uniform quality, features and departments have been regular in appearance and consistent in context. Issues have appeared regularly with only a few delays. No issue has been skipped. There have been twelve issues each year. No small achievement!

But what has been ONE's real progress? Is it something which can be measured by changes in type and format, by regularity of publication, by number of pages, by quality of paper or excellence of illustration, by the number of ads, or by the names on ONE's masthead, or by the names on ONE's roster of authors? I do not think so. ONE's real progress can be demonstrated and measured only by its content. While the changes in its physical features can be appreciated by any long time reader, I feel that only its editors and only those who have been with the magazine from the very beginning, of which there are now only two-Don Slater and Bill Lambert-can appreciate the real and significant progress during the past nine years.

Not even they, I fear, were really cognizant of the full extent of this during these past nine years until they were shocked a week or so ago by certain developments which forced them, perhaps for the first time, to take full cognizance of ONE's real, true, and meaningful development.

For example, I wonder just how many of ONE's current readers realize that at the very beginning ONE was a non-fiction magazine? It was! This was not by design nor intent. From the very earliest plans, ONE's supporters had envisaged a magazine which, like most popular magazines, would contain a certain amount of appropriate fiction. It was the opinion of legal counsel, however, that ONE could not publish fiction. To do so would appear to be catering to the delectation of a sensual-minded and perverted minority. Only by avoiding any semblence of "entertainment" could ONE lawfully and realistically meet the requirements of its corporate charter. Fortunately, this particular point of view did not long persist, but it was not until July, 1953, the seventh issue, that ONE dared print a piece. of fiction-an innocuous little tale entitled, "But They'll Outgrow It," by David Freeman. By December of that very year ONE had become sufficiently daring as to publish an all-fiction issue, the high-light of which was a story by James Barr. Since then there have been other all-fiction issues, and today, unless it be by express design of its editors, no issue of ONE would be considered complete without one or two pieces of fiction.

But let me give you another example of ONE's progress. There appeared in ARCADIE, the French homophile publication, a short story by Yves Cerny, entitled "le Nouveau Garon boucher," a sensitive and delightful tale. This story was subsequently translated expressly for ONE by Clarkson Crane, an American author, who has contributed some of ONE's best original fiction. On the advice of legal counsel, however, this story was rejected as being too daring for ONE simply because it portrayed, on an exalted and poetic level, physical and affectionate, though not necessarily sexual, contact between two men. Rejected by ONE Mr. Crane then submitted his manuscript to Der Kreis, where it was published in the English section of that magazine as "The New Butcher Boy." Late last fall this particualr little history was brought to my attention. I read the story in English and in French, and I suggested to the editors that they take another look at it. The story was reread and, needless to say, was published without a qualm in the issue of February 1961. This is but one example. Today ONE publishes in almost every issue articles, poetry, and fiction which in 1953, 1957, or 1959 would have caused our legal advisors to "shake in their boots." Compare almost any issue today with that 'celebrated' issue of 1954 and judge for yourself whether progress has been made.

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