NAWSA     GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE        Sinclair,  Upton

UPTON SINCLAIR
STATION A
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA

December 15, 1930

Mrs. Alice Stone Blackwell,
3 Monadnock St., 
Upham's corner
Boston, Mass.
My dear Mrs. Blackwell:
I have taken the liberty of asking my
publishers to send you an advance copy of my new novel,  "Roman
Holiday", which I think has features which will interest you 
especially.
I am in the midst of reading your book with very
great enjoyment.  I have heard of the "Lucy Stoners" all my
life, and now I am interested to know about it.  It is an interesting 
story, a credit to both mother and daughter.
Sincerely, 

Upton Sinclair
LS

UPTON SINCLAIR
STATION A
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
August 10, 1931
My dear Mrs. Blackwell:
I am asking the publishers in 
New York to send you a copy of the advance edition of
my new novel, "The Wet Parade", which I hope will interest 
you.
Sincerely, 
Upton Sinclair

Upton SinClair
Answer it

UPTON SINCLAIR
STATION A. PASADENA
CALIFORNIA
DECEMBER 24, 1937
Miss Alice Stone Blackwell,
1010 Massachusetts Avenue,
Cambridge, Mass.
My dear Miss Blackwell:-
I much appreciate your letter, and am
truly grieved to hear about your affliction, which must
be a heavy one.
As to "Our Lady," some forty publishers
have rejected it.  They are all afraid of church opposition.  
Even my English publisher, who has published
everything of mine twenty years, gave this frankly as
the reason.
Sincerely, 
F
Upton Sinclair

WHEN IS A BOOK NOT BOOK?
A Letter to the Editor of "New York Herald-Tribune Books"
By Upton Sinclair

December 10, 1937.
My Dear Irita Van Doren:
Francis Henson of the United Automobile Workers has sent me a copy of
your letter to him, explaining that you have been unable to review "The
Flivver King" and other novels of mine "because so many of them are printed
in pamphlet form, and are hardly books in any sense of the word."   Mr.
Henson asks me to answer this letter, and I trust that you will not take offense
if I comply with his request.
It seems to me that "The Flivver King" is a "book" in the only sense of 
the word which has any real meaning or dignity.  It is a novel of 72,000
words, which is ample to be made into a book in the conventional trade sense,
and sold for $2.00 or $2.50.  But it seems to me a great injustice to literature
to accept the commercial definition of a "book"; that is to say, something
which is printed in large and expensive form so as to allow a margin of
profit to a whole series of persons who handle it.  We are so bound by the
restrictions of our commercial system that we come automatically to accept
them, and we do not even stop to think what we are doing to literature when
we say that a competent and conscientious piece of writing is not a "book"
unless it is bound in cloth covers, and priced sufficiently high to allow a 30
or 40 per cent discount to book stores, and 15 or 20 per cent royalty to the
author, and a sufficient margin of profit to the publisher so that he can main-
tain an expensive office in New York City, and pay large sums for advertising
in newspapers.
This system of restricting books by commercial definition results in the
fact that America is the worst book-buying nation among the great nations of
the world.  I forget the exact figures, but we spend ten or twenty times as
much on cosmetics as we do on books.  In the Soviet Union, to take only one
illustration, my recent novel, "No Pasaran" sold several hundred thousand
copies in many editions.  On the other hand, the last conventional book which
I published in the United States, a novel called "Co-op," which contained

nearly 200,000 words and represented a year's work, was published at $2.50
and sold only 5,000 copies.

In other words, if you write a "book" in the commercial sense of the
word, you exclude the working class from your readers.  As it happens, I
want the working class to read my books, and so I have devised a cheap form
of publication.  As a result of this low price, the United Automobile Work-
ers were able to purchase 200,000 copies of the book for distribution to their
members.  It seems to me that that is an event in American history, and also 
in American literature.  It seems to me a grievous wrong that for adopting a 
low-priced form for my book I should be penalized by a complete boycott of
the daily newspapers of the United States.  One is irresistibly driven to sus-
pect class bias as the cause of such a boycott, and it seems to me that high-
minded editors would hesitate to give their readers such cause for distrust.

