DearTIME-Reader:

One of the most baffling problems of our day is posed by the fact that the U.S. is producing too much food. This domestic overabundance in a world of shortages presents us with a serious economic and political question--what to do with our surpluses. Most suggested solutions to this home-grown problem have the tendency to affect a dairy farmer in France as well as his counterpart in Wisconsin, a wheat-grower in Montana as well as a sheep rancher in Australia.

That is the subject examined in TIME'S business essay this week. It is typical of the kind of knotty question that TIME'S editors explore each week in the two-column box in the BUSINESS section. This special feature was started some two years ago (the first essay: "The Case for Free Trade." May 25, 1953). It was designed to fill a particular editorial function outside the area of spot news: the need to discuss topics of general business interest, subjects which are on people's minds. The idea is to present the pros and cons, to give the reader a reflective report and the guidance that will stimulate his own thinking.

I must say that the business essay, if judged only by the number of letters to the editors we get each week, has certainly proved to be a stimulant.

No story evokes unanimous agreement, nor do we expect it. We do welcome the challenges we receive on many of these controversial subjects as a healthy indication of a thoughtful readership.

In the past two years the editors have explored dozens of complex problems in the essay, ranging from unemployment and the psychology of salesmanship to the federal budget, the capital gains tax and atomic power. Despite their brevity and sharpness, these essays entail some of the most intensive work that goes into the magazine, often reflecting the research of a dozen or more TIME bureaus. The essay "Executive Trappings" (Jan. 24), for instance, was the result of thorough investigation into the methods various companies use in handling the matter of executive prerogatives, of who rates the rugs. At first glance this may seem a frivolous point. Quite the contrary, as our story showed. It is a real poser in many firms.

The fact that the essay tackles basic issues is reflected in the number of reprint requests we receive. "Employee Suggestions" (Aug. 16) drew such requests from large and small companies across the country and from three Government agencies. Other favorites in the reprint sweepstakes were "Public Relations" (May 10), "Business & the Colleges" (Jan. 18, 1954), and "Death of the Salesmen" (Jan. 25, 1954). Of the last, one salesman remarked that he had had this essay so drummed into him at meetings and conventions that he knew it by heart.

From the list of future subjects now under consideration and being researched, I would say that this year's crop of business essays will prove even more stimulating than last year's.

Cordially yours,

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