Champ Clark letter to Bennett Champ Clark - February 20, 1919
Transcript
February 20, 1919. Lieut. Col. Bennett C. Clark, Assistant Chief of Staff, 88th Division, A. P. O. 795, American Expeditionary Forces, France, Via New York. My dear Bennett: I forgot to tell you in the previous letter Ambassador Sharp called on us while he was here. He spoke in a highly complimentary manner of you and sent his love to you. He is going out and Hugh Wallace has been appointed in his place. Hugh has been very assidious in cultivating Colonel House and others, ever since President [Woodrow] Wilson was elected. He has his reward. Several army officers have called on me. We had Major Koch and Captain Myer to dinner one day. They spoke in the most complimentary manner of you and with affection. I have had a very bad cold which eventuated in tonsilitis; the first time I have had it for a long long time. I have been dreadfully hoarse--so hoarse I couldn’t hardly talk--but I never lost any time from the House. It is much better now. My voice is coming around pretty well. The Republicans are still fighting and scrambling about the offices. It seems to me in the last two weeks
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No. 2. Lt. Col. B.C.C. Mann has been gaining ground. I feel reasonably certain now he will be elected. Doctor Fess’ candidacy seems to have driven a good many of them to Mann. Fess is running for President, and Speaker both. The Anti-Saloon League is running him. Failing the Speakership, he is going to try to be Chairman of the Committee on Rules. He has a very large program which is liable to be broken off in the middle. The World League business is creating a vast amount of discussion and some in the Senate. Very little in the House, so far. We are busy attending to business. I don’t know that the committee of which you spoke will be created. If it is, I will be certain to appoint reliable men on it and tip them off as to your desire. I enclose you a lot of clippings. Some of them will be of great personal interest to you. I send you the extract from Col. Zed Hook’s paper as it is the only one that printed the article with a preface. Several others simply reprinted it without comment. He says it is the pothouse politicians that are agitating things. I had a letter from Foss Matthews about his claim. He writes to me every two or three weeks about it--has done it for 20 years. He wound up by saying there was a great deal of talk about your going to Congress if I didn’t
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No. 3 Lt. Col. B.C.C. run any more. I am going to write to him and tell him you or I never heard of it until I saw it in the Globe-Democrat. It is only a few days now until the end. The House is well up in its business. Of course, the Senate, as usual is behind, but they can do a wonderful amount of work over there when they want to. Champie is constantly getting better and stronger. Genevieve has had a touch of the flu again, although the last letter from Jim says she seems to be out of danger. Your mother is the only one of the whole crowd that hasn’t been sick. They are having a tremendous hullaballoo here nearly every day about the way things have been done in Europe. The Governor of Kansas seems to have started a great storm. A Senate committee is now engaged in investigating the outrageous and cruel sentences inflicted by courts-martial, which has created great disgust. General Crowder has been renominated for four years as Judge Advocate General and his nomination has been confirmed. Both Houses of Congress have voted for a standing army of 175,000 men instead of 500,000 originally proposed, and they are to be raised by voluntary enlistment, not conscription.
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No. 4. Lt. Col. B.C.C. The President is to land in Boston next Sunday and it is said he is going to carry on a campaign for a League of Nations for a few days. He wants to get back to Paris about the 17th of March. He has invited the members of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate and Foreign Affairs Committee of the House to dine with him on the 26th. Senator Borah declined flatly on the ground he couldn’t be convinced and he couldn’t convince the President. On this Globe-Democrat article which I enclose, it seems that Nick Cave is trying to crimp the Congressional succession which would knock Dave Harris’ nose out of joint. I saw in one paper -- I think it was a Jefferson City paper -- where David H. was going to run for Supreme Judge. David Biggs a brother of Doctor Biggs, has been made Chairman or whatever you call it, of the Reserve Bank, in St. Louis in place of Rolla Wells, whose salary was $20,000. How much Dave will get, I don’t know. I know Savogard’s (Newman) [ms illegible: 1 wd] will make you cuss, but thought you should see it. He used to praise me extravagantly. The only harm I ever did the infernal scoundril was to give him a suit of clothes when you were a little tod. Your Loving Father, Champ Clark [written vertically in right margin] Jere South told me today that your oil stock was paying you A 1 ½ per day.
Details
| Title | Champ Clark letter to Bennett Champ Clark - February 20, 1919 |
| Creator | Clark, Champ |
| Source | Clark, Champ. Letter to Bennett Champ Clark. 20 February 1919. Clark, Champ (1850-1921) and Bennett Champ (1890-1954), Papers, 1853-1973. C0666. The State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia, MO. |
| Description | In this February 20, 1919 letter to his son Bennett, Champ Clark discussed politics, Enoch Crowder's re-nomination as Judge Advocate General, and conscription. Champ Clark, a long-time resident of Bowling Green, Missouri, was a politician in the Democratic Party. He served as a representative of Missouri from 1893 to 1895 and from 1897 to 1921. From 1911 to 1919 he served as the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. Bennett Clark served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the 140th Regiment, 35th Division and as Assistant Chief of Staff for the 88th Division during World War I, and was Missouri State Senator from 1933 to 1945. |
| Subject LCSH | Clark, Champ, 1850-1921; Clark, Bennett Champ, 1890-1954; United States. Army. Division, 35th; Crowder, E. H. (Enoch Herbert), 1859-1932 |
| Subject Local | WWI; World War I |
| Site Accession Number | C0666 |
| Contributing Institution | The State Historical Society of Missouri |
| Copy Request | Transmission or reproduction of items on these pages beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the State Historical Society of Missouri: 1020 Lowry Street, Columbia, Missouri, 65201-7298. (573) 882-7083. |
| Rights | The text and images contained in this collection are intended for research and educational use only. Duplication of any of these images for commercial use without express written consent is expressly prohibited. |
| Date Original | February 20, 1919 |
| Language | English |