national salon
in Los Angeles, and the well-known Pittsburgh Salon, and regularly
established exhibitions in Portland and Toronto. There are groups of
enthusiastic workers in all these centers. There are also exhibitions of
photographic art regularly held in many of the museums of the country."

AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHERS SET THE PACE

"I once heard a well-known photographic worker say, 'If you have any doubt
as to the pictorial quality of a photograph, send it to the London Salon
and their judgment will decide for you.' Is this still true?"

"I still feel that the American photographers set the pace, and in this
connection I would like to read you this letter from the Secretary of the
Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain as indicating the appreciation
in England of American pictorial work:

35 Russell Square, London, September, 1920.

I am happy to say that we have received from the United States and
Canada a collection of pictorial photographs of such outstanding
interest that the task of discrimination became one of great
difficulty.

Those selected by the judges have been placed in the exhibition,
but the Council of the Society feel that it would be most
unfortunate if the collection generally could not be viewed by the
English public, and it is proposed that the bulk of the American
and Canadian pictures, including those shown at the Annual
Exhibition, should form one of our house exhibitions and be open
to the public during the last part of January and the beginning of
February, 1921.

J. MCINTOSH, _Secretary_

THE SOFT FOCUS LENS

"What changes in the past twenty years, Mr. White, would you say have been
most noticeable in photographic work?"

"Well, I would say the most noticeable is what we call the use of the soft
focus lens. Secondly, I would say another noticeable change is the better
general quality of photographic work. I feel that the photographers of
today have a better idea of picture construction."

"Would you say that one of the changes in the past twenty years is in the
spreading of a knowledge of pictorial photography throughout the country?"

"Very definitely so. The interest in pictorial photography twenty years
ago was confined to a small group. There are now groups in various
centers as large as the national gro