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no particular personality, to lose his. identity as an individual and becorne an interpreter of the contemporary *Amùerican scene. I fouiid bim tobe a pleaskit,brown- eyed, yoi.ngish man-decidedIy young looking to be the.fatber of two daugh- *ters at college. Barbara- Clark is a student1 at the University of New Mexi:o,. and, Elinor .Clark. is .enrolled at Denison, university. Dick, is a pupil at the josephî B. Sears school in Kenilworth.. The Clarks have lived. at, 408 Winnetka, avenue since *1917. Br" On A Parmi Delving.into the Clarkpast, I found that Mr. Clark was born on a farn near Columbus, O., and was gradu- ated from. Harvard in 1912. ý"That wasa long time agô, wasn't it?." lie Ssmiled. The gap between thé, busi- ness of being boru and. of being graduated f rom Harvard he bridged bsaying his family moved to'Cleve- land wlien he w.s 12 years old, and lie spent bis vacations orii'- î is' uncle's fence factory and hobnobbing with the workmen of vanjous nation- alities and learning types. At the age of four, however, he had comritted himself irrevocably on a choicé of profession. "I want to be an author," he announced. To Chicago Via New York Thus in due time. hie became an author. You see, bow simple it is. th ough, than in 192V'" Last year thel percentage unsold was 12.74,, prac- tiçally identical with bis spending the month of Februaryin the ,writing of seven ,short storlies. "I'm >flot- good ut fiction," -Mr. Clark confessed..I will siant thet buy the article. and Alo Does "Ghosting" Qhosting is another pastime of:, Neil M. Clark. That terni, dear reader, means some, one else signs the. article. He just did a chapter in the comning Frank -Knox camnpaign' biography.. "Evcr hearof C arlos Montezuma? or the chap out in the Imperial val- ley?ý" and. so on.. 1 hadn't. Ilndeed, no mie outside of their -own circle had, beforelhe :Wrote .about *theni. Hle nentiied "White H-and at, the WVinidow". as the story of a littie crippsled girl 'downstate whD' always waved at the train meni passî1ng the bouise. Cites Merritt Interview$ %Vb excllîanged' mnutual glanccs of satiisfaction, however,,over my know- ingk about one of hi%. favorites, Leoni das Merritt 1I had. read ýSeýven Iron1 Men" by Paul: De Krillf and knew the* role. of-,the scven Merritt Irothers in tiniiber cruising and dis- overy of the open-pit Mesabe range. Clark wrote about Merritt long be- fore De Kruif discovercd the-. drania o f the. iron ore industry in Miîmne- sota. Investigating Mr. Clark's out.pUt c.f 200,000 words a year woulId have kept me in- bis office indefinitely. *I1nîight even have beaten bis record for an interview, which hie made several years ago by appearing in a man*s office at 10 'ocock Suniday.-mortiing and staying until 9 ini the evening without a break foir lunch or dinner. As it was, he bared the -secret, of bhis filing system' instead. of .citing expériences. I was greatly cheered to find he does flot keep old files and books indefinitely. Six months is about the, usual lençzth of tinie. manager oi a brin wilen Puuusne-u children's books. He lasted six weeks. Then lie saw an ad in the New York Times, which led to a meeting with Carroll Dean Murphy, who at that time was associatçd with the A. W.. Shaw company in Chicago and later established bis. own advertising agency, giving it up recently to join the Erwin Wasey outfit. Mr. Murphy brought _youpg, Neil depressed over flot accumulating myv ôwn set. of thirteen cabinets and. x-number of boxes. He'. Reckless Chap *Mr. Clark is,a reck.less chap. M'hen lie moved from bis studio ini the Chinmîeys, be, c leaned house ruthless- ly and tbrewout quantities of stuif. In 'his office on the, second floor of his home he- bas a, desk, book case, and a divan.' In the Éloset is an ordinary four-drawer wooden fil- ing cabinet. He intimated that the attic held a few more files. Coni- pactniess and orderliness are his means of acliieving peace of iind aloing withi a variety of source mna-, terial. He showed me bis set of folders. is- a quarter of a million. When con- ** 1 l .aL ---- trasted with the New Deal billions,' a 1 'Writes About Diet mere quarter, of a million words, is a "I took the point of trifle. But when translated into the Diesels are not the answe original, ideas, the gathening of ma- motor probleni, but they terial, the actual typing, the reanis of distinct uses. And I began so<)me he deleterious of ill-advisedý ne next. Lîlce most writer material for tWo or three di articles when followingu ect. asked buif lie didn't (Continued 6n, Page 43) ivrite g t