Editor's Notes

– PUBLICITY: Articles from REASON continue to attract favorable attention. In August we were pleased to receive a letter from the International Communications Agency'"the new body that combines the US Information Agency and the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. It turns out that their New Delhi office is conducting a series of seminar/lecture programs throughout India on urban planning. They asked permission to reprint and distribute. Dick Bjornseth's article, "Houston Defies the Planners…And Thrives," from our February issue. The article will be given to seminar participants as background reading and also to local editors and publishers.

Thus, information about private, voluntary methods of resolving land use problems will circulate throughout India, possibly helping residents of that country to avoid the harm caused by coercive political zoning. Ideas, as Richard Weaver said, do have consequences.

Robert Poole's article on OTRAG ("African Deception," July) continues to receive coverage. The latest was a two-page write-up in the August issue of L-5 News, the magazine of the L-5 Society (1620 N. Park, Tucson, AZ 85719). That issue includes 12 detailed photos, never before published, of OTRAG's launch center and test rockets.

– APOLOGY: Our September issue carried an article by Prof. Kenneth W. Chilton, assistant director of the Center for the Study of American Business. The center does valuable work studying the effects of government regulation, and we have great respect for its people, including Chilton and director Murray Weidenbaum.

Consequently, we were dismayed to receive a letter from Professor Chilton after publication of the issue, in which he objected to our choice of the title "How the Feds Screw Small Business" for his article. Professor Chilton considers this "a shoddy title which reflects adversely on me, my employer, and on your publication." We wish to apologize for any embarrassment we may have caused either Professor Chilton or the center. He had titled the piece "The Impact of Federal Regulation on American Small Business," an accurate if not very colorful headline. Those wishing copies of the article with its original title may wish to contact the center at Washington University, Box 1208, St. Louis, MO 63130.

– CONSULTANTS WANTED: A friend of ours heads a consulting organization called the Atlantic Group, which is free-market-oriented with connections in many corporate boardrooms. One of its clients is looking for people for occasional consulting, of two types.

1. People with an interest in public policy who are likely to be professors or have an academic background or work as writers or commentators and (usually) have at least a master's degree. They must have a strong interest in public policy and be able to make contributions to knowledge of it or thinking about it.
2. The same sort of people, more likely to be academics, who have a special interest in the health and drug fields. These will create a subcategory of the larger group since the client is primarily engaged in this business. But people from the broader realm are definitely not excluded, since the client is just as concerned with problems of capital formation as national health insurance and drug legislation.

The client hopes to use this list for a number of purposes: to review articles, to conduct research, to discuss a speech topic, to engage in dialogue. The client is said to be one of the most far-thinking companies in the United States and wants to reach out to the academic community.

Those interested in being considered for this opportunity should send a resume to Atlantic Group, c/o REASON, Box 40105, Santa Barbara, CA 93103.

– LAST CHANCE The price of REASON has not increased in over two years. During this time, costs have continued to escalate; our postage bill alone is 50 percent higher than it was six months ago, and paper costs have just gone up another 15 percent. Consequently, we are increasing the price of a REASON subscription from $15 to $20 a year, as of December 1. To make this transition as painless as possible, we are making available (to present subscribers only) the following special offer. No matter when your subscription is due to expire, if you renew it now'"for one, two, or three years'"you need pay only the present low renewal rate. That's just $12 for one year, $21 for two, and $28 for three. Payment must accompany your order and it must be received before December 1. The way postage rates are climbing, three years for $28 has got to be one of the greatest bargains around.