June 15, 1922.

Dear Friends:

To Ferenczi’s question about the Vorkongress, I think we decided that our main
meeting would be after the Congress (? Potsdam) and that only two or three hours
would be necessary beforehand for business, as distinct from social, meeting. I
presume there will be a reception on the evening before the Congress, i.e. on
Sunday the 24th. From London the trains arrive in Berlin in the evening; I do
not know how it is from Vienna. About guest cards, I suggest that Abraham
gets 200 printed (all in German) and then sends an appropriate number to each
society, the rule being that no one is admitted to the congress without such a
card. Each member’s card should be signed by the secretary of his society, and
each guest’s card by one of the presidents. Is this agreed?

About holidays, I shall only be able to take a couple of weeks this year, so
that all correspondence can be sent as usual to my London address.

I was interested in the various remarks about underbidding. From the English
side I would say that fees lower than two guineas constitute “underbidding”, for
there is no analyst in London who would not take a case for this fee or less. In addition 
you should all not be too modest to remember that you are far more capable and
experienced analysts than anyone in England, so that you have every right to
charge corresponding fees.

I mentioned already that Rivers died suddenly. He will be greatly missed, but
not by psycho-analysts.
 

My opinion about accepting critical articles for the “Z” or “J” is in the negative 
so long as the motives of the criticism spring from tendentious resistances, 
which is usually not difficult to establish, but to accept those that are of
positive value, even if they are not written from our own standpoint. For instance 
I can conceive a useful article correlating psa conclusions with the new work on 
endocrinology by someone who is properly informed on both sides, just as Sperber’s 
famous article on the origin of language. I can even imagine a valuable article, 
though I have never seen signs of one yet, criticising some of the Psa formulations 
in the light of other psychological and physiological research, i.e. expressing 
our conclusions in language nearer to that used in other branches of science.

Berlin. The only Frenchman I know who is likely to come to the Congress is Dr
Mourgue, Paris. The American book, my dear Abraham, was not sent as a “swindle”.
The author wrote to me some time ago saying he was finishing a book on Psa which
by the way is quite worthless, and asking for the names of a dozen analysts to
whom he might send it. One is under no obligation to notice it. Amusingly enough,
I am the only person on the list to whom he did not send a copy!

Vienna. I also received the book from Rio de Janeiro, but could not read it. Is
it possible to have at least a short review of it for the “Z” and “J”?

I note your remarks about Congress discussions and fully agree.

Dr Barkas applied for membership here, giving your name, my dear Otto, as ref-
erence. Will you please let me know something about her. In general it is useful
in such cases to notify each other beforehand, so that one may know how to deal
with the person in question.

Of course I am in full agreement about Frau Lou Salomé joining Vienna. In
the case of Odier I do not see that I have anything to do, for he joins his own
country’s society. Does his case differ from any other such candidate?

The proofs of the “Jenseits” and “Massenpsychologie” are finished and the indexes
 

have already been sent off to Vienna, so that we may now expect both books to appear
within a measurable time. I have not had any answer to my question about the order
of the “Sammlungen” articles, so assume I had better arrange it myself and not wait for
further delays. The arrangements with Hiller and Mrs Rivière are straightening out
satisfactorily and I am hopeful of good and quick results from the collaboration.

With warm regards to all  
yours cordially  
Ernest Jones  

P.S. “I sent off the Kelsen proof yesterday on getting your postcard.”