royal bank newsletter - · pdf fileroyal bank newsletter royal bank

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Royal BankLetter Publishedby Royal Bank of Canada ’THE LETTER’: A ROYAL TRADITION A S THE ROYAL BANK LETTER ENTERS its 75th year, wecome toyou ina frankly immodest mood ofcelebration. This spe- cial edition marks a triple anniversary -- ofour founding in1920, our 50th full year asa gen- eral interest publication, and the 125th year ofthe bank whose name we so proudly bear. Inits concern for precision inlanguage, the Letter normally would bethefirst towarn against calling anything "unique" unless itisverifiably "unequalled, having nolike orparallel," asprescribed indictio- naries. Being unique among publications isa risky claim tomake, but wefeel safe inboasting ofit. As far asweknow, the Letter really isone ofa kind. Sodifferent isitfrom anything else that itis impossible tolabel. Despite its format, itisnota newsletter --it does notcarry news or commentary oncurrent affairs. Newsletters are usually specialized inthe issuing organization’s field ofinterest. Though itrepresents a financial institution, the Letter seldom has a word tosay about finance. Rather, itcovers anextraordinary variety oftop- ics, some ofwhich come asa surprise tofirst-time readers expecting a good grey treatise befitting the banking industry’s image. Inrecent years ithas dis- cussed everything from professionalism topets. Ithas featured essays oncollecting, safe driving, middle age, friendship, andcomputers. Ithas told thelife stories of explorers andpoliticians, andprobed human emotions and states ofmind inessays onfear, loyalty and the like. The Letter’s broad field ofinterests might suggest a ma~azine, butitis notthat, either. A magazine, by defini- tion, isa "periodical publication containing contributions byvarious authors." The Letter takes the form ofone essay onone subject by one author, who isnot identified with a byline asin conventional publications. Unlike most magazines, the Letter carries noadvertising and isdistributed free ofcharge. All right, then: If itisnot a newsletter and not a magazine, what is it? It issimply itself, something that isbetter described byciting its purpose than bytry- ing tofit itinto a category. That purpose might best have been stated inthe title ofone of its essays years ago: "To BeofService." Itdoes sobytrying tohelp people understand theworld around them, andthus better understand their own lives. TheLetter approaches itstask from a number of different angles. Some ofits essays are instructional, such asthose onwriting, negotiation, public speak- ing, conducting meetings, andvarious aspects of management. Some deal with relationships --with people’s families, workmates, bosses andsubordi- nates. Others talk about their pastimes, such as reading, sports, and outdoor life. Ifall this has one unifying theme, itisliving in society, particularly Canadian society. TheLetter places special emphasis ontheneeds ofthat society inthe fields ofeducation, business, and science. It dwells periodically onCanadian culture, geography, and history. And, ina departure from its usual non- partisan stance, itraises a strong voice insupport of Canadian national unity. It hasnotalways beenso eclectic. WhenThe Royal Bank ofCanada Monthly Letter, asitwasthen called, wasfirst published in April, 1920, itsmission wasto review business conditions for

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Page 1: royal bank newsletter -  · PDF fileroyal bank newsletter royal bank

Royal Bank LetterPublished by Royal Bank of Canada

’THE LETTER’: A ROYAL TRADITION

AS THE ROYAL BANK LETTER ENTERS

its 75th year, we come to you in a franklyimmodest mood of celebration. This spe-cial edition marks a triple anniversary --

of our founding in 1920, our 50th full year as a gen-eral interest publication, and the 125th year of thebank whose name we so proudly bear.

In its concern for precision in language, the Letternormally would be the first to warn against callinganything "unique" unless it is verifiably "unequalled,having no like or parallel," as prescribed in dictio-naries. Being unique among publications is a riskyclaim to make, but we feel safe in boasting of it. Asfar as we know, the Letter really is one of a kind.

So different is it from anything else that it isimpossible to label. Despite its format, it is not anewsletter -- it does not carry news or commentaryon current affairs. Newsletters are usually specializedin the issuing organization’s field of interest. Thoughit represents a financial institution, the Letter seldomhas a word to say about finance.

