Lot 46
Taft, William Howard. Very lightly soiled at bottom left. The moistening process alluded to above has minutely blurred the holograph postscript, otherwise the letter is fine. 27th President of the United States, 1909-1913.
Typed Letter Signed as President with Holograph Postscript. One page, Quarto, on executive letterhead, The White House, Washington, December 24, 1910. To John A. Stewart of New York. This intriguing letter finds President Taft investigating the past history of slumps and their comparative effect upon the electoral vote. Taft wanted to know what the electoral vote would have been in 1890 if that had been a presidential election year and how it would have compared with 1892. This is the problem he put to John A. Stewart of New York City in 1910. Stewart was engaged in making what amounted to an early version of a grass roots political survey. He was to report to the chairman of the New York State Committee his findings of conditions and sentiment in certain counties of New York State and Ohio, but evidently he had also written to the president. To this report the president replied. Taft writes:
"My dear Mr. Stewart: I have yours of December 22d. I do not think you quite caught what I was anxious to have you look up. I would like to know what would have been the electoral vote in 1890 if that had been a presidential election, and how it would have compared with 1892. Then, I should like to know how 1910 in point of the electoral vote, assuming that to have been a presidential election, compares with 1890, assuming that to have been a presidential election. Sincerely yours, Wm H Taft." The President adds, in a holograph postscript, "In other words, see whether the slump in 1892 was worse than that in 1890 - or otherwise, and how much."
An odd and interesting feature of this Taft letter is the inadvertant "press copy" of two other White House letters which appear, as faint impressions, on the verso of the integral leaf. Both are brief letters of invitation and were signed by a Presidential secretary. One asks Senator Frank Brandegee of Illinois to dinner to discuss Canal [Panama] matters; the other is to "Mr. Mann" [probably Congressman James Mann of Illinois, author of the Mann Act to supress white slavery]. One of the press copies is dated December 26, 1910, the other December 28, 1910. These copies were taken by moistening very thin paper and pressing it on the original letters, in order to lift an impression of the typescript. It was, of course, never intended that Stewart should see these copies, and how they got on the back of President Taft's letter to Stewart remains something of a mystery. The secretarial staff offered no explanation and was embarrassed when Mr. Stewart told his friends about these copies.
Fine.
Estimated Value $750 - 950.
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