The Daily Alaska empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1926-1964, 1944-02-24
JUNEAu's USo NEWS
Interesting Items for Everybody

Of course, we've been wondering
why
To be sure, there are not so many
fellows around town now as former
" was the case; and, with fewer
men in the building, naturally the
number of potential correspondents
is reduced But, even so, allowing
for all this, the proportionate de-
crease in the letters and postcards
mailed has considerably exceeded
the drop in the attendance figures.
This may well be due to any one
or more of group of factors. To
mention just two. We suspect that
many of the men have at last be-
come fed up with the endless diff
ficulty of finding anything to write
about that will be interesting but
not censorable, and fed up also with
the annoyance of knowing that their
officers will be reading personal
items that anyone would much pre-
fer to keep from all third persons
This means added difficulty and
increased irritation in getting salts
factory letters composed hence
fewer letters are even being at
tempted This is a pity, because
fewer letters written means, newt
ably, fewer letters received--and We
all know what a big factor the re-
oeipt OF mail is in serviceman's
life.
While bordering this state of
affairs the other day we unwilling
ly stumbled upon what we would
like to believe was the answer to
this problem. Looking for some
thing else in current magazine,
our eye fell upon an advertisement
fascinatingly captioned 1T Is Easy
to Write Thrilling Love Letters"
Instantly we read on to discover
that this happy result is predestin-
ed for anyone possessing SO cents
and the good Judgment to buy
copy of How to Write Love Let
ters' at that price. Especially in
triguing to us was the list of the
series of How To" chapters inform
ing the reader of the means of
achieving such highly desirable ends
as: How to Make Your Sweet
heart Write More Often How to
Express Your Love-" How to Break
the Ice" How to Assure Him Tor
Herr of Your Faithfulness," and
even How to Propose BY Mail"
perhaps it is sheer coincidence that
the next How To" Immediately fol-
lowing this one is How to Help Her
cor HIM Keep Chin Up!'D It
interested us, too, to note that the
CT on the defensive had not been
forgotten by an understanding au-
thor, for there are chapters on such
useful How To's. as How to Make
Cor Break Date" and How to
iscourage the too Romantic
Friend"
The book, furthermore, is equip
ped with scores of model love let
tiers by famous people" which it is
suggested may be adapted" by the
reader. The ad does not say SO, but
we suppose they might even be
adopted" verbatim as ones own
were it not for the SOLDERING fact
that a volume SO useful, and doubt
less of wide circulation might pos
sibly be in the possession of the
prospective recipient of the letter
Anyway, since the volume costs but
98 cents, presumably the writer Of
the letter is to be encouraged to get
In at least his own 2-cents' worth.
To buy or not to buy? That is
the question with which our USO
is concerned at the moment. It's
our job to boost morale But would
we be boosting it? If not delight
ed with results" the ad says we can
get our money back, so our invest
ment of SO cents would seem rea-
sonably secure. But how about the
possibility of fellow wanting his
LETTER back? Having broken the
ice" suppose he finds himself in
hot water-what then?
We we'll appreciate the chances
that soldiers will sometimes take,
though fully informed of the de-
structive nature of the pen in con-
trast with the sword. One such
occasion Of chance-taking Is still
fresh in our memory. A lad of the
armed forces sat at desk, pen
poised for letter designed to make
an impression" on a girl back home
but -too-much-of an impress
SION" Aware that he was feeling
uninspired and conscious that his
efforts at correspondence were hone