Rather, it covers an extraordinary variety of top-ics, some of which come as a surprise to first-timereaders expecting a good grey treatise befitting thebanking industry’s image. In recent years it has dis-cussed everything from professionalism to pets. It hasfeatured essays on collecting, safe driving, middleage, friendship, and computers. It has told the lifestories of explorers and politicians, and probedhuman emotions and states of mind in essays on fear,loyalty and the like.

The Letter’s broad field of interests might suggesta ma~azine, but it is not that,either. A magazine, by defini-tion, is a "periodical publication

containing contributions by various authors." TheLetter takes the form of one essay on one subject byone author, who is not identified with a byline as inconventional publications. Unlike most magazines,the Letter carries no advertising and is distributedfree of charge.

All right, then: If it is not a newsletter and not amagazine, what is it? It is simply itself, something thatis better described by citing its purpose than by try-ing to fit it into a category. That purpose might besthave been stated in the title of one of its essays yearsago: "To Be of Service." It does so by trying to helppeople understand the world around them, and thusbetter understand their own lives.

The Letter approaches its task from a number ofdifferent angles. Some of its essays are instructional,such as those on writing, negotiation, public speak-ing, conducting meetings, and various aspects ofmanagement. Some deal with relationships -- withpeople’s families, workmates, bosses and subordi-nates. Others talk about their pastimes, such asreading, sports, and outdoor life.

If all this has one unifying theme, it is living insociety, particularly Canadian society. The Letterplaces special emphasis on the needs of that societyin the fields of education, business, and science. Itdwells periodically on Canadian culture, geography,and history. And, in a departure from its usual non-partisan stance, it raises a strong voice in support ofCanadian national unity.

It has not always been so eclectic. When TheRoyal Bank of Canada Monthly Letter, as it was then

called, was first published inApril, 1920, its mission was toreview business conditions for

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COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

the benefit of commercial clients. It was written byGraham E Towers, a bright young Montreal-borneconomist. When the Canadian government decidedto establish a central banking system in 1934, it choseTowers as the first governor of the Bank of Canada.

Perhaps reflecting Towers’ earlier experience asan accountant in the Royal’s branch in Havana, theLetter under his authorship was highly cosmopolitan.He wrote incisively about monetary reform in post-revolutionary Russia and gold hoarding in the FarEast. He was succeeded by another international-minded economist, Dr. D. M. Marvin, who laterbecame executive director of the United NationsRelief and Rehabilitation Administration. Under itssubsequent authors, E J. Horning and MildredTurnbull, the Letter continued to act as a reliableconveyor of information and commentary on finan-cial and economic matters. It was not, however,markedly different from other reviews issued byCanadian and British banks.

Then came John Heron, and thechief anniversary we commemorateherein -- 50 years (plus one month)of the Letter in its present form as apublication of interest to just aboutanyone. A seasoned journalist,Heron joined the bank as a publicrelations advisor in 1940. A capsulebiography of this remarkable manwill be found on page 5.

A Royal Bank LetterSamplerOver the years the Letterhas discussed any numberof subjects with a stylisticflair that has won praisefrom generations ofreaders. On these pageswe present a randomsampling of strikingcomments from the past.

ON M/STAKESIn the Provincial Museum in Torontothere is a wizened caveman whohasn’t made a mistake for severalthousand years, ever since he curledup in his grass mat and went to sleep.The only people who are nevermistaken are dead.

January 1952

When the Royal’s general man-ager, Sydney Dobson, talked toHeron about taking over the Letterin 1943, the public relations mansaid: "I couldn’t write that stuff!" Hewas, he protested, neither a bankernor an economist. But he came backto Dobson with an idea.

The Royal had long since adver-tised itself as a public-spiritedinstitution with a concern for thewell-being of ordinary people inacknowledgement that they were the foundation ofits business. The Letter could be used, Heron said, toshow that "the bank cares about other things besidesmoney." Why not make it into a publication thatwould be of benefit to people in all walks of life?

