Your TR Source
President Roosevelt thanks Samuel A. Harper for his letter but chastises him for requesting more insight on Aaron Burr when Roosevelt is busy with a myriad of current affairs.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-09-12
President Roosevelt updates Secretary of War Taft on travel arrangements for their upcoming trip to Panama and comments on Taft’s tariff speech. He advises Taft to write a temperate letter for publication in response to Herbert Ross’s recent article.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-09-01
President Roosevelt confirms with Secretary of War Taft that he will ask the Mayflower to be sent to pick up Secretary of State Elihu Root and his family. Regarding the Panama Canal, Roosevelt reiterates that quick and effective construction is his first priority, and that as the current laborers from the West Indies have not been satisfactory, they should try the experiment of hiring Chinese laborers.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-07-31
President Roosevelt congratulates Secretary of the Treasury Shaw on what he has accomplished with the Panama bonds.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-07-21
President Roosevelt has received the letters from both Secretary of War Taft and W. Leon Pepperman of the Office of Administration of Isthmian Canal Affairs regarding the use of Chinese labor for the construction of the canal. Roosevelt emphasizes that his primary belief is that the canal must be constructed, and that therefore that means getting whatever laborers necessary, limited only by “the law of the land and the requirements of morality.” Roosevelt believes this first contract for Chinese laborers does not need to be bid on, as it is only for a small number of laborers and is “in the nature of an experiment,” but if there need to be further contracts then such contracts should be advertised for bids.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-07-27
President Roosevelt apologizes to Representative Mann that the pen he inquired about has already been given to Senator Weldon Brinton Heyburn, who authored the pure food bill in the senate. If he was still in possession of it, Roosevelt would have been pleased to give it to Mann because of the work he did in helping secure passage of the pure food bill and his effective work in helping promote the Panama Canal.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-07-14
Secretary of War William H. Taft recently recommended that the wording of the Panama Canal bill in the Senate be amended from noting that the lock canal was recommended “by the minority of the Consulting Board of Engineers” to being recommended “by the President and the Secretary of War.” President Roosevelt does not feel that the change is absolutely necessary, but suggests to Senator Hepburn that making such a change may eliminate an opportunity for opponents of the lock canal to protest.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-06-27
President Roosevelt forwards Secretary of War Taft a telegram he received from Chairman Theodore P. Shonts of the Isthmian Canal Commission and Chief Engineer of the Panama Canal John F. Stevens. Construction on the Panama Canal has already been delayed because of investigations in Washington, and Roosevelt believes the object of proposed investigations in Panama is to delay the construction further. Roosevelt thinks that if people have reasons the canal should not be built they should simply say that, which would lead to a frank debate. Conducting these sorts of investigations to delay construction, however, is underhanded and has no point. Roosevelt is willing to say all of this in a message to Congress if Taft thinks this would be proper.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-06-27
President Roosevelt sends Senator Crane a rush telegram telling him he hopes Crane will be sure to be present in the Senate tomorrow morning when the vote for the lock canal is taking place, or that he will make an alternate arrangement to this effect.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-06-20
President Roosevelt hopes that Senator Alger will telegraph Senator Philander C. Knox or John C. Spooner to pair him in favor of a lock canal. Roosevelt is deeply interested in the issue because he feels that a sea-level canal would be ruinous.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-06-18
President Roosevelt thanks Senator Hopkins for his speech on the Panama Canal
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-06-11
President Roosevelt confirms receipt of the letter from Secretary of War Taft regarding the purchase of two steel dredges for the Panama Canal. Roosevelt approves of Taft’s views, and will transmit the letter to Congress to act on.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-05-14
President Roosevelt updates his sister Anna Roosevelt Cowles on the progress of several bills moving through Congress. The railroad rate bill has passed “in fine shape,” but he anticipates a struggle over the Panama Canal. Secretary of State Elihu Root will host an Indian prince and princess who Ambassador Whitelaw Reid wrote to him about, but Roosevelt is still navigating diplomatic considerations with England, who “would like us to be attentive to them, but not too attentive.” Roosevelt recently received a gift of samurai armor from the Japanese Emperor. He enjoyed the recent visit of Cowles’s son, William Sheffield Cowles, and gives some details on his own young sons, Archibald B. Roosevelt and Quentin Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-05-20
President Roosevelt was pleased to hear from Frederick B. Miles and hopes that Miles will understand that, as John F. Stevens is to continue as the Chief Engineer of the Panama Canal project, Roosevelt wants to pay attention to his wishes.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-05-10
President Roosevelt, having reviewed the arguments and exhibits presented, informs the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell that he has decided against the New Panama Canal Company. Roosevelt believes the United States government does not need to pay more than the already paid forty million dollars, as the extra digging done by the company was both covered by the ten percent margin, and was done to preserve the rights of the Canal Company over the land.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-04-16
President Roosevelt asks Secretary of War Taft to look over a report on a claim by the French Canal Company for overwork. Roosevelt believes they “have no claim in law at all, but they may have a claim in equity.” Special Assistant Attorney General Charles Wells Russell does not believe they do, but the company wishes to speak with Roosevelt on the matter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-04-05
President Roosevelt tells Lindsay Denison that he is getting annoyed by both Theodore P. Shonts and John F. Stevens. Regardless whether there is a single point that Denison got wrong in his article about the Panama Canal, both Shonts and Stevens should see that the article is very good, and the effect it has had is admirable.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-03-28
President Roosevelt sends Secretary of War Taft a letter and clipping from the Army and Navy Gazette which Captain Thomas Bentley Mott sent to William Loeb. Roosevelt asks Taft to devote some of his little spare time to looking into some of the “purely army matters” which are mentioned in the article.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-03-15
President Roosevelt asks John Milliken Parker how long he would need to go on a good hunt. He may be able to get away in November, but as he wants to go see the Panama Canal for himself, it may not be possible.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-03-17
President Roosevelt appreciated Sereno Stansbury Pratt’s recent Wall Street Journal article. Pratt responded to a letter from George Brinton McClellan Harvey which suggested that following tension between Roosevelt and Republican leaders in the Senate, Roosevelt’s popularity would wane by the end of his second term. Roosevelt assures Pratt that he is not concerned with his personal popularity, but rather with doing what is good for the country.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-03-03