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President Roosevelt asks Acting Secretary of the Navy Newberry to respond directly to an enclosed letter from Winfield Scott Moody. Roosevelt asks Newberry to go over a request from Secretary of War Luke E. Wright.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-08-01
Attorney General Bonaparte updates President Roosevelt on a variety of cases the Administration has in courts. First, Civil Service Commissioner Alford Warriner Cooley is reluctant to travel to Colorado or Oregon because two cases relating to civil service law will be tried in the Supreme Court soon. Second, Bonaparte has sent a report about a scandal involving New Mexico judge Daniel Hugh McMillan to New Mexico, as the report damages only McMillan. Bonaparte has also arranged for Thomas Carl Spelling and L. Allison Wilmer to prepare and conduct cases against coal-carrying roads under the Hepburn Act. Finally, Bonaparte encloses a communication relating to matters regarding the Alaska Syndicate and the Morgan-Guggenheim interests in Alaska. A dispute between Senator Simon Guggenheim and Governor Wilford B. Hoggatt over land rights of railroads has led to bloodshed.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-02-08
Augustus C. Wrenn reports to Secretary of the Navy Metcalf on coal contract bids for fleets at sea in South America and the Caribbean. Wrenn provides a detailed cost analysis for several ports and companies, along with recommendations and analysis for which contracts the Department of the Navy has accepted. Wrenn requests Metcalf’s attention on an issue regarding logistics and taxation discussed by Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-10-17
Attorney General Bonaparte provides legal counsel for Secretary of Commerce and Labor Straus regarding the British steamer Ferndene, which transported coal for the Navy from the East Coast to the West Coast. Bonaparte informs Straus that, so long as the ship carried nothing else but the coal, she does not have to pay the associated tonnage tax and Straus’s other questions are moot.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-10-09
Attorney General Bonaparte provides legal advice for Secretary of the Navy Metcalf regarding the transportation of coal for the Navy from Atlantic to Pacific ports. Bonaparte finds that the prohibitions Metcalf mentioned do not apply to property owned by the government, and that coal for the Navy can be transported on foreign vessels if sufficient American vessels cannot be contracted or if they can only be had for an exorbitant price.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-10-03
Acting Secretary of the Navy Newberry informs President Roosevelt that the railroads have agreed to the Navy’s wishes regarding government colliers, and he describes the positions of the colliers. The waiver of precedence for Panama colliers could once again agitate the commercial interests, but Newberry does not foresee long term effects if the railroads and coal suppliers can agree. He recommends the transfer of a few cargoes already en route.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-09-01
Judson C. Clements, acting chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission, reports to President Roosevelt the principal facts established in its investigation of the Union Pacific Railroad. Upon interviewing competitors of the Union Pacific Coal Company, “every dollar of whose stock is owned by the Union Pacific Railroad Company,” the Commission finds that a monopoly on coal production and transport has been established in the area. Further, the Commission recommends remedial legislation as a result of its investigation.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-13
William J. Youngs, United States District Attorney for the District of Eastern New York, writes to William Loeb, Secretary to President Roosevelt, about William Perry, a chief engineer who scored high marks on his examinations who seeks a permanent position on a collier – a type of coal-carrying ship. Youngs says that Congressman William Cocks of New York is helping Perry get this position, and that if successful this will help them all in the good work they are doing.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-22
Stuyvesant Fish corrects an error in a previous letter regarding coal carrying statistics of American railroad companies.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-10-03