September 18, 1929 – JSA to Dr. Howard Melish (Lake George)
Dear Dr. Melish:
You certainly did a fine piece of work with Mr. Peabody and it was not only a great pleasure to hear his voice again over the phone, but his very direct and intelligent handling of the subject put me in touch with the Governor.
I found Roosevelt sympathetic. He recently had a talk with Mr. Knapp, who took a rather “cry-baby” attitude resulting in a tentative agreement that would delay action until this land could be out of reach of the State on account of price. The Governor gave me time to make the situation clear to him and finally agreed that the State should acquire the land without further delay.
Unfortunately the Governor is going away today for several weeks and his various sub-departments and under-studies seem backward about doing anything, for reasons best known to themselves. I am quite sure it will require a lot more pumping to keep the pressure up and at best we have only a reasonable chance of overcoming the impediments before the available funds are exhausted.
Lieutenant Governor Lehman will be Acting Governor in a few days and unless his attitude has changed since I last heard from him we cannot expect much from that direction.
If you have any more thoughts on the subject I will be very grateful to you for making them known to me.
Hoping that I may have the pleasure of taking you to my camp again very soon and for a longer stay.
Cordially yours,
JSApperson