TO THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD:

Why is it that while the benevolent rich men are giving so much to charities, the blind, the most helpless of the afflicted, seem to be overlooked? I have a blind brother, and this has interested me in the blind and caused me to realize their utter helplessness. The lame and the deaf mutes are still able to use their eyes and thereby support and entertain themselves, but there is little that the blind can do, and they must sit day after day in idleness. The raised type has given them a great power to entertain themselves and brighten their hours, but these books are so expensive that only a few of the blind can afford them. For instance, "Ben Hur" in type for the blind costs $10.50. A few cities have libraries for the blind, but very few of the 100,000 blind have access to them. We are able to buy these books for my brother, and knowing the great pleasure they give him my heart sighs for the many who do not have books.

Every State in the Union has its schools for the blind, where they are taught to read, all expenses of board, [and]c., for a few years being paid, but at the age of twenty they must leave these schools, and few can buy the books. Why do some of our wealthy men not establish circulating libraries for the blind?

The government takes books for the blind through the mails free of cost. A few years ago when Mr. Carnegie's library donations were coming in so fast I tried to interest him in the plan. I found that $250,000 would put a good library for the blind in each State capital in the United States.

I am in New York for a few weeks, and if anyone can bring this to the notice of some benevolent rich man or woman I should like to give the benevolent person the details of a plan to which I have given much study.

W.G.H.
Room No. 211, Vanderbilt Building
New York
May 25, 1905

Mrs. William Ziegler's announcement last week that she will publish and distribute free to all the blind in the United States a magazine in raised type has brought letters from all parts of the country. Walter G. Holmes, who is manager of the magazine for Mrs. Ziegler, said that he had received over 1,500 letters either from the blind themselves or from their friends thanking Mrs. Ziegler. He has opened an office in the Miller Building at 1931 Broadway, New York, to look after the correspondence and the business end of the scheme.

This magazine will be the first high-class publication for the blind published in the United States and the first one in the world sent free to all the blind who can read. As the plan stands at present it will contain about 50 pages, 9 x 12 inches in size. There will be in it short stories, serial stories, letters from the blind about their condition and occupation and a music department which will occasionally print a sheet of music.

There are about 70,000 blind in the United States, according to the Government statistics. About 10,000 of these can read in one of the several systems of type. The magazine will be printed in duplicate in the two commonest of these types, the "New York Point" and the "American Braille." Mr. Holmes said that several attempts had been made here and abroad to establish a standard type, and that doubtless this would soon be accomplished.

Mrs. Ziegler became interested in the blind on account of her son, C. C. Gamble, who lost his sight when a baby. He is now past 40 years old and married. Mr. Holmes has a blind brother, and last February he and Mrs. Ziegler had a talk that resulted in his going to Scotland in the summer to look at some presses used in printing books for the blind. When he came back, Mrs. Ziegler decided that the idea of a magazine was practicable. Mr. Holmes says that there is no press in this country capable of printing a magazine the size of Mrs. Ziegler's, so a plant will have to be established especially for it and this will take several months. Of the letters received 400 are from blind persons who cannot read the type for the blind, asking for an a alphabet in order that they may learn. This request Mr. Holmes cannot comply with, as there are at least 60,000 such persons in the country. He is, however, asking the Department of Education in Washington if it cannot distribute the alphabets to all applicants.

The Business Men's Self-Improvement Club held its first fall meeting last night at its rooms at No. 64 Madison Avenue. There was present nearly the entire membership, numbering about 60, and the chief interest was in the discussion of plans for the "Ziegler Magazine for the Blind," which has been founded by Mrs. William Ziegler.

Walter G. Holmes, manager of the magazine, said that he had already received about two thousand letters from blind persons throughout the country who are anxious to have the magazine. Mr. Holmes added that at the beginning an issue of five thousand would be necessary, but that some trouble was being experienced in obtaining machinery of sufficient dimensions to print the magazine, which is to be of large proportions. The periodical is to be issued monthly in embossed type and will be distributed free to the blind. American Braille and New York Point type will be used, and wherever possible blind men will be employed in its publication.

The Business Men's Self-Improvement Club is a pioneer in its sphere, a most practical organization for the advancement of the blind, and all of its members are self-supporting. Rudolph Hutchinson, formerly an actor, who was stricken with blindness two years ago, is president of the club. He rendered several recitations last night that were keenly appreciated by his hearers. There was also a musical program by the members. Eben P. Morford, superintendent of the Industrial Home for the Blind of Brooklyn, was present and spoke. He expressed his appreciation of the work performed for the blind by Miss Winifred Holt, secretary of the New York Association for the Blind, of which Dr. Lyman Abbott is president. Another member who attended the meeting was Benjamin Bernstein, of Rochester, who is a law student at Columbia University.

