January 7th, 1946.

Mr. James Laughlin,
Stowe, Vermont.

Dear Jay:

Thank you for sending me the Gannett clipping.
I want to get a copy of it and will then return it to
you. Hemingway's address is:

"Finca Vigía,
San Francisco de Paula,
Cuba."

The government has served me with a notice of
motion for an order directing a formal hearing on the
question of insanity. My grounds for opposing the
motion are, first, the expense and, second, the fact
that formal commitment to a hospital is undesirable
and unnecessary.

However, I want to talk to Dr. Munsey before
deciding just what to do and there may be a possibility
to use this as a stepping-stone to the ultimate dis-
miral of the indictment. I am asking to have the
motion put over until the week of January 14th and if
you get to town before I go to Washington, I will be
glad to discuss the matter with you.

We enjoyed having you and Margaret ski with us
last week; also Jack and Sheila. Our luck with the
weather held out until the end and the skiing was so
good that we stayed until an extra two days, driving
down on Saturday. After my strenuous day taking you
down the Taft-Coppermine, I repeated the performance
the next day. Only this time I had to ski down with
the toboggan to rescue a girl with a broken leg, half-
way down the Coppermine. The Ski Patrol had all left
the top of the mountain and only one other chap and
myself were available. We had quite a time hauling
that toboggan four and a half miles.

Please give my regards to Margaret and also to
Jack and Sheila if they are still at Stowe.

Sincerely yours,

JC:mm

January 28, 1946.

Mr. James Laughlin
Stowe
Vermont

Dear Jay:

I am sorry that you have been laid up with a cold. Perhaps you have been working too hard and a little sunshine and fresh air on Mt. Mansfield ought to fix you up.

I am not disturbed about the sanity hearing on Wednesday since the outcome is not in doubt, and while I was at first fearful that after being formally committed, it would be difficult to have Ezra released, I have since discovered that he can be released from the hospital merely upon certification by the Superintendent that he no longer requires hospital treatment. The only remaining legal maneuver which will be necessary to set him free would be a formal application to have the indictment dismissed, or in the alternative, to have him admitted to ball. That will be the next move which I should think could be planned for the spring of this year, after Ezra will have been in the hospital long enough so that the doctors can give a definite opinion that his condition is not going to change sufficiently to permit him to be tried. As things look now, I should expect that he could be released this summer, although whether he will be allowed to leave the United States is another question.

I am pleased at your good opinion of my book and I appreciate also your offer to publish it. I am quite anxious to get it published since it seems to me important that these ideas receive greater attention. I am reluctant, however, to ask you to publish something outside of your field and I still have some hope of inducing a general publisher to take it on. After I wrote to you I received word from Coward of Coward-McCann that he had reconsidered his rejection of the book and wanted to talk to me about it. He apparently had felt badly about turning down for financial reasons a book which he regarded as important, and he is still giving it consideration.

I should like to talk the situation over with you when there is an opportunity and will get in touch with you when you come down again to New York.

JC.CW

Sincerely yours,

January 29, 1946.

Dear Jay:

The hearing on the question of Ezra Pound's sanity
has been postponed to February 6th at 2 P. M. The reason
for this is that the staff physicians at St. Elizabeth's
Hospital who have had him in charge, came to the conclusion
yesterday that his mental condition would permit him to be
tried. This is in contradiction to the previously expressed
opinion of Dr. Overholser, Superintendent of St. Elizabeth's
Hospital, who has not joined in the discussions with his staff
and likely will stick to his former opinion.

I hope that all four of the doctors who previously ex-
amined Pound will testify in accordance with their original
views, although the contrary diagnosis of the staff at St.
Elizabeth's indicates that there is room for a divergence of
opinion.

I talked with Dr. Muncie on the telephone this morning
and he said that he could understand how other physicians
might differ from the opinion of himself and the other
physicians who made the first examination, since their con-
clusions were based upon an interpretation of such matters
as Pound's economic and political views. I had previously
asked Dr. Muncie to furnish me with a more detailed statement
of his opinion, a copy of which is enclosed.

I am not sure whether this development will change
the complexion of the hearing or not. If Dr. Overholser should
overrule the opinion of his staff and if the other doctors who
first examined Pound should stick by their opinions, it might
be that the government would not attempt to confuse the picture
by introducing conflicting testimony, although it is possible
that they would do just that and the court would then have to
decide which set of medical opinions should be accepted. If
that should happen we would be in a favored position, due to
the fact that the four doctors who found Pound insane are out-
standing authorities in the field, while the staff physicians
at St. Elizabeth's Hospital are undoubtedly younger and less
experienced men.

