the Commission should find
any errors it could call the committee's attention to same, so
that corrections could be made before an official announcement
of awards. His impression, from the conversation with Mr. Betts,
was that this arrangement was entirely satisfactory to the
Commission, and would obviate any further controversy as to the
right of the Commission to approve or disapprove the awards
before they became final.

I therefore not only deny any intention to mislead you or the
National Commission concerning the position of the superior jury
and the Exposition Company, but state emphatically that I have
said nothing that justifies any belief or impression on the part
of anyone that either the superior jury or the Exposition
Company admitted the contention of the National Commission that
it had the right to approve or disapprove awards finally made by
the superior jury in pursuance of the rules and regulations
adopted by this company and approved by the Commission.

I made two replies to your letter of November 4, and my reason
for doing so was explained in the second letter. My first letter
was dictated immediately on receipt and on a cursory reading of
your communication inclosing the advertisement of an award in
the morning papers of November 4, and was hurriedly made through
earnest consideration for and extreme courtesy toward the
National Commission. It merely advised that I was investigating
the advertisement and would report as soon as I could learn upon
what authority of the Exposition Company or superior jury, if
any, it had been inserted in the daily papers. Upon a rereading
of your letter and a reference of same to members of the
superior jury, my attention was called to the fact that a
failure to reply to that portion of your letter claiming the
right of the National Commission to approve or disapprove awards
made on their merits might be construed as an acknowledgment of
such contention, whereupon I sent to you the second
communication. Until the receipt of your letter of the 5th, I
was under the impression that the situation as it exists was
accepted by the National Commission, as it has been by the
Exposition Company.

I note the request in your letter "that in future our (your)
written communications be answered in writing," and it will be