The first issue of the monthly "Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind" is now being circulated all over the United States. There are forty-nine pages of it and it is in rather bulky shape, but in the best form that could be devised for such a work. It is the first of its kind ever attempted and is the result of the philanthropic spirit of Mrs. Matilda Ziegler, widow of William Ziegler, the well-known organizer of Arctic expeditions, who left about $15,000,000. It is the hope of Mrs. Ziegler and those associated with her in the project that in time the magazine will come into the hands of every one of the seventy thousand blind persons in the country who can read by touch the dot or point system generally taught. Of these seventy thousand only about 20 percent have been taught to read.

The magazine is practically free, but there is a price of ten cents per year for it in order to comply with the second class postal law. Nevertheless, any blind person who can read will get the magazine, 10 cents or no 10 cents. For this month's issue 7,000 copies have been printed and are being packed up for distribution at a little office at 71 West Broadway, under the managerial care of Walter G. Holmes, who first brought to Mrs. Ziegler's attention the unquestionable good that would come from such a project. It has a green paper cover and measures about 14 inches by 12. The pages are printed on one side.

Requests for the magazine have not only come from all over the United States, but three letters have also been received from Australia and other distant points. Mrs. Ziegler's intention at first was to restrict the magazine to the United States , but a tearful appeal came from 350 former students of a school for the blind at Brantford, Ontario; and they did not plead in vain, for Mrs. Ziegler has instructed that they receive copies. To each of the thirty-nine states that have schools for the blind will be sent about three copies that can be read and circulated among the pupils, and a copy will be sent to each blind person who is not now attached to a school and can read. Two systems of dots or points are used in the monthly. One is called the New York Point and the other the Braille, both of which are in use generally throughout the United States. The Braille system is about a century old and is used extensively by the blind in Europe, but principally in England and France. Its inventor was Louis Braille, a blind man who lived in Paris.

Mrs. Ziegler's interest in the blind was prompted, more or less, because her son, Charles C. Gamble—a son by her first husband—who is about thirty-five years of age and who lives at Luzerne, Pa., is blind.

Mrs. William Ziegler's monthly magazine, published in the interest of the blind, made its first appearance yesterday. Through the generosity of Mrs. Ziegler, the sightless folk now have a publication of their own and which is devoted solely to their interest and welfare. The publication is printed in the raised-point system, the work being done by sightless printers at the American Printing House of the Blind, in the State Asylum, in Louisville, KY. A nominal subscription often cents a year is charged. The first issue of the magazine is seven thousand copies. Among the contents of the first number are letters from President Roosevelt, Grover Cleveland and Helen Keller. In her letter, Miss Keller, on behalf of the blind, thanks Mrs. Ziegler for the work for which the sightless have waited years.

There is a history of the Ziegler polar expedition, a physical culture department, a comic department containing humorous paragraphs from the newspapers and some pages of articles on current events. In illustrations the magazine publishes a map of the West Indies and the national emblem in raised point.

Upon the cover, which is of green paper, is the title of the periodical, the "Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind." There are fifty pages in the first issue. The inside pages are of the finest paper and the cost of publication is estimated at about $.10 for each subscription. Walter G. Holmes is the editor and manager of the publication. Some time ago he wrote to the "Herald," calling attention to the need of a publication for the blind. Mrs. Ziegler read the letter and at once offered her support.

Mr. Holmes says that under the present system of printing, the point system, the expense is very great. As an illustration, he says a copy of "Ben Hur" costs exactly $10.50. A great deal of the expense of getting the magazine out will be done away with when a complete plant is established in this city, which will be accomplished before long.

The most remarkable magazine in the world is being published in New York City. Three numbers of it have already gone on the press. Its circulation is 6,500 and that is rapidly increasing. There is not a line of advertising in it, nor is it likely that there will be, except in the event of its editor coming across certain commodities that he might think his clientage would want. To 84,900,000 of the 85,000,000 people of this country, the magazine is not of the slightest interest save as a curiosity. Yet it is one of the most wonderful boons in the history of mankind. A woman's beneficence has established it.

Inside and outside, this new magazine is utterly unlike any ever before printed. It is a vast volume, only 50 pages, it is true, but nonetheless an armful. A dozen copies of it would swamp even a subway news-stand. But since it will never by any possibility be sold upon the streets or in the shops, its great bulk is a matter of little concern. This publication is intended solely for the blind; it is the new "Blind Magazine" that the widow of William Ziegler has made a real thing for the 70,000 people of America who cannot see.

