Constitutional verbosity
Sir: Perhaps Johnny Gorman (Letters, 3 November) is right about the length of the Lord's Prayer and of the EEC directive on caramel, but I regret to say that even such a sublime document as the US Constitution uses more than 158 words (which is less than the length of Mr Gorman's letter) to fulfil its purposes. That number gets one through the Preamble and to the end of the second paragraph of Section 2 of Article I. I don't know how long the whole thing is, but there are eight more sections in Article I and six more articles, not to mention the 26 amendments. Also longer than 158 words each are the 'Mayflower' Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Gettys- burg Address, and 'The Star-Spangled Banner' (complete version).
Robert Allen
4704 Chester Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
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