PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR
TAFT, William H. Typed letter signed ("Wm. H. Taft"), as former President, to Clarence H. Kelsey, Point-a-Pic, Quebec, Canada, 4 August 1918. 1½ pages, 4to, on personal stationery.
Details
TAFT, William H. Typed letter signed ("Wm. H. Taft"), as former President, to Clarence H. Kelsey, Point-a-Pic, Quebec, Canada, 4 August 1918. 1½ pages, 4to, on personal stationery.
TAFT SEES A LONG AND BITTER WAR, DISCUSSES THE SITUATION IN RUSSIA AND GERMANY AND CALLS FOR A LARGER AMERICAN DRAFT
Although relaxing in his Canadian summer retreat, Taft makes an uneasy survey of the world situation to his broker and indulges in some Washington gossip: "I am disappointed that you should think that the news from abroad indicates a decision of the war within a year. With Russia in the condition it is, and with Germany with the force she still has, I don't see how we can do what has to be done in a year. I talked with General Crowder in Washington about it, and he said it was 'the damndest, most leisurely war he ever saw.' The Administration is now falling down on the men that are being drawn from the draft, and they will have no men to draw from the draft in the first class, which is really the only class to draw from, after the first of September. It is necessary to get a new draft law, with the ages from 18 to 45, in order that we may raise 5,000,000 or more men. That is what we need, but any time we get encouraging news from the front, there is a tendency to think we are already winning victory and that it is not necessary to continue to make effort."
He also discusses his co-chairman of the National War Labor Board, Frank Walsh: "He is a curious fellow....We have been able to agree on twenty-nine different cases, and I have been able to steer him off one of the wildest propositions that I have ever heard from anybody in reference to the living wage. He wanted us to adopt a resolution announcing that the living wage was $1,760, and that every adult man who was employed should receive that amount." Wilson appointed Taft and Walsh to the Board in order to regulate wages and avoid strikes during the country's mobilization for war.
TAFT SEES A LONG AND BITTER WAR, DISCUSSES THE SITUATION IN RUSSIA AND GERMANY AND CALLS FOR A LARGER AMERICAN DRAFT
Although relaxing in his Canadian summer retreat, Taft makes an uneasy survey of the world situation to his broker and indulges in some Washington gossip: "I am disappointed that you should think that the news from abroad indicates a decision of the war within a year. With Russia in the condition it is, and with Germany with the force she still has, I don't see how we can do what has to be done in a year. I talked with General Crowder in Washington about it, and he said it was 'the damndest, most leisurely war he ever saw.' The Administration is now falling down on the men that are being drawn from the draft, and they will have no men to draw from the draft in the first class, which is really the only class to draw from, after the first of September. It is necessary to get a new draft law, with the ages from 18 to 45, in order that we may raise 5,000,000 or more men. That is what we need, but any time we get encouraging news from the front, there is a tendency to think we are already winning victory and that it is not necessary to continue to make effort."
He also discusses his co-chairman of the National War Labor Board, Frank Walsh: "He is a curious fellow....We have been able to agree on twenty-nine different cases, and I have been able to steer him off one of the wildest propositions that I have ever heard from anybody in reference to the living wage. He wanted us to adopt a resolution announcing that the living wage was $1,760, and that every adult man who was employed should receive that amount." Wilson appointed Taft and Walsh to the Board in order to regulate wages and avoid strikes during the country's mobilization for war.