December 20th, 1916. My dear Dr. Bowen: At the moment there is one point I wish to make in answer to your letter, written as it is by a man of such high character and influence. The people of this country have seen Bryan in high office. If on any issue whatsoever, no matter what it may be, they make him President of this country, they will give us four years of incompetence and corruption without a single redeeming feature, and they will have themselves to thank for having discredited whatever reform he champions so as to make it a stench in the nostrils of all decent men for half century to come. You, of course, remember that the straight-out Abolitionists, and straight-out Prohibitionists, both opposed Lincoln. This letter is for your private consideration only. [inserted: No man who is both wise and patriotic can afford to support Mr. Bryan for President on any platform; such an act would be profoundly unpatriotic; in an intelligent man it would be really base.] Sincerely yours, Theodore Roosevelt Dr. Frederick J. Bowen, Mount Morris, N.Y. [envelope] Roosevelt Dr. Frederick J. Bowen, Mount Morris, N.Y. [verso] METROPOLITAN 432 FOURTH AVENUE NEW YORK