I assert that "The Flivver King" is a "book" in every sense of the word
that has any meaning to one who loves books for their contents and not for
their clothes.  I will go farther and assert that "The Flivver King" is as im-
portant as any book you have reviewed in the past year.  It deals with the 
most vital problems of our time--the struggle of labor to receive its proper
share of the benefits of the machine process.  It tells the American people a
mass of facts which have been deliberately withheld from them.  The truth
of these facts has been certified to in a letter from  Prof.  Paul H. Douglas, of
the Department of Economics, University of Chicago, as follows:

"You will also be interested to know that they (the 'Saturday Review of 
Literature') questioned some of the statements of fact of my review which I
based on your book.  I checked up each and every one of these questions
with a wide variety of outside sources and they confirmed the accuracy of
your statement, and this seemed to satisfy the 'Review.'"

The skill of the telling has been certified to by Senator Borah, in a letter
which I quote:
"I read 'The Flivver King,' and you have told a splendid story.  I am not
sure just how much belongs to your healthy imagination and how much be-
longs to reality, but I am sure it is magnificently told story."

I appeal to your conscience as editor of one of America's leading
organs of literary opinion.  I ask you to put "Tha Flivver King" in to the

(2nd Page)


hands of an open-minded economist of the calibre of Paul H. Douglas, and
be guided by his opinion as to whether it is a book, and whether it is worth
a front page position.
Or, if you cannot do that, I will suggest as an alternative, that you publish 
this letter and invite your readers to write and tell you whether they want
their literature reviewed on the basis of intellectual and moral contents, or on
the basis of expensiveness of paper and binding.

Some Opinions of "The Flivver King"

The "Christian Century": "Sinclair can write.  Make no mistake about
that.  Because he writes with purpose and passion, he is often rated as a 
pamphleteer.  So he is; but he is also a novelist--an abler one than some
who have received Pulitzer prizes.  This book looks like a pamphlet, and is 
priced like one, but it is practically a full-sized novel.  Its purpose is to show
what Ford had done to American industry and what success has done to 
Ford."

The "United Automobile Worker": "It is reported from Washington that 
senators and representatives can hardly tend to business in congress because
they are lured to the reading of 'The Flivver King'"

Wm. E. Bohn in the "New Leader": "Upton Sinclair knows Henry Ford
through intimate personal conversations.  His picture is fair and penetrating.
The tale of Abner Shutt and his family, the working-class group through
whose eyes the great drama is seen, is realistically convincing.  When it
comes to portraying working people, old Upton Sinclair can show his heels
to any of our 'proletarian' writers."

A. J. Muste in "Common Sense": "This booklet of 119 closely-packed
pages belongs in the must list of everyone who has any interest in the labor
movement and in the solution of our labor problems.  I doubt if Upton Sin-
clair has ever written a more fascinating and illuminating story, certainly
never one so crystal clear and at once so dispassionate and moving."

Jack Conroy, author of "The Disinherited": "I've been meaning to write
you about 'The Flivver King.'  I tried it our on several factory workers,

farmers, and other people who might fairly be classed as non-intellectuals.
Almost without exception, these people read the book with enjoyment, and,
what is more important, it left them in a distinctly pro-union and anti-Ford
frame of mind. It seems to me that you've been a little too kind to Ford in
the book, but this will no doubt appeal to the 'fair play' instincts of many
readers who do not possess strong social convictions. As to the story itself,
I think you have related it very effectively."
Granville Hicks writes: "I think it's a swell job."
Mathew Josephson writes: "The best thing you have done, so far as I
know, since 'The Jungle.'"
Jacob Baker, formerly head of the Vanguard Press and now President of
the United Federal Workers of America, writes: "It seems to me that this
book, almost more than any other that you have written, sets the seal upon the
unique and distinctive contribution that you have made throughout your life
—and are still making—to America and to its workers. I suppose that your
friends from time to time have compared you to Zola or Victor Hugo or
Dickens, and with reason. Thinking over your long and highly productive
career, it seems to me that it cannot be compared with that of any other person.
It stands out uniquely. You have turned your hand to every phase of
social injustice in this country, and in every case you have improved the
situation, at the same time that you have laid a basis for long continued work
by others. Your material is drawn from living people and living situations,
and your use of it creates a living structure that impels people to action. To
have done this for as many years as you have, is not only remarkable as a
personal accomplishment, but is the great good fortune of the nation and the
world in which you live."
On Dec. 13th the boycott was broken. The New York "Times" and the
"Herald-Tribune," in their news sections—not their literary ones, gave
column reviews of "The Flivver King." Both say that it was the advertising
of the boycott which caused the writing of the reviews.
The prices are: 25 cents a copy, 10 for $1.75, 100 for $15.
UPTON SINCLAIR, Station A, Pasadena, California
3


