Your TR Source
Edgar Chambless reminds Theodore Roosevelt that they previously talked about his idea for Roadtown, and he left a book about it at Roosevelt’s office. He would like Roosevelt’s comments and criticisms on the Roadtown Foundation.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-07-17
Edgar Chambless plans to send copies of his book Roadtown to former members of Commission on Country Life in an effort to solicit their opinions on it, and asks Theodore Roosevelt if he would be willing to write a short message in support of this. While he heard that Roosevelt considers the ideas presented in the work currently impractical, they have been of interest to a number of other prominent people, which Chambless hopes will convince Roosevelt to assist in this way. He particularly references Luther Burbank as “not the type of man who jumps at conclusions or lends his name to impractical schemes.” By providing a message in support of Chambless’s investigations, Roosevelt will help make the ideas a reality.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-03-21
Parker H. Sercombe argues that the Senate should be abolished as an aristocratic body that does not promote scientific thinking has no place in a democracy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-01-31
Arthur von Briesen encloses a letter from J. G. Holcombe regarding canal work. Von Briesen is interested in agricultural innovation, specifically encouraging farmers to study plants and their development, and would like to visit President Roosevelt and his wife.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-08-22
Pamphlet addressing comments and criticisms about Edgar Chambless’s book Roadtown, and the idea it proposes of building a linear town. The pamphlet lists criticism from prominent figures, as well as prominent supporters of the idea.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-07-17
Edgar Chambless addresses himself to former members of the Country Life Commission, and solicits their opinion on his book Roadtown. Chambless believes that developing cities along the lines he proposes would alleviate many of the problems the commission observed during its investigations. Many prominent figures have already expressed an interest in his plan, and Chambless hopes the recipient will be able to endorse it as well.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-03-21
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.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-20
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.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-21