MATTHEW LINN BRUCE - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 02/18/1905 - HFSID 142244

M. LINN BRUCE
As Lieutenant Governor, he signs a typed letter explaining why he will not attend Theodore Roosevelt's Inauguration.
Typed Letter signed: "M. Linn Bruce" as Lieutenant Governor, 2 pages (front and verso), 6¼x8. Albany, New York, 1905 February 18. On official letterhead to James S. Lehmaier, New York City. In full: "In view of the fact that the Governor is going to attend the Inauguration, I think that I will remain at home. Not because there is any necessity for it but simply to observe what I deem to be a fitting propriety. The Governor has said nothing to me about it, but I assume that when he is absent from the state the Lieutenant Governor should remain within the state unless it is necessary for him to so absent himself. Please say nothing about this further than that my public duties will not permit of my going. Very truly yours". Matthew Linn Bruce (1860-1936) was Lieutenant Governor of New York for one term (1905-1906). He was defeated for re-election, but was appointed by Governor Frank Wayland Higgins (the Governor referred to in this letter) to fill an unexpired term on the state Supreme Court, where he served 1906-1908. This letter is a reminder that adoption of the 20th Amendment ("the Lame Duck Amendment") in 1933, Presidents were inaugurated in March, not January. President Theodore Roosevelt, who had assumed the office when President McKinley was assassinated in 1901, was elected to a full term of his own in November 1904. James S. Lehmaier was a New York Republican leader. Lightly toned. File holes at left edge. Mailing fold, not at signature. Otherwise, fine condition.