BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE 315 



taking care of special orders and shall endeavor to keep the 

 quality of our product up to your expectation." 



A letter is often started as follows: "We have your favor of 

 the fifth inst., etc./' or "Relying to your favor of August 6th, 

 etc." Such may be satisfactory for a certain kind of corre- 

 spondence when it serves as a connecting link between this and 

 a letter just received, but for a selling letter such a beginning is 

 rather weak. The letter becomes stronger if beginning at once 

 with the subject-matter; at the close of the letter the statement 

 may be made, "This is in reply to your favor of August 6th." 



A letter should be simple and clear so the meaning thereof 

 is readily understood by the reader. Long words should be 

 avoided, short Anglo-Saxon words are always the most em- 

 phatic. Technical words and terms should never be used unless 

 a technical subject is treated and the letter is written to some 

 one who is technically trained. 



Good tact and judgment are essentials in business corre- 

 spondence. A letter that answers its purpose should always 

 make the reader feel somewhat more friendly toward the writer 

 or the firm from which it came. A letter which cannot accom- 

 plish that is either of no value or it may prove to be injurious. 

 The following letter is one of the latter type. 



" Dear Sir: We have your favor of recent date asking for a 

 subscription for the erection of your new lodge hall. 



" We hardly consider that we should be called upon by your 

 members for a donation, as the members of our firm all belong 

 to the Greenview Lodge and help to pay for the upkeep of same; 

 however, we like to see you meet with success and inclose here- 

 with ten dollars as our donation. 



" Yours truly " 



The writer of the above letter should first have decided in his 

 own mind as to whether or not the cause was a worthy one, 

 whether or not he could afford to make a donation, and possibly 

 also the advertising value of such a donation. If he decided to 

 make the donation he should endeavor to go on record as a 



