Polo, Marco, 1254-1323?

Frank Ross McCoy relates to President Roosevelt that Captain Herbert H. Sargent read him a letter “from an officer of standing who was…on Kettle Hill, and who takes exception” to the statement that Roosevelt and General Samuel S. Sumner led the charge. McCoy requests Roosevelt send Sargent a copy of George M. Barber’s journal account of the event as supporting evidence. Wishing Roosevelt could experience it, McCoy describes military camp life at Fort Riley. He attests that Edgar Alexander Mearns is a valuable asset for the Africa trip.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-08-18

Creator(s)

McCoy, Frank Ross, 1874-1954

James G. Lewis explains how deforestation in China became a central part of President Theodore Roosevelt’s last annual message to Congress in December 1908. Lewis notes that Roosevelt’s conservation efforts had been increasingly thwarted by Congress in the last two years of his administration, and Roosevelt decided that he needed to make a strong case to Congress in his last message. Roosevelt used the example of what had happened to China’s soil, rivers, and climate after massive deforestation had rid many of its mountains of trees and vegetation. Roosevelt relied on evidence, eyewitness accounts, and photographs supplied by Frank Nicholas Meyer and Willis Bailey to emphasize the damage done in China. Lewis notes that Roosevelt was the first president to add photographs to his annual message. 

Five photographs appear in the article, including three of deforestation in China, a similar scene from Utah, and one of Meyer. 

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal