The Press: Vox Pop

Who writes letters to the editor? Last week the first issue of Speak Up, a monthly magazine devoted to reprinting such letters from U.S. newspapers, published the results of a survey of 10,000 letters. Men, Speak Up found, lead women in the letter columns 46% to 37% (the other 17% are anonymous). Of the men, clergymen are the most prolific writers, accounting for 23%. The others: lawyers, civic leaders and minor officials, 21%; politicians, 18%; secretaries of organizations, 15%; disgruntled government employees, 12%; plain publicity seekers, 11%. Among the women, clubwomen lead with 42%; teachers are next with 28%; working women, 16%, and housewives, 14%.