stefansson-wrangel-09-14-034

Dayton, Ohio, October 20, 1923.

Mr. A. J. Taylor, Bank of Hamilton Building, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

My dear Mr. Taylor;

I have now gone through the account and so far as I can judge the portion which bests explains the expenditures of the money which was contributed for the relief of the men on Wrangel Island is contained on pages 9, 10 and 11 relating to Noice's expenditures at Nome. I have not seen your instructions to Noice but assume that you communicated the conditions which were cabled to you when the $10,000 were cabled and that you told Noice that the money had been contributed for the specific purpose of relief. Apparently the only money Noice had available were the two items of $990. and $9,609.70 and the sum of $1,797.75 proceeds from the sale of furs. This later credit can be reasonably struck out because the whole of this money which less $20 was received from Ada Black Jack was handed back to Ada Black Jack her less $20

It is necessary for me to account clearly what became of the money which was cabled to Nome, so the introduction of money received for the furs and handing back of the money on the furs only introduces a complication which has nothing to do with accounting for the cabled money.

With these items eliminated the disbursements can be considered. All the large disbursements related either to money spent on the outfit for the relief or for the purpose of outfitting a new colonization party of which nothing was said before the subscribing of money. We must therefore carefully separate the amount which can be reasonably charged for the relief from the amount which has clearly been spent for the other purpose of colonization. For instance the relief expedition required no stenographers and some explanation is

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required before wages to the extent of $1,873.50 can be paid out of the money which I cabled to you. The various supplies, such for instance, as the item of $1,371.50 paid to Lehman, Nome, Alaska, and $589.86 paid to Holt of Nome, Alaska, and Midnight Sun Trading Co. for $958.50, and all the other items including the skin boat for $100. all require further particulars in order to ascertain if they were required for the relief or for the colonization. If they were for the relief then they would come back with the Donaldson and the proceeds from for resale would be available for return to the subscribers. If, however, they related to stores for colonization and not for the use of the ship in navigating to and from Wrangel Island.

No doubt, you will be able to let me have full particulars separating the relief from the colonization expenditures. Copies of the invoices would enable the analysis to be checked by the auditors in England and I would ask you to give the fullest particulars to satisfy them. We can then ascertain definitely how much of the money which the public has subscribed for the relief of the men on Wrangel Island has been appropriated for a purpose for which it was not contributed.

With regard to your suggestion that the company should give me a note acknowledging its indebtedness, I will not ask you to do this because it would remove the responsibility from the individual to the company which I have been careful to avoid up to the present. As I explained to Stef in England the reason the money was cabled to you personally was to be able to hold you personally responsible for the money which was entrusted to me personally, and for which I am personally responsible. For the same reasons I have decided not to accept the shares which you have kindly offered to have transferred to me, even though these would cost me nothing. It would, however, prejudice my position as trustee of the public money to by introduceing an element of personal interest in the concerns of the company. The part I have hitherto played has been purely for the humanitarian purpose of saving the lives of the four men who were marooned on Wrangel.

With regar d to the earlier portions of the account, which however does not concern me personally, it appears that the relief expedition last year under the command of Captain Bernard cost for the charter and supplies, $1,222.95. Apparently the Canadian Government contributed $3,000. for this purpose in addition to $3,000. which does not appear in the account, contributed by Mr. Orville Wright. Seeing that these contributions of $6,000. were only partly utilized for the purpose of sending the "Teddy Bear", should not the balance of

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$4,777.05 have been available for the relief of the same men when the ice opened this year. It does not appear clear why if there are 249 shares fully paid in cash amounting to $24,900., and that this amount exceeds the total cost of the three expeditions by several thousand dollars, why it should have been necessary to ask for outside assistance.

There does not seem to be an entry of the $3,000. paid by the Newspaper Alliance, but this should surely be entered some where, even if it has been misappropriated. The expenses relating to the earning of the $3,000. are entered in several places such as $150. for expenses "to New York re Pickering and Newspaper Alliance", $20.00, "Expenses Roy Brown, Vancouver", several stenographers charges, etc. Apparently Noice returned $835.75 out of the money which you cabled for me to Nome he had at Nome, so even when charging the considerable items which were outside the purpose for which the money was contributed there is this sum of $835. which should be immediately reimbursed to the subscribers. The question of whether it can be allocated afterwards to other debts should not be considered because the first claim for a balance on misappropriated funds is the source from which the funds were received, and the offense would only be increased by continued misappropriation after the facts were fully known.

You have probably found out by now whether "Alex. Allen new good boat, 70 tons, 9 knots", which was referred to in the telegram of July 29th, as available for "$1,000. trip $2,000. if successfull", is the same vessel as the Donaldson. I should be interested to hear if my suspicions are correct. The necessity of the extra expenditure was alleged to be because Alex. Allen's ship had sailed and it was necessary to charter the only other suitable vessel available. No explanation has yet been given why Noice (according to the cable of the 22nd July) in quoting terms of the charter, quoted $7,000. to purchase the ship when $6,000. was the amount mentioned in the charter.

I have given you a formidable list to straighten out, and I should like to have done this in more careful language, but as I am sailing next Tuesday morning I have had no time to put in polite phrases. Please, therefore, excuse crudeness of composition.

Sincerely yours,