Taft (William) Typed letter signed ("Wm. H. Taft")

The letter, on Supreme Court of the United States headed paper and addressed to newspaper correspondent Gus J. Karger, reads "I cannot tell you how much relief it gives me to have the question of my house settled. I am not sure how much money I shall have to put in the house, but I think it is so fairly well furnished that I may be embarrassed with too much furniture. I think I shall allow the changes in the house that ought to be made to be made [sic] gradually as we shall by actual use make up our minds what they should be. The front door certainly needs painting and probably the kitchen, but beyond that nothing occurs to me of immediate necessity. I shall be very sorry to have the railroad legislation postponed. The railroads need it very badly, and the ought to have it, and it seems toO bad to allow La Follette postpone what is their due. I don't suppose that Borah is very well satisfied with the situation. I certainly hope he is given no part in the conference by appointment from Harding. I don' t think there ought to be open sessions of the conference. If anybody ever demonstrated the absurdity of open covenants openly arrived at, it was Mr. Wilson. Why should Harding follow in his crooked footsteps" You certainly are entitled to a rest. I am sorry to hear that the heat continues, because we have it so cold here that we have almost forgotten that the summer was hot. Charley and Annie are here, and I am glad to say that Annie is profiting every day by the change. Robert and his family are with us, and we are delighted now because we have fourteen under the roof, and everybody is here whom we planned to have - ten at the grown up table, and four in the children's dining room, so you see we are running quite a family hotel", two pages, light staining to upper margin due to rusty paperclip, light age-related yellowing, 4to, Washington, 16 August 1921.

***William Howard Taft was the 27th president of the United States (1909–13) and 10th chief justice of the United States (1921–30). He is the only person to have held both offices. The railroad legislation mentioned in the letter refers to the debate surrounding the Transportation Act of 1920, which returned U.S. railroads to private control after federal wartime management.