Hitchcock, Ethan Allen, 1835-1909

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-03-07

Creator(s)

Wilson, James, 1835-1920

Recipient

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Secretary of Commerce and Labor Oscar S. Straus and Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock both agree that some of the proposed changes to the bill mentioned will result in serious trouble. President Roosevelt would like for Secretary of State Root to meet with Straus and report back to him the outcome of the conversation. Roosevelt has asked for the bill to be held up in the senate, or he will have to veto it if it gets passed in its present form.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-25

President Roosevelt believes that Representative Lacey’s bill authorizing the leasing of public lands and the removal of natural resources from them is the best of the three bills.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-22

President Roosevelt will meet with Marshall L. Mott when Congress has adjourned, though he does not think there is anything more to be said. He has written to Charles Nagel, and directed Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock to take up charges against Dawes Commission member Tams Bixby.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-12

President Roosevelt asks Philip Battell Stewart to be the Commissioner of the General Land Office. He is “discontented” with the current Interior Department, despite approving of Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock. He plans to appoint James Rudolph Garfield as Secretary of the Interior, and to make a “pretty clean sweep” of the employees under him, except for men like Commissioner of Pensions Vespasian Warner and Commissioner of Indian Affairs Francis E. Leupp. He mentions that Gifford Pinchot would be one of Stewart’s coworkers, and emphasizes that Stewart would be perfect for the position.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-22

President Roosevelt assures Gifford Pinchot that he will have a completely “free hand” in the Bureau of Forestry in terms of policies pursued and persons appointed. There will be no difference than if he was the “independent head of the bureau.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-10-18

President Roosevelt will follow the course suggested by William Emlen Roosevelt and will advise Congress that if they do not act, he will. Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock has promised a pony for the children. James Bronson Reynolds of the University Settlement can be contacted regarding a political subscription.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-10-09

Attorney General Bonaparte shares with President Roosevelt his thoughts about what to do with United States District Attorney N. M. Ruick. He sends a copy of the telegram he sent to Ruick, and notes the reasoning for his approach. The remaining question is that of the special counsel for the trial. Bonaparte will contact Francis J. Heney and provides several alternatives if Heney is unavailable. He asks Roosevelt for further suggestions.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-08-25

Assistant Attorney General Cooley provides President Roosevelt with a preliminary report on the circumvention or violation of laws relating to the disposal of public lands in the Territory of New Mexico, including the involvement of the Territory’s governor, Herbert J. Hagerman. Cooley presents evidence that Hagerman’s actions were both “illegal and unjustifiable.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-04-12

Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot provides President Theodore Roosevelt with a report on land office work after claims of possible fraud and of hardship. Pinchot recommends that Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock be given an additional $500,000 to “bring the public land business of the United States up to date.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-02-11

The Department of the Interior issues a memorandum containing President Roosevelt’s orders to not issue patents on any land before a special agent can physically examine the land. The memorandum goes on to list the different type of lands applicable and inapplicable under this new memorandum.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12

William Loeb sends to Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot a letter from Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock concerning the withdrawal of coal lands. Loeb asks Pinchot to give President Roosevelt a report on the matter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-17

G. W. Woodruff, Chief Law Officer of the Forest Service, reports on a controversy concerning Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock. President Roosevelt withdrew ten million acres of land from disposal under public laws to protect the coal it contained, but asked that no land be withdrawn until he received Geological Survey field reports. Hitchcock claimed that he did not know which lands were inside the reserves and “materially misquoted the President’s clearly expressed intention.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-17

An article in The Press lists President Roosevelt’s Cabinet as violators of the law and how they should be dismissed from their positions. This dismissal is based on the Conrad-Bonaparte report which states it is a violation of the law for “laborers” to do clerical work. The article states every department in Washington employs laborers to do clerical work, so the Cabinet should be dismissed. The writer also discusses how the attorneys Conrad and Bonaparte are breaking the law about office rental and should also be dismissed.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-03-14

Attorney General Moody writes to President Roosevelt regarding funding sources for American Indian Day and industrial schools. Members of Congress declared that public money could not be used to fund sectarian schools, but the Secretary of the Interior Hitchcock can use certain money for American Indians held in trust in any way he saw fit, including assistance to sectarian schools.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-02-02

Commissioner of Pensions Ware appeals to President Roosevelt to overturn a decision made by Secretary of the Interior Hitchcock. Ware wants to send the list of surviving Mexican War veterans to a reunion committee in Texas. Hitchcock refuses to allow it, on the basis that veterans’ information is never to be used except for the business of the Bureau of Pensions. Ware argues that the rule is in place to protect veterans from possible fraud, and that the use of the information for the reunion does not violate that purpose.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-07

Charles J. Bonaparte sends President Roosevelt his resignation as Indian Commissioner. He allowed his name to be put on Maryland’s ballot as an elector for the upcoming presidential election without considering that he held office, and believes it would be simpler to resign his office than change the ticket, as doing that may be misconstrued. Bonaparte also has resigned from auxiliary positions in other cabinet departments to be safe, although he does not believe these technically count as official positions. He hopes to be able to cast his electoral vote for Roosevelt, but he believes that Roosevelt will be victorious in the election even if he does not carry Maryland.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-01

President Roosevelt looks on as members of his 1906 cabinet laugh at papers with the heading, “Storer.” One chair is empty, and there are pictures on the wall of Postmaster General Charles Emory Smith, Secretary of the Navy John Davis Long, Secretary of the Treasury Lyman J. Gage, and Attorney General Philander C. Knox, all from 1901.

comments and context

Comments and Context

This political cartoon by Clifford Kennedy Berryman, with its typically awkward depictions of public figures, addresses not the general composition of President Roosevelt’s cabinet, although it was within a week of this cartoon that Oscar S. Strauss succeeded George B. Cortelyou as Secretary of Commerce and Labor, the latter moving to the Treasure portfolio.

Secretary of State Elihu Root, Secretary of War William H. Taft, Secretary of the Navy Charles J. Bonaparte, Attorney General William H. Moody, Secretary of the Treasury Leslie M. Shaw, Postmaster General George B. Cortelyou, Secretary of Commerce and Labor Victor H. Metcalf, Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson, and Secretary of the Interior Ethan A. Hitchcock all march out of the “White House” and to the “keeper of the gags.” There is a large sign that reads, “Notice! By order of the President the members of the cabinet will resume their muzzles on leaving the White House.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-10-23

All of the cabinet officers stand in a circle, have gags in their mouths, and point at one another: Secretary of State Elihu Root, Secretary of War William H. Taft, Secretary of the Navy Charles J. Bonaparte, Attorney General William H. Moody, Secretary of the Treasury Leslie M. Shaw, Postmaster General George B. Cortelyou, Secretary of Commerce and Labor Victor H. Metcalf, Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson, and Secretary of the Interior Ethan A. Hitchcock.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-11-04