Periods, Unltd.

Like all greatly respected people and institutions, the good, grey New York Times has its little faults.

A year ago, Publisher Arthur Hays Sulzberger began a quiet campaign to get rid of some of the Times's greyness. He sent word to the staff that their rambling stories should be crispened, their tortuous sentences shortened.

The habits of 96 years are not easily broken. Last week a short plea from the Times's assistant managing editor appeared on the Washington bureau's bulletin board. It read: "Turner Catledge suggests that the composing room has an unlimited supply of periods available to terminate short, simple sentences in Washington bureau copy. . . ."

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