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President Roosevelt tells Secretary of the Navy Metcalf that he is currently dissatisfied with the present organization of the Navy Department, as he feels that the people responsible for directing the building of ships are not doing their job. The Japanese navy has more and better battleships and armored cruisers than the United States does.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-09
President Roosevelt directs Secretary of the Navy Metcalf to form a board with the purpose of investigating the question of the hydraulics of the Mare Island Straits and approaches.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-02-28
President Roosevelt returns the reports Secretary of the Navy Metcalf had sent him on the possibility of the battleship fleet remaining in the Pacific Ocean. Before he gives an answer, Roosevelt wants a report on the possibility of the fleet visiting Australia. He does not think the ships should remain in the Pacific, but should be brought back home.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-02-29
President Roosevelt sends Secretary of the Navy Metcalf a list of the people who he appoints as principals and alternates to the United States Naval Academy for 1908.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-02
President Roosevelt instructs Secretary of the Navy Metcalf that he would like the Joint Board to provide him with a plan elaborating what the United States should do regarding its defenses of Hawaii, particularly looking at fortifying Pearl Harbor or Honolulu. Roosevelt feels that conversations on a similar topic relating to the defense of the Philippines were one-sided, and have caused harm to the United States by recommending the construction of fortifications at Subic Bay, when such fortifications are not defensible by land, but only by sea. In addition to the plan he has requested, Roosevelt also directs that Metcalf and Secretary of War William H. Taft investigate the actions of the previous board in recommending Subic Bay.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-02-11
President Roosevelt sends Secretary of the Navy Metcalf the names of those he wants to appoint to the Naval Academy’s Board of Visitors.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-01-17
President Roosevelt informs Secretary of the Navy Metcalf that the directive from his predecessor, Charles J. Bonaparte, classifying medical ships as floating hospitals and placed under the command of a medical officer, is correct and will be enacted. The Army operates their medical ships in this way, and Roosevelt sees no reason the Navy cannot operate in this manner just as well. He provides precedents in American navies as well as international navies for operating this way, and points out that in times of war the presence of a line officer on the ship may imply a violation of the ship’s neutrality.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-01-04
President Roosevelt sends Secretary of the Navy Metcalf compliments about Commander Andrew Theodore Long, who had recently left his post as captain of the presidential yacht USS Mayflower and asks that Long’s good work be reflected in his record. Long was set to serve as Executive Officer on the battleship USS Illinois, which Roosevelt misidentifies as the USS Iowa, as part of the movement of the Great White Fleet.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-19
President Roosevelt informs Secretary of the Navy Metcalf that he approves of his course of action to acquire coal from foreign ships following regulations set in 1904.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-10-23
President Roosevelt requests Secretary of the Navy Metcalf issue the order to the Academic Board at the United States Naval Academy regarding the passing mark of the midshipman classes by today.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-06-03
President Roosevelt orders Secretary of the Navy Metcalf to have a complete stock of fuel at all department offices in the West prior to the first of October, to avoid any shortages during the winter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-06-11
President Roosevelt informs Secretary of the Navy Metcalf that he is familiar with the naval situation regarding medical care. He believes a hospital ship should be assigned to the Atlantic coast, which would be commanded according to Metcalf’s previous letter to the Chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Surgeon General Presley Marion Rixey.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-06-01
President Roosevelt asks Secretary of the Navy Metcalf if there would be some way for representatives of labor organizations to have access to the facts once the wage rates are established. Roosevelt has received word that rates are too low in a number of cities. He asks Metcalf to take up the matter and listen to the arguments of representatives of the workmen and the Wage Boards.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-05-15
President Roosevelt asks Secretary of the Navy Metcalf to send a representative to meet with the National Advisory Board for Fuels and Structural Materials to discuss more equitable and efficient means to purchase and use coal within government buildings.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-04-06
President Roosevelt sends Secretary of the Navy Metcalf a list of appointees to the United States Naval Academy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-02-18
William Loeb conveys President Roosevelt’s wish for Secretary of the Navy Metcalf to approve and publicize the enclosed note.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-02-01
President Roosevelt has read Secretary of the Navy Metcalf’s report on Admiral C. H. Davis’s response to the earthquake near Kingston, Jamaica, and wishes Metcalf to commend Davis on Roosevelt’s behalf. To Roosevelt, they represent the “best traditions of our navy in thus rendering distinguished service to humanity.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-02-01
President Roosevelt compliments Secretary of Labor and Commerce Metcalf on the case of the treatment of Japanese Americans on the coast. Roosevelt read his upcoming annual message to Japanese Ambassador Baron Kogoro Takahira before leaving for Panama. Roosevelt believes “the only way to prevent constant friction between the United States and Japan” is to restrict the movement of citizens between the two countries to students, travelers, and business men. The working classes of both countries should not go back and forth, and he hopes that the Japanese government will stop Japanese “coolies” from coming to the United States or Hawaii.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-11-27
In order to help plan the upcoming White House social season, William Loeb requests a list of various officials in the Department of Commerce and Labor.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-11-08
President Roosevelt encloses a complaint he feels should be addressed about wages in the Washington Navy Yard.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-11-05