" "Personnel
Manager" or whatever the designation of his position may be. The name
may be placed in the lower left-hand corner of the letter "Attention Mr.
Green" or "Attention Advertising Manager," and it may also be placed
just above the salutation inside the letter. Sometimes the subject of
the letter is indicated in the same way, _Re Montana shipment_, _Re
Smythe manuscript_, etc. These lines may be typed in red or in capital
letters so as to catch the attention of the reader at once. If a letter
is more than two pages long this line is often added to the succeeding
pages, a very convenient device, for letters are sometimes misplaced in
the files and this helps to locate them.

A business letter should never be longer than necessary. If three lines
are enough it is absurd to use more, especially if the letter is going
to a firm which handles a big correspondence. Some one has said with
more truth than exaggeration that no man south of Fourteenth Street in
New York reads a letter more than three lines long. But there is danger
that the too brief letter will sound brusque. Mail order houses which
serve the small towns and the rural districts say that, all other things
being equal, it is the long sales letter which brings in the best
results. Farmers have more leisure and they are quite willing to read
long letters _if_ (and this _if_ is worth taking note of) they are
interesting.

All unnecessary words and all stilted phrases should be stripped from a
letter. "Replying to your esteemed favor," "Yours of the 11th inst. to
hand, contents noted," "Yours of the 24th ult. received. In reply would
say," "Awaiting a favorable reply," "We beg to remain" are dead weights.
"Prox" might be added to the list, and "In reply to same." "Per diem"
and other Latin expressions should likewise be thrown into the discard.
"As per our agreement of the 17th" should give place to "According to
our agreement of the 17th," and, wherever possible, simplified
expression should be employed. Legal phraseology should be restricted to
the profession to which it belongs. Wills, deeds, and other documents
likely to be haled into court need "whereas's" and "wherefores" and
"said's" and "same's" without end, but ordinary business letters do not.
It is perfectly possible to express oneself clearly in the language of
conversation (which is also the language of business) without burying
the meaning in tiresome verbiage. And yet reputable business houses