Dear Time-Reader

When we first, asked TIME'S 50 editorial researchers to tell us about themselves via a recent and very comprehensive questionnaire, we expected to be able to report on them in a single Letter (TIME, Aug. 19). But they had so much to say about so many aspects of TIME'S editorial operation that I think they deserve more space.

So here is 1) the researcher's-eye-view of her associate, the TIME writer, and 2) her analysis of some of the special problems and rewards of her job, a job which is unique in U. S. journalism.

Asked what working habits they would like to see changed in TIME writers, the researchers really took their hair down. It would be nice, they said, if writers would get their stories in on time so that researchers, who have to check the facts in them, could get home at a civilized hour. It would be even nicer if writers would decide what material they want for a story far enough in advance to give a researcher time to look it up. As for writers who ask the impossible an hour before closing time (e. g., "How do you say 'rubber stamp' in Chinese?"), who want a bushel of research for a ten-line story, who fail to share editors' comments, inside tips, etc. with their researchers --they should be curbed.

"What, then, are the qualities you consider most important for your writer to have?" was the next question. Most researchers settled for honesty, a sense of humor, patience, fortitude, a knowledge of his field, and respect for his researcher. Said one: "If he just has a sense of TIME -- which implies writing ability, imagination, a sense of humor, etc., a researcher can kick in with the background and the wheels of journalism can really revolve."

The next question was loaded: "Is a TIME editor or writer, in general or in particular, your idea of what a man should be?" The replies to that one (the questionnaires were unsigned) rang the gong from "Certainly not!" to "Yes!" Some found our editors & writers "too blase," lacking "glamor" and "physical charm," inclined to be "walking brains, not people." Others thought them "very nice people," "what I expect a competent editor or writer of this category to be," "superior personalities and a few really engaging minds." One researcher, however, felt that only the editors' & writers' wives could truly answer the question.

Not only TIME writers, but TIME'S late hours and odd editorial work week (we go to press on Monday, take Tuesday & Wednesday off) are special problems for our researchers. They can't sleep late Sundays, have trouble getting to church, worry about their boy friends taking other girls out on Saturdays and Sundays, often have to ride the milk train to the suburbs. Says one, with some asperity: "The butcher closes promptly at six and I am never there!"

One good reason why she is late for the butcher is the volume and kind of work a TIME researcher has to do. This was clearly revealed by the question : "What was your toughest research assignment and how did you solve it?" The assignments ranged from trying to understand atomic physics to figuring out how many ice cream cones America's largest refrigerating system could provide. Some solutions were nothing if not ingenious. One researcher, faced with the task of finding out what John L. Lewis' new miners' contract meant in terms of money, put it up to a professor of mathematics she had a date with that night. He got the wage-raise figures (released a week later) to the last decimal. Another researcher was less fortunate. Her assignment was to try to figure out where the Allied invasion of Europe would take place. Says she: "I proved beyond any doubt that it was impossible to land where they eventually did."

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