Land use

Lee C. Spooner believes Americans share the sentiment that poverty can and must be abolished and proposes how this can be accomplished, primarily by turning competition into cooperation. He argues that the laborers are the enemy of the republic, as they either turn to crime or revolution. To feel the responsibility of citizenship, the laborer must first own property. Spooner proposes they be granted a one-acre, suburban tract of land with a house through a federal initiative. Next, the prohibition of liquor will prevent laborers from wasting their earnings. Instead, they can then invest their earnings in federally regulated trusts. This redistribution of wealth will bring “socialism by purchase” and the end of poverty.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-04-19

Overton W. Price of the United States Forest Service suggests changes to President Roosevelt’s order regarding the issuance of patents for public lands to eliminate opportunities for fraud. Price also recommends changing the wording to allow any authorized officer of the government to investigate cases.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-22

George F. Pollock submits a report to Secretary of the Interior Hitchcock following an order from President Roosevelt that no patent be issued to public land until an “examination on the ground” has been made by an agent of the Department of the Interior, in order to hinder “theft of the public lands.” Pollock reports on the current pending cases and requests additional funding to carry out the work.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-22

A digest of an attached detail clarifies that Acting Secretary Thomas Ryan’s memorandum was sent in mistake. The memorandum incorrectly reported President Roosevelt’s determination at the conference on October 5 regarding forest reserve lands. If Roosevelt approved the memorandum without noticing the error, Ryan is directly responsible.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-19

Associate Historian Hummel provides historical information on the Maltese Cross Ranch and Elkhorn Ranch sites, and recommends acquisition of the Elkhorn Ranch site to enhance the historical value of the South Roosevelt area.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Creation Date

1938-03-08

National Park Service Regional Director Merriam tells Director Drury that the correct lands for the Elkhorn Ranch have likely been identified, and that once the historian position is filled at the park, more data and information can be collected.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Creation Date

1948-06-15

Report includes demographic and financial information on the secondary purchase unit (now part of the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park). In addition, the report includes names of land owners, appraised land value, and optioned prices for land within the recreational demonstration area.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Creation Date

1935

Theodore Roosevelt looks forward to the new version of William Davenport Hulbert’s article. He said something similar to the quotation in Hulbert’s letter but cannot find the speech. The point he made was that in regards to coal lands, laws put a premium on fraud.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-11-10

Theodore Roosevelt has enjoyed H. Rider Haggard’s book Rural Denmark. He agrees with Haggard regarding the land and those who live on it. Roosevelt comments on settlement patterns and their relations to agriculture and English speaking, as seen in the United States, Canada, Australia, and England. He compares the seemingly transient English settlers in East Africa with the Boers. While Denmark has done well, Roosevelt was puzzled by a particular “queer social growth” during his visit. He understands Haggard’s discouragement in trying to teach people “what is vital for them to learn and what they refuse to learn,” and advises him to approach the task. Roosevelt apologizes for writing “an unconscionably long letter.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-08-22

President Roosevelt thanks William Kent for the generous gift of land for the protection of redwood trees and the creation of the Muir National Monument. Roosevelt asks if a portion of the land could be designated the Kent memorial to recognize him for the gift.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-01-22

President Roosevelt explains to Eugene A. Philbin that he would like Ambrose Agius to stay and meet with Secretary of War William H. Taft to discuss the land court matter. The president did not want Agius to state his position. Rather, he wanted Taft to define his position to avoid future misunderstandings.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-30

President Roosevelt encloses a memorandum from the General Board signed by Admiral Dewey. There are strong military reasons for taking possession of Yaviza but the benefits could be outweighed by the political consequences. Roosevelt requests Admiral Walker’s advice on the matter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-12-23

President Roosevelt amends a letter in which he remarks on the successful work undertaken since the passing of the Reclamation Act in 1902, but cautions of “dangers and difficulties” still ahead. Roosevelt heralds the success of the Forest Service, whose policy has been shaped by the will of the people.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-24

William Davenport Hulbert sent Abbott a rough draft of his article on Clarence Cunningham’s Alaskan land claims. If it comes to him, Hulbert asks Theodore Roosevelt to critique it. Additionally, Hulbert requests Roosevelt show it to anyone involved in Alaskan affairs. B. D. Townsend, a special assistant with the Department of Justice, approved the article after discussing the issue with Hulbert. Hulbert includes a passage he is considering adding regarding the controversy between then Secretary of the Interior Richard Achilles Ballinger and Chief Forrester Gifford Pinchot. 

Comments and Context

This article discusses the issues regarding the Alaskan land claims of Clarence Cunningham and its connection to the controversy between Gifford Pinchot and Richard Achilles Ballinger.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Governor of Nevada Oddie looks forward to welcoming Theodore Roosevelt to the state. Oddie discusses several measures of the recent state legislative session, including bills on water law, reclamation, and labor compensation. He attests to Roosevelt’s “profound influence” as an “example of purposeful citizenship.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-30

William Dinwiddie asks Theodore Roosevelt to look over an open letter by Dean C. Worcester, Secretary of the Interior of the Philippine Islands, which speaks out against “the men who have caused the United States Government thousands of dollars of expense in investigating a mass of allegations, misstatements and deliberate falsehoods, as to the situation in the Philippines.” Dinwiddie provides his impressions of the letter and more broadly of the Philippines, concluding that the islands are sparsely populated with a great deal of land that is ripe for cultivation.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-15

This report details how the Big Horn Ditch Company dug an irrigation canal in Wyoming in the 1880s that was not deep enough to irrigate the surrounding land. Nevertheless, government land surrounding the canal was reclaimed based on its alleged irrigation, which the author of the report appears to consider fraudulent. Stockholders in the company include William A. Richards, Commissioner of the General Land Office under President Roosevelt and a former governor of Wyoming. Based on this report, special agents in 1904 required that Red Banks Cattle Company, which owned the land in question and had the same major shareholders as the Big Horn Ditch Company, to deconstruct their enclosures and relinquish the land.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10

Gifford Pinchot, Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, writes to President Roosevelt regarding forest reserves, timber and stone law, and cultivatable land.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-01-26

President Roosevelt’s administration responds to charges that the investigation of several land fraud cases is not being pursued with vigor by the Department of the Interior. The report denies these claims and presents details of indictments and convictions already achieved. A large number of parties attempted to defraud the government of public lands, and some of the cases are still underway, requiring secrecy until conviction of the guilty parties is achieved.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904

South Carolina Senator Benjamin R. Tillman holds an open knapsack and a pitchfork as President Roosevelt holds up a trophy: “Oregon land correspondence.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The source of this cartoon is as interesting to historians as the event it pictures.