BOOKS BY UPTON SINCLAIR
The Flivver King: A Story of Ford-America. 1937. Paper, 25c; 10 for
$1.75.
No Pasaran! (They Shall Not Pass): A story of the Battle of Madrid.
1937. Paper, 25c; 10 for $1.75.
Wally for Queen! Private Life of Royalty. 1937. Paper, 25c each; 6 for $1.
Co-op: A novel of living together. 1936. Cloth, $1.50.
The Gnomobile: Story for children. 1936. Cloth, $1.50.
What God Means to Me: An attempt at a working religion. 1936. Cloth, 
$1.00.
Depression Island: A satire on starvation in the midst of plenty. 1935.
Cloth, $1.00; paper, 60c.
We People of America: And How We Ended Poverty. 1935. The book of
National EPIC campaign. Paper, 20c; 15 for $1.00.
I, Candidate for Governor: And How I Got Licked: Inside story of the 
gubernatorial campaign in California, 1934. Cloth, $1.50; paper, $1.00. 1934.
An Upton Sinclair Anthology: Collected by I. O. Evans and published in 
London, includes selections not merely from Upton Sinclair's best works, but
from others not yet published in book form. 1934. Cloth, $2.50.
The New English Weekly: "It gives an impression of the greatness of
Sinclair—and he is great— and some conception of his encyclopedic knowledge.
Sinclair is interested in everything. . . . Sinclair is great because he is much
more than a novelist. . . . He is a minor prophet—the Prophet of Social Justice."
I, Governor of California: And How I Ended Poverty: A True Story of the
Future: 1933. Paper, 20c; 15 for $1.00. Best selling book in the history of
California: 180,000 in six months.
EPIC Answers: How to End Poverty in California. 1934. Paper, 15c;
15 for $1.00.
The Lie Factory Starts: 1934. Paper, 20c; 15 for $1.00.
Immediate EPIC: The Final Statement of The Plan: 1934.  Paper, 15c;
15 for $1.00.
The Way Out: What Lies Ahead for America: 1933. Paper, 20c; 15 for
$1.00.
"The finest piece of statesmanship since Lincoln's Inaugural Address."
—Fulton Oursler.
Upton Sinclair Presents William Fox: 1933. Cloth, new edition, $2.00;
old edition, $1.50.
"Has terrific interest and suspense. . . . The most exciting book I have read
for years. It is destined to an immense popularity, and will make Upton Sinclair 
the most widely read author in America."—Floyd Dell.
American Outpost: A book of Reminiscences. 1932. Cloth, $1.50; paper,
$1.00
"Contains some of the best writing you have ever done."—H. L. Mencken.
The Wet Parade: A full-length novel dealing with liquor drinking and
the rum traffic in the United States during the past thirty years. 1931. Cloth,
$1.50; paper, $1.00.
""The Wet Parade' is magnificent. Not in ten years have I read a novel so
strong—so daring—and with so much thrill and humor and human weakness
and strength on every page. He has painted the American scene as no other
writer of our generation."—Kathleen Norris.
Roman Holiday: Cloth, $1.50; paper, $1.00. 1931.
"I am charmed. The fine and delicate satire reminds me of the best work
of Anatole France. Though it is a scholarly book, there is a quality of pleasant
ease about it and I admire greatly the dramatic suspense in which you carry on
the thread of the story. It is a novel that will live, and add to your already
splendid reputation."—W. E. Woodward.

