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Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to George Pope

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to George Pope

Theodore Roosevelt regrets to Colonel Pope that he is unable to accept his invitation due to previous commitments. Roosevelt references a letter Pope had sent him and wishes that it and the Emerson quotation he used could be hung in every manufacturer’s office. Roosevelt wishes that laborers would understand that their interests would be best addressed by supporting leaders who agree with Pope and Emerson’s sentiments.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1916-04-04

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Albert J. Beveridge

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Albert J. Beveridge

President Roosevelt has spoken about the bill in its present form with Commissioner of Labor Charles Patrick Neill and believes that Senator Anselm Joseph McLaurin’s amendment is wrong. He urges Senator Beveridge not to vote down the bill simply because it does not go far enough, and points out that having an imperfect bill passed is better than not having any bill at all.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-05-25

Telegram from Theodore Roosevelt to Frank B. Kellogg

Telegram from Theodore Roosevelt to Frank B. Kellogg

President Roosevelt believes that officials of the Great Western road have not informed Frank B. Kellogg of the effects of their actions, and that representatives of the labor organizations feel the result is a deception. He advises Kellogg to have the action held off until he can investigate further and advises him to meet with Charles Patrick Neill and Martin A. Knapp of the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-03-16

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Herbert Parsons

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Herbert Parsons

President Roosevelt does not wish to interfere in New York State judicial politics, but feels the New York State Court of Appeals has been unwise in its treatment of laborers and could benefit from the addition of judges who interpret the law broadly and use it to protect working class people. Roosevelt fears there will be dangerous consequences if corporations continue to control the court, and he does not want the tabloid press to use this opportunity to paint themselves as “champion of the plain man.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-09-28

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to J. S. Sherman

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to J. S. Sherman

President Roosevelt wants the opinion of Chairman of the Republican Congressional Committee Sherman about whether Secretary of State Elihu Root would be useful in helping with the campaign of Republican candidate for Governor of New York Charles Evans Hughes. Roosevelt shares his hopes and worries for the upcoming state and congressional elections.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-03

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to J. S. Sherman

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to J. S. Sherman

President Roosevelt sends J. S. Sherman a copy of a letter he wrote to Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon for him to make public, and wishes particularly to call attention to what he said about the tariff. Roosevelt does not know that anything can be done about the labor movements at present because of the unreasonable attitude of labor leaders, but hopes to be able to show reasonable labor people that they are “far more genuinely their friends than the frothy and sinister demagogues who are opposed to us.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-15

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Lyman Abbott

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Lyman Abbott

President Roosevelt hopes that Lyman Abbott makes it clear in his editorial that he disapproves of several corporations acting in the Rocky Mountains, and remarks that people often have difficulty understanding that it is imperative for people to “disprove equally of the murderous lawlessness of labor unions which degenerate into thugism of the Molly McGuire kind, and of the practically as arrogant and greedy lawlessness of quite as noxious a type shown by certain big corporations.” Roosevelt considers it important to be against lawlessness wherever and whenever it is found. He compares his actions with those of several other figures, and says that while former president Grover Cleveland acted both against corporations and labor unions, William Jennings Bryan and Senator Robert M. La Follette refuse to attack labor.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-07-01

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Lyman Abbott

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Lyman Abbott

President Roosevelt emphasizes that he wrote to Lyman Abbott because he trusts the Outlook more than other periodicals, listing a number of other problems and biases he sees in other prominent periodicals. Roosevelt thinks they should make it clear that “we war on the evil of human nature, whether shown in the labor man or the capitalist,” and illustrates this statement by describing how he is fighting both against capitalist organizations in enforcing government inspection of meat packing plants, as well as fighting labor unions in his prosecution of Charles H. Moyer and Big Bill Haywood, who have been accused of the assassination of ex-Governor Frank Steunenberg of Idaho. Both sides, in their respective cases, claim to want justice while working to prevent it.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-06-18

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Lawrence F. Abbott

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Lawrence F. Abbott

President Roosevelt thanks Outlook publisher Lawrence F. Abbott for the letter, and reiterates that in working to produce reform and reduce the size of the largest fortunes, he wants to set out explicit steps and avoid vague language. He also wants to make sure that it is clear that he does not encourage “what is wicked among the labor people,” referencing “the hundreds of murders perpetrated under the foulest and most infamous circumstances by the members of the Western Federation of Miners,” which he considers Big Bill Haywood and Charles H. Moyer guilty of. While it is possible to go too far in the enforcement of order, Roosevelt considers it worse to encourage crime.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-28

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Lyman Abbott

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Lyman Abbott

President Roosevelt responds to Outlook editor Lyman Abbott’s comments on the sections of Roosevelt’s recent “muck-rake speech” dealing with the inheritance tax. Roosevelt did not mean to suggest that such a tax would be the only measure necessary to deal with the amassing of large fortunes, but wished to bring attention to the fact that it would help. He believes that a progressive income tax would also be good, but feels that it is harder to frame such a measure, while modifying the tariff would have a minimal effect on such fortunes. Roosevelt is puzzled by Abbott’s comments about taxing land, and asks if he is trying to revive the theories of Henry George, or if he is referring to something else. Regardless, Roosevelt feels the language is too vague to be useful, while he was trying to bring attention to specific measures that could be accomplished. He was surprised the portion of his speech dealing with labor leaders has received little attention; while he feels that the amassing of great fortunes is harmful to the United States, so too is the sort of violence resulting from “unhealthy sentimentality and morbid class consciousness” like that of socialist leader Eugene V. Debs.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-23

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Jacob A. Riis

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Jacob A. Riis

President Roosevelt is glad to hear that Jacob A. Riis is doing well, and is pleased that Riis takes the same position that he does regarding General Leonard Wood. Wood’s critics make Roosevelt indignant. Regarding the labor issue, Roosevelt explains that he is not afraid of the labor people, but stands with them at present because he feels their cause is right. When their cause is in the wrong, he will oppose them “just as fearlessly.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-03-24

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to John St. Loe Strachey

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to John St. Loe Strachey

President Roosevelt thanks John St. Loe Strachey for remembering the upcoming wedding of his daughter Alice to Congressman Nicholas Longworth. Roosevelt is pleased with Longworth and hopes that he will have a successful career in politics. He reflects at length about politics in both Great Britain and the United States. In particular, Roosevelt discusses the function and manner of the United States Senate, and envies that a labor man is in Great Britain’s Cabinet.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-02-12