I feel rather confident, in spite of the opinion of the staff at St. Elizabeth's, that Pound should not and will not be tried. From my own conversations with him I feel certain that he is not able to comprehend the nature of the proceedings sufficiently to make an intelligent defense. Even if some of the doctors should fail to perceive it, I feel that if he were confronted with legal problems at a trial, his inability to cope with the situation would become apparent. It seems to me impossible to try a man who does not understand what you are talking about when you discuss means of defense, and who also is unable to concentrate upon the matters at issue for a long enough period to give them proper consideration.

In your last letter you said that you might go down to Washington next week to see Ezra. If you want to take in the hearing at the same time, let me know and we may be able to go down together. I expect to take the 8:30 train from New York, Wednesday morning, February 6th.

Sincerely yours,

JC.CW
Encl.

AIR MAIL

January 15, 1947.

Mr. James Laughlin
Alta Lodge
Sandy
Utah

Dear J:

Thank you for your further recollections about Flores.

I am pleased with Albert Einstein's comment on my book. As you say, it is a little windy, but I am sure he and others giving comments would not object to a little editing in order to make the statements more concise. I will send the last set of proofs to E. B. White as you suggest.

With regard to the request from London for permission to print Pound's poems, I am writing to tell your correspondent that Dorothy has been appointed to represent her husband because of his mental condition, and, at the same time, I am sending the letter on to her so that she can grant the permission if she so desires.

Now that Dorothy's appointment has been completed, it would be well for you to enter into an agreement with her for the publication of PERSONAL. If you will let me know what terms you think you should ask I would be glad to prepare a contract. If you want me to use your customary form I presume I could get one from the office.

I enclose check for $5. as a contribution to the Olympic Ski Team Fund although I am not particularly interested in competitive skiing. I would much rather help to establish a chain of huts from which I can derive some benefit in my old age. I hope you will get the deed before something happens to Tagert. I cannot understand why such a simple matter should be delayed so long although there may be some difficulty about describing the property.

Sincerely yours,

JC.CW

NATIONAL SKI ASSOCIATION
OF AMERICA

ORGANIZED FEBRUARY 21, 1904

AFFILIATED WITH

SKI UNION OF THE AMERICAS

AMATEUR ATHLETIC UNION OF THE UNITED STATES

THE UNITED STATES OLYMPIC ASSOCIATION

FEDERATION INTERNATIONALE DE SKI

ROGER LANGLEY
PRESIDENT
BARRE, MASSACHUSETTS

FRED C. BELLMAR
1ST VICE-PRESIDENT
ROOM 300, GAS & ELECTRIC BLDG.
DENVER, COLORADO

ALBERT SIGAL
2ND VICE-PRESIDENT
86 FREDERICK AVENUE
MENLO PARK, CALIFORNIA

JOHN HOSTVEDT
TREASURER
1250 FOURTH STREET
WISCONSIN RAPIDS, WISCONSIN

ARTHUR J. BARTH
SECRETARY
3742 WEST GALENA STREET
MILWAUKEE 8, WISCONSIN

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
OFFICERS AND

ALEXANDER H. BRIGHT
84 STATE STREET
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

DOUGLAS M. BURCKETT
89 WASHINGTON AVENUE
CAMBRIDGE 40, MASSACHUSETTS

ALLAN GRANSTROM
2707 QUEEN ANNE AVENUE
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

JAMES LAUGHLIN
ALTA, UTAH

FRED H. MCNEIL
OREGON JOURNAL
PORTLAND, OREGON

G. F. WIDMER
410 SOUTH 9TH STREET
BOZEMAN, MONTANA

Sandy, Utah

January 18th

Dear Julien -

Thanks terribly much for your contribution to the Olympic Ski Team Fund. I shall send along your button when the buttons come. Martin can wear it to school along with his Stassen button.

Some bird blew in to the New York office asking that copies of Celine's books be sent to Denmark to "help with the trial." Now we have no way of getting these books. They are rare. I had to advertise for two years to locate my copies and paid ten dollars for them. I can't let mine go because I have to set the new editions from them.

