September 14, 193S 
Mr. E. B. Thompson, SK^c 
U.3.S. HOUSTON 
Long Beach, California 
Dear Tommy: 
. v/- • ■’ v. . 
The news from the National Geographic Magazine is not so fa- 
vorable. 4s I wrote you, Age ton beat us to the draw. He also applied, 
to Mr. Adams for pictures, color and otherwise, but Adams wired him that 
I had spoken to him first, as I also did to you. However, no great harm 
seems to be done. The National Geographic has apparently turned us both 
down. Nevertheless, 1 am going ahead with an article and shall be getting 
pictures together for it. This makes me want to ask you at this time for 
a copy each of the 16 pictures that you gave Ageton, preferably other 
views of the particular subjects than those that you furnished "Our Navy" 
with your article. Of course, where there is only one of a subject that 
has been used in "Our Navy I 11 , send it along. I shall be glad to pay you 
for the cost of those l 6 orints. 
I have written Life Magazine this morning, and will ask you to 
keep that under your hat. In any case, the Nature Magazine has promised 
to take an article from me, but they are as poor as dirt and pay next to 
nothing. At any rate, I would be able to dig up a few dollars for such 
of your photographs as they may accept. You will be credited for all pic- 
tures on which you pushed the button, even those that you took for me, al- 
though a credit line is small recompense from a financial point of view. 
I am enclosing several air mail stamps, both to reimburse you 
for postage you used in writing me and to cover the l 6 pictures of which 
I want prints. A set of prints of the negatives I paid you for and those 
that you lent me are going forward this day without fail, along with your 
negatives. I am sending you also a few Kodachromes. I have not yet had 
an opportunity to show them to the President. He won't be back in Wash- 
ington until after the 20th. At that time Mr. Adams will come down, too, 
and we shall have a mutual exchange of showings of color pictures. You 
did wonderfully well, as you can judge from the few that you are receiv- 
ing. Please don't give the® away to anybody for publication. If I can 
get a color plate carrying six to eight of these Neptune party pictures, 
I am sure they will make a big hit wherever they appear. 
