stefansson-wrangel-09-14-039-001

October 24, 1923.

Dear Taylor:

My talk with Mr. Brewer yesterday morning was very
satisfactory so far as he himself was concerned but not quite so much
so with regard to the position taken by the Wrights. However,
Brewer's views are exactly mine and I think the Wright's will come in
line with him as soon as they really understand the situation. The
trouble is that they had not been adequately informed.

As you know, the reason why the $5,000 given me
by Orville Wright did not appear in our accounts was that I considered
it a personal loan. Furthermore, he was so very explicit about my
not letting anybody know about it that I never did tell anyone except
yourself and later Brewer when I saw him in England. Apart from you
two, my secretary knew and that was all. Had his name appeared in the
accounts a certain amount of publicity would have been inevitable, and
I understood he did not want it. I thought his reasons were two: first,
his great and uniform modesty, for he never wants to be known as being
connected with anything; and second I thought it possible that since
the ownership of Wrangel Island was involved he was afraid of some mis-
understanding. I did not take the second motive as probably in his
mind but only as possibly being there. Having the second motive is
not like him as I know him.

Apart from this I have no suggestions to make,
unless you ask for them, about the letter you are to write to Brewer.
He told me there was no hurry about it, so if you want to confer with
me, there is time for that. I asked him if any information about
your reply to him were to be sent to Orv, and he said not.

I am asking my secretary to attach a schedule of
my movements. In Detroit and Cleveland I am at Statler Hotel;
elsewhere you had better address letters in care of General Delivery
and telegrams in care of Western Union.

I had intended writing you about the conferences
with Pickering but find myself at the last moment absolutely without
time. Anyway, the thing can be summarized by saying that, while the
conferences between us and Pickering have been very satisfactory, those
between Pickering and Noice have been less so. Especially astounding
is Noice's assertion that the Knight diary belongs to him because it
was the property of the Company and you, representing the Company, gave
it to him as part of his payment for the journey he made.

Anyway, there is not much point in writing now, for