Evidence of Taft’s reactionary tendency
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1912-04-04
Creator(s)
Language
English
Period
(1911-1912) Progressive Party Candidate
Your TR Source
Essay
Probation and the criminal law
Judge Lindsey describes a recent Colorado law putting in place probation for children in cases of misdemeanors. Unlike previously, the law now places the priority on the individual and helping correct their behavior, instead of purely on the property in the case. At present, the laws are so harsh as to make them infrequently applied, letting many people go without any sort of restitution or punishment. This harsh punishment, even when it is applied, does little to prevent similar crimes, and Lindsey predicts that this new method may prove more effective.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1909-08
Creator(s)
Childhood and morality
Judge Lindsey recounts the history of how children and young adults have been treated in the judicial system. He considers the morality of children, and how they come to be taught the correct ways to act as adults. In a perfect society, the home and church could be relied upon to provide moral training, but instead the state also must play its role through schools and the courts. Lindsey especially points out the duty of schools to condemn the crimes of businesses and public officials when they see them, so that they do not become bad examples that youths begin to emulate.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1909
Creator(s)
Edgar Chambless and his runaway town
Gerald Stanley Lee recalls his conversation with Edgar Chambless, the inventor of Roadtown–a conceptual design for a city. While Lee was personally bored by his conversation with Chambless, he was struck by the scope of his ideas and is glad that men like Chambless, whom he believes to be a great man, exist. Lee believes Chambless’s book on Roadtown to be a tremendous work.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1911-01
Creator(s)
Cookoo parents
Gilbert S. Cryne discusses the tendency of some parents to leave child rearing to paid help. Cryne discusses how Theodore Roosevelt coined the term “Cuckoo Parents,” and dedicates the piece to him.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1911-06-15
Essay by Herbert W. Ladd
Herbert W. Ladd, former governor of Rhode Island, shares some of his ideas regarding the popular election of Senators, and the progressive policies of the initiative, referendum and recall. He is of the opinion that laborers, while important to society, are not fit to serve as politicians or select their leaders, and laments the move towards more popular government.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1911-06-02
Creator(s)
Untitled Speech on the Boy Scout Movement
Overton W. Price sees the Boy Scout Movement as offering important lessons for the boys of America to learn. Boy Scouts learn valuable lessons about courage, unselfishness, knowledge, health, incisiveness, and citizenship.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1911-05-23
Creator(s)
Do squirrels reason
John J. Cushing describes the unusual behavior of a squirrel he recently observed, which leads him to question the animals’ ability to reason.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1911-05-17
Creator(s)
Causes of unrest
Henry E. Huck argues that the world’s “discontented populations” show gross ingratitude by repaying their kind acceptance by the United States and England with constant provocations against each other. Such provocations will end in a global war. He proposes the two countries join forces through a court of arbitration.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1911-04-03
Creator(s)
Plans to aid the United States and England’s alliance
Henry E. Huck briefly outlines three options for implementing his Proclamation for countries to remove their unwanted populations. The plans include means of granting land concessions to the United States and England, reimbursements, possible forms of governance, and international arbitration.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1911-04-03
Creator(s)
Submaternity a proposition intended to diminish race suicide
Drawing on examples of fish and bird reproduction, George B. Grant proposes that surrogate motherhood in humans is possible. If developed, the practice would ease “the educated and wealthy[‘s]” fears about death in childbirth, thus preventing race suicide.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1911-03-30
Creator(s)
Mr. Edison’s maimed mind
Parker H. Sercombe discusses the question of “maimed minds” as raised by Cardinal James Gibbons in his comments on Thomas A. Edison’s focus on mechanical pursuits and the resulting atrophy of religious sense. Sercombe argues that qualities of the mind, like those of the body, develop and diminish through use and disuse. Therefore, “normal minds” are the product of brains trained to exercise “in the realities of life” from childhood. Such minds become maimed when wide theological divergence, fairy stories, and fiction confuse the growing mind and interfere with normal thought, thereby disabling judgment. Sercombe, therefore, asks if normal minds can accept theological dogma since the theological mind is “invariably maimed.”
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1911-02-21
Creator(s)
Mr. Edison’s maimed mind
Parker H. Sercombe discusses the question of “maimed minds” as raised by Cardinal James Gibbons in his comments on Thomas A. Edison’s focus on mechanical pursuits and the resulting atrophy of religious sense. Sercombe argues that qualities of the mind, like those of the body, develop and diminish through use and disuse. Therefore, “normal minds” are the product of brains trained to exercise “in the realities of life” from childhood. Such minds become maimed when wide theological divergence, fairy stories, and fiction confuse the growing mind and interfere with normal thought, thereby disabling judgment. Sercombe, therefore, asks if normal minds can accept theological dogma since the theological mind is “invariably maimed.”
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1911-02-20
Creator(s)
Essay about Abraham Lincoln
Ferdinand Cowle Iglehart reflects on the legacy and lessons that can be learned from Abraham Lincoln. He recounts stories that were told to him by people who knew Lincoln, including Civil War General Lew Wallace.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1911-02-11
Creator(s)
The secret language of masons and tinkers
Drawing upon papers by Professor Kuno Meyer and John Sampson, Albert T. Sinclair asserts that the secret language of Irish stonemasons, the “bearla lagair,” and the Shelta language spoken by Irish tinkers, share a common root in Old Irish.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1911-02-11
Creator(s)
In regard to the Republican candidate
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1912-04-21
Creator(s)
Language
English
Period
(1911-1912) Progressive Party Candidate
In regard to the recall election
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1912-04-21
Creator(s)
Language
English
Period
(1911-1912) Progressive Party Candidate
A political prognosis
Will Thomas Withrow predicts Theodore Roosevelt will be the 1912 Republican nominee and will be elected by the largest majority ever. Withrow shares his conversations about presidential candidates with the “traveling men” of Texas, who eventually conceded that Roosevelt was the only possible candidate. He discusses how the people “believe in Roosevelt” and “want him.”
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1911-01-31
Creator(s)
For the following reasons
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1912-04-14
Creator(s)
Language
English
Period
(1911-1912) Progressive Party Candidate
Comfort for America, or remarks on her real situation and policy
In response to complaints of hard times, Benjamin Franklin reflects on the current economic situation in the United States. He notes that the agricultural situation is particularly good, and conditions in cities are improving for workers. The situation of merchants will improve when they begin to import less and some of them return to working trades. Franklin believes that although the country is divided between parties, they all have different ideas of how to improve the nation.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1786