Dobson must have been a remarkable personhimself among the conservative ranks of old-timeCanadian bankers. He approved Heron’s proposal,and the first general-interest Letter, on India,appeared in December, 1943. The United KingdomInformation Service was so impressed with it that itrepublished it in a booklet and distributed it through-out the British Commonwealth.

From then on, Heron widened the Letter’s scopeto include topics like social welfare, youth, and med-icine. He was ahead of his time in writing about caus-es which have since become subjects of public debate.As early as 1946 he devoted an essay to the status ofwomen, and in 1947 he addressed the question of therightful place of aboriginal people in Canada. Longbefore anybody ever heard of environmentalism, theLetter was advocating the conservation of forests,energy, and soil.

As the list of topics grew, so did the publication’scirculation. Despite the fact that it was not advertisedor promoted -- and never has been since -- peoplewrote in from across Canada and around the worldasking to be put on the mailing list. Doing businesswith the Royal Bank has never been a condition of

subscribing to the Letter, and the number of copiesmailed out to non-customers soon far exceeded thenumber picked up in the bank’s branches. By 1950,the circulation had climbed from 10,000 to 150,000,mostly through write-in requests as the Letter’sreputation spread by word of mouth.

The top executives of the Royal were well awarethat they were on to a phenomenon in the hard-headed world of business. Here they had a mediumfor building warm, direct personal relationships withpresent and potential customers, as demonstrated bythe thousands of congratulatory letters that pouredin each year. The Letter set the Royal apart fromother financial institutions, with their forbidding auraof stony pragmatism. It gave the bank a human face."There is no doubt that this monthly letter has excel-lent public relations value," general manager JamesMuir told the annual meeting in 1948.

The Letter grew into such a national institutionthat, when an opposition memberproposed to read an excerpt from itin the House of Commons in the1950s, the strong man of the govern-ment, C. D. Howe, silenced him withthe words: "We all read that!" It hasalso been recognized in legislativecircles in the United States. In 1979Senator Edmund Muskie, later tobecome Secretary of State, read aRoyal Bank essay entitled "GodBless Americans" into the U. S.Congressional Record. Moreimportantly, individual Americanshave proved to be great fans of theLetter. We now have some 23,000subscribers in the U. S.

The Letter has been reprinted inpublications around the world, fromsmall specialized newsletters dedi-cated to the raising of canaries andthe study of Sherlock Holmes tomass circulation maeazines such as

Business Week and Reader’s Digest. Our essays havebeen included in a number of textbooks and inanthologies of Canadian writing. Perhaps the mostunusual "pick-up" came in 1952, when 11,000 copiesof "The Making of an Executive" were enclosed inthe Bank of Montreal Staff Magazine. The rival bankis only one of innumerable organizations worldwideto have used the Letter in communicating ideas toemployees. It is also widely used as a teaching aid inschools.

Plagarism being the sincerest form of flattery, wewere gratified when, in 1979, a newspaper inVenezuela ran a Letter on Canadian history withoutattribution. The incident emphasized the Letter’srole as a good will ambassador for Canada abroad. Ithas been widely used by Canadian diplomatic mis-sions to disseminate information about this country.Our overseas circulation now totals some 10,000,scattered over more than 75 countries.

The Letter has been translated for republicationinto Japanese, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Turk-ish, Hindi, Danish, Finnish, Italian, Hebrew, andDutch -- this apart from our own much-praisedFrench adaptation, which goes out to 50,000 readers.For sight-impaired people, audio cassettes are avail-able in English and French. In 1977 Institute forLederskab Og Lonsomhed published an entire bookof our essays in Norwegian. This was followed in1982 by another collection published by Business

(Continued on page 6)

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COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

OVER THE DECADES: ON TOP OF THE TIMESThough it frequently refers to events and opinions in the deep pastto shed light on current happenings and attitudes, the Letter hasproved to be an alert and perceptive social commentator over itshalf-century of existence as a general-interest publication. Herefrom our files are excerpts from essays which addressed the con-cerns of the times.

The post-war era was a time of heady optimism aboutwhat science could do for mankind. The Letter took abroader view...

