Your TR Source
President Roosevelt returns the book “The Sexual Life” that Attorney General Moody sent him, and agrees with what he says in his letter. The book, Roosevelt says, “is as hideous and filthy a book as can be imagined,” and is surprised that people are petitioning a pardon for the author C. W. Malchow.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-04-10
President Roosevelt asks Attorney General Moody to review two rough memoranda connected with Roosevelt’s wish to send a message “about the Judge Humphrey’s matter.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-04-12
President Roosevelt tells Attorney General Moody that the “Daniels payment matter” is more important than he initially thought, and holds the position that it is desirable for it to be understood that if a president makes a recess appointment, the appointee will continue to be paid for their service until the nomination is formally rejected by the Senate. Roosevelt believes that officials in the Treasury Department should be instructed to take this view.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-03-31
President Roosevelt informs Attorney General Moody that he has sent a letter to Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock, and encloses a copy for Moody to review. He asks Moody to communicate with Kansas District Attorney Harry J. Bone and obtain a statement regarding the prosecution of some men Roosevelt referenced in his letter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-03-26
President Roosevelt calls Attorney General Moody’s attention to the situation in Idaho relating to the trial of Charles H. Moyer and Big Bill Haywood. Roosevelt emphasizes that justice must be done, and the men must be judged related to the particular facts of the case of the assassination of ex-Governor Frank Steunenberg, regardless of the sort of labor agitation they were involved with elsewhere. Roosevelt also does not wish for there to be errors in their favor, however, and asks Moody to look into agitation on their behalf by labor unions, who are unwilling to consider the possible guilt of Moyer or Haywood. Roosevelt highlights some writings of Eugene V. Debs and Thomas W. Rowe which seem to amount “to an incitement to anarchy and chaos.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-03-26
President Roosevelt has read Attorney General Moody’s letter regarding the charges against William C. Bristol, who is United States Attorney for Oregon. He approves of Moody’s suggestion that the evidence in the matter be submitted to the prosecutor of the Grievance Committee of the Oregon State Bar Association.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-03-02
President Roosevelt tells Attorney General Moody that if Judge Hosea Townsend’s character and career justify it, he should continue as a judge in Indian Territory whether or not it becomes a state. Roosevelt forwards a letter written by former Postmaster Charles Emory Smith to Moody.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-03-03
President Roosevelt has read the report that Burns submitted to Secretary of the Interior Ethan A. Hitchcock. He believes that two men in place in Indian Territory, District Attorney George Richard Walker and U.S. Marshal Grosvenor A. Porter, could conduct the investigation. He asks Attorney General Moody what action he recommends.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-02-20
In light of the results of an investigation, President Roosevelt instructs Attorney General Moody to appoint Grosvenor A. Porter as United States Marshal in Indian Territory when current marshal Benjamin H. Colbert’s term is out.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-01-26
President Roosevelt is puzzled by the details of Attorney General Moody’s report of an investigation into North Carolina Representative Spencer Blackburn.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-01-26
President Roosevelt tells Attorney General Moody that he does not believe there is a chance to take action in the courts against the counsel of the beef packers, who paid a reporter to disseminate false and misleading statements about the case. The only course of action is to publish United States Attorney Charles B. Morrison’s letter, which explains the situation, and the documents regarding the case.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-01-26
President Roosevelt informs Attorney General Moody that the Committee on Department Methods plans to undertake a large-scale, detailed investigation of business methods and practice throughout the executive departments. The work will be aided by a sub-committee formed by men who are already working for the government.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-01-19
President Roosevelt laments to Attorney General Moody that the Yale class of 1878 “has the call” for District Attorney. No Rough Riders are available and “every individual in the Southern District of the Indian Territory . . . appears to be either under indictment, convicted, or in a position that renders it imperatively necessary that he should be indicted.” As such, George Richard Walker, who attended Yale with Secretary of War William H. Taft, should be nominated.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-01-16
President Roosevelt has received continual complaints regarding recent bank failures in Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Chicago; and Washington State, alleging that no attempt has been made to adequately punish the wrongdoers. He asks Attorney General Moody to direct the Justice Department to make a report on whether criminal proceedings can be undertaken.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-01-03
President Roosevelt has been telling people that Attorney General Moody’s opinion on the case of former Representative Edmund H. Driggs is that public officers convicted of crimes should not be “restored to citizenship” for the rest of their life. Roosevelt feels that, at the very least, a long period of time should intervene before that happens. Roosevelt jokingly notes that pardons are “nothing between friends” and asks how he can reconcile that position if he agrees with Moody’s recommendations on the enclosed six cases.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-12-13
A recent court ruling in the case against the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company proves that Attorney General Moody and President Roosevelt were correct not to proceed with charges against individual officers of the company. Although former Secretary of the Navy Paul Morton was vice president of the company, Roosevelt clarifies that this would not shield him from prosecution if his actions had been improper.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-12-15
President Roosevelt tells Attorney General Moody that any duty on wood pulp is “emphatically against” the interests of the United States. The country would welcome any judicial decision that goes against the creation of such a law.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-12-04
President Roosevelt tells Attorney General Moody he has received information that leads him to believe that Circuit Court Judge Reese Blizzard is not the right man for the position. Blizzard has given the impression that he is a lobbyist for corporations. The Senators must be convinced to “furnish us with a good man in his place.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-11-30
President Roosevelt asks Attorney General Moody to back up Charles S. Mellens’ position on the railroad rates bill if it is “consistent with propriety” for him to do so. Mellen is “a first class fellow.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-11-20
President Roosevelt outlines for Attorney General Moody the tension between those in the state of Colorado who favor the construction of the Moffatt Railroad at the expense of dams, and those along the lower Colorado River who insist that the dams are vital to their well-being. The railroad owners and investors insist that the railroad cannot be built without great expense if the dam in question is built, though the Reclamation Services says that it can. Roosevelt asks Moody to contact Gifford Pinchot and Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock on the matter at once.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-10-09