERMAN, BENDRY VASLNI occupes par les Russes. (Which permits me to demonstrate that this typryter of Morojo's rites in francais as well as Esperanto--also getting in a plug for the Universalanguage, heh.) ### I think you have an explanation coming to you after reading yoru editorial, says