Alaska

Report upon the organization of the Department of the Interior

Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Keep, Comptroller of Currency Murray, and Chief Forester Pinchot provide President Roosevelt with a detailed report of the organization and operations of the Department of the Interior. The report highlights “grave defects” in the structure of the Department such as redundant job functions, an “abuse of letter writing” that impedes public business, and rampant inefficiency. The report recommends the dissolution of several divisions.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-22

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William H. Moody

President Roosevelt agrees with Attorney General Moody that District Attorney Henry M. Hoyt is the man to look into the matter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-07-14

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William H. Moody

President Roosevelt asks Attorney General Moody if it would be possible to send some people to Alaska to investigate North Dakota Senator Porter J. McCumber’s allegations against Alaska District Judge James Wickersham. Roosevelt mentions he may also ask Moody to send some men to Oklahoma to investigate the situation there, as Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock has taken a disliking to Oklahoma Governor Frank C. Frantz and has sent an agent to investigate him who in the past has made a “yellow-magazine report.” He does not wish these sorts of investigations to become over-zealous. Roosevelt does not wish to interrupt Moody’s vacation, but asks him to find out about these two matters.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-07-06

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Ethan Allen Hitchcock

President Roosevelt tells Secretary of the Interior Hitchcock that he is very impressed by Frank C. Churchill’s report on Alaska, and asks Hitchcock to communicate with Governor Wilford B. Hoggatt of Alaska. Roosevelt had previously been on the side of the missionaries, but has now reversed his perspective, and feels as though Dr. Sheldon Jackson had deceived him.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-06-11

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Boies Penrose

President Roosevelt has heard that the Senate Judiciary Committee has finally reported Judge James Wickersham’s name to the Senate for confirmation. Roosevelt tells Senator Penrose that he believes he must keep Wickersham on in Alaska, even if the Senate does not vote on him.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-28

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Ethan Allen Hitchcock

President Roosevelt is dissatisfied with the condition of things in Alaska, as set out by Lieutenant George Thornton Emmons’s recent report. He asks Secretary of the Interior Hitchcock to work to increase the funds appropriated for the operation of schools and orphanages by lobbying in the committee dealing with the sundry civil bill. Because Congress gave Hitchcock, as Secretary of the Interior, the duty to provide services for the Native Americans in Alaska, Roosevelt believes “Congress should now have officially placed before them, as strongly as we know how to place it, the fact that we expect them to give you provision to enable you to make good for these poor people.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-23

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William B. Hoggatt

President Roosevelt tells Alaska Governor Hoggatt that he believes that ultimately it will be impossible to leave the reindeer under the care of the educational department, and that they will have to be supervised by the government in some degree. He hopes that there will eventually be large herds of reindeer belonging to both Native Americans and white settlers, but “what is necessary ultimately may not at all be the right thing at the moment.” Roosevelt proposes leaving the matter unchanged for the moment so Hoggatt can study the situation and make recommendations.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-23

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Wilford B. Hoggatt

President Roosevelt tells Governor Hoggatt of Alaska that he is interested in seeing railroads built in Alaska, and plans to speak in favor of legislation to that end in his next message to Congress. Roosevelt sends Hoggatt some papers outlining what interested parties think would be fair, and asks Hoggatt to look into the matter in order to offer his own advice.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-26

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to James Allen

President Roosevelt sends Brigadier General James Allen an enclosed letter from Delbert W. Cram relating to a trip into the Arctic Circle proposed by signal corps officer Charles W. H. Heideman to collect botanical specimens. Roosevelt believes that, “if an enlisted man wishes to and can do this kind of work, every bit of encouragement that can be given to him should be given.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-03-30

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Philander C. Knox

President Roosevelt introduces Governor Wilford B. Hoggatt of Alaska to Senator Knox, and asks him to allow Hoggatt to appear before a Senate committee to speak on behalf of the confirmation of Judge James Wickersham.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-03-30

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Richard Arthur

President Roosevelt wishes Richard Arthur and the Immigration League of Australia success and expresses concern about the declining birthrate both in Australia and the United States. He notes that while the United States has plenty of immigrants and is “pretty well filled,” Australia has a desperate need for immigrants.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-02-10

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William H. Taft

President Roosevelt would like a report from Secretary of War Taft on the cost of the maintenance of the ship and crew working with the Alaskan cable, in comparison with the costs connected with similar work done by a ship for the Central and South American Cable Company.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-02-03

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Cecil Spring Rice

President Roosevelt discusses various aspects of his efforts to make peace between Japan and Russia at length with Cecil Spring Rice. He also discusses the current strained relations between England and Germany, and informs Rice that he does not intend to take on the role of regular peacemaker between other countries. It is necessary for him to focus on the affairs of the United States, rather than trying to keep peace in Europe.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-11-01

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Redfield Proctor

President Roosevelt tells Senator Proctor that the appointment to replace David Henry Jarvis as Collector of Customs for Alaska has already been made. He also asks why Assistant Secretary of the Navy Charles Hial Darling will stay in his current position until September and asks if his transfer to the position of Collector of Customs in Vermont could be made in June.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-03-21

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Thomas MacDonald Patterson

President Roosevelt feels the same way Colorado Senator Patterson feels about Judge James Wickersham. Roosevelt says he believes the accusations about Wickersham are false, and that he has been a good judge.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-03-08

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Orville Hitchcock Platt

President Roosevelt did not realize how interested Senator Platt was in the career of Aaron Homer Byington, United States Consul in Naples when he acted to assign Senator Matthew Stanley Quay’s brother to that post. Roosevelt offers to assign Byington to a choice of other Mediterranean posts. In a postscript, Roosevelt asks Platt to “let up on that delegate bill,” allowing Alaska a delegate.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-02-28

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Henry K. Love

Regretfully, President Roosevelt has not yet found a position in Alaska for Henry K. Love.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-02-06

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William H. Moody

President Roosevelt sends Attorney General Moody a memorandum he received from Collector of Customs in Alaska David Henry Jarvis regarding a chapter of Charles Robert Eustace Radclyffe’s book, Big Game Shooting in Alaska. He asks Moody to have Marshal George G. Perry make a full report of the matter. Roosevelt believes the deputy marshal in question should be removed.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-05

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Charles Robert Eustace Radclyffe

President Roosevelt thanks Captain Charles Robert Eustace Radclyffe for a copy of his book, Big Game Shooting in Alaska, and was quite pleased by the dedication. The president invites Radclyffe to visit the White House when he is next in the United States.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-21

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William H. Moody

President Roosevelt tells Attorney General Moody that he believes it would be a wise idea to appoint Henry K. Love as a United States Marshal because he is a “first-class man.” In a handwritten addition, Roosevelt says, “He is a rough rider, alas—but then he is also a distant cousin of John Hay!”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-17