stefansson-wrangel-09-13-051-003

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It is difficult to negotiate at such a great dis-
tance and difficult to understand exactly what has taken
place and why. I suppose you do not understand my situa-
tion or actions any better than I do those of Noice. It
has been a hard summer and a thankless job for all of us
and we must be careful that things are not further com-
plicated by any misunderstandings. I am always grateful
for everything you do and I know Noice has had the best
intentions and has done is work well. You must similar-
ly realize that in so complicated a situation as I have
had to face in England mistakes of judgment were liable
to occur at any point.

It will interest you that my chief opposition, so
far as I know it, has come from Canadians, and I believe
almost wholly from people who have neither read my books
nor given the questions involved any serious thought -
they are just against everthing on some general basis,
which I doubt if they themselves understand. The men
who have helped me most in England are Amery, the First
Lord of the Admiralty, Hoare, the Air Minister, General
Robert White (who was with Jameson in South Africa) and
so forth. Sir Michael Sadler, who was in Canada last
winter, has helped a great deal and so has Scott, the
owner of the "Manchester Guardian". Sir Campbell Stuart,
the Managing Director of "The Times", and Geoffrey Dawson,
the Editor, have also been most friendly. There has been
a very gratifying and unexpected support from such men as
Lord Milner.

I enclose a list of all the contributions that Mr.
Brewer has received down to date. You will see that
there is a heavy shortage even if you add to it the con-
tribution of £550 originally made by the British Wright
Company, of which Brewer and Orville Wright are the chief
stockholders.

I forgot to mention above two men that were exceed-
ingly useful - Colonel House and Archibald Roosevelt.
Col. House put me into friendly personal relations with a
number of the Cabinet whom I might not have met at all
otherwise, or at least would have met officially only.
Roosevelt also put me in touch with a number of his
father's friends who have been helpful. House and
Roosevelt did this on the basis of feeling that it was a
great deal better that the British Empire should have
Wrangell Island than that it should go to the Russians.
They knew that the United States want the island but felt