.......... Science o.; i949 .........

IF STATESMANSHIP CAN BRING TO THEcommon man all the benefits offered by science,it can give him new and now unknown powersof personal satisfaction... There are large tasks

left for attention, despite all our progress. Besides theconquest of space, much talked about today, and ofdisease, there is the crucial matter of living together.

How far we have advanced in some ways is shownby the action of a delegate to the United Nationsmeeting at Lake Success last year who cabled to hisgovernment for permission to bring up the questionof ownership of the moon. And yet the people of theearth cannot settle their own national boundaries,and the ambition of a single tyrannous governmentkeeps three continents in turmoil.

Science has placed us on an eminence from whichwe can see very far, though we do not know what liesbelow the horizon. But the most challenging problemof all is right at our feet: how to behave ourselvessocially so that science may do what science can do tomake life happier, easier, and more satisfying.

In the 1950’s, the search for world security under thethreat of nuclear destruction was a subject of crucialimportance...

EVEN THE SIMPLEST TOOL MADEof chipped stone is the fruit of long experi-ence, and the United Nations, a tool forpeace, has not yet been long in use. It is

doing good work, but it awaits a spark of Prometheanfire, a rallying point, a world-wide comprehension ofits necessity and of the bounty it could bestow on thisdisagreeing world.

Perhaps in this, as in other things, the sparkshould be lighted by the little people of the world. Ifenough individuals cared enough to keep telling themen representing them at the United Nations, "Getunity, and get it quick": perhaps that would help.

ON FREEDOMDemocratic freedom has failed insome countries because their peopleslept. It is commonplace for peoplewho were fighting against us in recentwars to excuse themselves on twogrounds: they didn’t realize what washappening to their government, andthere was nothing they could do butobey orders. Tyranny degrades both÷hose who exercise it and those

_,,vho allow it.December 1957

Perhaps, too, the open-ing words of the Chartershould be displayed in let-ters of fire in every hamletand city, over every leg-islative rostrum and overevery teacher’s desk: Wethe peoples of the UnitedNations are determined tosave succeeding genera-tions from the scourge ofwar.

The sixties were above all the decade of youth, whenyoung people everywhere revolted against the valuesof their parents and began shaping the political agen-da with their protests...

’To Be Young Today’-April 1969

ON THE GENERA TION GAPSomeone has said that the greatestmistake made by the contemporarygeneration -- any contemporarygeneration -- is that is does not readthe minutes of the last meeting. Itstarts its course with the handicap ofhaving to learn all over again inpractice what it could have leamedreadily from the records of itsancestors.

April 1956

WHAT ISimperativeto recog-nize is that

there has been a deep andwide change in youngpeople’s attitudes. Theworst sin is to beindifferent.

This does not meanbeing indulgent. Adultscan still challenge thenaive belief of some young people in their notion ofdecentralized decision-making; point out that eccen-tricity in dress and discourtesy in manner do not giveevidence of independence; and that flying off balancein support of some remote or ephemeral or inconse-quential cause is not a sign of maturity.

At the same time adults should admit that theyhave been neglectful about their duty to keep up withthe times; they have not succeeded in practising allthat they have preached; that they have been indul-gent in the way of making life too easy and disciplinetoo slack. Both sides have habits and thoughts thatneed adjustment, and they can reach that adjustmentthrough dialogue.

One of the most frequently-heard words in the 1970swas ’ecology,’ as the public woke up to the fact that wewere depleting resources at an alarming rate withoutmaking provision for the future...

’A Knowledge of Nature’-July 1978

ON THE LA WThe precepts of the law stand as theonly anchor in a shifting sea: to livehonourably, to injure no other man, torender to every man his due. This is away of life in which men may fivetogether, if not in mutual helpfulness,at least in mutual tolerance andfreedom from fear of one another.

The only sound principle on which tobase a bright future is the co-operationof all citizens in the firm application ofthe law. There is no middle ground. Areluctance to get involved, or just plainapathy, puts a citizen on the side ofcrime and against law and order justas surely as if he supplied the "getaway" car.

