Your TR Source
John Allison examines Richard Olney’s article on the constitutionality of the United States Congress delegating control of railroad operations and rates to a commission.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-10
President Roosevelt found Senator Lodge’s letter to Richard Olney to convey a true mastery of language. Enclosed are letters that will allow for a full understanding of the scandal concerning Laura A. Hull Morris, and Roosevelt will also have information for Lodge about the Brownsville incident. Roosevelt has just given William Sturgis Bigelow the first of the five dollar gold pieces.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-10-01
President Roosevelt responds to William Jennings Bryan’s public letter by comparing Bryan’s platform with those of the current administration and of William H. Taft’s campaign. Roosevelt lists the cases that have been brought against the trusts, the railroads, and the shippers under his administration. He explains his actions in relation to the panic of 1907, outlines the reasons the trust magnates will support Bryan, and defends his actions related to campaign funding. Roosevelt critiques Bryan’s defense of Oklahoma Governor Charles Nathan Haskell by reiterating the extent of his corruption, and determines that it reflects directly on Bryan.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-09-27
Notes on the regulation of transportation commerce and related legislation with respect to the Constitution and how it has been interpreted.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-10
Alton B. Parker, David B. Hill, John Sharp Williams, Arthur P. Groman, Richard Olney, and Grover Cleveland ride on a camel labeled “Reorganization” crossing the “Desert of Bryanism.” William Jennings Bryan tries to hold back the camel by the tail, and William Randolph Hearst tries to prevent Bryan from being pulled along toward an “Oasis” labeled “Sane Democracy.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1904-05-04
President Roosevelt sits on a fence on a hill, flying a kite labeled “Popularity.” Below are several potential Democratic presidential candidates, all of whom are having difficulty flying their kites. From left to right are William Jennings Bryan labeled “W.J.B.” holding a bellows labeled “Moral Issue” and blowing on his tattered kite labeled “1896” and “1900” with ribbons on the tail labeled “Free Silver, Populism, Anti-imperialism, [and] Free Riot.” Next is David B. Hill holding a kite labeled “Parker Boom,” then Charles Francis Murphy holding a kite under his arm labeled “McClellan Boom,” followed by Grover Cleveland, then Richard Olney holding the string to a kite labeled “Past Record” lying on the ground, with ribbons labeled “1884” and “1892,” “Tariff Reform, Independent Vote, [and] Personal Popularity,” and then Arthur P. Gorman whose kite is tangled on a tree branch labeled “Panama Blunder.” In the center is a little yellow child labeled “Willie” who is all tangled up in his own kite string. The kite, lying on the ground, is labeled “Yellow Journalism” and the string spells “McKinley Slanders.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1904-04-06
President Roosevelt appears as a dog in the “Republican Kennels,” with his trainer Mark “Hanna.” In the “Democratic Kennels,” an old woman labeled “Dem. Party” pats Alton B. “Parker” on the head and offers him a biscuit labeled “Political Sanity.” Other Democratic dogs George “Gray,” Richard “Olney,” David B. “Hill,” and Arthur P. “Gorman” labeled “Senatorial Leadership” and “Panama Issue” are kenneled nearby. Hanging on the wall is a picture of “Cleveland” with ribbons labeled “1884” and “1892,” and in the lower left is a cage labeled “Distemper” with William Jennings Bryan as a dog bandaged with “1896” and “1900” sitting inside before a small dish labeled “Free Silver.” In the center is a small dog labeled “Yellow Journalism Willie Hearst.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1904-02-10
An elderly woman labeled “Democracy” stands next to a trunk labeled “Old Issues” and with a tag that states “To the White House.” Standing at the curb are several cab drivers labeled “Parker, Olney, Johnson, Shepard, Gorman, [and] Watterson” hoping to pick up a fare, and two other drivers labeled “Cleveland” and “Bryan” sitting on their carriages. Cleveland does not appear interested, though Bryan, on his cab labeled “16 to 1,” holding up his hat, calls out above the others.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1903-12-09
An old woman labeled “Democratic Party” stands in the “Democratic Intelligence Bureau” managed by “J.K. Jones” who is sitting behind a desk. She is “looking for help” and taking a good look at several prospective candidates, from left: David B. Hill “No objection to dirty work,” William Jennings Bryan “Used to waiting,” Richard Olney “Old but regular,” Edward M. Shepard “Will do anything,” Alton B. Parker “Neat and quiet,” and Arthur P. Gorman “Willing and obliging.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1903-05-20
William Jennings Bryan, wearing the pope’s tiara and holding a scepter labeled “16 to 1,” jumps up and down and stamps his feet in anger, as six men labeled “Cleveland, Whitney, Hill, Gorman, Parker, [and] Olney” stand to the left, laughing.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1903-03-11
An old woman labeled “Democratic Party” turns a wheelbarrow to dump politicians labeled “Bryan, Olney, Gorman, Hill, Shepard, [and] Johnson” into a sandpit labeled the “Democratic Dumping Ground” where only the feet of other, previously discarded, Democrats are visible.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1903-01-07
Several men, identified as “Hill, Jones, Olney, Clark, Bailey, Shepard, Watterson, [and] Lamont,” carry planks of lumber which are identified as Democratic policies from previous election platforms and proposed new planks. As they construct the new “Democratic Platform,” Puck points to a plank they have forgotten, “Tariff Reform,” which sits on a platform in the background on the right. In the background on the left stands William Jennings “Bryan” holding a “Free Silver” plank of rotten wood. Caption: Puck — You are neglecting the only plank you ever did win with, – and the only one you ever can win with!
