The Mentor Association, Inc.
381 Fourth Ave., New York, N. Y.
Volume 1 Number 45
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION. FOUR DOLLARS. SINGLE COPIES TWENTY CENTS. FOREIGN POSTAGE, SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS EXTRA. CANADIAN POSTAGE, FIFTY CENTS EXTRA. ENTERED AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y., AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER. COPYRIGHT, 1913. BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC. PRESIDENT, THOMAS H. BECK; VICE-PRESIDENT, WALTER P. TEN EYCK; SECRETARY. W. D. MOFFAT; TREASURER, J. S. CAMPBELL; ASST. TREASURER AND ASST. SECRETARY, H. A. CROWE.
Editorial
We have been asked more than once how the schedule of The Mentor is planned and how our subjects are selected. The question is a good one, for in the answer is to be found the basic idea on which The Mentor plan is established. If the schedules were prepared hastily and without due thought, and if the subjects were selected solely with consideration to the interest of the passing moment, The Mentor plan would have no more claim upon thoughtful and intelligent people than the most ephemeral journalistic enterprise. As a matter of fact, however, the schedule of The Mentor is prepared for more than a year in advance, and the plan is worked out on broad lines of general education—and not with the thought of merely reflecting the interest of the hour.
Of course, in some matters we observe timeliness. Our article on Abraham Lincoln will be published during the week in which Lincoln’s birthday occurs. Professor McElroy’s article on George Washington will appear on February 23rd. The advantage of selecting proper dates for these articles is obvious. In general, however, we arrange the schedule so as to give a just balance of subjects, and we endeavor to follow a certain mental logic in distributing the subjects through the year.
And now we are asked how the schedule is made up. The selection of subjects begins with the editors. After considerable study a list is made that is large enough to form the basis of more than a year’s reading. This list is divided into departments, and the subjects in each department are submitted to the member of our Editorial Board who has that department in charge. In a number of cases changes are made and new subjects are suggested by the members of the Advisory Board. Not only are the subjects of the articles determined under their supervision, but the names of the writers are often suggested by them, and in many cases the illustrations are selected under their direction. The association of the members of the Advisory Board with the Editors of The Mentor is close and continuous. We give the readers of The Mentor the direct benefits of this association.