A Thin Red Line

"To foster amity among nations; cooeperation between Capital and Labor; equal opportunity for all, and liberty under law and order"--these were the purposes with which the late Frederick Dixon, formerly of The Christian Science Monitor, founded The International Interpreter, a "Worldwide News Weekly," two years ago. Now the Interpreter asks its readers to decide whether it shall continue to publish or not. Within a month The Freeman has gone on the rocks and ceased publication (TiME, Feb. 4), The Independent went into bankruptcy (TiME, Feb. 11) and was sold. Now the Interpreter which, according to its profession, "only reaches a thin red line of thinkers scattered throughout the world" appeals for funds to carry on its work. Its editors sigh that "public response . . . has not been all that they had hoped. Appreciation seems ever to be a laggard It claims a circulation of over 10,000, but it confesses to a considerable, if decreasing, deficit each month. It announced that a few men had offered one-third the amount of money to enable it to continue publication. It appealed to its readers for the necessary remainder.

Such are the fortunes of publishing. George Horace Lorimer celebrated his silver anniversary with a weekly which has made Cyrus H. K. Curtis several fortunes in cash. At the same time the Interpreter clutched at the thin red line of thinkers. To one the American public is a gold mine of appreciation; to the other it is a laggard.