Labor laws and legislation

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William Brown McKinley

President Roosevelt agrees with Representative McKinley’s comments on the amount of constructive, beneficial legislation accomplished by Congress in the past seven years. He lists specific pieces of legislation that he feels “form a record of substantial legislative achievement in harmony with the best and most progressive thought of our people.” Roosevelt argues that electing William H. Taft will ensure such progress continues.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-09-09

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Charles M. Harvey

President Roosevelt informs Charles M. Harvey that he has not seen James Creelman’s article. While Creelman likely does not quote Roosevelt directly, he did say something to that effect. He stated he had as much difficulty with James Wallace Van Cleave, David M. Parry, and their association as he did with Samuel Gompers and his association. It concerns Roosevelt that the National Association of Manufacturers opposes measures benefiting workingmen.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-08-29

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Memorandum from Theodore Roosevelt to War Department

President Roosevelt states that he wants all watchmen, lock tenders, and lock employees to be considered as covered by the eight-hour-a-day law. He wants Secretary of War William H. Taft to make exceptions only on a case-by-case basis, and the president desires that the number of all exceptions is reported to him. Roosevelt wants this policy to go into effect immediately.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-09-11

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Oscar S. Straus

President Roosevelt has spoken to Secretary of Commerce and Labor Straus about the labor decision in South Carolina. Many people believe the decision will not stop the importing of cheap contract labor in the southern states, which will, in turn, damage laborers in the north. Roosevelt would like to consult with U.S. Commissioner of Labor Charles Patrick Neill about the views of the labor people so he can be prepared with the facts if the administration is called to take action.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-18

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to John St. Loe Strachey

President Roosevelt tells Spectator editor John St. Loe Strachey that he is embarrassed of the way that former Ambassador Bellamy Storer has behaved in the press as of late, but that he ultimately stands by all sentiments he gave in the letters that have been made public. The president muses on the details surrounding the recent controversy regarding the exclusion of Japanese children from San Francisco schools, as well as his proposed plan for the United States and Japan to keep their laborers out of one another’s countries.  

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-21

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to John J. Gardner

President Roosevelt encourages Representative Gardner to help pass the bill regarding the investigation into the labor of children and women in the House of Representatives.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-12

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Oscar S. Straus to Theodore Roosevelt

Secretary of Commerce and Labor Straus is confident in his decision in the South Carolina labor case and does not believe that it will be damaging to the labor unions. However, Straus will consider President Roosevelt’s judgment on the matter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-19

Creator(s)

Straus, Oscar S. (Oscar Solomon), 1850-1926

Letter from Oscar S. Straus to William Loeb

Secretary of Commerce and Labor Straus will lay Thomas G. Bush’s suggestion of Hugh Henry Hanna as a member of the proposed Industrial Peace Commission before the trustees. Straus conferred with Chief Justice Melville Weston Fuller about convening a meeting of the trustees this week.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-25

Creator(s)

Straus, Oscar S. (Oscar Solomon), 1850-1926

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Simeon E. Baldwin

Theodore Roosevelt has not received Judge Baldwin’s letter, but has seen extracts from it in newspapers and wishes to answer some of Baldwin’s accusations. The quotations Baldwin references were from incorrect transcriptions of Roosevelt’s speech, which Roosevelt corrects by summarizing the main points of his speech. Roosevelt does not believe that people, driven by desperation, cannot be bound to contracts that do not protect them in case of injury. Referencing George W. Alger’s Moral Overstrain, Roosevelt notes that many judges have taken the opposite position and, while he is sure they are legally sound, he believes they are nevertheless retrogressive in this view. As Baldwin agrees with these other judges in his own legal decisions, Roosevelt felt justified in saying he was not progressive.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1910-10

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to J. F. Olmsted

Theodore Roosevelt clarifies one of the Progressive Party’s planks which states that “workmen shall have one day’s rest in seven.” The particular day was not stated, as “continuous industry” would require workers every day of the week.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-10-08

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Joseph Gaston Baillie Bulloch

Theodore Roosevelt provides Joseph Gaston Baillie Bulloch with some details of Roosevelt family marriages. Roosevelt was also pleased to read Bulloch’s article, and agrees with the spirit, even though he must dispute some of the details.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-06-07

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Telegram from Theodore Roosevelt to Frank B. Kellogg

President Roosevelt hopes that Frank B. Kellogg is not moved by the clamor surrounding the injunction plank, as it has been stirred up by the Manufacturers’ Association. The plank will try to call the attention of the courts “to a bad habit into which some judges have fallen,” and Roosevelt expects that they will neither satisfy the extreme labor agitator nor the extreme representatives of the Manufacturers’ Association, but will be seek to be fair to all American citizens.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-06-16

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Albert J. Beveridge

President Roosevelt tells Senator Beveridge that the reason he believes that Beveridge is going to kill a labor bill is because of the conversation he and Secretary of War William H. Taft had with him yesterday. Other members of the Senate have also said that they have the impression that Beveridge aims to kill the bill in favor of his substitute bill.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-05-26

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Robert M. La Follette

President Roosevelt informs Senator La Follette that although the employers’ liability bill is not in as good form as he wishes, the railroad men have asked him to sign it and he has agreed. He encloses Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte’s opinion of the bill.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-22

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Oscar S. Straus

President Roosevelt advises Secretary of Commerce and Labor Straus that any investigation into labor conditions should be conducted by the Bureau of Labor over the Census Bureau, as this is not “merely a statistical investigation.” Citing the Labor Bureau’s effective investigation into the meat-packing industry, Roosevelt states that the Bureau of Labor should not be punished for its previous efforts and that any investigation put forward is to yield positive results that would persuade Congress to enact legislation if need be. Roosevelt has not witnessed any “dereliction of duty” from the Bureau or the Commissioner of Labor Charles Patrick Neill.   

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-02-20

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Augustus Peabody Gardner

President Roosevelt cannot “comment upon the declaration of the Massachusetts Federation of Labor against the Republican candidates for Congress” in Massachusetts, as he would then be obliged to do so in every state. Roosevelt tells Representative Peabody he has stated his views on labor, and to quote him rather than ask for a personal statement. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-12

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Charles Patrick Neill

President Roosevelt thanks Commissioner of Labor Neill for his recent report on the enforcement of the eight-hour law, and remarks that he is concerned by some of Neill’s findings. Roosevelt declares that he is “bound to see that this law is absolutely enforced,” and “will go to any requisite length in order to secure its proper enforcement.” He asks Neill to continue to work on the issue, and to draw up several orders to help ensure the law is enforced within governmental departments. Roosevelt also wishes to act against district attorneys who are lax in enforcing the law, and asks for the names of any officials Neill knows of who fall into this category.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-21

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William H. Moody

Referencing a memorandum by Commissioner of Labor Charles Patrick Neill, President Roosevelt asks Attorney General Moody to send a telegram to South Carolina District Attorney Ernest F. Cochran, directing him to enforce the eight-hour law in the mentioned case. Roosevelt wants “in some conspicuous way to show that we do not intend that this law shall hereafter be treated as a dead letter.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-06-21

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Daniel Edgar Sickles

President Roosevelt encloses copies of his presidential speeches and addresses. He reminds Daniel Edgar Sickles how he has handled previous instances of labor unrest.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-17

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt

President Roosevelt noted the forthcoming November 14 edition of the National Labor Tribune with interest and sympathizes with the efforts to “promote good relations between employer and employee.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-11-16

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919