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This brief summary of recent Congo international relations (through 1904) outlines the parameters of a new treaty between the United States and Congo.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-10-12
John Barrett writes to John Hay to report on the current state of negotiations with the government of Panama concerning the Panama Canal. There is some public resentment, but no real danger of revolution. The Panamanian government is willing to conduct negotiations in Panama if that is what the Americans prefer.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-23
W. H. Ellis reports that shortly after his arrival in Addis Ababa he delivered the treaty and President Roosevelt’s letter to Emperor Menelik II. The treaty was well received; Ellis reports that Menelik II informed him that he would soon have a receipt for the same.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-06
James Alexander Scrymser encourages Assistant Secretary of State Loomis to pursue a treaty with Panama that will protect the interests of American companies in Panama in the way that France has done. Scrymser explains why the contract his company entered into with Colombia is not valid in Panama and seeks help from the State Department to pursue diplomatic intervention in his company’s business affairs in Panama.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-06-10
The Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal reprints the foreword and three chapters (two, five, and nine) from Theodore Roosevelt’s 1915 work America and the World War. In the foreword, Roosevelt expounds on the need for preparedness and criticizes President Woodrow Wilson for not bolstering the nation’s defenses. In chapter two, “The Belgian Tragedy,” Roosevelt states that neutral Belgium was a victim of German aggression, and he warns that failing to arm leads to such violations of a nation’s neutrality. Roosevelt invokes his famous maxim of “speak softly and carry a big stick,” and he makes several references to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and their attitudes towards war and peace. Roosevelt says that international bodies and treaties that promote arbitration are worthless unless they are backed with the threat of force.
In chapter five, “How to Strive for World Peace,” Roosevelt stresses that nations either need to rely on themselves for their defense, or international bodies and treaties must have provisions so that violations of agreements and boundaries are punished by force. Roosevelt opens chapter nine, “Our Peacemaker, the Navy,” with a call to not extend a security guarantee to the Philippine Islands if the United States is committed to their independence. Roosevelt also argues that the navy needs to be used for offensive operations and not for coastal defense, and he excoriates the Wilson administration, especially Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, for not maintaining the readiness of the navy with regular training and maneuvers.
Cartoon shows President Roosevelt looking through a telescope at a glowing cloud “Resolutions Nov. 28 1902 for a Cuban reciprocity law” while Tasker Howard Bliss places his hand over the lens of the telescope. Roosevelt wears a sword “Reciprocity” and has a rolled sheet of paper in his back pocket “Message, I hope soon to submit to the Senate a reciprocity treaty with Cuba.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1902
Cartoon shows a boar “Bliss-Palma Protocolo” being de-tusked by Cuban Secretary of State Manuel Sanguily and “Beet Remolacha.” The de-tusking tools they use are labeled “Art. VII” and “Art. IV” referring to portions of a proposed treaty between the United States and Cuba related to sugar.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1903
Cartoon shows a figure of Justice with two heads, those of Special Envoy to Cuba Tasker Howard Bliss and President of Cuba Tomás Estrada Palma. Justice holds a scale “Reciprocidad” (Reciprocity.) On the left are weights labeled “20%,” “5 years,” and “Art. VII prefertial.” On the right are weights labeled “20%,” “5 anos,” and “Art. VII preferencia,” “Articulo IV.” The weights refer to various provisions related to sugar tariffs in a proposed treaty between the United States and Cuba.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1903
Cartoon shows Cuban President Tomás Estrada Palma sitting in a chair “Ejecutivo” (Executive). He holds a sheet of paper “Bliss-Palma Protocolo Anexionista Art. IV, Art. VIII.” referring to portions of a proposed treaty between the United States and Cuba. Behind the chair Cuban ambassador to the United States Gonzalo de Quesado lurks. Behind Palma looms Salvador Cisneros y Betancourt, a Cuban politician who warned against U.S. imperialism in Cuba.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1903
Cartoon shows Cuban President Tomas Estrada y Palma and Cuban Minister to the U.S. Gonzalo de Quesada playing ping pong on a table labeled “Washington / Havana” with a ball “Tratado reciprocidad Cubana Americana” (Cuban American reciprocity treaty). A man “Monopolio Azucarero Americano” (American Sugar Trust) watches.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1902
Cartoon shows Cuban ambassador to the U.S. Gonzalo de Quesada fleeing as a bomb “Proposicion Hay-Quesada” (Hay Quesada proposal) explodes blowing up the wheelchair “Libertad” (Liberty) of a woman representing Cuba, who stands startled, holding a U.S. shield.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1902
Text of Theodore Roosevelt’s speech accepting the Nobel Peace Prize on May 5, 1910. Roosevelt says that he will keep the medal, but that he will put the prize money toward a commission to study industrial peace. Roosevelt asserts that there should be treaties of arbitration between nations and that the world court at the Hague should be further developed. Roosevelt concludes by arguing for a limitation on naval armaments and for establishing an international organization devoted to maintaining international peace.
A photograph of Roosevelt in Norway to accept the prize is found at the beginning of the speech.
The major article of this issue of the Pacific Marine Review deals with the Anglo-Arbitration Treaty, with editor Harold B. Jayne arguing that there is not a great reason to tie the United States to Great Britain through an arbitration treaty, as it would provide few benefits. Other articles deal briefly with the development of the Canadian navy, and the Mexican revolution.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-06
This newspaper article speaks about the outlook for William H. Taft’s presidential run in 1912 in light of the proposed Canadian-American Reciprocity Treaty between Canada and the United States and Theodore Roosevelt’s endorsement of Taft.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-06-08
This article reports on the relationship between William H. Taft and Theodore Roosevelt in light of the 1912 presidential election. The article specifically looks at how Taft is handling the Reciprocity Agreement between the United States and Canada and provides Roosevelt’s commentary on the treaty. The article ends by saying the Democratic Party does not have a candidate of the same reputation in domestic or international politics like Taft or Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-06-09
President Roosevelt feels he and Secretary of State Hay should focus on the arbitration treaties and the San Domingan protocol rather than the Newfoundland treaty. Roosevelt received a membership invitation to the Academy of Arts and Letters. Uncertain if he should accept, he shares his thoughts on the ridiculous nature of such “foolish” academies.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-01-28
One alleged reason Southern senators oppose the arbitration treaties between the United States and European governments is the worry that foreign holders of repudiated Southern bonds will try to have responsibility for those bonds transferred to the current southern states. The author feels that “senators who listen to counsels like this make themselves and their States ridiculous.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-02-06
In a statement protesting President Roosevelt’s message to the senate and the protocol between the United States and Santo Domingo (now the Dominican Republic) signed on February 7, 1905, the history and application of the Monroe Doctrine is examined in detail, and arguments are made against Roosevelt’s protocol based on that understanding.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-02-17
Oscar S. Strauss, member of the International Arbitration Court at The Hague, believes the Senate’s changing of “agreement” to “treaty” defeats the purpose of the treaties and hopes President will withdraw treaties from further consideration if the amendment is not defeated.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-02
The Foreign Office released a modus vivendi, a temporary international accord, stating that the government of Newfoundland wishes to conduct the upcoming herring fishing season according to the rules observed in the previous year. The United States accepted this proposal, with the provision that they will not abandon the use of purse seines, pending the outcome of arbitration before the Hague Tribunal. The article goes on to examine the legality of this agreement from the point of view of the British people.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-08-14