stefansson-wrangel-09-13-034

American Geographical Society, Broadway at 156 Street, New York, Sept. 10, 1923.

A. J. Taylor, Esq., Bank of Hamilton Bldg., Toronto, Ont.

My dear Taylor:

Many thanks for your letter of Sept. 7. I presumed when I did not hear from you earlier that you were away from town.

This morning I received a table from Stefansson in which [h]e asks me to close no deal with the North American Newspaper Alliance or anyone else until I have consulted with Miss Marbury or someone suggested by Fannie Hurst. He said that he was desirous of getting the greatest amount of money for the boys' relatives. He also asked me to pass this on to you and Noice.

Of course I have no intention of closing anything without authority from you or Stefansson and furthermore I can not do anything until we hear what Noice has.

Between ourselves Pickering is pretty sore at the way he has been treated. You can understand that as a newspaperman he hated to have the A. P. beat him cut by several days on his own story. It is hard for him to explain to his member papers. He had sold the story in England and Australia and here, too, he was beaten out. Of course he got out the first comparatively complete story but the gist of it had been published ahead of him.

He has cabled repeatedly for further details but Noice has been singularly dumb. This my be due to his having received instructions from V.S. not to spoil Crawford's story, and if so I think it was a mistake.

In my opinion the North American Newspaper Alliance would have paid more for the story than anyone else and they should have had it while it was still hot. I would not blame them at all if they were to recede from the price which they felt at one time they could pay.

They do not want to get the story for nothing, but naturally they fo not wish to have the story which they did everything they could to buy hawked about in London and New York before it is made available for them.

However, it is none of my affair. I am trying to do what I think will prove to be in the best interests of you all in the long run.

Yours sincerely,