Your TR Source
George B. Cortelyou informs Senator Quay that President Roosevelt would like him to convey an offer to John Mitchell. Roosevelt suggests adding a representative of labor and Archbishop Ireland to the proposed commissioners.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-10-14
President Roosevelt writes to J. Pierpont Morgan to discuss the appointment of commissioners based on the operators’ approval. Roosevelt has consulted with John Mitchell and is thinking of appointing Grover Cleveland.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-10-15
President Roosevelt writes to Senator Hanna to list the individuals that have been accepted by the operators for the Anthracite Coal Strike Commission. John Mitchell is working towards the miners’ acceptance.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-10-16
President Roosevelt informs J. Pierpont Morgan that John Mitchell has accepted the commission. Roosevelt also thanks Morgan for his assistance in the Anthracite Coal Strike.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-10-16
Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary thanks Delmont E. Notley for his letter to Roosevelt. He notes that Roosevelt did send to the newspapers a letter responding to Senator Moses E. Clapp as Notley suggested in his letter. He also relates that Roosevelt wished he could have the help of John Mitchell during the campaign as well.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-09-04
President Roosevelt sends the United States Department of Justice telegrams regarding the sentencing of labor leaders Samuel Gompers, John Mitchell, and Frank Morrison. He asks for a full report on the case.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-23
President Roosevelt recommends that William H. Taft meet with labor leader John Mitchell, and then based on Mitchell’s advice put out a statement outlining his policies regarding labor. Roosevelt wrote a letter to railroad trainmen that loosely stated policies he believed Taft would follow. He believes that in the final days of the campaign, Samuel Gompers will try to attack Taft on labor; Taft issuing a statement on labor beforehand could be a good strategy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-10-27
President Roosevelt responds to the “admirable speech” Senator Knox made about the actions of William Jennings Bryan and Samuel Gompers, as well as several other special representatives of organized labor. Gompers has come out in support of Bryan, who has added a plank about labor injunctions to the Democratic platform. The plank supports the passage of a bill that Roosevelt believes is unenforceable and would damage business by unfairly giving privileges to labor. Roosevelt also argues that Bryan has not made his position on the law clear, and notes that William H. Taft has spoken plainly about his position on labor issues and injunctions.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-10-21
President Roosevelt will show Seth Low’s letter to Secretary of War William H. Taft, and he is sure Taft will be pleased. Roosevelt expects to read about Low’s work in the campaign after October 1. He is glad that John Mitchell took a position offered by the National Civic Federation to act as a mediator in labor issues.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-06-27
President Roosevelt telegraphs Albert Shaw that he will urge John Mitchell to accept a position for the National Civic Federation, as he believes he could do good service, both for the workers, as well as for the United States more broadly.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-06-18
President Roosevelt tells Ralph M. Easley that he is pleased by the news that Easley gave him, and thinks that John Mitchell can do good service for the whole country in the position that he takes.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-06-24
President Roosevelt has received Ralph M. Easley’s letter about the labor leader John Mitchell, and asks if Henry Clay Frick could help him. He also wonders if Easley could go directly to Elbert H. Gary, whom he believes has a “genuine interest” in the matter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-06-04
President Roosevelt sent Speaker of the House Cannon’s letter to Frank P. Sargent and Edgar E. Clark. He suggests Cannon write to Senator Boies Penrose about the John Mitchell matter. Going forward, Roosevelt directs Cannon to be careful about directly attacking labor leader Samuel Gompers and instead emphasize the administration’s recent accomplishments on behalf of labor.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-09-17
President Roosevelt congratulates Senator Penrose for what he says about Mitchell. He sent Penrose’s letter to Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-09-20
After talking with George Horace Lorimer, President Roosevelt went back and read The Plum Tree through all the way, after previously having read only half of it. The ending of the book reconciles Roosevelt to many of the problems he had with it throughout, but he still holds many issues with the book which he lays out for Lorimer. The author, David Graham Phillips, falls into the trap of overstating the sort of corruption that is present in politics, and while Roosevelt freely admits that corruption is present–which, he points out, he is working against–there are also many good people working in politics as well. In a postscript of several days later, Roosevelt comments on several of Phillips’s articles on the Senate, in which he acts similarly by taking “certain facts that are true in themselves, and […] ignoring utterly a very much large mass of facts that are just as true and just as important.” Roosevelt criticizes Phillips for working with William Randolph Hearst to achieve notoriety.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-05-12
President Roosevelt has received two telegrams on the matter of an ongoing dispute about wages between coal mine operators and miners, the texts of which he includes for John H. Winder to see. Roosevelt tells Winder that he does not have the authority to create the commission that Winder suggested, as it would take an act of Congress, and is not prepared to say what action he is personally able to take.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-03-31
President Roosevelt agrees with Seth Low’s position on the bituminous and anthracite situations, and is glad that he wrote Francis L. Robbins and John Mitchell. He has nothing further to suggest.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-03-14
President Roosevelt expresses concern over the failure of the convention on joint interstate agreement to agree to a settlement on the scale of wages for bituminous mining. He is concerned that the threatened strike will have a negative affect on industrial peace, business interests, and the general welfare of the country. He believes that as chairmen of the National Civic Federation trade agreement committee, Francis L. Robbins and John Mitchell have a duty to make further efforts to avert a strike.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-02-24
President Roosevelt hopes to show his appreciation to Louis N. Hammerling in some way and asks John C. Delaney to tell John Mitchell to come and see Roosevelt when Mitchell has a chance.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-12-10
Theodore Roosevelt received John J. Hannahan’s letter and wrote the two letters that Hannahan suggested. Roosevelt expects Hannahan will bring John Mitchell and Patrick H. Morrissey to the upcoming dinner.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-10-15