D O C U M E N T 3 6 J A N U A R Y 1 9 2 1 3 1
Now some news: (1) I telephoned
Hartmann,[5]
expressing your regret that by
the tricks of fate you did not speak with him; he told me that he will be going to
Berlin around February 20 and will use this opportunity to pay his respects. (2) At
the next last meeting of the Chemical-Physical Society, major thanks were con-
veyed to General Director Lederer by Wegscheider for his efforts in having
bestowed upon the society the honor and pleasure of your
lectures.[6]
Provided it
was not the case already beforehand, you have won over all hearts in Vienna. (3)
The matter regarding the workers’ newspaper was properly dealt with by the man
you asked me about, as I gathered from
Adler;[7]
nevertheless caution is still advis-
able here. It is yet another small matter that I have to guide the young man onto the
right and proper track; it will go very easily this time, because even
Jäger[8]
admit-
ted to me that this was the right circumstance in which to intervene. Please keep
this confidential.
(4) Unfortunately the enclosed letter by Dr. Beck from Chicago arrived a week
too late for it still to have been possible to hand it to you personally in Vienna so
that we could have discussed the business directly in greater
detail.[9]
Beck sent me
a copy of the letter to you. So if I may permit myself to discuss it with you, which
Beck encouraged me to do, I am of the opinion that the offer by Dr. Beck ought not
to be waved aside; for he certainly has the very best of intentions in your interest;
he also surely has valuable knowledge not only of the conditions here but also of
the American ones. It will surely be very good for you to have a man so completely
unselfish and entirely reliable in every respect alongside you when you encounter
your American manager and spokesman. About Dr. Beck himself, a former student
of Mach in Prague, now board member and owner of one of the largest clinics in
America, I am informed by my brother-in-law Dr. Arthur
Steindler,[10]
university
professor of surgery at the State University in Iowa City, Iowa, USA; and I other-
wise also know Beck personally, since he visited me in Vienna, without either of
us initially knowing about the fact that, immediately after going to America, my
brother-in-law was his assistant. Dr. Beck’s information in his letter can be com-
pletely trusted. I indicate for you my brother-in-law’s address above; as I already
told you in person, my brother-in-law will be coming to Europe early this summer
and thus it will be easily possible, if it agrees with you, for you to conduct a per-
sonal interview with my brother-in-law. He returns again to America in the fall.
Do not interpret it as intrusive on my part; I am very willing to stand by you
wherever I can and insofar as you wish give you a hand because, for one, I know
from personal experience how useful and convenient it is to have someone at hand
in a foreign country whom one can fully rely on. For another, you have shown your
worth as a globe trotter of the first order with your amusing little experience in
Dresden, so your friends, among whom I hope I may number, gladly want to make
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