Antitrust investigations

Memorandum by the Attorney General

The attached letter by Benjamin B. Hampton regarding investigation into the American Tobacco Company betrays Hampton’s poor grasp of the situation and the law in general. Attorney General Bonaparte in particular notes a section where Hampton suggests that President Roosevelt and founder of the American Tobacco Company James Buchanan Duke settle the matter privately as gentlemen rather than through the court system.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-11

Roosevelt and Mellen tilt on merger

Charles S. Mellen had a spirited discussion with President Roosevelt requesting that an investigation into his railroad company’s planned merger be expedited. Mellen objected particularly to the embarrassment such an investigation causes and the indignity of the merger having been a major issue in the recent Massachusetts gubernatorial election.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-07

Senate resolution

Resolution calling on Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte to send to the Senate copies of all correspondence relating to the alleged violation of the Sherman Act by the American Sugar Refining Company and Pennsylvania Sugar Refining Company.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-22

The retiring president

As President Roosevelt’s presidency comes to an end, he faces resistance from the House of Representatives over his request to increase the budget of the Secret Service and backlash from the Senate for not trust busting the United States Steel Corporation’s acquisition of the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-08

We’re ready for Teddy again

Sheet music for a campaign song score, with lyrics by Harry D. Kerr, for Theodore Roosevelt’s 1912 bid for the presidency, run on the Progressive Party “Bull Moose” ticket. The cover background is a Pach Brothers portrait of Roosevelt, seated with his left leg crossed over right. Roosevelt wears a three piece grey herringbone suit and a ring on his left pinky. The back cover has sample sheet music for “Mine,” also by Alfred Solman.

Collection

Gregory A. Wynn Theodore Roosevelt Collection

Creation Date

1912

Extracts of letters from Theodore Roosevelt

Extracts of letters in which Theodore Roosevelt discusses the silver sentiment, the resentment of some working class people for the wealthy and the part of organized labor in the upcoming election.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1896

United States of America, complainant, v. Northern Securities Company, the Great Northern Railway Company, the Northern Pacific Railway Company, and others, defendants

Petition from the United States government laying out an antitrust case against the Northern Securities Company.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901

Letter from Secretary of Theodore Roosevelt to Samuel May

Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary writes to Samuel May with a rebuttal to the arguments made by Winslow Warren about Roosevelt’s actions in establishing a third party following the loss of the Republican nomination.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-09-12

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Charles J. Bonaparte

Theodore Roosevelt asks Charles J. Bonaparte if Bonaparte was Attorney General when they began the suit against the Standard Oil Company and the American Tobacco Company.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-21

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Herman Henry Kohlsaat

President Roosevelt is in support of sending Herman Henry Kohlsaat going as a delegate. Roosevelt cannot promise the consequences of the Department of Justice’s investigation one way or the other, despite his personal feelings for the people involved, because “the action of the Government must be impersonal in these matters.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-06-03

Letter to Joseph M. Dixon

Several months ago a petition was prepared alleging that International Harvester was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act but President Taft prevented the petition from being filed. Taft’s action was supposedly to provide more time for negotiations to voluntary dissolve the company but negotiations have achieved nothing.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-04-24

Letter from Herbert David Croly to Theodore Roosevelt

Herbert David Croly sends Theodore Roosevelt a chapter of his biography of Marcus Alonzo Hanna, requesting that Roosevelt read over Croly’s account of the Republican National Convention of 1900. The chapter also contains statements made by Roosevelt during interviews with newspaperman James B. Morrow and letters Roosevelt had written to Hanna, all of which Croly asks Roosevelt to approve. According to Hanna’s son Daniel Rhodes Hanna, Roosevelt could possibly speak to Hanna’s involvement with the Panama Canal. Croly closes by asking about Hanna’s reaction to Roosevelt’s suit against the Northern Securities Company. Croly is open to meeting with Roosevelt at Sagamore Hill if needed.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-04

Letter from Charles J. Bonaparte to Theodore Roosevelt

Charles J. Bonaparte confirms some details of antitrust suits that occurred against Standard oil and the Tobacco Trust around the time he was Attorney General in Theodore Roosevelt’s administration. He asks Roosevelt if he knows anything of the details surrounding a proposed political organization that claims to stand for the principles of Republicanism, as he is somewhat skeptical of it.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-26

Memorandum from the Office of the Attorney General

The Office of the Attorney General reports that Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte advised President Roosevelt that there is no reason to prosecute the United States Steel Corporation under the Sherman Act for its proposed acquisition of the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company. However, if this transaction were to be preceded or followed by similar acquisitions, the Department of Justice would need to reexamine the situation for antitrust violations.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-09

Message from Medill McCormick

Medill McCormick has said there is a belief that the Standard Oil Company controls the paper trust, which would be significant if true.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11

Letter from Henry Clay Frick to Theodore Roosevelt

Henry Clay Frick and Elbert H. Gary have an idea for how to handle the antitrust suit against the Standard Oil Company, which Frick maintains is contributing to the current financial insecurity in the United States, and would like to discuss the matter with President Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-30

Letter from Paul Morton to Theodore Roosevelt

Paul Morton recommends that all antitrust cases and investigations should be put on hold until the current financial crisis has been resolved. The condition in New York City is slowly improving but hindered by continuing problems in the rest of the country.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-13

Memorandum by the Attorney General

Attorney General Bonaparte is not clear how seriously the attached letter should be taken, and as such cannot fully comment on it. The letter’s author, Benjamin B. Hampton, is an advertising agent unfamiliar with the laws related to the American Tobacco Company and has obtained his information primarily through communications with management of said trusts, but is certain that President Roosevelt has violated the law in his administration’s prosecution of the trusts and is acting on incorrect information. Bonaparte dismisses these allegations and does not believe Hampton to have any of the contextual or legal knowledge necessary to speak on the issue.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-11

Letter from Leslie M. Shaw to Theodore Roosevelt

Leslie M. Shaw is glad that President Roosevelt will be meeting with a committee of railroad men. Shaw notes that “at least three-fourths of the accumulated wealth of the United States has been unearned,” referring to value increases of land and real property over time. The difficulty is in how to “adjust matters that every man who has contributed capital or effort toward the development of our country shall have his fair share of the results of American effort.” Shaw identifies the corporate evils in the railroad industry as rooted in granting rebates and special privileges, and corporate control of corporations.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-03-14

Letter from Judson C. Clements to Theodore Roosevelt

Judson C. Clements replies to President Roosevelt’s questions about the Union Pacific Coal Inquiry report. Clements clarifies the phrasing of the report’s last sentence and offers to make any further explanations Roosevelt requests.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-14