March 1969

IT REFLECTS BADLY ON THE ORDER OFpriorities in our soci-ety that a schoolboycan tell you the brand

names of all the cars on theroad but cannot identifyany but the most familiartrees and wildflowers. Thisis because, generallyspeaking, the educationalsystem of North Americais squeezed indoors to adegree which stifles youngminds. Few schools takeadvantage of the vastclassroom of the outdoorsto teach the things thatreally matter -- the basics

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COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

of life on a threat-ened planet. Chil-dren study insectlarvae and tadpolesin paper cups inside aclassroom instead ofhaving their knowl-edge filled out byexamining the com-plex environment inwhich these crea-tures actually live.

ON FEARThere is no possibility that people willever be entirely without fear, norwould they want to be. Without itsinstinctive waming bells, they wouldbe powerless to cope with danger.Fear, then, is an ally to man -- but atbest an untrustworthy ally. It is deviousand ambitious, ever alert for a chanceto take us over. It bears closewatching if it is to be kept in its proper,serviceable place.

December 1978

This is a pity,because a child is normally nature’s most avid stu-dent. Every parent know the propensity of small chil-dren to bring home caterpillars, grasshoppers, toadsand other small living things. But parents rarelyencourage this instinctive attraction by imparting aknowledge of nature to their children. Too often, theinterest of children in the natural world is diverted bythe example of their elders into a concentration onthe inanimate objects that money will buy.

It has become a plain matter of survival for manto learn the limitations of his role in the world. Peoplewho know about nature know about the thread thatconnects all living matter. And they know, too, justhow delicate and irreparable that thread can be.

The psychological vogue of the eighties in the westernworld might be described in the prefix ’self’ -- self-indulgence, self-promotion, extreme self-interest thatran against the interests of the community...

The Strength of Character - May~June 1988

ON MEDIOCRITY"Ovemight stars" in the entertainmentfield seem to carry the message thatyou don’t necessarily have to be ableto sing or play an instrument to winwealth and fame. Best-selling booksgive every indication of being written,not only on, but by computersprogrammed with trite interchangeableplots and a limited and inaccuratevocabulary. Television "comedies"areso hastily slapped together that thewriters seem to have neglected toinclude any jokes that are more thanvaguely funny. Looking at popularentertainment, one might concludethat the society has come to believe,with Touchstone in As You Like It,that "so-so is good, very good, veryexcellent good," while forgetting hiscaveat -- "and yet it is not; it isbut so-so."

November/December 1984

IF POPULAR CUL-ture is any indicationof the attitudes of aperiod, the trends

evident in books, films,and television these daysare quite disturbing. Verylittle self-restraint isshown by the anti-heroesand anti-heroines who actout fictional representa-tions of late 20th centurylife. They have few scru-ples about how they getwhat they want, be itwealth, power, the graitifi-cation of their passions, ortheir own interpretationof justice. "If you wouldunderstand virtue,observe the conduct ofvirtuous

men," Aristotle urged. It would bedifficult to follow this advice if onewere exposed only to what is pur-veyed in the entertainment mediatoday.

ON DISCO VERYSir Alexander Fleming did not, aslegend would have it, look at themould on a piece of cheese and getthe idea of penicillin there and then.He experimented with anti-bacterialsubstances for nine years before hemade his discovery. Inventions andinnovations almost always come outof laborious trial and error. Innovationis like hockey: Even the best playersmiss the net and have their shotsblocked more frequently than theyscore.

March/April 1988

In post-Victorian times, young-sters read novels which propoundedthe lesson that the road to successwas paved with industry, honestyand integrity. The lesson theyreceive from television today ismore likely to be that money reallycan buy happiness, and that there is

no percentage in being overly scrupulous abouthow it is obtained. The old-fashioned heroes weremotivated by a challenge to their character. Theglamorous figures on the tube today are motivated bya lust for power and greed.

The 1990s ushered in new considerations in the drivetowards sexual equality...

