Your TR Source
James Sullivan Clarkson forwards a letter to President Roosevelt from a Mr. Scott of the Pacific Company concerning a business investment in Peru.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-02-01
M. J. McDermott writes to E. P. McAdams about William F. Tebbetts. McDermott writes that Tebbetts has “filled the office of collector creditably.” McDermott is president of the Bank of Mobile, Alabama.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-12-26
President Roosevelt points to handwriting on the wall, “Regulation or Revolution?”, as he sits at a table with J. Pierpont Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Henry Huttleston Rogers.
Cartoonist Albert J. Taylor was earnest in his spin on a popular political-cartoon inspiration, the writing on the wall. Other than a wall, and writing, and perhaps an interrupted feast, any parallels to the Book of Daniel and Belshazzar’s Feast are elusive.
Theodore Roosevelt writes to his son Kermit about his hunting trip north of Quebec, Canada, where he killed a caribou and two moose. He also details Archie’s disappointing hunting trip to Banff, Alberta, Canada. Roosevelt criticizes President Wilson and his foreign policy toward Germany and Mexico and discusses the war in Europe. He also mentions that Ted is doing good business work, and Ted feels that Kermit has a real future with the bank.
1915-10-01
Theodore Roosevelt tells his son Kermit and daughter-in-law Belle that he was declared not guilty in the libel suit brought against him by William Barnes. He says he will not involve himself in politics anymore. Edith and Archie bought him a horse but it was too hard to handle and he fell and broke two ribs. Roosevelt tells Kermit to add dates to his letters and says he is enclosing some letters he wants Kermit to read. Roosevelt adds that if he were president, the country would be at war with Germany. President Wilson is handling the situation terribly.
1915-05-27
An elderly man, John R. Walsh, is being assailed from all sides by people who have been defrauded by his misappropriation of funds from their savings and investments. Caption: Cursed by those whose savings he has squandered and whose trust he has betrayed.
John R. Walsh, an Irish immigrant active in Chicago, is at the center of this Carl Hassmann cartoon. Typically dramatic and apocalyptic, his portrayal such that he might be considered one of American history’s notable villains. Yet he is barely remembered, and might be categorized as an entrepreneur who continually struggled and mismanaged his multitude of dreams.
An unidentified man sits in a chair in a cell at Sing Sing Prison. He has changed out of his prison uniform into a business suit, and is doling out money by the scoopful in return for “Bogus Securities” and “Bogus Collateral.” Chutes of money pour into his cell through windows labeled “Cashier, Vice-Pres., [and] President.” Sticking out of a back pocket is the “Star of Hope,” the Sing Sing Prison bulletin. Caption: A washday convenience for frenzied banks.
The maximum-security prison Sing Sing, in Ossining-on-the-Hudson, 40 miles north of New York City, was built in 1825. Eighty years later its security was as secure as its physical plant: there was a porous ability of inmates to interact with the outside world, and its physical plant and sanitation were in scandalous disrepair. A state commission in 1905 reported on these conditions and implicated political parties (particularly New York’s Tammany Hall / Democratic machine) as well as various levels of New York state bureaucracy.
President Roosevelt addresses his audience in Cincinnati, Ohio, on the subject of trusts and corporations, and the factors and difficulties that the government must consider when contemplating regulation of the trusts. He begins by tracing some of the conditions that have led up to the present situation, and compares the trusts to the Mississippi River, which helps many people but can also threaten great destruction. He makes the analogy that while damming the Mississippi would be futile and harmful, building levees can offer protections without obstructing the river. Roosevelt continues by saying that while there should be some regulation, this must be carefully done so as to effect the desired result on the largest trusts and corporations without imposing more difficult penalties on smaller companies and the laborers who work for the companies.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-20
President Roosevelt congratulates Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte for his speech at Chicago, which showed his fair enforcement of the law. His attackers use the press and their wealth to recruit powerful people, like college presidents and corrupt judges, to their side at the cost of the “plain people.” These attackers know that developments like the Hepburn Rate Law, the Sherman Anti-Trust Law, the Pure Food and Drug Act, and protections for workers have been effective against moneyed interests and criminals, but they are often lawyers or editors who answer to the corporations. The individual men to whom he refers are, however, merely puppets, and the true issue should be taken with the offenders who stand behind them and control enormous wealth. He and Bonaparte are not responsible for the economic panic, but are striving for the right “in the spirit of Abraham Lincoln.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-12-23
Theodore Roosevelt thanks W. S. Martin for the letter and the check for the campaign fund sent through Edwin T. Earl of the Los Angeles Tribune. Roosevelt has endorsed the check and sent it on to the Treasurer.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-08-12
Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary forwards a check to Douglas Robinson to pay into Roosevelt’s account.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-08-05
Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary sends a check from the Astor Trust Company for Douglas Robinson to deposit into Roosevelt’s account.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-08-02
Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary informs Charles R. Pendarvis that Roosevelt is away, but the letter and resolutions Pendarvis sent are being forwarded to him.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-06-18
Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary confirms the conversation between Alexander Pollock Moore and Roosevelt at which he was present. He recounts that Roosevelt said he remembered seeing Moore and the committee regarding the evidence proving that cashier J. B. F. Rinehart had mishandled monies and credits of the Farmers and Drovers National Bank of Waynesburg. Roosevelt then sent a telegram to the district attorney to take up the case. He does not have a copy of the telegram but remembers his instructions on the matter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-09
Theodore Roosevelt appreciates Edward C. Stokes’s letter and is glad he liked what Roosevelt said about business. He holds up the National Banking Act as the one to follow but the analogy works better with the Inter-State Commerce Law.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-09
Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary sends Douglas Robinson a check from the Century Company to be deposited in Theodore Roosevelt’s account.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-10-24
Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary tells Douglas Robinson that Roosevelt would be happy to deposit $100 in the bank account of Archibald B. Roosevelt.
Theodore Roosevelt’s assistant secretary asks Douglas Robinson to deposit the enclosed check into Roosevelt’s principal account.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-08-01
Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary sends Douglas Robinson several checks and bills, and asks that they be deposited in Roosevelt’s account. The money comes from the Pullman Company for tickets purchased but not used during Roosevelt’s last Western trip.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-06-13
Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary asks Douglas Robinson to pay $1,000 into Roosevelt’s account at the Astor Trust Company.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-06-07