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The whole atmosphere of the Ziegler magazine has been one of practical, unpretentious, kindly service, avoiding at all times anything that smacked of formality of professional welfare work. Mr. Holmes scrupulously avoided anything controversial. One time he did come out with a blistering editorial denouncing a private agency for the blind which, in his considered opinion had opposed legislation on behalf of the blind, because it feared the effect on the welfare of the organization, though the legislation was well calculated to further the interests of the blind of the state. No organization working with blind people could afford many such attacks from this source.

When Mr. Holmes died suddenly in 1946, the world of the blind was plunged into deep sorrow at this loss. The Ziegler magazine, however, has continued to appear under the editorship of his successor, Howard M. Liechty, mainly in the tradition established by its founder.

The desire of blind people to obtain news information was recognized by a blind graduate of Perkins Institution, Francis B. Ierardi, who founded The Weekly News. Already during the first world war when he noticed that the blind were sensitive to relying on seeing people for national and world news, Mr. Ierardi decided that there was a need for a weekly braille newspaper. He started its publication in 1927 with just enough money to operate for three months, with a circulation of only two hundred around Boston. Later he solicited money from friends and today his "project" is the National Braille Press in Boston, which is now housed in its own modern four-story building. The organization is very economically run by Mr. Ierardi, who was for many years employed by the Massachusetts Division of the Blind as a field worker. He has carried on the work of the National Braille Press evenings and Sundays, purely as a labor of love. He has always refused to accept any salary in spite of the fact that his salary from the state and his other personal resources are very modest.

The Weekly News gives little attention to developments in work for the blind, attempting mainly to supply to blind people a summary of national and international events from week to week. The editor has had the cooperation of such inkprint magazines as The Independent and The Outlook which have permitted their news summaries to be reproduced in braille, the cooperation even extending to furnishing advance sheets to copy. Besides The News, the National Braille Press publishes also Our Special, a magazine for blind women, and The Home Teacher, catering to home teachers for the blind. It also does additional braille printing, including a number of periodicals, on a contract basis.

The National Braille Press makes no charge to readers of its magazines. Most of the cost of operating is met by annual contributions from all over the United States and Canada. It has always managed to avoid a deficit in its operations.

Blind people in general wish to read what is read by sighted people and wish to be informed on subjects which are discussed by them. Therefore, the braille and Talking Book editions of the Reader's Digest are greatly appreciated. The publication of the braille edition was originally undertaken in September, 1928 for the benefit of the schools and classes for the blind. As the pupils graduated from the schools, and as other adults became acquainted with the magazine, the demand for copies for libraries and individuals grew to overwhelming proportions, and the general public was asked to provide funds for this service through "The Reader's Digest Fund for the Blind," which is sponsored jointly by the Reader's Digest Association of Pleasantville, New York and the American Printing House for the Blind of Louisville, Kentucky. With the advent of the Talking Book, it became possible to make a recorded edition available, and the first issue appeared in September, 1939.

All copies of each edition are supplied free to the recipients. Anyone donating as much as $15.50 can name the recipient of a year's issues of the braille edition (comprising four volumes each month), while anyone donating as much as $32.50 can name the first recipient of a year's issues of the Talking Book edition (twelve records monthly) on condition that the records are forwarded within a period of two weeks after receipt to the nearest circulating library for the blind for redistribution to other readers. Both issues are complete reprints of the inkprint edition.

The production of the two editions now stands at over three thousand monthly for the braille Digest and over one thousand for the Talking Book.

The Braille Book Review which is now distributed without charge to blind people using the libraries for the blind, has filled an important need in enabling sightless people to know what new books are available to them in their libraries. It lists, each month, the new books published in braille or on sound reproduction records issued by the American presses. As a very small percentage of blind library patrons ever visit their libraries themselves, a publication of this kind is essential.