Charles W. Chesnutt to Mayo Fesler, 11 March 1931
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March 11, 1931
Mr. Mayo Fesler,
Director Citzens League of Cleveland,1
1307 Swetland Building,
City.
My dear Mr. Fesler:
I have your very kind and considerate note of March 6th, in answer to my letter of a previous date, and thank you very much for your courtesy.2 I shall always be ready and willing to cooperate with the Citzens League in any matter where my service will be of any interest or value, except, as at present, where it would involve the expenditure of money.
Cordially yours, CWC:MKCorrespondent: Mayo Fesler (1871–1945) was a White politician, civil servant, and urban reformer who came to Cleveland in 1910 as the secretary of the organization that later became the Citizens League. Working under Democratic mayor Newton D. Baker (1871–1937, mayor 1912–1916), Fesler advocated for independent city government in Ohio in 1912. He then helped draft Cleveland's first city charter, streamlined its civil service, and advocated for municipal reform. In 1912 he also helped found the City Club of Cleveland, a forum for public debate, of which Chesnutt was a member. After working for municipal reforms elsewhere, Fesler returned to Cleveland and was the director of the Citizens League from 1923 until the year of his death.
1. The Citizens League of Greater Cleveland, first called the Municipal Association and the Civic League, was a nonpartisan organization founded in the 1890s to evaluate electoral candidates and voting issues, and to promote good government. [back]
2. Although Chesnutt's letter cancelling his membership in the Citizens League is not extant, it is clear from the exchange that he did so to cut expenses; see also his March 6, 1931, letter resigning from the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce for the same reason. [back]