Mountain City:  A novel of the Rocky Mountains and Wall Street.  1930.
Coth, $1.50; paper, $1.00 
"A corking novel, always interesting and convincing . . . Superb craftsmanship . . .
magnetizes the reader as well as anything you have done." --
Fulton Oursler.
Boston:  A contemporary historical novel.  1928.  Eight hundred pages.
Cloth, $2.50, paper, $1.25.
"To my mind, in spite of Tolstoi's "War and Peace," and some of Zola's
things, there has never been any fiction quite like this of yours.  The method
really constitutes a great literary invention." -- Floyd Dell.
 Mental Radio:  A study of telepathy, based on experiments of M. C. S.,
1930.  Three hundred illustrations.  Cloth, $2.00; paper, $1.25.
 "The experiments were so remarkably successful as to rank among the
very best hitherto reported" -- Prof. William McDougall.
Money Writes:  An economic interpretation of present day American
Literature.  Cloth, $2.00; paper, $1.00.
 "All of 'Money Writes' is great stuff.  My congratulations.  A hard job 
well done."-- Emmanuel Haldeman-Julius
 Mammonart:  An essay in economic interpretation.  1925.  Cloth, $2.00;
paper, $1.00.
 Charles Willis Thompson in the "International Book Review Library
Digest":  "At last Upton Sinclair has written a good book; and not merely
a good book, but a most excellent book, a most admirable book, a most wondrous
compound of jazz and depth, of gaiety and scorn, of license and self-government
-- really a book that quite takes one's breath away . . . At any rate Upton here 
becomes not merely readable; you have simply got to read him, whether or
not you agree with a single line he writes."
The Goslings:  A study of the American schools.  1924.  Cloth, $2.00;
paper, $1.00.
From H.L. Mencken:  "The fruit of a long and painstaking investigation
of the public schools of the United States, the facts it presents are of the utmost
importance.  The story is told with humor, and has a racy, picturesque color.
I have read the book with great delight and shall read it again."
 The Goose Step:  A study of the American colleges, 1923.  Cloth $2.00,
paper $1.00.
From H. L. Mencken:  "My very sincere congratulation.  I have read on
and on with constant joy in the adept marshalling of facts, the shrewd presentation
of personalities, the lively and incessant humor.  It is not only a fine piece
of writing; it is also a sound piece of research.  You simply offer the bald and
horrible facts--but with liveliness, shrewdness, good humor.  Let every American 
read it and ponder it!"
The Brass Check:  A study of American journalism.  Who owns the press
and why?  When you read your daily paper, are you reading facts or propaganda?  
And whose propaganda?  1920.  New edition with index, 1928.  Cloth, 
$2.00; paper, $1.00.
"There are few sweeping statements to which I like to sign my name, but
one is that American popular newspapers and magazines are false and unreliable
to the core . . . Upton Sinclair, in "the Brass Creck", proves this statement 
for the first time.  He backs it up with the unanswerable facts and documents.
He illustrates it with living tales from a wide field of observation, and
with a swift and candid narrative of his own experiences which can only leave
the reader in a state of amazed indignation." -- Max Eastman.
The Profits of Religion:  A study of supernaturalism as a source of income
and a shield to privilege.  The first investigation of this subject ever made in
any language.  1918.  Cloth, $1.50; paper, $1.00.
"It isn't merely that the book is so everlastingly sound -- it's so delicious as
well--literally delicious!  You can taste the fine flavor of humor.  I don't know 
any book like it."--Sinclair Lewis.
Oil!:  1927.  Cloth, $1.50; paper, $1.00.
 "Ordinary American fiction seems puny and trifling beside "OIL!"  It must