After much persuasion Mrs. Ziegler allowed her name to be used in connection with it, though her original intention was that she should be a secret donor of the publication. From the first number, therefore, it has been known as the "Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind." It was not Mrs Ziegler's original idea, though she has put unlimited funds at the disposition of her publisher. The plan was first suggested to her by a letter sent to a New York paper. With characteristic energy she saw the possibilities of the suggestion and at once set out to secure the services of the man who had written the letter. Long persuading induced him to undertake the curious new work. He and Mrs. Ziegler were at once attracted to each other, because each know intimately the trials of the blind. Mrs. Ziegler has a son by her first husband, now living in Pennsylvania, C. C. Gamble, a man, 40 years old, who is blind. Walter Holmes, suggester, manager, publisher and editor of this publication, has a brother who has been totally blind for years. He himself came into this field with some experience, having been business manager of the "Memphis Commercial Appeal."

The plans for this strange magazine are far-reaching. Though its circulation is small as yet it is intended that it shall be very large. At present, according to the most reliable statistics, only 15,000 of the 70,000 blind people in America can read. This includes those in the schools and special institutions. But it is hoped that, as time goes on, the magazine may be the means of getting more and more of these unfortunates to read blind print. Hitherto the price of "blind books" and "blind literature" of every sort has been almost prohibitive on account of their prices. "Ben Hur," for example, costs ten dollars in the blind type, and every other book that has been made available for the sightless is relatively just as expensive.

Now, with very few exceptions, most of the blind people of this country are extremely poor. Luxuries of any sort are quite beyond them. The consequence is that "blind books" find their circulation extremely limited.

It was the original plan to have this magazine issued free. That, however, did not prove possible. The magazine is so bulky that, unless it goes through the mails at the regular postal rates for second-class matter, sending it out would cost an enormous sum annually. So a nominal price has been set upon it of 10 cents a year, less than a cent for each issue. And, as the post office allows 50 percent of any publication's mail transmissal to be "sample," that is free copies, it follows that half the "subscribers" will not have to pay at all. Furthermore (and this is a deep office secret of the editor) nobody to whom the magazine is sent is going to be dunned to pay up their subscription. And, moreover, there is a plan on foot, and probably a successful plan, to get a special bill passed at the next session of Congress to allow this magazine to become a free publication and yet have all the privileges of the most favored magazine matter.

Mrs. Ziegler when she takes up a project that is dear to her heart cannot do too much for it. And the same may be said of W. S. Champe, secretary of the late William Ziegler and now manager of his estate. Both Mrs. Ziegler and Mr. Champe are giving Mr. Holmes every facility of the Ziegler millions. They plan to make this publication more than a mere magazine, to have it a great and wonderful factor, an influence for the blind of America. It could be printed as it is now at comparatively small expense. But better plans are afoot. A printing plant is to be established especially for it, with the best machinery that can be had. In this as many blind people as possible will be employed. A complete blind printing house is by no means an iridescent dream of the future and an evolution of this magazine. And directly in connection with the magazine, Mr. Holmes is to establish as rapidly as he can a bureau to get blind people employment wherever this is within the bounds of possibility, and another bureau to encourage literary work among the blind.

This last enterprise is peculiarly interesting and one that, because of Mr. Holmes's great sympathy with the sightless, seems to have an emphatic future in it. This "blind editor's" idea is that among all the blind of America there are probably a considerable number who can write acceptably. He will encourage their doing so. He will invite manuscripts from them on every hand, and getting these, will read and criticize them, taking up those people who seem to have promise. His plan is to encourage and help along such, and when they have produced salable work to have the magazine, himself, or one of his assistants, take it into the publishing field and find a market for it. Up to now, Mr. Holmes says, the blind who might be able to write, and earn a livelihood in that way, have had no encouragement, no one to help them along and no facilities.

There is one more project the magazine is going to enter into. Its editor is even now commencing to push this. That plan is to establish a circulating library for the blind in every state of the Union. A small sum would be sufficient to form a nucleus for each one of these proposed circulating libraries, and Mr. Holmes is hoping to enlist the co-operation of some wealthy men.

Though no official figures are stated, it is understood that each copy of this magazine costs Mrs. Ziegler something like $3 a year. At the present circulation, this is close to $20,000 annually, and this expense will be added to as time goes on.

To the man or woman who has never seen "blind printing," the way this big magazine looks is difficult to describe. A blind alphabet is simply a series of raised dots in different positions, and blind print is, therefore, simply line following line of these raised dots arranged in word combinations. The way a page is made for this magazine is very interesting. There is a special machine for punching out the copper plate that corresponds to a page of type. The operator plays on a keyboard like a typewriter, and at the same time he strikes a letter, moves a treadle with his foot. Thereupon a metal arm punches the bottom side of the plate, knocking a little dot-like bulb on its upper side. A page, completely seen from the front, is thus made up of any number of little humps of regular size, arranged in lines across the page. The plate is then put on a press, and damp sheets of paper, stiff and especially prepared, are pressed to it. Each of these, when dried, becomes perfectly hard, and the round little humps may be read with the fingertips.

