Your TR Source
President Roosevelt enjoyed Arthur Train’s book and relates it to his own time as a police commissioner. If Train and his wife, Ethel Kissam Train, will be in Washington, D.C., Roosevelt would be pleased to have them for lunch or dinner.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-09-04
President Roosevelt enjoyed the letter from Washington Hastings, the President of Seidel and Hastings Iron Works, and agrees “there can be no flinching in the enforcement of the law.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-08-15
President Roosevelt hopes that former Rough Rider Edward J. Bourke will be appointed captain by the New York Police Department, and says that he is welcome to show this letter to the current Commissioner.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-01-12
David H. Morris sends a newspaper clipping to President Roosevelt, which claims that Roosevelt’s chauffeur was speeding but was not penalized, being immune because of his position. Morris believes the story is dangerous to the aims of the Automobile Club of America, which advocates impartial enforcement of the speed limit laws. As president of the club, he asks Roosevelt to put him in a position, by telling him the facts of the case, to correct the errors before more damage is done.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-06-29
A man dreams about enforcing the blue laws by punishing young men for playing baseball, a young woman for playing golf, even a young girl for picking flowers. He imagines them imploring him to allow them their particular Sunday pursuits.
Since its inception in 1876, Puck Magazine was consistently skeptical on matters of faith and the practices of organized religion. Cartoons that addressed the general subjects included questions of science and evolution; putative hypocrisy of clerics; corruption among the clergy; financial, sex and other scandals of prominent divines; and churches’ support of “blue laws,” Prohibition, and Sunday closings.
These themes and criticisms by Puck‘s artists and editorial writers continued unabated through 1904, as in Ehrhart’s cartoon, which is not targeted at any particular clergyman. The sleeping cleric is not a caricature of any particular cleric, but the ink is mixed with standard venom attacking all.
A large, angry female figure representing Justice draws a sword labeled “Law and Order” as she strides toward striking union laborers who, taking the law into their own hands, are beating a “non union” worker and burning another tied to a tree. A factory is in flames in the background.
Largely forgotten today is the labor strife of the 1890s until World War I in America. A few famous clashes populate the history books: Homestead, the Pullman Strike, the Ludlow (Colorado) Massacre, in industries from mines to textile factories, and a radicalized labor movement, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) at the extreme, but there many local strikes and confrontations. Many of these resulted in deaths and injuries.
Puck represented the type of sincere reform element, like President Roosevelt, conscious of workplace injustice, child labor, onerous hours, unsafe conditions but, however, repelled by labor violence. Initial, and sometimes long-term, reactions are represented by Keppler’s powerful cartoon.
An over-sized female figure labeled “Law” points with her left hand to a sign that states “Contagious diseases must be reported to the Board of Health” and holds in her right hand a little old man labeled “Chr. S. Healer” who is holding a book labeled “Science and Health.”
As American society and government (and cartoonists) addressed the new movements of Mormonism and Christian Science, it usually was not tradition religion or public morals that excited reactions. Practical or legal questions, and public health, were the objects of concern and editorial attack. This Keppler cartoon addresses the matter of sickness and epidemics, as the figure representing Law confronts Ira O. Knapp, one of the early New England followers of Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Christian Science movement.
A female figure labeled “Arbitration” stands between a soldier labeled “Law & Order” and a laborer labeled “Strike” who is holding a bomb and about to throw a brick, with the words “Riot” and “Arson” appearing in the smoke billowing from a fire behind him.
This cartoon reflected the growing incidents of labor strife, some of them violent, as organized labor attempted to assert itself as a bargaining force in the American economy. Specifically the cartoon foreshadows a major confrontation that occurred later in the year, known as the U. S. Steel Recognition Strike. As J. P. Morgan consolidated his steel and tin holdings under the new trust, the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers (The AA) feared that their bargaining positions would be diminished or denied (as it turns, out, they were, by secret vote of the U. S. Steel board). The AA had tenuous agreements with one of the few surviving independent steel makers, Sheet Steel, but lost ground as it suffered from competition by Morgan. In 1903 it was swallowed by U. S. Steel, and Morgan’s corporation asserted itself as a closed shop that did not allow union organization.
O. V. Lamb, former United States Marshal, compares the difference between television lawmen and reality.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
1974-02-19
Theodore Roosevelt informs John A. Chamberlain that he does not wish to be quoted, but as Police Commissioner, he always did his best to enforce all laws appropriately.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-12
In a strictly confidential letter, Theodore Roosevelt discusses the investigation of Judge James Wickersham and other Alaskan officials throughout his presidency.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-08-09
President Roosevelt instructs Secretary of Agriculture Wilson that all government departments are to “cooperate heartily in the enforcement” of the Pure Food and Drug Act, which he considers to be one of the most important acts of his administration.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-07-28
President Roosevelt instructs Secretary of the Treasury Cortelyou that all government departments are to “cooperate heartily in the enforcement” of the Pure Food and Drug Act, which he considers to be one of the most important acts of his administration.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-07-28
President Roosevelt asks Attorney General Bonaparte to communicate with the Department of State and the War Department in order to coordinate action regarding the infringement of neutrality laws on the border of Texas and Mexico. He directs Bonaparte to contact the district attorneys and marshals of Texas in order to capture the guilty parties.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-06-29
President Roosevelt asks if Prescott F. Hall would object to Roosevelt showing the letter from Hall to Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. Roosevelt has a high regard for Secretary of Commerce and Labor Oscar S. Straus, and finds it difficult to believe that Straus would consciously fail to enforce the immigration law. If Lodge, as head of the Immigration Commission, cannot make the investigation that Hall has requested, then Roosevelt will have to consider how it can be done.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-06-24
President Roosevelt tells Seth Low that he wishes to strengthen the power of the executive branch to handle business matters like those that Low refers to, as he does not wish to allow the “chaos and inefficiency” of using the courts to administer such a law.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-28
President Roosevelt sent Albert Bushnell Hart’s letter to Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte. Roosevelt has been uneasy about Special Assistant District Attorney Mary Grace Quackenbos. While she has a “genuine desire” to eradicate wrong, she has an “unsoundness of judgment that is both hysterical and sentimental.” The “outrages” perpetrated at southern plantations would warrant action if they took place elsewhere, but in the South they are part of life, and certain laws cannot be enforced.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-01-13
President Roosevelt cannot visit Plymouth as Arthur Lord has asked. He agrees with Senator Lodge about special inspectors to enforce naturalization laws not being chosen from the civil service applicants. Roosevelt understands if Lodge is attacked in the papers for his stance on the merger bill and praises him for his efforts.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-04
President Roosevelt believes that Governor Kibbey of Arizona should use local forces to quell the unrest and only call upon federal forces if absolutely necessary.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-04-17
President Roosevelt congratulates Fred S. Hall and the Child Labor Committee on the passage of child labor laws in New York State.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-09-15