go to the great Russians for comparisons, and it may be said that it has a truly
Tolstoyan sweep and ease in the management of its huge there."--Floyd Deli
in the New York "Herald-Tribune."
The Spokesman's Secretary:  Being the letters of Mame to Mom.  1926.
Cloth, $1.25; paper, 50c.
 Paul Jordan-Smith writes:  "I found myself laughing, where I had sat me 
down to cry over the woes of labor.  Really, the story is delightful."
 Letters to Judd:  An American working man.  A discussion of the existing
economic system.  1926.  Paper, 20 cents, 15 for $1.00.
From the "Register," Wheeling, W. Va:  "These "Letters to Judd' are a
distinct contribution to the literature of socialism; they are clear; they are
instinct with sincerity, and enthusiastic, and even the most stubborn defender 
of capitalism must admire their restraint and their incisive attack."
 They Call Me Carpenter:  A tale of the second coming, 1922.  Cloth, $1.50; 
paper, $1.00.
From the "Survey": "Upton Sinclair has a reputation for rushing in where
angels fear to tread.  He has done it again and, artist that he is, has mastered 
the most difficult theme with ease and sureness."
100%:  The story of a patriot.  Cloth only, $1.50.
From Dr. Frederick van Eeden in "De Amsterdammer":  "Every word 
burns like a drop of glowing lava.  The book is as sharp as a needle and as strong
as a great dynamo."
Jimmie Higgins:  A novel of the World War; a best seller in Russia, Italy, 
France, Germany and Austria.  1919.  Cloth, $1.50; paper, $1.00.
From Romain Rolland:  "It is one of the most powerful works which has 
been written on the war."
King Coal:  A novel of the Colorado coal country.  1917.  Cloth, $1.50; 
paper, $1.00.
From George Brandes:  "Upton Sinclair has absorbed himself in a study
of the miner's life in the lonesome pits of the Rocky Mountains, and his sensitive
and enthusiastic mind has brought to the world an American parallel to
"Germinal,' Emil Zola's industrial masterpiece."
 Sylvia:  A novel of the South.  1913.  Cloth, $1.50; paper, $1.00.
 The editor of the American Magazine called Sylvia "the loveliest heroine
in all fiction."
Sylvia's Marriage:  A sequel to "Sylvia."  1914.  Cloth, $1.50; paper, $1.00.
"There is not a man nor a grown woman who would not be better for 
reading "Sylvia's Marriage.'"--The Globe
Damaged Goods:  Novelized from the play by Brieux.  1913.  Cloth, $1.50;
paper, $1.00.
Rev. Earle Wilfley:  "I am confirmed in the opinion that we must take up
our cudgels in a crusade against the modern problems brought to the fore by
'Damaged Goods.'  The report that these diseases are increasing is enough to
make us get busy on a campaign against them."
Love's Pilgrimage:  A novel.  1911.  Cloth, $2.00; paper, $1.25.
Frederick van Eeden:  "It is surely your greatest book and very nearly 
one of the great books of the world . . . You give wooing, marriage, pregnancy,
birth in great classic lines.  This is general, universal, typical.  It is the working
of life seen by a modern temperament."
Samuel, the Seeker:  A story of Socialism.  1909.  In "hard covers," $1.00
Robert Whitaker:  "Worthy to be compared with Oliver Goldsmith's
'Vicar of Wakefield.'"
The Moneychangers:  A novel of Wall Street.  1908.  Cloth, $1.50; paper, 
$1.00
A thrilling story of love and high finance, together with some "Inside" information
badly needed by the American people.
The Metropolis:  A picture of the "Four Hundred" of New York.  1908
Cloth, $1.50; paper, $1.00.
This book created an international sensation, and was translated into a
dozen languages.

