The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-09-16
column in the newspapers, is as follows


Gentlemen: have the honor to acknowledge
the receipt of your letter of the 18th inst. You
say my letter of Wednesday night 10 Mr.. Can
field was not handed in to the New York Yacht
Club until IA NJ. Thursday and was not in
your hands until A. NJ. the same day. There
must, think, be some mistake. l received
Mr.. Canfields letter at 1890 A. NJ. Thursday
an d my reply was delivered BY own servant at
the New York Club at 12:15 A. NJ. to the club
clerk. The steward or clerk in charge
to find if Mr.. Garfield was at the Knickerbocker
Club, and if so, to deliver the letter at once:
The reply was that he would endeayor TO find
Mr.. Garfield; that he had short time before
left the New York Knickerbocker Club and had
left word that he would call at A. NJ to see II
there were any messages for him. The request
that Mr.. Garfield should not open my letter OF
the 10th until the protest was decided was un-
necessary, as the cup committee was not hear
ing the protest; but whether my, letter OF
Wednesday night was delivered at the
New York Yacht Club at 1915 or / AM:
whether it was in the hands OF the
committee at seven or eight and whether my
letter of the 10th was read at 1880 or $50
P. NJ. appears to me to be a matter OF minor i'm
portance. What is of Importance to me is the
totally unjustifable opinion implied in your
letter of the 18th. More, in coming to the de-
cision conveyed to you in my letter OF the 10th,
| went back on the agreement signed by MI
Smith and myself
You say: "''we can only regret that the con-
ditions named therein'-that is in my letter OF
the 10th-'as absolutely necessary should not
have been so presented when the agreement of
terms was formulated
Permit me to observe that named no par
ticular conditions as indispensable as you will
perceive on referring to my letter. hold that
in any match fair field and no favor is con-
dition precedent to agreement as to terms,
and as to failing that any party has perfect
right to withdraw, absolutely or condition
ally. Articles of agreement cannot and are
not, intended to lay down fixed rules to meet
every Imaginable contingency. Certain con-
tingencies have arisen, as you are aware.
Contining myself to the subject OF my let
ter-the overcrowding-as far back as last Oc-
tober / wrote concerning the difficulty of en-
suring q clear course, but did not insist upon
my views because 1 thought the persons re-
sponsible should be free to take what steps
they thought best. In view OF the failure in
that respect it might have been better ii
in my letter of the 10th had abso-
lutely withdrawn, but my desire to sail
off the races was great and l withdrew
conditionally and suggested steps which, L
thought, would remove the difficulty. These
steps were not taken, and | held to my de-
termination to sail no more, and in so acting
emphaticaily deny that went back in any way
on the agreement as to terms. did not know
whether Messrs. Garfield and Bush were Of
fcially representing the committee when they
came to see me at1he Waldorf. 1 judged by
their conversation that they were not and
understood from them that the committee had
come to definite conclusions upon my letters.
now can see from your communication that
they were representing the committee In that
case, the proposal made to me by the commit
tee was that should withdraw from my deter
mination expressed in my letter of the 10th,
and should sail the third, possibly the final
race, on condition that sufficient room was Sc
cured at the start, and that in any future
races my suggestion that the dates of the
races and the times of starting should
not be made public should be carried
out The proposition did not commend
itself to me. Nobody has denied the over
crowding, of course, but in any case, either my
complaint was, in the opinion of the commit
tee, unjustifiable, in which case could not
have agreed with them and should have with
drawn, being fully convinced of the necessity,
and prepared to take the full responsibility for
doing SO, or it was justifable. in which latter
case the committee were, think, bound to
give redress before the next race was sailed.
so far withdrew my letter OF the 10th, as to
say would sail the third race ii the committee
would undertake TO declare the race void If, in
their judgment, either vessel was interfered
with by steamers, the committee putting any
body they liked on board the yachts. was
willing to leave the matter in their hands,
stipulating only that they put experienced and
practical yachtsmen on Valkyrie III.
AS far as l am concerned, have no wish to
continue the discus sion, which you accurately
declare as superfluous, and viii conclude by
expressing regret that if any desire to resaH
Tuesdays race was known to exist, the regatta
committee did not order it resailed, un-
regulations, in which case, whatever
my opinion as to the cause of the foul
may be, should have been at the disposal of
the committee, and that the committee could
notsee its way to adopting what appears to uS
the simpler course of hoisting the letter g :"
yesterday and postponing the race ut such
time they had arrived at q definite conclu-
sion upon my letter of the 10th inst.
have the honor to remain, very faithfully,
DUNRAyEN.