LETTERS
Letters “Making It” Revisited Jim Fallows’ piece on Nader, Morris and :Podhoretz [“ ‘Making It’ Revisited: Nader, Podhoretz, and Morris,” ’ July/August] is provocative and original but there...
...When Morris and his colleagues had to choose between reducing their rate of pay and sacrificing their ability to publish their views, they left the magazine...
...If so, I would lament that as much as Morris’ departure from Harper ’s...
...Perhaps Shawn and his writers would do the same in similar straits...
...Indeed, life at this office might be happier if our salaries were like those at the New Yorker, or even Harper’s...
...DAVID HALBERSTAM New York The author replies: I have nothing against decent pay for writers...
...if someone like Larry King had been writing comparable amounts for the New Yorker, then in an average year instead of making about $16,000 from Willie, he would have made in the neighborhood of $70,000 from Shawn...
...Quite the reverse is true-Willie’s genius was to get major writers to work for him for one third to one quarter of their normal rate, and he did this by editing them with great care and sensitivity and making sure they appeared with their peers...
...The staff writers, some of whom also worked as editors, and who had full time jobs, earned between $14,000 and $18,000 a year which is about guild minimum at the Times and Washington Post for men with five years’ experience...
...And helped make that particular journal a more lively and readable publication...
...What I criticized was a decision which appeared to value money over voice...
...Letters “Making It” Revisited Jim Fallows’ piece on Nader, Morris and :Podhoretz [“ ‘Making It’ Revisited: Nader, Podhoretz, and Morris,” ’ July/August] is provocative and original but there is one particular point which is pure bullshit-the allegation that Willie Morris while at Harper’s paid huge sums to writers...
...What is particularly offensive about Fallows’ statement is his comparing Morris unfavorably in this regard with William Shawn of the New Yorker...
...Indeed, Shawn’s great strength is his bankroll...
...The entire editorial budget-editors, writers, expenseswas about $250,000 a year, which is what a television anchorman gets...
Vol. 5 • October 1973 • No. 8
