February 26, 1931 – JSA to Belle Moskowitz

  • February 26, 1931 – JSA to Mrs. Henry Moscowitz (Belle) –

My dear Mrs. Moscowitz:

Have been travelling too fast to express to you my appreciation for the fine work you have been doing thru Mrs. Dreier, Mr. Rabenold and others. Mr. Moot wrote to Mr. Young last week and today is trying to get in touch with the Lieutenant Governor. I will try to get in touch with Mr. Rosenman, and will be glad to see any one else you may suggest.

The public hearing yesterday was far better than we hoped in several ways. The Forest, Fish and Game League, with 160 affiliated organizations, the New York City Club of Women, the New York State Federation of Women’s Clubs, the American Canoe Association, the Mohawk Valley Towns Association, the Schohanna Trail Club and several smaller organizations were well represented for the Baxter bill and against the Hewitt tree-cutting amendment. Rabenold handled the situation in a very masterful manner.

If there was some way of delaying the Hewitt amendment for another week, there are indications that it might be beaten, now that we have a good substitute and are able to take the offensive.

One of the outstanding features of the hearing was Mr. Howard’s repudiation of data he himself gave to Senator Rabenold and appearing in official reports, showing areas needing reforesting inside of the park, which under the Hewitt amendment will receive none of the funds for such purpose. As an engineer, I know how important it is to have correct data and have been surprised several times by the information given out by the Conservation Department. While it is necessary for the Executive branch to rely on their subordinate departments for such information, in the present instance I think they could well afford to check and safeguard their commitments on the reforestation program, based on the data given from the Conservation Department. It may be too late now to raise this issue.

The next important chapter is the passage of the Hewitt bill which may take place at any time unless extraordinary action is taken to defeat it.. It seems that our group here were greatly encouraged by the public hearing and it is very gratifying since the prospects were so discouraging.

Sincerely yours,

JSApperson