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President Roosevelt asks Attorney General Bonaparte what he thinks about the Oklahoma gerrymander and suggests action if it is justified. He also discusses Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis’s concerns about railroad employees’ testimony in the Standard Oil case.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-09-06
President Roosevelt discusses how a letter from Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis changes the possible prosecution of the Chicago and Alton Railroad and Standard Oil cases. He asks Attorney General Bonaparte to investigate the testimony in question.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-08-17
Attorney General Bonaparte informs President Roosevelt of his meeting with Charles B. Morrison regarding the Standard Oil case. Morrison reported that Standard Oil magnates had met with Frank B. Kellogg and himself confidentially to come up with a settlement that would “preserve them from a criminal prosecution.” Bonaparte told Morrison that the government could not deal more favorably with the Standard Oil Company as compared with the Drug Trust and that the whole matter would have to be presented to President Roosevelt for consideration. Bonaparte also mentions other matters, including correspondence from Governor Charles E. Magoon of Cuba and the present situation in Oklahoma Territory.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-09-08
Attorney General Bonaparte recently met with Charles B. Morrison and Frank B. Kellogg regarding the suit against the Standard Oil Company. He summarizes the facts of the case for President Roosevelt and shares his thoughts. Bonaparte and Kellogg also discussed the Interstate Commerce Commission’s report on the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific Railroad Companies.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-08-22
Attorney General Bonaparte reviewed the Chicago and Alton Railroad Company case. He sends President Roosevelt a copy of his letter to United States District Attorney Edwin Walter Sims and asks him to look it over.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-08-21
The writer petitions United States Attorney Sims make a motion that the federal government repudiate its promise of immunity in the case of the United States vs. The Standard Oil Company of Indiana. The writer provides a thorough review of the case history beginning in June 1906.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-08-20
President Roosevelt has just seen the reports from U.S. District Attorney in Chicago Charles B. Morrison and bank examiner Edward P. Moxey. Roosevelt does not believe there is anything else he can do in the John R. Walsh case. Roosevelt believes that the only way to proceed from now on is to have communications between Walsh’s lawyers and Morrison. Roosevelt is reluctant to say this to James H. Eckels, Comptroller of Currency, but feels there is no alternative. Roosevelt really liked Walsh and has sympathy for Senator Albert J. Hopkins and admiration for Eckels – which is why he has gone over the case several times at their request.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-19
President Roosevelt briefly follows up with Attorney General Moody on several issues, including an ice matter, acting against Standard Oil, and guidance on spelling reform.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-09-13
President Roosevelt confirms receipt of Attorney General Moody’s recent letter to William Loeb, and returns Charles B. Morrison’s letter. He is not sure how to respond regarding promised indictments, and worries that the public will blame the his administration and the government rather than Judge J. Otis Humphrey for the result. If further steps become needed, Roosevelt believes it may be necessary to issue a statement directing responsibility for the actions at Humphrey’s decision.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-07-27
President Roosevelt comments to Attorney General Moody on the state of several cases currently being prosecuted, potentially being brought to trial, or being appealed. He was disturbed by the judgement of Judge George C. Holt that Moody referred to, and feels that while it is inevitable that “even a good judge will go wrong in a percentage of cases,” this was an important case in which Holt missed the larger Governmental questions. Roosevelt would like to prosecute other cases without reference to the one Holt decided, and wishes to use the case as an example to argue for the right of appeal, so long as he can do so without offending Holt. He would be glad if there is reasonable ground to proceed against Standard Oil in antitrust suits, as several special counsels think there is.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-07-21
President Roosevelt greatly appreciated a recent editorial by Frank Irving Cobb, and believes that Cobb is correct in highlighting the administrative work of government of enforcing and administering laws as important. Roosevelt names a number of people involved in his government who he believe are doing very good work.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-07-03
President Roosevelt sent Ray Stannard Baker’s letter to Attorney General William H. Moody, who is going to take charge of the bribery case in the Chicago trial himself. Roosevelt and Moody agree that the facts of the bribery should be made public. He also believes that District Attorney Charles B. Morrison has done well, in spite of what the press says.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-01-29
President Roosevelt tells Attorney General Moody that he does not believe there is a chance to take action in the courts against the counsel of the beef packers, who paid a reporter to disseminate false and misleading statements about the case. The only course of action is to publish United States Attorney Charles B. Morrison’s letter, which explains the situation, and the documents regarding the case.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-01-26
Charles J. Bonaparte confirms some details of antitrust suits that occurred against Standard oil and the Tobacco Trust around the time he was Attorney General in Theodore Roosevelt’s administration. He asks Roosevelt if he knows anything of the details surrounding a proposed political organization that claims to stand for the principles of Republicanism, as he is somewhat skeptical of it.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-07-26
Secretary of War Taft informs President Roosevelt he wrote a letter to William Loeb introducing Ralph M. Shaw, a Chicago lawyer. Taft wants Roosevelt to meet Shaw and discuss the Standard Oil Company as it relates to the Chicago and Alton Railroad case, as Taft believes the evidence may merit the postponement of the grand jury in the case until all the facts can be considered.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-08-07
Secretary of War Taft introduces William Loeb to Ralph M. Shaw, a lawyer for the Chicago and Alton Railroad who he thinks President Roosevelt should meet. Taft believes the evidence Shaw can present may merit the postponement of the grand jury in the case until all the facts can be considered.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-08-07
Attorney General Moody encloses a report from Charles B. Morrison, United States Attorney at Chicago. The report shows that one of the lawyers for the defendants in the indictment against the beef packers paid a sum of money to a reporter from the Chicago Inter-Ocean who was reporting on the proceedings. The counsel also attempted unsuccessfully to give money to another reporter of the City Press of Chicago. Moody brings the matter to President Roosevelt’s attention, as he thinks that reporting from the Inter-Ocean has been misleading. There seems to be no remedy for the situation, given the rigid restrictions on the power of federal courts to punish for contempt of court.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-01-25