Just today the deed came through from Aspen. Is it OK? It looks OK to me. Please return and I'll send it to Langley. This means we can start to work fixing up that hut. Shall we go there this Spring? I believe we could persuade Friedl or Chuck Bishop to look after the summer work on it. A local carpenter could go up there in a jeep for a week and make it habitable. I hope. Please advise.

Yes, let's make a contract with Dorothy now for PERSONAE. I enclose a form, but a lot of this doesn't apply in this case. Perhaps you would rather make one up yourself. I'd like to make it for fifteen years if we can. Make the royalty a straight 15%, with accounts payable annually in March. On anthology permission fees, radio fees etc better divide 75% to EP, 25% to ND. We hardly deserve the usual 50% cut since we took no original risk. On the other hand, we do deserve something because we keep the stuff in print and police it, going after people who try to use stuff without paying for it etc..

Can monies be paid to Dorothy now? I have paid no royalties on any of Ezra's books for about six years. While the sum is not huge it should be straightened out soon. I have all the necessary records to do this asx soon as payments can be made.

Today at Alta was really heavenly. A brilliant sun, making it warm to the one sweater stage, though cold enough to keep the snow dry. I skied the upper lift all day - since it was Saturday with the biggest crowd I have ever seen in the canyon on a Saturday, it must have been a thousand dollar day on the lifts - and felt it change from deep untracked powder in the morning to hardbeaten but still delightful snow by the end of the afternoon.

Best wishes,

Yes, you're right about the need for the chain of huts. I hope to keep plugging at this in the next few decades, but if I go the chair for murdering a critic before it's accomplished I'd like to leave funds to put it through. You might be thinking about how this should be set up. I want to make a new will one of these days, both for this, and to take care of my illegitimate children in Australia, Italy and the Bronx.

AIR MAIL

January 27, 1947.

Mr. James Laughlin
Alta Lodge
Sandy, Utah

Dear J:

I have just tottered back to the office after a session with
the FLU and am cheered by your letter and the deed from Tagert
returned herewith. I know nothing of Colorado law and my opinion
is practically worthless, but one does not have to be a lawyer
to see that the description of the property is most inexact.
The precise location of the cabins is not given and the acre
of ground could lie in any direction from the cabins so long as
it includes them both. It may be that the mining claim men-
tioned is sufficiently small so that the acre of ground would
be pretty much pinned down. It may be also that since mineral
rights are the important thing in the West, the conveyance of
surface land is frequently as haphazard as this. However, I
think it would be money well spent if you would ask a Colorado
lawyer to prepare a more accurate description.

In order not to create any hard feelings I suggest that you
do not relax your grasp on the tail feathers of the bird by
asking that a new deed be prepared, but if you can get a
more accurate description quickly you could insert it in the
deed before it is recorded. If it takes some time, you could
record this deed and then later on ask Mr. Tagert for a cor-
rected deed containing a more ample description.

I am afraid that the present description is so vague that
it might be held to convey no property at all. If you do not
want to spend the money to employ a lawyer the deed could
probably be corrected even in layman's fashion by precisely
locating the cabins with reference to landmarks shown on the
mining maps and then bounding the acre of ground, for instance,
centering it on one of the cabins and giving the directions of
the boundaries.

My final suggestion would be that you accept and record the
deed without waiting to send it to Roger Langley which will
involve further delay. If something should happen to Tagert
I do not know whether Colorado law would uphold the conveyance
if the deed had not been recorded. As an officer of the Associa-
tion you have already accepted delivery of the deed, I presume,

* But then it is *free*, which evens things up.

-2-

and it would be proper for you to record it, and when it
comes back from the Record Office, send it to the President.

I see that you have an article in the American Ski Annual *
which arrived today, as have I. For once, yours is serious
and mine in the lighter vein.

I will take care of the contract for PERSONAE when I feel
up to it. At present I am trying to acknowledge the letters
on my desk and that is all.

No funds can be paid to Ezra or to Dorothy as his representa-
tive under present restrictions. In fact no transfers of
any kind can be made in money which belongs to him. However,
it is proper, I believe, for you to act as his agent where
under contracts you are so authorized, since the money will
not become his until you divide and determine his royalties.
I hope this situation will not last much longer. Sooner or
later the folks in Washington will decide that the war is
over.

