As of press time, over 80 of you have responded to my letter calling for 'donations' which was enclosed in the last issue. As you represent nearly one-third of the circulation, I thought I would share some of the kind comments which accompanied many of your 'donations' with the entire readership. I shall not list names, but assure you all that these quotes are all from letters on file.
'Yours is too noble an effort to see it end for the sake of a few dollars.'
'Don't despair. S&S is deserving of support and let me mention again that an irregular production of S&S is OKAY with me. You are doing a superlative job and go ahead and raise the subscription rate.'
'I would like to compliment you on the outstanding job you have done in producing S&S over the past decade. I hope you will be able to continue with S&S for any years to come.'
'The 'From the Back of the Bus' article was fascinating and helped to motivate my donation.'
Please find enclosed my check to help keep S&S around. I'm not a garner but rather a figure collector, painter, and history buff. So even if your magazine is primarily for garners I wouldn't trade it for anything. My special interests are in the colonial campaigns and I'm always amazed at the new things I learn in StS. I even enjoy the battle reports because the way you print them they read as well as any of the old novels. I'm pretty new to the hobby world so I hope my small contribution helps out. There is still a lot of things I need to learn about colonial campaigns.'
Please accept my check to help your (our) noble magazine to stay in operation. While you have not received the H.G. Wells Award, due to your efforts the major figure companies are flooding the market with Colonial Era figures. It should be noted that when I was sitting in the backwoods of Japan in the Marines (without a typewriter) you were the only one to print my article that was hand-written. I had sent a number of others (on wargaming modern 1970 era) to other U.S. Magazines, but they were not published because they disregarded my hand printed articles (and my jungle outpost problems) and not only did not publish them, but did not return them.'
'SAVAGE AND SOLDIER occupies an important niche that I would hate to see empty.'
Here's my contribution. KEEP US AFLOAT!'
'I consider this donation money well spent, considering the pleasure S&S has given me. We all live in a pop-top civilization with a sit-com mentality and yearn, I think, for a simpler time when facing your enemy man to man and not laying some megatonnage on one of his cities was the vogue.'
'I'm glad to send a donation to help. Don't be afraid to raise the price of 515, it is well worth a lot more. The uniform information and the 'Reviewing Stand' is worth the price alone, which sakes the articles a bonus.'
"Thank you for giving me this chance to show tangibly my appreciation for SAVAGE AND SOLDIER. I hope that the magazine lasts at least as long as you care to continue struggling with it -- and that will be a long time. As I cannot say more on the magazine's quality than Doug Johnson has already said, I will simply say my check is enclosed.'
'I'm a cardboard pusher. I've never owned miniatures and probably never will; it's the historical articles I want and keeping another source of information open. If you love publishing this amateur (in the Latin sinse of the word!) journal, I'll keep reading.'
'Thanks for being honest with your subscribers. I have been stranded a number of times by magazines which had gone under (SPI's STRATEGY AND TACTICS springs to mind) - I would much rather donate a few bucks to save a valued friend than save the donation and lose the friend and my original subscription investment.'
'Congratulations on your twentieth year of publication. I have been a subscriber for several years now and have never been disappointed with a single issue. The articles are always informative and well-written. I particularly look forward to 'The Reviewing Stand.' The magazine is truly worth double the current rate.'
"I am a relative newcomer to the magazine, and to matters Colonial in general (about one year) but I must agree that the pleasure I derive from 515 is worth more than the price. I realize that it is not primarily a commercial enterprise and that you must do a great deal of work for which you are poorly compensated. It is we readers who benefit from your effort.'
'Please accept the enclosed check as a contribution towards the publication of your splendid magazine. The availability of 'affordable' material on the colonial period is slight indeed and for this reason your magazine is all the more welcome.'
"I'm really distressed to learn of S+S's difficulties and certainly hope that enough of us subscribers rise to the occasion. The really great attraction of S+S for me has been (and is) the many well researched articles on subjects which attracted my attention but infuriatingly little detailed information could be found with limited time and money. Otto von Sydow's East African work is one such example. This is not to say that I haven't immensely enjoyed the other material. I read every issue of S+S from cover to cover.'
Well, this is just a sampling. There were many letters which just said 'Keep up the good work', 'Worth double the price', etc. There were also many which just contained the 'Dear Valued Reader' letter and a check. Thanks to you all and I hope to continue serving you for many years to come.
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© Copyright 2004 by Milton Soong.
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