....................... e civ#iZ d Wori pi;, 2 ......................March~April 1992

THE TIME WHEN A WORKING MOTH-er was a widowed, separated or divorcedwoman stuck in a low-level position has longpassed. Now she may be married or not; and

she may be an executive or specialist whose abilityand training make her highly valuable to the organi-zation. She sees no reason why she should have tochoose between having a family and having a career;she feels that she can be equally dedicated to both, aslong as her job does not detract from her childrens’well-being.

A new type of male worker has also appeared.Often he is one of a two-income couple who sharesdomestic duties with his wife or "significant other"...He may very well be under conflicting pressuresbetween his work and having to care for childrenand/or dependent parents.

ON NEGOTIATION[Negotiation] is an exclusively humanactivity. When the other creatures ofthe earth come into conflict, they musteither fight or run away. Our ability tocommunicate ideas has given usanother choice. We can use our jawsfor purposes other than to maim orthreaten our adversaries. This meansthat the physically weaker members ofour species have a chance to asserttheir interests on an even level withthe strong.

JuJy/August 1986

All the research into the subject suggests thatchanges in attitudes are called for not only inmanagement, but among individual employeesof both sexes. Management must free itself ofthe doctrine that unconventional work arrange-ments encourage slackingoff, or are incompatiblewith a career. Managersmay have trouble lettinggo of former employers’prerogatives such asdictating what hours peo-ple will work and at whatlocation.

"Civilization consistsin the multiplication andrefinement of humanwants," wrote the Ameri-can scientist RobertA. Millikan. Not all ofthose wants are for material things. The most pro-found of them are in the realm of feelings. The newprograms which enlightened businesses aredeveloping to cope with the changes in the labourforce directly address the deep feelings that existwithin intimate family groups.

Writing of his hero, SigmundFreud, psychoanalyst TheodoreReik observed: "He limited his goalsin analytical treatment to bringing apatient to the point where he couldwork for a living, and learn to love ....Work and love. These are thebasics." Organizations that adjustthe conditions of work to accom-modate the personal responsi-bilities of their employees areessentially reconciling the impera-tives of work with the imperatives ofdomestic love.

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COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

The Unknown AuthorsSome time during the 1960s a reader asked JohnHeron how long he had worked on a Monthly Letterjust published. Heron replied: "I’ve been thinking onthat one since the end of World War I."

The writer who transformed the Letter from a drycommercial review to a publishing marvel known andloved around the world was a constant and deliber-ate thinker. Former colleagues cherish a memory ofhim sitting alone in a restaurant and letting hislunch cool while he made notes on little buff indexcards which he carried in his pockets so that he couldjot down random thoughts. He saved thousandsof those cards, blackened to the edges with

handwritten quotationsand notes.

Heron had a life-long passion for learningwhich may have stemmedfrom the fact that he leftschool at the age of 18to enlist in the CanadianArmy. He had then beenin Canada only a year,having emigrated, withhis parents fromNorthern Ireland. Heserved through theterrible fighting in Franceand Belgium in World

War I and was wounded twice.In 1919 he became principal of a boys’ boarding

school on the Peigan Indian Reserve in Alberta.Between turns of supervising the boys’ farm workand teaching handicrafts, he sent accounts of schoolsports activities to provincial newspapers.

That led to becoming a journalist with theToronto Daily Star and its nationally-circulatedmagazine, the Star Weekly. In Toronto he held writingclasses for young reporters, a manifestation ofan intense and detailed interest in the printedword which he later translated into a series ofwidely-praised Monthly Letters published in bookform as The Communication of Ideas.

In 1940 he moved to Montreal to join the RoyalBank as public relations advisor. The most momen-tous thing he advised the bank to do was to turn itsMonthly Letter into a general interest publicationwritten by himself.

Always self-effacing, he disparaged his own rolein winning the Letter its international fame, sayingthat he was merely the voice of the Royal’s socialconscience. He wrote a great deal about such worthycauses as adult education and community involve-ment, and he practised what he preached, taking anactive part in community organizations. He backedup his frequent essays on youth with work in the field,serving on the board of a Montreal boys’ club. Hiswriting on family values reflected his own homelife. Father of four children, he was a dedicatedfamily man.