The Jungle: A novel of the Chicago stockyard. 1906. Cloth, $1.50; paper, $1.00.
"The 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' of wage slavery."—Jack London.
Manassas: A novel of the Civil War. 1904. Cloth, $1.50; paper, $1.00.
Called by Jack London, "the best Civil War book I've read."
The Journal of Arthur Stirling: The literary sensation of 1903. Cloth, $1.50; paper, $1.00.
"At once an authoritative document, heart-searching appeal, and a tragic
entertainment. I don't remember to have seen the old case of the 'Poet versus
The World' put with more truth, more vehemence, and more charm."—Richard
Le Gallienne.
The Millennium: A comedy of the year 2000. A social satire in fiction
form. 1912. Cloth, $1.50; paper, $1.00.
The Fasting Cure: A health study. 1911. Cloth, $1.50; paper, $1.00.
The author tells how he regained his own health by fasting. Has been
translated and published in countries as far apart as Denmark and Japan.
The Book of Life: A book of practical counsel, Mind, Body, Love and
Society. 1922. Cloth, $2.00; paper, $1.00.
"I found it an extraordinary sensible and useful book, and gave it to my son
to take away with him, as stating certain matters of especial importance to
youth more sanely than any book I knew of."—Robert Herrick.
The Cry for Justice: An anthology of the literature of social protest. 1915.
Selected from 25 languages, covering a period of 5,000 years. Preface by Jack
London. 891 pages, 30 illustrations. A library in itself. Cloth, $2.00; paper,
$1.25.
"Upton Sinclair's vision is broad and far-seeing, enabling him to give his
book that divine touch that makes it more than a book, makes it more than a
storehouse of utterances, makes it an expression of the soul of man, held down
and shackled for the moment, but aspiring and fighting for the glorious heights."
—Emanuel Haldeman-Julius.
Bill Porter: A drama of O. Henry in prison. 1925. Cloth, $1.00; paper, 50c.
"A highly interesting little play describing the prison life of Bill Porter,
known to millions as O. Henry. Not only is Porter's prison career brought
to the fore, but other notables, Al Jennings and Jimmy Valentine, also play a
prominent part in the work."—From Fort Worth "Record."
Singing Jailbirds: A play. 1925. 25c.
Produced in Vienna, Prague, London, Los Angeles, Berlin, Paris, Tokio
and New York.
Hell: A play. 25c.
"It is immense, it is interesting and stirring."—Michael Gold.
Oilplay: A dramatization of the novel "Oil." 1929. 25c.
Sonnets to Craig, by George Sterling. 
 Preface by Upton Sinclair.  1928.  Price, $2.00.
Sonnets by M.C.S., with a preface by Upton Sinclair.  1925. 25c.
"These sonnets have a fire, a consuming urge, a clarity and artistic ferocity
that is truly un-American, yet could be produced only in America."—From the
"Sun," Brisbane, Australia.
We offer for 85 cents a complete set of the following works in the Haldeman-
Julius 5-cent Pocket Library: "The Jungle" (6 vols.), "The Millennium" (3
vols.), "The Overman," "The Pot-Boiler," "The Second-Story Man," "The
Nature Woman," "Prince Hagen," "The Machine," "A Captain of Industry"
(2 vols.).
A biography of Upton Sinclair has been written by Floyd Dell and published
by George H. Doran Co. Cloth, $2.00. Order from Upton Sinclair.
Gertrude Atherton writes: "The most interesting biography I ever read
of a contemporary. In fact it stands comparison anywhere."
Order from UPTON SINCLAIR, Station A, Pasadena, California.

Upham's Corner
Boston, Mass.
June 1, 1935
Dear Upton Sinclair:
 Enclosed find $2.--
one dollar for [20 c] 15
copies of ["How]
"We People of America and
How we Ended Poverty,"
and one dollar to
extend my subscription
to the Epic News for
6 months longer.
Yours cordially,
(Miss) Alice Stone Blackwell.

April 8, 1937.
Mr. Upton Sinclair,
Station A,
Pasadena, California.
Dear Mr. Sinclair:
Upon my return from a two months' absence from home,
I find your letter, dated March 16th. The tardiness in
replying is due to the fact that I had not received the letter.
I declined to sign the biography given for Rosika
Schwimmer because there were so many things that I could not,
myself, vouch for. Other people signed that. What I signed
was an appeal to people to become sponsors for the effort to
raise money on her behalf.
Your printed statement appears to me to be absolutely
complete in refutation of the charge made.
I do not have a list of the sponsors to whom the
letter was sent. I have asked Miss Elaine Sanders, secretary
of the committee, 2 West 89th Street, New York City, to send
me a copy of the document containing the charge you mention
and I have sent her a copy of this letter. I am saying to
her that I think she must furnish you with the list to which 
the letter was sent in order that you may send your statement
to the same people, as you request.
When I have more information, I shall write you again.
Very truly yours,
CCC:HW.

