A Letter From The Publisher, Nov. 8, 1943

To answer some of the questions our subscribers have been asking about how TIME gathers, verifies, writes and distributes its news.

"One smashed typewriter—$55.30."

Sometimes these little lost property items on our correspondents' expense accounts have quite a story behind them.

For example, there was Harry Zinder's typewriter. This one was lost in a desert plane crash as he flew out from Cairo to cover the disastrous tank battle from which Rommel's Afrika Korps swept on to El Alamein. And five months later when the British started winning, Walter Graebner's typewriter turned up missing—that was...