John Heron had been writing the Letter for32 years when he retired in 1976 at the age of 79.He died in 1983. His life had been one of metic-ulous craftsmanship, continual self-improvement,and upholding the highest ideals, paralleling themessages he had sent out to hundreds of thousandsof grateful readers. One of his best-received essayswas entitled "A Person of Quality." That describedJohn Heron in every way.

Robert Stewart, author/editor of the Royal BankLetter for the past 16 years, began his career in a very"Canadian" way, covering hockey games in a freez-ing arena as a teenaged part-time reporter in hisnative Northern Ontario. A typically Canadian set ofattitudes has permeated his writing ever since.

Admirers of the Royal Bank Letter complimentit on its distinctive tone, which has been described as"broad-minded, reasonable, moderate, and unpre-tentious." If those adjectives fit, Stewart comments,"I suppose it has something to do with where I comefrom. You know, Canadians are noted for seeing theother fellow’s point of view, and for avoidingextremes and ’hype.’"

Stewart’s Canadian-ism, however, is neithernationalistic norparochial. As a veteranfreelance journalist, hehas written for many inter-national publications. Thelist of his former employ-ers includes Dow-Jonesnews service and The WallStreet Journal, and Timemagazine. His 1977 book,Labrador, was publishedby Time-Life Interna-tional, and has been trans-lated into several languages. Another book reflectinghis strong interest in Canadian history appeared in1979: Sam Steele: Lion of the Frontier.

Stewart has travelled extensively abroad. "I find,"he says, "that travel helps me put things in perspec-tive for the Letter’s readers." He draws much of hisresearch from a home library of some 2,800 volumes,heavily weighted towards biography and history.Ever-ready with an apt quotation to support thepoints he makes, he has a personal computerized fileof almost 5,000 quotes.

The 55-year-old Stewart’s versatility results froma background of writing about a great variety of sub-jects. At various times he has been a court reporter,a theatre and book critic, a travel and outdoorswriter, and an Ottawa correspondent -- for FinancialTimes of Canada, of which he later became manag-ing editor.

Writing the Letter has added new dimensions toStewart’s knowledge by obliging him to read up onphilosophy and logic. "I try to begin at the basics ofwhatever I write about, and that often involves goingback to the ancient Greek and Roman philosophers,"he says. "But I look for thoughts about a subject inevery era, and I could just as easily be quoting amodern source."

As for the principles of logic, he feels that peopletoday are subject to a great deal of veiled propagan-da, and that it is part of his job to warn them to thinkcritically about what they are told, and to point outfallacies in political and social rhetoric.

"I am a great believer in Hannah More’s sayingthat people do not need so much to be instructed asreminded," he remarks, "and I am here to remindthem that there is steady progress in human affairsthat is obscured by the smoke of controversy andconflict."

If the Royal Bank Letter can clear away some ofthat smoke, he suggests, it will be making a worth-while contribution to its readers’ lives.

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COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

’THE LETFER’: A ROYAL TRADITION (Continued from page 2)

Education Institute Pty. Ltd. of Melbourne, Aus-tralia, entitled A Vision Splendid. The Institute’spresident, Roly Leopold, wrote in an afterword tothe book: "These letters with their wisdom, richnessand abiding values, are a real help, not only for our-selves but for our family, friends, associates and allwhom we influence."

Favourable comment along these lines is commonamong the thousands of letters we receive from indi-viduals in places as far apart as the Yukon andNigeria. We get letters from people in prisons andconvents, and aboard ships. They indicate that -- ifwe say so ourselves -- the Royal Bank Letter is oneof the world’s best-loved publications. One of themain reasons for its popularity is its consistently pos-itive tone, unusual in this sceptical day and age.

As John Heron said in an interview in 1968: "It isso easy to knock things down thatmany writers take that path. They goalong, like the Roman dictator in hisgarden, swinging their sticks andknocking off the tallest and bestflowers. They find it easy, andlucrative, to denigrate greatness, toattack the ’establishment,’ to aggra-vate confusion."

