Metcalf, Victor Howard, 1853-1936

Secretary of War Taft updates President Roosevelt on the progress of his trip across the United States, as he gives speeches to help candidates in the upcoming election. Nebraska is likely to go Republican, as the prosperity there under Roosevelt’s policies has hampered William Jennings Bryan’s campaign. The person nominated for the Senate, however, is someone who Taft and Roosevelt did not wish. Public sentiment is the same as in Illinois in calling for Roosevelt’s running for president again, as his policies have been very successful. The only place Bryan may have a foothold is in Ohio. Taft thinks that William Randolph Hearst’s strength in New York has been overstated. He also informs Roosevelt about several conversations he has had with people, and about a letter he received from Gifford Pinchot.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-11-01

Creator(s)

Taft, William H. (William Howard), 1857-1930

Ambassador Reid reports to President Roosevelt about affairs in Europe. Reid’s impression is that neither Great Britain nor Germany want tensions to escalate to a war, and he is still trying to get more details about their negotiations. Reid informs Roosevelt that the King seems to be in ill health. He is also worried that Roosevelt’s friend, Silas McBee, is stirring up trouble by seeming to interfere in debates about the Education Bill. Reid referred the Grocers’ Federation to Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson and Secretary of Commerce and Labor Victor Howard Metcalf so that they might receive more information about complying with America’s meat inspection laws, and he enclosed a copy of a speech he gave at Cambridge on the American Revolution. Reid concludes by saying that he hopes the British government will help the United States settle disputes with Canada.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-16

Creator(s)

Reid, Whitelaw, 1837-1912

Ambassador Reid updates President Roosevelt on his recent interactions with the Grocers’ Federation Associations of the United Kingdom. The group requested that Roosevelt send a dispatch clarifying that canned American meat sent to foreign markets has always been carefully inspected, as half a million dollars worth of American tinned meats has become “dead stock” due to the recent agitation. Reid recommended they contact Secretary of Commerce and Labor Victor Howard Metcalf or Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson instead. Reid also mentions a letter he received from Sir Edward Grey expressing support for the proposal of a reduction of armaments in Russia.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-07-31

Creator(s)

Reid, Whitelaw, 1837-1912

Secretary of State Root received William Loeb’s letter and is returning the dispatch from Minister Rockhill on the treatment of the Chinese. Root states he has already consulted Secretary of Commerce and Labor Metcalf on the topic.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-10-07

Creator(s)

Root, Elihu, 1845-1937

On behalf of Secretary of Commerce and Labor Victor Howard Metcalf, Leon A. Clark acknowledges receiving the inauguration medal designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-07-12

Creator(s)

Clark, Leon A.

Mrs. Frank P. Church requests that Republican National Committee Chairman Cortelyou help her to retain her position at her post office. She would also like President Roosevelt to ask Congressman Joseph R. Knowland “not to pledge himself to any one else” for her position.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-07-29

Creator(s)

Church, Frank P., Mrs.

Acting Secretary of State Loomis reports that there has been correspondence from the British government concerning their plan to send a gunboat to the Commander Islands to prevent fur seal poaching by British and Japanese vessels. Secretary of Commerce and Labor Victor Howard Metcalf has suggested that the United States government should also send a gunboat to prevent poaching by American vessels. If the British and Russian governments are amenable to this plan, President Roosevelt has the option of ordering a gunboat for this purpose.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-07-18

Creator(s)

Loomis, Francis B. (Francis Butler), 1861-1948

Governor Pardee asks President Roosevelt to communicate with Representative Victor Howard Metcalf about the Third Congressional District committee appointing delegates to nominate Metcalf’s successor. Pardee thinks this is a slight to him and requests that Roosevelt help him resolve the matter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-06-26

Creator(s)

Pardee, George C., 1857-1941

John J. McCook praises President Roosevelt for selecting Paul Morton and Representative Victor Howard Metcalf for cabinet positions.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-06-27

