stefansson-wrangel-09-13-034-001

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,