Letter, Burr Mowery to Franklin Roosevelt

active 42.40 1646 Marlowe Avenue Lakewood, Ohio March 27, 1940 President Franklin D. Roosevelt White House Washington D.C. Dear Mr Roosevelt, Being a graduate of Lakewood High School the traveling urge has hit me hard. Therefore, last week another Lakewood High boy and myself hitch-hiked to your fair city. It certainly is a beautiful city, and I heard from several sources that it outranks Paris in beauty and that it is the most beautiful city in the world. My hobby is taking moving pictures and showing them at places of interest such as: Welfare Lodge, County Jail, Churches, of all creeds, and friends all in the greater Cleveland area. It came as a shock to me when I heard that you were ill and could not get a picture of you. Nevertheless, I photographed Washington thoroughly in full color and our beautiful capitol will be shown throuh- out the greater Cleveland area, but the one drawback is that the picture lacks the chief. However, mabee I can get a picture of you at a later date, even if it is only you in a car. In getting rides down there I found that the conditions of the country aren't as bad as the 'Economic Royalists' paint them. We traveled the distance in twelve hours from our house, not bad, and all in cars that were not older than a 1939 Ford. I am enclosing a letter from the General Sales Manager of the Realsilk Hosiery Mills, which might prove humorous to you. However, please return the letter as it going into my scrap-book of your presidency. Before I graduated from L.H.S. this past winter I studied Economics, Sociology, and Law. While in the Economics class I read a book which might be of interst to you. It is called, "Economic Consequences of the New Deal" by Stolberg and Vinton. -2- While riding between Cumberland Md. and Hagerstown, I got into conversation with a salesman, who was crying his eyes out about how poor business was and that the country was going to ruin. Yet, he said, that this was best year since 1934. What was he talking about? My parents are not in sym- pathy with all this spending, but what else can be done. True, the younger generation will have to stand the cost, but we can not have breadlines. Our new stadium here in Lakewood, the new Main Avenue Bridge in Cleveland, numerous roads to and from Washington are being built by the W.P.A. and P.W.A. I thin k that the good outweighs the bad. In coming through we met a young fella about three years out of high school who was going to school and seeing the rosy side of life thanks to the N.Y.A. In conclusion let me say that I think you are doing a fine job in Washington and that your wife is doing good work too, we are ardent followers of her newspaper articles. Mabee we can get together and get some pictures of you at a later date and then my edition will be complete. Of all my pictures taken in Washington none are as good and beautiful as the Rotunda of the Capitol taken at night with the full moon in the background, the silence and the reverence of the night, and the white dome with the Stars and Stripes Waving in front. What about the third term ? There is a distinct division of thought on that matter everywhere one turns. Easter greetings to you and your family. Do you think that we can wear our Easter clothes by the Fourth of July!? I hope so, don't you. Sincerely yours, Burr Burr Mowery Mowery 1646 Marlowe Ave. Lakewood, Ohio