Radcliffe Publications

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

I should like to correct certain inaccuracies which appeared in your story of February 28 about Signature magazine.

The recommendation, it is true, was the result of a report by Signature of its financial situation. However, it should be made clear that the financial report submitted to the Student Council when Signature was rochartered last spring was a grossly inaccurate one. We were presented a statement which showed a bank balance but which failed to include unpaid bills. While the Student Council may be said to be responsible, then, for the present state of affairs, Signature cannot avoid accepting its responsibility for presenting an inaccurate financial record. The truth of the matter is that Signature was not keeping any financial books, and that only with the appointment of a new Business Manager last fall was this fact made known and corrected.

The Executive Board did in fact propose a financial merger of the News and Signature. It was thought that Signature could profit by the increased circulation and more efficient business methods which a merger with the News would offer them. It was not intended that the News should in any way control the literary policies of Signature, but only that the business staff of the News could untangle the Signature financial muddle. The original idea was that Signature could be published in a less expensive format and then circulated with the News. It was hoped that by cutting expenses to the minimum the Signature debt would not increase at its present astronomical rate; the News would then assume responsibility for the remainder of the debt. As far as I know, there was no suggestion whatsoever that the News "publish stories and poetry by the Signature staff on its pages." No reduction in the size of the Signature staff was contemplated.

Willing to Accept

If the editors of Signature and the News have decided that such a merger is unworkable, the Executive Board is perfectly willing to accept that decision. It is not quite true, however, that Signature would not consider a merger. Signature did consider the merger, and it is known that members of the staff were in favor of the proposal if certain technical, editorial, and administrative agreements satisfactory to both publications could be arrived at.

Signature is not going to collapse. It must publish until June, since it cannot break contracts which stipulate that advertisements must appear in four issues. The suspension of publication would serve only to increase the debt, since income from advertisements exceeds income from circulation.

Because Signature had no official financial records, it is almost impossible to determine the extent of indebtedness as of September. It is perfectly true, and should be universally realized, that the present debt has by no means been wholly incurred by the present staff. Nevertheless, it is, or should have been, their responsibility to recognize their financial burden when they assumed office last spring. That they have paid some past debts this year is true; but they have by no means reduced them entirely, and they have, in addition, incurred unnecessarily extensive new debts as a result of ridiculously extravagant publication procedures and incredibly inefficient business methods.

I wish to thank the CRIMSON for this opportunity to make known the unhappy situation in which Signature has found itself, and to explain to the student body the necessity for Executive Board interference which some may consider offensive. This letter is in no respect an indictment of CRIMSON reporting. However, the question of a merger must be considered in relation to the entire recent history of the magazine and a full knowledge of its present financial situation. Joan Braverman '50,   President, Radcliffe Student Government.