Your TR Source
Robert Munro Ferguson writes that Anna Roosevelt will not come home (from London) until fall. Ferguson extends good wishes on the expected new addition to Roosevelt’s family and discusses the travels of Joseph Burr Tyrrell across northern Canada by canoe and on foot.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1894-03-17
A. T. Mahan notes that Theodore Roosevelt’s letter of March 27 just reached him. He assures him he did not take offense at Roosevelt’s advice, and comments on how gratifying it is to receive approbation from naval officers for his work The Influence of Sea Power on History.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1894-06-06
Thomas B. Reed writes, “Lodge goes to Mass. So does Randall. But both are sometimes in their places of business which is not the case with officials whom the people cannot reach.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1894-08-09
Senator Lodge reports on the Massachusetts Republican state convention, including Senator George Frisbie Hoar’s proposed platform and its attack on the A.P.A. (American Protective Association, an anti-Catholic organization) by asserting a non-discrimination policy. He expresses optimism for the upcoming election.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1894-10-07
Senator Lodge urges Theodore Roosevelt to support Morton – perhaps referring to Levi P. Morton in his bid for the governorship of New York.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1894-12-15
William Lafayette Strong, mayor-elect of New York City, invites Theodore Roosevelt to take over leadership of the Street Cleaning Bureau for the city.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1894-12-18
F. V. Greene is disappointed that Commissioner Roosevelt declined the invitation to head the street cleaning bureau for New York City. He believes the problem of municipal government is more important than the work of the Civil Service Commission and that Roosevelt would have direct influence in New York City, whereas on the Commission he is merely an adviser. Greene hopes Roosevelt might consider a role in city administration when his term on the Commission ends.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1894-12-27
Thomas R. Lounsbury thanks Theodore Roosevelt for returning some articles he had sent him and discusses a recent visit he made to the Roosevelts’ home.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1895-01-18
Receipt for $269.77 taxes paid by Theodore Roosevelt to the town of Oyster Bay, New York, on real property assessed at $13,500 and personal property assessed at $2,000.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1895-02-01
Hermann Speck von Sternburg reports on the fighting between Japanese and Chinese forces in Manchuria. He finds the Chinese ill prepared both on land and sea to meet the Japanese offensive and believes the Japanese could approach Peking within two months. In the naval battle of Yalu, for instance, the Chinese had the wrong ammunition on their ships. Had they had the right ammunition, they ought to have won the battle and kept control of the sea.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1895-02-19
James Bryce thanks Civil Service Commissioner Roosevelt for the new volume of The Winning of the West, which he is enjoying reading. He agrees with Roosevelt’s view that much modern American character is “traceable to the frontier life.” Bryce also notes that he and his wife have enjoyed seeing Roosevelt’s sister, notes that the liberal party in England is “having a pretty hard fight” and that politics are dominated by “currency problems.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1895-02-22
Thomas O’Gorman compliments Theodore Roosevelt on his recent talk. He encloses a copy of a speech by Archbishop John Ireland, in which he quotes Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1895-02-27
Speaker of the House Henderson shared Civil Service Commissioner Roosevelt’s letter with a gentleman who claimed the law had been violated by a particular appointment. The complainant calmed down on reading the letter but still insisted that improprieties were being committed regarding places on the register of special pension examiners. Henderson acknowledges that it may be impossible to prevent all violations of the law, but he believes in Roosevelt to confront any one who might do so.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1895-02-28
James Bryce thanks Theodore Roosevelt for his recent letter and returns a letter he had enclosed. The political situation in the U.S. Congress concerns Bryce, especially “the steady decline…in the composition and character of the Senate.” He wishes he could visit with Roosevelt about these matters. He is tired of the burdens of office and wishes to have the opportunity to travel and visit friends like Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1895-04-10
Richard Harding Davis thanks Civil Service Commissioner Roosevelt for taking an interest in the case of Stephen Bonsal, a member of the U.S. diplomatic service. Davis has known Bonsal a long time and admires him greatly. He fears that President Grover Cleveland takes the charges against Bonsal seriously, and that Bonsal will consider himself disgraced if he is dismissed.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1895-04-12
President Cleveland accepts Theodore Roosevelt’s resignation as Civil Service Commissioner and thanks him for what he accomplished in the service of good government.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1895-05-03
Thomas B. Reed tells Commissioner Roosevelt that he has ceased to answer the letters and telegrams of “T.” He is glad that Roosevelt likes the photograph he sent.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1895-07-05
Henry Cabot Lodge discusses the impact on the Republican and Democratic parties of the debate over the gold vs. silver standard. He also considers the level of support in various regions of the nation for several likely presidential candidates. Lodge responds to Theodore Roosevelt’s critique of Representative Thomas B. Reed for not speaking out firmly enough in support of the gold standard when he cast a vote on legislation dealing with gold bonds. Lodge asks Roosevelt to “straighten out” George W. Smalley, the American correspondent of the London Times and a personal friend and promoter of Roosevelt’s, on the true American sentiment regarding the Monroe Doctrine.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1895-08-10
Senator Lodge writes Police Commissioner Roosevelt about an article by George W. Smalley. The article indicates that public opinion on Roosevelt’s enforcement of the excise law has shifted in his favor and gives an account of his reply to Senator T. C. O’Sullivan.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1895-08-11
Representative Reed discusses an article in which Civil Service Commissioner Roosevelt is quoted speaking highly of Reed, which Reed could not finish reading for fear he “could not live up to it,” but he has kept the article for when he is “low” in his mind and needs support. Reed praises a letter Roosevelt wrote to the “Goo Goo’s,” a nickname given to Progressive reformers who were in support of good government.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1895-10-29