(COPY OF TELEGRAM)
Washington, D. C.
May 5, 1937.
UPTON SINCLAIR
STATION A
I DISCOVER THAT TWO PEOPLE WHOM I RESPECT COMMA YOURSELF
AND ROSIKA SCHWIMMER ARE DOING EACH OTHER UNNECESSARY UNJUSTIFIED
AND I BELIEVE HIGHLY UNDESIRABLE DAMAGE STOP I BELIEVE MISTAKES
HAVE BEEN MADE BUT KNOWING YOU BOTH I THINK THEY HAVE BEEN MADE
IN GOOD FAITH WITH PERHAPS A TOUCH OF UNNECESSARY ANGER IN A FEW
CASES BUT I SHOULD BE GRATEFUL AS WOULD A GREAT MANY OTHER PEOPLE
SITUATED AS I AM IF THE MATTER WERE ENDED STOP MY SUGGESTION IS
SCHWIMMER SPONSORS OMIT ALL REFERENCE TO FOX ACCOUNT IN THEIR
LETTER OF APPEAL AND AT MY REQUEST THEY HAVE HELD UP PRINTING NEW
RUN OF THE LETTER TODAY UNTIL I COULD GET IN TOUCH WITH YOU STOP
MY FURTHER URGENT REQUEST IS THAT YOU IN YOUR INNATE KINDLINESS 
WITH WHICH I AM WELL ACQUAINTED AND BECAUSE SHE DOES REPRESENT
MANY THINGS WE BOTH WISH TO FORWARD SHALL PERMIT YOUR NAME TO BE
INCLUDED WITH THE OTHER VERY DISTINGUISHED NAMES ON THE LIST OF 
SPONSORS SIGNING THE GENERAL LETTER OF APPEAL STOP I SHALL TELEPHONE
YOU AT ELEVEN AND TWELVE OCLOCK YOUR TIME
JACOB BAKER
ANSWER
CHARMING IDEA DELIGHTED DONT BOTHER TELEPHONING SAVE
UNCLE SAMS CASH
(Upton Sinclair)


UPTON SINCLAIR
STATION A. PASADENA
CALIFORNIA
March 16, 1937
Carrie Chapman Catt,
120 Paine Avenue,
New Rochelle, N.Y.
My dear Mrs. Catt:
I was troubled to discover your name
signed to the Rozila Schwimmer document, which contains
such an untrue charge against me. My guess is that you
gave it only casual reading. I wish you would please
read the enclosed.
Since the statement about me is untrue, I think
I should have the right to send the enclosed statement
to the list of persons who received the Schwimmer document.
Do you not think that would be fair? Very probably
the Committee will not want to make that list available
to me, but I think I have a right to ask it.
Sincerely,
Upton Sinclair

UPTON SINCLAIR
STATION A. PASADENA
CALIFORNIA
April 15, 1937.
Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt,
120 Paine Avenue,
New Rochelle, N. Y.
My dear Mrs. Catt:–
The enclosed explains itself, and I will
send you whatever reply I may receive.
I wish you would tell me definitely whether
you read the entire document to which your name was signed and
gave your consent to the publication of that document.
Sincerely,
F    U Sinclair
Encls.

UPTON SINCLAIR
STATION A. PASADENA
CALIFORNIA

April 12, 1937.

Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt,
120 Paine Avenue,
New Rochelle, N. Y.
My dear Mrs. Catt:–
I have your letter of April 8th.  It 
is exactly what I expected from you, and I appreciate it
very much.
Sincerely,
F
Upton Sinclair


