Your favor of December 13th is greatly appreciated:

I would be very glad indeed to serve on the committee which will represent the State’s interest in cooperating with the Reclamation Service; but on account of the fact that the Reclamation Service may want to include some of the lands in which I am interested in order to round out the area which they will need to make an ideal situation, I think it would be inadvisable for me to be a member of the committee.

It seems to me that the members of the committee should be conversant with conditions in this section which has met with the approval of the officials of the Reclamation Service; and I am glad to know, therefore, that Mr. G. Herbert Smith and Mr. Henry J. Faison are satisfactory to you, because they are the best men I know of and they both understand land values and agriculture.

If for any reason you do not think it best to appoint Dr. J. S. Holmes of Chapel Hill, who would act more in the capacity of a careful investigator and who could easily form conclusions from discussions with Mr. Smith, Mr. Faison, and the Government Soil Expert Mr. Bonsteel, I can think of no better man than Mr. L. A. Bethune of Clinton, N.C., if he is in a position to serve on the committee. He is very careful, and stands high in his community, and I believe has all of the qualifications necessary for arriving at a sound judgment in this matter.