°OHE CAIPLINGER SHOP COALK LETTER

An Irregular Adjunct to the Regular Letters

THE KIPLINGER WASHINGTON AGENCY
NATIONAL PRESS BUILDING, WASHINGTON 4, D. C.

Dear Sir;

Come take a look into our shop, meet the men who do the work.
Go with them on their rounds to gather news from officials here-&-there.
Sit in a staff meeting. Listen to the men as they spill out their news,
and argue over what it means.

See how Kiplinger Letters are made, and how the wheels go round.
You can use a thing better if you know the men and the methods behind it.
This applies to ANY product, and to news reports most of all.

Staff of 10...experienced, seasoned...they know their Washington.
Kiplinger, Morgan, Covel, Granducci, Shelton, Ryerson, Wright, Mullin,
Boothby, Becker. A news team that has worked together for years.

Every day, every week they gather news...facts and opinions.
They go to see officials at their offices, sit down and talk things over.
They talk the ins=-k-outs of gov't policies, reasons why, background,
motives and pressures, even the politics. Officials talk pretty freely,
for they are anxious that businessmen understand gov't plans and motives.
They aren't "talking for publication"...they know they won't be quoted.
Thus what they say is likely to. be honest-to-goodness, down-to-earth.

No inside dope, no confidential information, and no "tips." .
Most officials are forthright, square, don't leak what they shouldn't.
It's all open & aboveboard...interviews at offices, in working hours.
Not cocktail or dinner gossip, for most of that is not dependable.

You or anyone else could get the news and the facts which we get,
if you had the time, facilities, and experience.

Raw information often doesn't mean much. It must be sifted,
checked and double=-checked...from different angles, different sources.
In gov't news there are always discrepancies, conflicts of attitude,
pet slants, and sometimes even fibbing. Such things must be ironed out.
We call it "processing" of the news. Means putting the pieces together,
appraising the trends...projecting them into the future.

Such forecasting is not crystal-gazing, and is not mysterious.
It is merely a form of reporting...a refinement. First you gather facts,
lots of them, from many angles. Weigh the forces for=k=<against a policy.
If you work hard enough and know enough, you can figure what will happen.
Not always perfectly, but usually right in direction and general outcome.
And this is useful to anyone, particularly to men who run businesses,
for. business decisions often depend on what the gov't is going to do.

Our Letters supplement the daily news, are not a substitute.

But daily news is confusing, often conflicting...like a series
of spots or dots. It takes on meaning only when the dots are connected,
or assembled to show the pattern...the whole picture...in perspective...
judgment mixed in...the judgment that comes from Washington experience.

Then you see the TREND. And then you make your OWN forecasts,
applicable to YOUR business. And that is what we try to help you do.