Mr. Mark Catlia Jr. - 2 
March Z1, 1941 
 
It is with onsiderable regrot that since the writing of this letter a close

scuiy of Mr. Pettigrow' conduct while in the Congress and Council, his contin-

uous antagonistic attitude and bickering. with ate personnel of the department,

hie subsequent c     t in Qeonto County, the fact that he draws his salary
from 
a large industry whose dealings are In the conservation assets of the state,
his 
ambitions to receive a conservation commission appointment, known to some
of us 
over a year ago, his haig-pressure campaign to sell himself to the Senate,
and 
several oter important incidents not generally known, have convineed me and
many 
others tLat Mr. Pettigrew is far more interested in other things than he
is in 
true conservation ideals, and consequently many of hs friends and aesoclates

have reluctantly been forced to oppose his confirmation to the commission.
We 
have taken this attitude even thoug4 he was one of th ea     founders of
the Wis- 
consin Conservation League and Is now the representative| - a Oconto County
to 
the League. 
 
You further stated before the assembly that your father at became suspicious

of tde conservation department during the as                 a tion two years
ago, 
That, also, in my opinion, is misrepresentation of fact       . Mr. Catlin
Sr. 
stated in the presence of anotaer man and        shor ty Y a   hns confirmation

to the commission that the Governor had a         to go in   o  theastern
 hiecon- 
sin and select an appointee to the          o       r looking over the area,,
he 
finally found a man in Vilas  County      looked     tecouservatlion situation
the 
way he did,   Mr. Catlin further        ised      ith  the statement at that
time 
that things wre in a terrible mesa in      d  tment and that he and the new

cmissioner were going to clean it up. 
 
My milnd was open then, as I     t it-  now#    pecling charges against the
per- 
sonnel of the eommission      departmen   and d  Ing the next year I followed
closely 
the course of your father'    actions an'is public utterances, and because
of 
numerous threats and   rpep   d, vague   usations, publicly made and never
sup- 
ported by any fact, becaus    our fath    ontinuously championed al aminority

groups, ireepeo          whad           might be, because of the obstructive
and 
destructive te        n rctt            of his commission doings, and because
of 
kits general    d     and eor combined      with the fact tat he in my opinion

never offered      construe   e program, most of us nave come to reaisoe
with con 
siderabie rei tanse and d     ppointment that Mr. Caltlin r.1 every effort
in 
conservation      motivate   ya personal,, vindicettve attitude towards the
per- 
sonnel of    e ,            hat it was not Justified by facts or principlas,
and 
even though I c           our fatter's appointment to the commission at first
as 
being a conservationist, not an industrialist or politician, I have now been
con- 
vinced that he is a self-seeker and an ambitious politician rather than a
true 
conservationist. Mr. Adams has onsistantly "yesed" everything Mr.
Catlin has 
done. I study of his conduct on the commission is most enlightening, 
 
It was further reported that before the assembly you accused the Wisconsin
Conser- 
vation League of being a political machine for 4r. MacKenzie. In some people's

mind this may be accepted as a proper way to classify those who oppose your
way 
of thinking, but there are still some of us who would like to have facts
or at 
least some reasonable evidence that the Wisconsin Conservation League is
such an 
organization as you paint it to be*. There ase amobers of the ixecutive Board

of the League who do not know Mr. MacKensie or other personnel of tne department.

There are several members of the txeutive Board who are opposed to Mr. iMacKen-