The late author’s reference toancient Roman times reflected hisapproach to writing. He delved intothe wisdom of the ages to shed lighton twentieth-century life. He madefrequent use of quotations fromevery era. Of the philosophers hequoted he said, "They dealt withfundamental human relationshipswhich are universal. What they hadto say about them has stood thetest of time and can’t be betterexpressed."

Though his words were probably read more wide-ly than any other Canadian author of his time -- inthe mid-1960s the circulation stood at more than650,000 copies a month -- Heron insisted onanonymity. The Letter, he said, was a direct linkbetween the bank and its readers, "and no writershould get in the way. It goes out now with all theprestige behind it of Canada’s leading bank: ifbylined, it would have nothing more than the nameof an unknown author." In fact, the Letter has alwaysbeen a corporate effort in that the bank’s seniormanagement reviews the topics and the text from apolicy standpoint, and often suggest changes in theinterest of thoroughness and clarity.

By the time John Heron ceased writing MonthlyLetters at the age of 79 at the end of 1975, he had pro-duced 307 of them. The next two years were a hiatusin which the bank ran reprints and pondered what todo. Rising postal rates and production costs hadmade the Letter dreadfully expensive, and the bankcould have been forgiven for closing it down on thegrounds that its author had been unique and that itsrather Victorian style did not fit modern conditions

and attitudes. On the other hand, it still representeda bonanza in terms of good will for the organization,and served as a flagship for its operations abroad andits commitment to corporate responsibility.

Eventually the decision was made to continue ona lesser scale by engaging the services of a writer ona part-time basis. He was -- is -- Robert Stewart, ajournalist and author of wide experience who hadwritten about everything from macro-economics tomodern poetry (see capsule biography, page 5). Thefirst Letter under his anonymous authorshipappeared in January, 1978. It bore a new graphicdesign to go with the new writing style.

ON EDUCATIONTo blame teachers for the failings ofthe modem public education system isa classic case of shooting themessenger. Teachers did not inventthe system, nor do they run it. It is theproduct of politics, and it isadministered by educationalbureaucrats whom teachers oftenregard as their swom enemies. If thepublic, through its elected andappointed representatives, opts for alevelling process in which no student isallowed to fail, or curricula so soft thatyouths can loaf through their schooldays, it is not the fault of the teachingprofession. If parents are carelessenough or dumb enough not to noticethat big Johnny can’t read, they arehardly entitled to protest.

September/October 1989

Stewart brought the Letter even closer to wherepeople live with essays about such psychological sub-jects as pride, motivation, enthusiasm, and aging. Heintroduced a series of biographical essays on great

Canadians, and has written aboutchanges in social attitudes to dis-ablement, illiteracy, mental illness,death and dying, and self-help. Butwhile giving the publication a morecontemporary tone, Stewart has nothesitated to stand up for timelessvalues and reinforce his argumentswith quotations. Some of the best-received editions in recent yearshave been on qualities that oftenseem to be lost in the bustle oftoday’s living -- respect, formality,character, responsibility, courtesy.

Cost-cutting campaigns withinthe bank in the early 1980s resultedin a change in frequency frommonthly to six times a year. A policyof controlling postal costs by mailingthe Letter only to those who hadspecifically and recently indicated

their wish to receive it led to a radical paring of thesubscription list. By 1983 it was down at about100,000. But so many people continued to write in tobe placed on the list that the circulation has sincerebounded dramatically. It now stands at 230,000,197,000 of that in Canada, and the remainder in othercountries.

It is a measure of the place the Letter holds in itsreaders’ hearts that it must be one of the very fewperiodical publications in history to have had a poemwritten in its honour. That took up most of a page inthe Town of Mount Royal Weekly Post on March 7,1985. Space does not permit us to reproduce it in full,but in his penultimate stanza, Montreal writer StuartRichardson deftly expressed the spirit of Royal Bankand its flagship publication:

The Letter of the RoyalHas no self-serving theme.But tends to prove that CanadaIs worthy of our dream.The Letter which they send each monthIs good, and clear, and frank.It speaks about most other things.But not about the Bank.