- March 21, 1931 – JSA to Ellwood Rabenold
My dear Mr. Rabenold:
I have just talked with Mr. Peabody, who received word from Mr. Morganthau, Sr. that the bill in question had gone through and was signed by the Governor, which means that he has confused the blue line bill with the proposed amendment to the Constitution. I asked Mr. Peabody to wire him accordingly.
Mr. Wemple is doing his little bit as best he can, to delay the bill, and apparently it cannot come up until Monday, although reported out of the Rules Committee day before yesterday.
I get the impression from Mr. Peabody that he has written a very important letter to Mr. Morganthau with a copy to you. If you do not have it in hand, suggest you read it at once. I also asked your secretary over the long distance that a copy of my letter to Morganthau, Jr., dated March 19th, be sent to your up-town address. You will gather from this that I am not up to date on the good things that you have done in New York since our last talk over the phone.
It still appears that the key to the situation now is through Mr. Morganthau, Sr., his ambitions being to remove any possible obstacle in the presidential program which I understand he is very much concerned with.
It seems quite necessary to make it clear to him that the Governor could gracefully ask the Legislature to pass the Baxter Bill and defer action on the Hewitt Amendment in view of the information which is to be collected by his state-wide survey. Also, existing funds and current appropriations that are being made will carry on the reforestation program successfully and fully until the survey is made, after which whatever amendments that may be necessary can then be out through. As stated by you the other day, I think our only hope of getting this picture clearly to Mr. Morganthau, Sr., is through your personal talk with him, which I hope has already taken place. It is quite possible that I am telling you something that you know more about than I, but to refresh your memory I am giving it to you.
After writing this I will go to Saratoga and have another talk with Mr. Peabody and shall be only too glad to carry out any suggestions you might have to make that may help the cause.
My best wishes to each member of your family.
Sincerely yours,
JSApperson