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Ohio Senator Joseph B. Foraker has requested that the Ohio postmaster be reprimanded for “actively opposing the Senator’s interests in politics.” Joseph Bristow, Fourth Assistant Postmaster General, wants an opinion from President Roosevelt before sending an inspector to Ohio in order to get the facts.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-04-06
Joseph Foraker discusses removal of postmasters.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-03-21
Assistant Postmaster General Wynne provides the history of a list of members of Congress implicated in a recent indictment regarding clerk-hire allowances at post offices. Originally, the names were omitted, but pressure from the House Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads led to further research and to more names being included on the list, which was kept by the Post Office Department.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-03-12
Newspaper article warning that unnamed Congressmen should not attempt to persecute Joseph L. Bristow. Bristow’s report showed these men as accomplices to “postoffice thievery” and the public supports Bristow as a champion of honesty.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-03-11
Acting Fourth Assistant Postmaster General Conrard reports to Postmaster General Payne that all materials concerning leases and rents of post office premises were furnished by the U.S. Postmaster General’s office to Representative Overstreet, chairman of the Congressional Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-03-14
Postmaster General Payne informs President Roosevelt that the post office in Dunkirk, New York, will likely be moved to a building with cheaper rent. He will present Roosevelt with the inspector’s report regarding whether or not the rental fee is excessive before taking any action.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-03-15
Postmaster General Payne encloses a memorandum of correspondence between himself and Representative Jesse Overstreet, chairman of the House Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, concerning the preparation of data submitted to the committee. Though Payne and Overstreet discussed the information that the committee had pressured Payne to produce quickly, that information was not published in the report on the Hay Resolution.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-03-16
Postmaster General Payne encloses a memorandum on the record of John W. Pettit, a clerk in the Baltimore office. It appears that Pettit was employed during the 1900 campaign at the headquarters of the Republican National Committee while simultaneously being paid for his postal work but performed no duties. Assistant Postmaster General Joseph L. Bristow is continuing the investigation and Senator Nathan Bay Scott has been contacted about Pettit’s employment with the committee.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-08-05
Postmaster General Payne has received James Sullivan Clarkson’s letter regarding the letter carrier conventions that endorsed William Randolph Hearst for president. Assistant Postmaster General Bristow and his investigators are looking into the matter. Depending on Bristow’s findings, the Civil Service Commission can investigate individual cases or start a general investigation into the whole matter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-08-04
Supporters of a “Square Tariff Deal,” carried in an ark by “Folk, Clark, Gore, Harmon, [and] Beveridge,” march on Jericho, blowing ram-horns labeled “The Voice of the People” causing the walls of Jericho labeled “Graft Tariff” and “Standpat Republicanism” to crumble. Among those marching are “Bacon, Borah, Bristow, Clapp, Dolliver, La Follette, [and] Wilson” and on horseback “Cummins.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1910-10-05
President Taft, as a railroad brakeman, stands atop a freight car labeled “Administration Route.” He is waving to a woman labeled “Reactionary Politics” driving an automobile. The train is headed for a tunnel labeled “Revolt of the West.” Above the train is a bar labeled “Insurgent Movement” from which strips of rope are hanging, labeled “Burkett, Beveridge, Brown, Nelson, Clapp, Cummins, Dolliver, Bristow, [and] La Follette,” an insurgent group of senators who broke with Taft’s policies. Includes note: “A telltale is a bar to which strips of leather or rope are attached to warn brakemen on freight trains when they are approaching a bridge or a tunnel.” Caption: But there is still time to duck.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1909-11-17
President Taft struggles to conduct an orchestra composed of two groups of musicians. On the left, playing the “Eastern Conservatism” on stringed instruments, are “Root, Crane, Smoot, Depew, Aldrich, [and] Gallinger.” On the right, playing the “Western Conservatism” on horns and percussion instruments, are “Knute Nelson, Dolliver, Cummins, Clapp, Bristow, [and] La Follette.” Caption: Pity the poor leader of the Washington Symphony Orchestra.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1909-12-22
Senator Lodge hopes that Mr. Noble will be re-appointed as postmaster of South McAllister in the Indian Territory.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-02-08
Indiana’s Republican State Committee Chairman James Goodrich updates President Roosevelt on political support in the state. Goodrich discusses changes which Fourth Assistant Postmaster General Joseph L. Bristow has made to the selection process for rural mail carriers.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-02-09
Lucius William Nieman asks President Roosevelt to send word to Joseph L. Bristow, Fourth Assistant Postmaster General, to issue a statement concerning Postmaster General Henry C. Payne, whose reputation came under scrutiny during the post office scandal.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-02-11
Postmaster General Payne responds to President Roosevelt’s inquiry concerning the investigation of Assistant Postmaster General Perry S. Heath’s connection with the post office irregularities. Payne encloses recent correspondence between himself and Joseph L. Bristow, Fourth Assistant Postmaster General.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-01-29
Campbell requests statements from President Roosevelt and Joseph L. Bristow, Fourth Assistant Postmaster General, concerning Henry C. Payne’s retirement as U.S. Postmaster General.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-02-02
Chairman Overstreet requests a copy of a statement made to the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General concerning the discontinuance of 900 offices’ allowances for separating purposes.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-01-23
Three letters between Postmaster General Payne and Chairman Overstreet concerning reduction in allowances for clerk hire in post offices and the discontinuance of allowances for separating purposes.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-01-25
George Sutherland discusses support for President Roosevelt in Utah and a possible challenge for nomination by Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-01-06