Of course, such pages are bulky, they can be printed only on one side, and this blind type takes up approximately eight times the space, letter for letter, that ordinary large, clear type that can be read by the eye does. This blind magazine is a little over two feet long and close to a foot and a half wide. If its material were put into the ordinary type of commerce it would make a little book that could be readily carried in the average man's sack coat pocket without stretching it.

A further interesting thing about this publication is that it is printed in two editions. The fact is not commonly known, of course, but there is more than one blind alphabet. Indeed, there are quite a number of them, and the people that can read one can very seldom make the slightest sense out of another. However, a very large percentage of the reading blind public know one of two alphabets, the New York Point and the Braille. The former is considerably the most in use, but the latter has many followers. Thus some of the magazines are printed in one type, some in the other. As a matter of statistics, 4,100 copies are done in New York Point, 2,400 in the braille. It is a fact of special local interest that the New York Point edition is now being printed in Brooklyn, at the United States Printing Company, at 91 North 3rd Street, this concern taking a very great interest in the proposition and doing the work, which is decidedly "fussy," at very little profit to themselves. Originally, for the first number, this New York Point edition was turned out at the American Printing House for the Blind, in Louisville, KY. It did not prove practical to continue the printing of this publication there, and then Mr. Holmes had one of the jobs of his life to find a concern in New York or its vicinity that would undertake the work. Finally this Brooklyn company came to his rescue. The Braille edition has been turned out from the first at the Industrial School for the Blind, at Hartford, CT, and a large part of the work on it is done by the totally blind.

The blind, Mr. Holmes says, are great admirers of humor and good and keen jokers, and so he has instituted a prize of $5 for the best joke sent into him each month, with a bonus of $1 extra if that joke happens to be original. This feature has met with great approval. Another prize contest is $5 for the best poem of the month, each month.

Here is an idea of the contents of the June number of the "Matilda Ziegler Magazine." Though it may seem incredible, there are three illustrations in it. These illustrations are made in outline by the use of raised dots, and to a blind man or woman they furnish very vivid "cuts." Illustrations have been used in every number. In this June number the "cuts" are of the Williamsburg Bridge, showing the cables as they go over the towers and how they support the bridge; of the German flag; and a raised diagram showing the coal mine at Johnstown, PA, and the way in which the seven men were entombed there and were rescued not long ago. The table of contents of this number is typical and is as follows: Publisher's Announcement, "The Love Lamp" (a story); fourth installment of "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch"; "The Second Russian Duma"; "The Brooklyn Bridges"; "Notice to Pupils in Blind Schools"; poem (Joaquin Miller); "An Enigma" (from a reader); "How to Copyright an Article"; "Humorous Paragraphs" (in prize contest); "The Philosophy of Dreams"; "The Circulation of the Blood"; miscellaneous poems; and current events of the month.

The "Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind," the philanthropic venture of Mrs. William Ziegler, is one of the unique publications of the age. There have been others for the blind, but none with the scope or elevating principles contained in this magazine.

It will be sent free to the sightless men and women not only of the United States but also Canada. Walter G. Holmes, the editor, has received countless letters, some of them from Europe and Asia, in which the writers begged to be put down as subscribers.

The magazine is printed in two editions, one in which the Braille system of point type is used, and the other the New York Point system. Anyone who has learned either of these systems will be able to read the contents. A letter from Helen Keller to Mrs. Ziegler is one of the features of the first issue. In it she says:

"When I think how much the new magazine will mean to me, who enjoy every advantage that kind friends can give, I know it will be a priceless gift to the blind who have fewer books, fewer opportunities, than I. I long for more news of the world where events, the star-dust of history, come thick and fast, for more of the illuminating articles which keep us abreast of our times and its best thoughts. Several magazines devote too much space to our afflictions, of which we already know enough by experience. We are not children to be written down to, not specialists interested only in blindness. We are human beings of varied intelligence and many interests and aspirations. The new magazine will be a boon to the happiest and most successful of us. To the poorer and less fortunate of us, it will be a God send."

Through the beneficence of a wealthy good lady in New York City, Mrs. William Ziegler, a monthly magazine of some fifty pages is soon to be published in raised print for the blind of the United States who can read, to be sent to the blind free of charge. It will be on the order of the regular monthly magazines for the seeing and will contain general news and literary matter of interest to the blind, as well as a correspondence column for the blind.

The magazine is to be published in the New York Point print and in the Braille, so as to accommodate the blind who can read either. For the purpose of reaching every blind person in North Carolina who can read, it is earnestly requested that the full name and post office address of any blind citizen in any part of the State be sent at once to the Principal of the State School for the Blind, Raleigh, NC, stating the preference of the person between the New York Point and the Braille print.

This request should receive immediate attention. The publication of the magazine will cost Mrs. Ziegler at least fifty thousand dollars a year. Surely all our citizens will be glad to help her in reaching every blind person within our borders.