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President Roosevelt accepts Mordecai T. Endicott’s resignation as the Navy’s Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks. Roosevelt notes Endicott’s resignation will take effect “upon the date of the qualification” of his successor Civil Engineer Harry H. Rousseau.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-07
President Roosevelt notifies F. P. Stearns that president-elect William H. Taft will shortly be making a trip to investigate the Panama Canal in the company of several engineers, and that he would like Stearns to be one of those engineers. Roosevelt lists the other engineers who will be accompanying Taft.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-28
President Roosevelt notifies James D. Schuyler that President-Elect William H. Taft will shortly be making a trip to investigate the Panama Canal in the company of several engineers, and that he would like Schuyler to be one of those engineers. Roosevelt additionally lists the other engineers who will be accompanying Taft.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-28
President Roosevelt notifies Isham Randolph that President-Elect William H. Taft will shortly be making a trip to investigate the Panama Canal in the company of several engineers, and that he would like Randolph to be one of those engineers. Roosevelt additionally lists the other engineers who will be accompanying Taft.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-28
President Roosevelt notifies Allen Hazen that President-Elect William H. Taft will shortly be making a trip to investigate the Panama Canal in the company of several engineers, and that he would like Hazen to be one of those engineers. Roosevelt additionally lists the other engineers who will be accompanying Taft.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-28
President Roosevelt informs Arthur Powell Davis that President-Elect William H. Taft will shortly be traveling to inspect the Panama Canal in the company of a number of engineers. Roosevelt would like to appoint Davis as one of these engineers to travel with Taft, and asks him to respond as quickly as possible.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-28
President Roosevelt informs President-Elect Taft that he has written to Senators Shelby M. Cullom and George C. Perkins as Taft requested, and will recommend that the Embassy be created. Roosevelt asks if he should additionally issue a message as soon as First Assistant Secretary of State Robert Bacon becomes Secretary of State. Roosevelt will shortly appoint the six engineers who are to accompany Taft on his journey to inspect the Panama Canal.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-26
President Roosevelt informs Senator Foraker he has submitted the name of John Stuart Elliott to the Senate for Commissioner of the Interior of Puerto Rico. Although Elliott is Roosevelt’s cousin, he made the nomination based on Puerto Rico Governor Beekman Winthrop and Secretary of War William H. Taft’s recommendations.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-01-04
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt agrees with French Ensor Chadwick and believes his board acted correctly. He supposes Chadwick informally consults with Parks and Aniceto García Menocal y Martín.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-09-20
President-Elect Taft assures President Roosevelt that he understood the matter relating to William Wingate Sewall long ago. Taft is satisfied with the names of the engineers who are to accompany him on his visit to the Panama Canal zone. He hopes that Roosevelt will announce the engineers from Washington and issue a statement that Alfred Nobel was invited but was unable to accompany Taft, and that the selected engineers were recommended by Nobel.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-28
President-Elect Taft telegraphs William Loeb that the engineers President Roosevelt mentioned in a previous letter are entirely satisfactory. Taft hopes Roosevelt will make the announcement from Washington along with the statement that Alfred Noble was both invited and consulted for recommendations for the engineers to be invited.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-28
President-elect Taft has communicated with Secretary of the Navy Truman Handy Newberry, who has offered him two cruisers to travel with. Paul Charlton has suggested that Taft bring Charles Sooysmith with him on his trip to inspect the Panama Canal, but Taft thinks it would be wise to consult with Alfred Nobel before making any decisions on this issue. Taft forwards President Roosevelt a letter from George W. Davis, who has also made suggestions of engineers who should accompany Taft.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-22
O. H. P. Cornell presents his credentials as an engineer to President-Elect William H. Taft in a bid to accompany Taft on his tour of the Panama Canal. Cornell has previously been involved in some discussions of the canal building process, and says that that he is free from any prejudice surrounding it. He apologizes for breaking convention and submitting his own name for consideration.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-22
George W. Davis offers President-elect Taft his opinion regarding several engineers who are candidates to accompany Taft on a trip to inspect the Panama Canal. If a change to the canal plans is required, as Davis suspects it may be, it should be done early enough before public opinion begins to be swayed against the canal by a lack of confidence.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-15
Secretary of War Taft updates President Roosevelt in his capacity as the head of the Isthmian Canal Commission. Taft feels that they should not create contracts for work on the canal without advertising. He has approved Theodore P. Shonts’s leave to travel home with his family from Europe, but not Shonts’s plan to see canals in Manchester or Europe in an official capacity because he is not an engineer and that would bring criticism on him. A rivalry has arisen between John F. Stevens and Charles E. Magoon, and now may be the time to reorganize the Canal commission and civil government and the relationship between the two. Taft looks forward to discussing this with Roosevelt on his return next month.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-17
Secretary of the Treasury Leslie M. Shaw makes recommendations to President Roosevelt regarding the administration of the Panama Canal. The government had bought steamships to use the canal, but Shaw recommends selling them to private companies and taking sealed bids for contracts to operate the canal routes. He also suggests that the government should use private contractors on building and operating the isthmian railroad the government owns as well, as this will prevent red tape and potential scandals. He does recommend hiring many civil and sanitary engineers to oversee the work, however. Shaw uses examples of government projects using private contractors in Albany and New York City, New York, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to strengthen his argument.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-10-17
Bernard A. Eckhart recommends civil engineer Lyman E. Cooley from Chicago for appointment to the international board responsible for overseeing the conditions and uses of bodies of water shared by the United States and Canada.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-06-10
Secretary of War Taft reports to President Roosevelt on labor negotiations with railroad employees working on the Panama Canal and isthmian railroad, touching on topics including pay schedules, sick pay, and overtime compensation. Taft recommends keeping the compensation and benefits package with which the workers were first recruited, but disagrees with some of their newer demands. Conditions are improving at the canal, including better living quarters, a lower rate of disease among workers, increased amusement options, and travel to the United States becoming easier. Taft attaches an account of the relevant hearings with labor and committee men.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-04-07