Creator(s)

McCook, John J. (John James), 1845-1911

Senator Bard informs William Loeb that he is happy with President Roosevelt’s choice of Victor Howard Metcalf as Secretary of Commerce and Labor.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-06-24

Creator(s)

Bard, Thomas Robert, 1841-1915

Senator Fairbanks congratulates President Roosevelt on his selection of new appointees including William H. Moody for Attorney General, Victor Howard Metcalf for Secretary of Navy, and Paul Morton for Secretary of Commerce and Labor.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-06-24

Creator(s)

Fairbanks, Charles W. (Charles Warren), 1852-1918

Benjamin Ide Wheeler informs President Roosevelt that Representative Metcalf will not accept an appointment as Secretary of Commerce and Labor, but that Governor Pardee has shown interest in the position. Wheeler would like to see California represented in the cabinet.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-06-13

Creator(s)

Wheeler, Benjamin Ide, 1854-1927

Paul Morton, Vice President of Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway System, informs President Roosevelt that he has heard excellent comments regarding Representative Victor Howard Metcalf. Morton mentions that he has informed Edward Henry Harriman of this. Metcalf was being considered for the post of Secretary of Commerce and Labor, and would be appointed by President Roosevelt later that month.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-06-08

Creator(s)

Morton, Paul, 1857-1911

Benjamin Wheeler informs President Roosevelt that Victor Howard Metcalf’s appointment would be greatly appreciated.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-05-25

Creator(s)

Wheeler, Benjamin Ide, 1854-1927

Edward Henry Harriman tells President Roosevelt that he has spoken with Paul Morton and neither of them know enough about Representative Victor Howard Metcalf to express an opinion as to his qualifications with regards to commerce. Harriman will make further inquiries in the next week. Harriman is also sending Roosevelt a copy of a speech he requested.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-05-27

Creator(s)

Harriman, Edward Henry, 1848-1909

President Roosevelt looks out of his office at members of his cabinet standing on stumps: Secretary of Commerce and Labor Oscar S. Straus, Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte, Secretary of State Elihu Root, Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson, Secretary of the Navy Victor Howard Metcalf, Secretary of War Luke E. Wright, and Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock. Roosevelt says, “Durn the luck.” Caption: Every member of his cabinet on the stump and he can’t get into the game.

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-10-24

President Roosevelt opens his cabinet, which features busts of his cabinet members, and tells them, “Come now, all of you must take the stump.” In the foreground is the “Taft campaign stump” and the following cabinet members are depicted as busts: Secretary of Commerce and Labor Oscar S. Straus, Secretary of the Treasury George B. Cortelyou, Bureau of Corporations James Rudolph Garfield, Secretary of State Elihu Root, Secretary of War Luke E. Wright, Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson, Postmaster General George von Lengerke Meyer, Secretary of the Navy Victor Howard Metcalf, and Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte.

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-10-26

Secretary of the Navy Metcalf does not endorse Senator Lodge’s recent statements regarding Democrat William Jennings Bryan’s platform on the navy. The article states that in particular, Metcalf took issue with Lodge’s declaration that were it not for the navy, Japan “would insult” the United States. A handwritten note in the margins from Lodge states that, “I did not say that or anything resembling it.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-10-12

Creator(s)

Low, A. Maurice (Alfred Maurice), 1860-1929

Postmaster General Cortelyou is pleased about the appointment of Charles Earl as Solicitor of the Department of Commerce and Labor, and believes he will be of great assistance to Secretary of Commerce and Labor Victor Howard Metcalf.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-07-09

Creator(s)

Cortelyou, George B. (George Bruce), 1862-1940

The Senate Committee on Naval Affairs interviews a number of naval officers on some alleged defects in the construction of several battleships now being built. Chief among these concerns are the questions of the placement of the armor belt, the positions of the guns, and the design of the hoists to provide the turrets with ammunition.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-03-21

Creator(s)

United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Naval Affairs