Missouri--Kansas City

The Chicago Daily Tribune continues their series following President William H. Taft on his reelection campaign in the midwest. Following a campaign stop in Kansas City, The Tribune’s correspondent spoke with the public on their impression of Taft. They spoke on reciprocity, tariff policy, and Taft’s personality. Tariffs will likely be a deciding factor for many voters in this area; if Taft is able to lower tariffs, he will win their support. If Woodrow Wilson runs against Taft, “insurgent Republicans” are predicted to vote for Wilson. The split in the Republican Party was evident at the conservative congress where Taft gave a speech. Many praised Taft’s speech and his emphasis on intensive farming. Critics of Taft noted that the President failed to speak on the topic of Alaska development and national resource conservation. The Tribune’s correspondent interviewed men at the Kansas City Board of Trade, who disagreed with Taft’s stance on reciprocity and the wool bill. The correspondent also spoke with retail managers, who critiqued the President’s handling of trusts and passage of the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-09-27

Joseph H. Harris’ reappointment as postmaster of Kansas City, Missouri, illustrates President Taft’s efforts to make appointments based on merit, not politics, which is especially important for such an essential department as the post office.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-04-14

A newspaper reports that Richard C. Kerens met with Senator William Warner to argue that Joseph E. Black should have the collectorship appointment in Kansas City. Warner made no promises. Black is going to see President Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-02

The unknown author comments on a newspaper article about the schoolchildren of Kansas City having neglected to celebrate Eugene Field’s birthday. Reflecting on the uselessness of such remembrance after a person has died, he ponders the importance of doing good and building up humanity during one’s lifetime.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-11

Theodore Roosevelt wanted to know that Thomas Edison stood behind what Roosevelt said. The information Raymond Robins gave Roosevelt was not in his Kansas City speech, but it was in an article Roosevelt wrote later.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1916-06-03

President Roosevelt thanks Henry L. Stimson for feedback on his speeches. Roosevelt acknowledges Stimson’s information on the arms embargo to Mexico, and says that while he received the information too late to include it in his speeches in Detroit, Chicago, and Kansas City, he will include it in an article he plans to write soon.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1916-05-27

Theodore Roosevelt does not expect to make a speaking trip this spring. He will only make one speech in Kansas City on Decoration Day.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1916-05-04

Theodore Roosevelt thought William Allen White’s last letter was interesting, and he expressed sympathy for the “funny old rasor-back” White wrote about. At least he has sincerity, Roosevelt says, unlike President Wilson. Roosevelt proposes making a speech on preparedness in Kansas City on Decoration Day.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1916-04-15

President Roosevelt thanks the crowd for the gift he has received and the luncheon. He also discusses how “the west” is defined.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-05-01

President Roosevelt addresses the citizens of Kansas City, thanking them for their greeting. He discusses his command during the Spanish-American war and compares it to the Civil War. Roosevelt discusses the lessons learned from soldiers on character, brotherhood, and citizenship. He also discusses current problems facing the country after industrial development, including labor relations, class relations, and law.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-05-01

Theodore Roosevelt appreciates the review and criticism. He hopes that Frances Theodora Parsons will like his Kansas City speech.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1916-05-30

Theodore Roosevelt met with E. Mont Reily because he had William Rockhill Nelson’s letter. The Kansas City Post has been unfriendly towards Roosevelt but Nelson’s Kansas City Star has been supportive. Roosevelt invites William Loeb to spend the night on Tuesday.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1910-08-05

Puck, as a professor, shows a slide of the germs infecting the Democratic Party. Shown are William Jennings Bryan labeled “Bryanism,” William Randolph Hearst who is labeled “Yellow Journalism,” a man labeled “Anarchism” and an old man labeled “Populism,” and a firebrand labeled “Platforms” with flames labeled “Chicago” and “Kansas City.” “Free Riot” and “Free Silver” also appear among the germs on the slide. Caption: Puck — Gentlemen, we have here the most dangerous germs in the body politic.

Comments and Context

Puck prided itself on being independent, but had generally supported Democrats since its founding in 1876. Around the time of this cartoon, with the 1904 Democratic presidential nominating convention weeks away, the magazine proved its partisan bona fides — at this time a conservative streak of democracy — by offering avuncular advice by a magic-lantern lecture.

Tammany Hall boss Richard Croker, inflated like a hot air balloon, wears a medallion showing the Tammany Tiger and a laurel wreath with a ribbon labeled “Kansas City Convention.” Running up behind him is David B. Hill carrying a spear labeled “N.Y. State Democracy.” The title is a quotation from the Bible: “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18).

Comments and Context

For many decades, following the Civil War, the Democratic Party in New York State was split into factions — usually two, sometimes more. Copperheads (Southern sympathizers) and Union Democrats, Tammany Hall grafters and honest Upstate Democrats, city (New York) vs. rural. Occasional Reform Democrats (Samuel J. Tilden, Grover Cleveland, Abram S. Hewitt) vs. Tammany Hall and/or David B. Hill, governor and Presidential aspirant. In 1900, the reformer and radical William Jennings Bryan was renominated for the Presidency by the Democrats and cast his lot with the Tammany faction in New York instead of the bloc led by Hill, who was by then a former governor and former senator. But, as this cartoon suggests, Hill was as much concerned with New York inter-party rivalries as he was the national campaign.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Thomas J. Akins provides President Roosevelt with the names of several men recommended for various appointments in Kansas City and Missouri’s Western District. A handwritten note from Roosevelt notes that Richard C. Kerens of the Republican National Committee has approved them.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-01-14

Theodore Roosevelt writes to John Campbell Greenway to request his assistance in arranging accommodations in Arizona for Pearl Holderman for health reasons. Roosevelt recalls Pearl’s deceased brother, Bert T. Holderman, who had served with the Rough Riders. Since she has little money, Roosevelt offers to personally pay her expenses “on behalf of the regiment.” Roosevelt asks Greenway to respond to Miss Holderman, living in Chetopa, Kansas. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1917-09-28

Theodore Roosevelt writes to William H.H. Llewellyn to request his assistance in arranging accommodations in New Mexico for Pearl Holderman for health reasons. Roosevelt recalls Pearl’s deceased brother, Bert T. Holderman, who had served with the Rough Riders. Since she has little money, Roosevelt offers to personally pay her expenses “on behalf of the regiment.” Roosevelt asks Llewellyn to respond to Miss Holderman, living in Chetopa, Kansas. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1917-09-28

The letter’s author laments Cecil Andrew Lyon’s relapse “into bed again,” a fact they heard from Frank Knox. The author asks Lyon to respond with “a line as to the situation in Texas” and explains that they asked E. Mont Reily to aid Lyon’s campaign. The letter is a fragment; its subsequent pages are missing.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-03-29

Theodore Roosevelt requests that Senator Dixon contact E. Mont Reily, a strong supporter of the Roosevelt campaign who has been doing good work in the Kansas City area. He suggests that Reily could be used effectively in a speaking tour of New England.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-03-05

Theodore Roosevelt thanks Louis W. Buckley for asking him to become a member of the Honorary Advisory Board of the first Kansas City Land Show but he must refuse. Roosevelt is part of hundreds of organizations and is trying not to join anymore because he does not want to be part of any organization unless he can be an active member.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-14