A Letter From The Publisher, Jun. 22, 1942

To answer some of the questions subscribers are asking about how TIME gathers, verifies, organizes and writes its news

Walter Graebner took off this week for Russia.

Before he went they inoculated him against tetanus, typhoid, typhus, smallpox, cholera, yellow fever. The nine shots in rapid-fire almost floored him.

He went by Clipper the long way round—across the Atlantic and up through Russia's threatened backdoor. Next winter he hopes to come out again through Turkestan and Siberia. By then the outcome of the whole war may well have been decided on the steppes—and Graebner will...