April 23, 1937.
Mr. Upton Sinclair,
Station A,
Pasadena, California.
Dear Mr. Sinclair:
I apologize for not sending you a more prompt reply.
I have been ill for a few days which accounts for my tardiness.
Before making reply to your two questions, allow me
to explain to you my understanding of the enterprise to raise
money for Madam Schwimmer.
Mrs. Lloyd told me that a group of young people, who
are very much attached to Madam Schwimmer and who believe that
she has been cruelly wronged by unjust and untrue charges made
against her, wish to make amends.  She has been ill for some
years with diabetes and is obliged to spend a great deal of
time in hospitals under the treatment of insulin.  She is, in
consequence, in need of money, doubtless, and they conceived
the idea of attempting to raise a fund that would make her
comparatively independent.  This group of young people have
managed the whole procedure, as I understand it, with some advice
and aid, perhaps, from Mrs. Lloyd.  It was not her proposal 
and she has aided them only because of her interest in Madam 
Schwimmer.
I was not a member of a committee which held meetings,
discussed procedure, drafted documents, or took votes upon them.
The Committee which probably did these things was the committee
of young people who are unknown to me.  I do know Mrs. Lloyd
and because of my confidence in her, I gave my name to the
purpose of raising money for Madam Schwimmer.
Mrs. Lloyd has assured me that nothing of this proposed
enterprise has been made known to Madam Schwimmer, although now
that will doubtless become necessary.  She is, at this time,
in the Presbyterian Hospital of Chicago.
You will observe that the letter asks the persons
receiving the enclosures whether or not they would be willing
that their names should be used as sponsors for the celebration
intended and asks whether their names may be used on the
stationery when they send out the letter asking for money.
During my absence from New York the enclosures and the
letter were sent for my files.  My secretary put them in the 
files and I did not see them until yesterday.  After your first
letter came, I wrote Miss Sanders and asked for a copy of the
letter in which your name had been mentioned.  That arrived at
the same time my secretary told me about the letters in the file.
Those letters are dated February 10th.  I have now written that

-2-
the statement must go no further with my name attached to it
unless the paragraph in which your name is mentioned is dropped
and I have asked how many persons received the letter containing
your name.
In reply to your two questions, I am unable to give
a positive "yes" or "no".  I think most of this material was
submitted to me, but some of it may possibly have come while
I was traveling in the West.  I do not recall having noticed
your name in any of the literature.  Had I done so, it might
not have given me pause, because I had never heard of the book
about Fox and I would have taken it for granted that there had
been some repetition of something that somebody had said.  It
would not have occured to me to have inquired as to its
authenticity.  Nor am I able to answer whether I gave consent
to the publication of these articles.  They were not submitted
to me with the idea of giving consent to them, but rather with
the view of asking whether I found anything in them that was
improper.  As I have said before, I was not on a committee that
made motions and took votes.  I certainly would not have given
consent to the publication of any document which accused you or
anyone else of pronouncing a libel about which I knew nothing.
I believe your proposal to send your printed statement
to those who have received the letter will not give satisfaction
to either side.  Can you not think of some other way which could
bring an understanding among us and which will do injustice to 
no one?
I believe that Mrs. Lola M. Lloyd is the one who knows
most about this piece of work and I am asking her to write you,
but if she does not do so, you may write her.  Her address is
455 Birch Street, Winnetka, Illinois.
Sincerely yours,
CCC:HW.


April 23, 1937.
455 Birch Street,
Winnetka, Illinois.
Mr. Upton Sinclair,
Station "A",
Pasadena, California.
My dear Mr. Sinclair:
In your letter of April 16 you ask about a document
on behalf of Rosika Schwimmer to which my name is signed.  It
is a letter which I helped to draft and I signed it with full
knowledge of the facts mentioned.  In it there occurs a statement
covering your carelessness in research.  I accept full
responsibility for this statement, and I am prepared to support
 it – in court, if necessary.
Are you not, as a famous liberal, under more than the
usual author's obligation to examine facts before you print
an ugly story involving the honor of a peace advocate of
Rosika Schwimmer's calibre?  I was fully informed of the
dispute between Mme. Schwimmer and you over this damaging
story in your first edition of "Upton Sinclair Presents William
Fox", and I know that, though you were in New York at the time,
you were not willing to interview her nor allow her to show you
from her files the absolute disproof of Fox's whole story.
Without further research, you then brought out another
edition of your book, uncorrected and carrying to your world
audience the tale that paints Rosika Schwimmer a dishonorable
poseur.  It was the same sort of libellous attack her bitter
militarist enemies use to defame her.  And so "carelessness"
is a mild description of your action.
In your letters to our treasurer and secretary, copy
of which you sent me, you use the words "it appears that - - -
you have also forged a signature to the false statement."
Such a serious accusation is a glaring example of "carelessness".
For complete justification of our use of Romain Rolland's
signature we shall send you the photostat of a copy of the
first draft of our letter of appeal.  It is signed personally
by M. Rolland.
Sincerely yours,
LOLA MAVERICK LLOYD
Chairman

Transcribed and reviewed by contributors participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.