I am going down to Washington tomorrow night to try to get
Ezra out of hock. I fear it will be a long struggle and
might even involve appeals to the higher courts, but then
again, it could be a push-over, depending largely on the
government's attitude. The best we can hope for at the
present is to get him into a private sanatorium, where
he can have as much freedom as doctors will allow and can
visit freely with his family. I do not see any hope immed-
iately for having him released from medical supervision or
permitted to leave the United States.

Since the National Ski Association is incorporated there is
no difficulty about leaving funds to it for any appropriate
purpose. Shouldn't there be a Bequest Committee of the
Association to persuade its elderly and its more reckless
members to think of the Association in their wills? If
you think you fit into one category or the other, I should
be glad to help you carry out such a desire. Seriously,
when you write to Roger Langley, why don't you suggest a
bequest program which in the long run may be of very sub-
stantial benefit to the Association.

I feel the need of a vacation. School is out for a week
the latter part of February.' I will probably take the
children up to New England if any real skiing develops
which seems very unlikely at the present moment. I am

* Since read your views on racing rules - no question
about it - skiing officialdom needs some of your
earthy wisdom. Also liked your graphic story of the
Eastern races - best thing in the book.

-3-

also reserving most of April for a trip somewhere but haven't given much serious thought to it. Do you think the Tagert hut would be in fit condition for a pair of old softies - or would you rather strike into new territory such as the Sierras or the Shukson Arm of Mt. Baker - or perhaps an expedition up Mt. McKinley. Thats the trouble with climbing mountains, you always want to find one that's a little higher and pretty soon you have to go to the Antarctic for any real adventure. However, maybe my penchant for avalanches will furnish sufficient excitement even at such well worn places as Alta and Ashcroft.

Thanks for the copy of PERSONAE which arrived the other day. I already had one of the Liveright copies but am glad to see your imprint on it and also to have a spare copy at the office. I could send you a copy of my forthcoming article in the Yale Law Journal in return but I am sure it would bore you.

Preserve some powder for me.

Regards

JC.CW
Encl.

P.S. That miserable rabble rouser Deutsch of PM is on the warpath again. I fear he does real harm - making the government people afraid of too much publicity. I told him I would ask the Judge to bar him from the courtroom. The last piece he wrote was in contempt of everyone except the Judge himself. But, again, nobody with any sense could be so deaf as not to hear Deutsch's personal trombone tooting all over his stuff.

AIR MAIL

January 30, 1947.

Dear J:

I did read the article about the Cascades country and the
same thoughts occurred to me about the low altitude and
interesting touring possibilities. I would indeed be in-
terested in going there. Perhaps we can find out from the
author of the article or natives more about the country
and whether there are any cabins. Especially, I think we
should try to determine when the spring thaws begin. Being
at a low altitude it may be necessary to go early.

I am still groggy from the FLU but am going to the office
a little and was in Washington yesterday to argue for Pound's
release. The matter was adjourned until tomorrow in order
to receive Dr. Overholser's testimony. As usual, the govern-
ment's lawyers were stodgy and stupid and the Judge completely
impassive. We should know the results in a few days. I am
fully prepared for the possibility of taking an appeal but hope
that it will not be necessary.

Best regards

JC.CW

AIR MAIL

February 10, 1947.

Mr. James Laughlin
Alta Lodge
Sandy Utah.

Dear J:

You will be interested to know the outcome of my application for Ezra's release to a private hospital. Dr. Overholser was summoned to court and testified that Ezra would be benefited by removal from Howard Hall where he is much restricted in his privileges and surrounded by criminally insane, but he said that he needed further hospitalization and could be as well cared for in St. Elizabeths as anywhere else. Accordingly, we agreed upon a compromise under which the Judge and the Attorney General have consented to have Ezra removed to a more comfortable part of St. Elizabeths, thereby relieving Dr. Overholser from a responsibility which he would not have otherwise assumed. It is an inflexible rule of the hospital to keep patients under indictment in Howard Hall whihh is the only completely guarded building. The enclosed letter from Dorothy indicates that she and Ezra are both happy over the new arrangement.

I am dictating this from my bed - my supposed case of Flu having turned out to be Jaundice which will keep me in bed for several weeks. I feel perfectly well except that I have little energy and spend most of my time sleeping or reading. I guess I need a vacation and my thoughtshave been turning westward. When would you like to go on a trip?

Best regards

P.S. You will be amused by the enclosed clipping. Our friend's unpopularity seems to be spreading.

JC.CW
Encls.