John A. Wilson to Woodrow Wilson
Title
John A. Wilson to Woodrow Wilson
Creator
Wilson, John A.
Identifier
WWP25096
Date
1918 August 5
Description
John A. Wilson writes to the president about a letter he received from California.
Source
Library of Congress, Woodrow Wilson Papers
Publisher
Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum
Subject
Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924--Correspondence
Contributor
Morgan Willer
Relation
WWI1108A
Language
English
Provenance
Document scan was taken from Library of Congress microfilm reel of the Wilson Papers. WWPL volunteers transcribed the text.
Text
My dear Woodrow:
Frequently letters come to me which I know you would enjoy reading but as they amount to nothing in themselves I did not care to take up your time with them. The enclosed letter from our mutual friend in California I thought possibly might please you.
We have just been delighted by receiving letters from Edwin and Alfred. Suppose you have heard from Alfred as he went to Headquarters to see General Pershing to convey a message from you. He was in the hospital for ten days with an attack of tonsilitis but is all right again and had been on an inspection tour of 350 miles by automobile, and was starting out on another of 650 miles by rail. Alfred is very thorough in everything he does and has made some suggestions to me which I am transmitting today to the Quartermaster General of the Army.
You remember our conversation regarding Edwin who had been taken over to the 19th Engineers. I suggested that possibly the reason was that they required a drill master, and Ed is a fine drill master, a good disciplinarian and enjoys work. He says nothing about his detail but Alfred writes that they have taken him over to drill casuals who are coming into the engineers and Alf resents it as it is taking Ed away from the work for which he was specially sent over. But everything will come out all right and I am not worrying anything about what they do or where they are so long as they keep their health, because they are both of them fine clean men.
Edwin was very particular in his letter to mention every one of your family and sent love to all of you. Of course everybody is feeling fine on account of the news from France and the wonderful work that has been done by our boys over there, and by the Departments on this side, especially the War Department in keeping up the constant stream of men and supplies. How they do it I do not know. I thought I was a very good man for detail work but the jobs that some of these men have stagger me when I think of them. Whether or not I could accomplish anything in that line of such magnitude is a question. I shudder when I think of what might happen if I had the job to look after.
The casualty lists so far coming in have cast a gloom over our whole community. We have lost quite a number of fine boys from our oil region regiment and we are all dreading the full report, but of course these things must be expected. When I think of the spirit shown by the English officers in India during that horrible plague, when that song was written - “Three Cheers for the Dead Already and Hurrah for the Next Man that Dies.” - I am forced to the conclusion that it does not amount to so much what a man does in this world but it does amount to a great deal how he leaves it.
With love to everybody,
Affectionately yours,
John A. Wilson
Hon. Woodrow Wilson,
White House,
Washington, DC
Frequently letters come to me which I know you would enjoy reading but as they amount to nothing in themselves I did not care to take up your time with them. The enclosed letter from our mutual friend in California I thought possibly might please you.
We have just been delighted by receiving letters from Edwin and Alfred. Suppose you have heard from Alfred as he went to Headquarters to see General Pershing to convey a message from you. He was in the hospital for ten days with an attack of tonsilitis but is all right again and had been on an inspection tour of 350 miles by automobile, and was starting out on another of 650 miles by rail. Alfred is very thorough in everything he does and has made some suggestions to me which I am transmitting today to the Quartermaster General of the Army.
You remember our conversation regarding Edwin who had been taken over to the 19th Engineers. I suggested that possibly the reason was that they required a drill master, and Ed is a fine drill master, a good disciplinarian and enjoys work. He says nothing about his detail but Alfred writes that they have taken him over to drill casuals who are coming into the engineers and Alf resents it as it is taking Ed away from the work for which he was specially sent over. But everything will come out all right and I am not worrying anything about what they do or where they are so long as they keep their health, because they are both of them fine clean men.
Edwin was very particular in his letter to mention every one of your family and sent love to all of you. Of course everybody is feeling fine on account of the news from France and the wonderful work that has been done by our boys over there, and by the Departments on this side, especially the War Department in keeping up the constant stream of men and supplies. How they do it I do not know. I thought I was a very good man for detail work but the jobs that some of these men have stagger me when I think of them. Whether or not I could accomplish anything in that line of such magnitude is a question. I shudder when I think of what might happen if I had the job to look after.
The casualty lists so far coming in have cast a gloom over our whole community. We have lost quite a number of fine boys from our oil region regiment and we are all dreading the full report, but of course these things must be expected. When I think of the spirit shown by the English officers in India during that horrible plague, when that song was written - “Three Cheers for the Dead Already and Hurrah for the Next Man that Dies.” - I am forced to the conclusion that it does not amount to so much what a man does in this world but it does amount to a great deal how he leaves it.
With love to everybody,
Affectionately yours,
John A. Wilson
Hon. Woodrow Wilson,
White House,
Washington, DC
Original Format
Letter
To
Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924
Files
Collection
Citation
Wilson, John A., “John A. Wilson to Woodrow Wilson,” 1918 August 5, WWP25096, World War I Letters, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.