December 30th, 1902.
Mr. Theodore Roosevelt,
White House,
Washington, D.C.
My dear Mr. President:
I am in receipt of your very kind favor of the 27th instant, offering to bring the matter of the promotion of Col. John B. Furey, about which I wrote you, to the attention of Secretary Root.
I recognize, of course, the fact that you must determine these matters on their merit by a comparison of the claims of each with those of his competitors for promotion, but in this case it would seem as though the applicant was entitled to special consideration because he reaches the age limit next May and unless action is taken in his case before that time it will be impossible for you to aid him in anyway, and as he is willing to resign immediately upon the request of his superior officer, he will not stand in the way of any other officer who is entitled to the same consideration.
I have conveyed to Mrs. Woodruff your very kind expressions of regard, which she deeply appreciated and joins with me in wishing you and Mrs. Roosevelt a very happy new year and you a continuance of your wonderfully successful administration of the affairs of the country. I am in Albany visiting Governor Odell and Mrs. Woodruff joins me to-morrow to spend New Years with the Governor and his wife. It is rather sad giving up here after all, for I have greatly enjoyed official life covering the terms of three Governors who have all made a deep impression upon our state.
I hope to have the privilege and the pleasure of seeing you in Washington sometime during the winter for the purpose of personally congratulating you upon the great things which you have accomplished during the past year, and thanking you for your extreme kindness and courtesy to me.
I beg to remain, with very best wishes,
Yours respectfully,