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1902-04-16
Puck massages the scalp of a deranged-looking Richard Olney who is sitting on a bench in a padded cell in the “Hopeless ward for incurables” and holding a rattle of William Jennings Bryan as a jester. On the floor are loose papers, one labeled “Olney’s letter indorsing [sic] Bryan.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1900-10-03
Illustration shows two views of William Jennings Bryan sitting at a desk working on his campaign principles. The lower scene shows Bryan preparing for the 1896 presidential election. To the right are Carl Schurz, Henry Watterson, William Bourke Cockran, Richard Olney, and David B. Hill, all in disagreement with Bryan, each holding a sheet of paper disclaiming his principles. In the upper scene, Bryan has crossed out 1896 and replaced it with 1900, adhering to, and remaining consistent with, his earlier principles. To the right are the same five disclaimers. This time they bow to Bryan and offer only one comment: “We do not believe you will do what you promise to do, and we admire you because we think you are insincere. Hill, Olney, Cockran, Watterson, Schurz.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1900-10-24
Cartoon showing Puck holding an artist’s palette and brushes, with a box of paints at his feet, gesturing toward a portrait of Richard Olney, labeled “Straight Democracy.” Caption: Puck. — Here is an able Democrat, a rational Expansionist and a Sound-Money man! Why not nominate such a man rather than a discredited mountebank?
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1900-04-25
Although his wife, Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, will not be able to see Bishop William Lawrence on her way to Groton, President Roosevelt would like to come by Lawrence’s home if he will allow it. Roosevelt asks if Lawrence remembers his critique of Harvard University President Charles William Eliot, who has recently endorsed Representative Samuel W. McCall. McCall, like Richard Olney, is attempting to embarrass the administration without regard to the welfare of the nation, Roosevelt says.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-02-06
President Roosevelt wishes John Allison’s article could be published. While Roosevelt believes that former Attorney General Richard Olney is an exceptional man, he is “one of the most extreme pro-corporation men in the entire country,” and Roosevelt believes his article was merely for the benefit of “ultra-reactionaries among the great financiers.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-10-10
President Roosevelt describes to Lyman Abbott a recent meeting with Episcopal bishops and clergy, including two African Americans. The two men were received without incident, and Roosevelt finds it odd that he could have these men in the White House without a problem but inspires controversy for dining with Booker T. Washington or appointing an African American in the South. While President, Roosevelt does not recall ever scolding the South, but he feels it would be worse to “let them think that they were blameless.” He also notes that Senator Arthur P. Gorman of Maryland is campaigning “largely on the race issue,” even distributing a campaign button depicting Roosevelt dining with Washington. Gorman has also denounced Roosevelt as “against the business interests,” which leads Roosevelt to believe that the Rockefellers back Gorman as they do mayoral candidate George B. McClellan in New York.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-10-29
President Roosevelt has convinced Secretary of the Navy William H. Moody, Secretary of the Treasury Leslie M. Shaw, and Senator Joseph Benson Foraker to campaign in Massachusetts. Roosevelt also encourages the Massachusetts Republicans not to go on the defensive but aggressively attack the Democrats, especially Richard Olney and Gaston.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-10-20
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt asks Judge Francis C. Lowell if outgoing Assistant Secretary of State William Woodville Rockhill can be awarded an honorary degree from Harvard University. Roosevelt considers Rockhill the best assistant secretary of state and recalls that Rockhill explored Tibet, China, for which he received a gold medal from the Royal Geographical Society.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-04-30