stefansson-wrangel-09-06-131-002

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for every dollar they put in, so that in case there should be a loss,
which I do not fear, I shall at least be the heaviest loser.

All the money I shall be able to put into the Company this year
will be between six and seven thousand dollars. In addition to that, Mr.
Maurer (who was married, you remember, in Missoula) has put in one thousand
dollars and his family may possibly put in some more. Out of the remaining
three men who sailed from Seattle on September 18th, Mr. Crawford has put
in $500. and will put in another thousand, and Mr. Knight is having his
wages due him from the Company turned into shares in the Company as fast
as they become due. Mr. Jafet Lindeberg, a mining man in Seattle, is fur-
nishing the ship for use this year for payment by two thousand dollars
worth of shares in the Company. If the ship is lost, we agreed to give him
five thousand dollars worth of shares in addition.

The amount of money we already have is about enough to pay for
the outfit and initial expenses this year. But there is nothing left over
for emergencies nor to pay my expenses on a trip I must make to England to
try to secure from the British Government the lease of the island we want.
The reasons I intend to present in urging that we get the lease are partly
political and diplomatic (relating chiefly to relations with Japan and
Russia) and these are of a nature which cannot be successfully presented by
a letter. The need of making this trip brings about an additional expense
of about two thousand dollars.

I believe that as soon as the lease is secured the shares of the
Company will be worth a great deal more than face value. However, there
is no intention even then on my part to sell any more than I absolutely have
to, for if shares are worth more than face value to others they certainly
are worth no less to me.

I am going to appeal to another friend for the other thousand I
want. Can you help me with one thousand?

What I would like to have you do is to buy one thousand dollars
worth of shares at par. The Stefansson Exploration and Development Company
will agree to buy the shares back on November 1st, 1922, for ten per cent
above their face value ($1100.) in case you at that time prefer to have the
money rather than the shares. If you prefer to have my personal guarantee
rather than that of the Company, it would be all the same to me. I have no
idea the Company will have any difficulty in redeeming its promises, but if
they should have I would be equally concerned to protect my friends against
loss through the Company as if the money had been a personal loan to me.

You will notice that I have not mentioned the name of the island
which we intend to lease. That is the part which is confidential because
international complications might arise if it were known that Great Britain
intends to claim this island. I would like to have you keep confidential
the whole matter of our intention to lease any island. Apart from that,
there is nothing secret about the enterprises of the Company.

The four men, Crawford, Maurer, Knight, and Galle, who sailed from
Seattle August 18th, should be arriving about now in Nome, Alaska. They will