Railroads and state--Rates

President Roosevelt sends an editorial for Attorney General Bonaparte to comment on, as well as a rough draft of his speech for the Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, which he asks Bonaparte to read and comment upon as soon as possible. Roosevelt discusses the railroad rate case in North Carolina, bemoaning the “yellow press” coverage of the situation. In the matter of the case against Idaho Senator William Edgar Borah, Roosevelt agrees with Bonaparte and the action that must be taken, but feels obligated to meet with Borah’s representatives.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-08-02

Paul Morton, President of Equitable Life Insurance, does not want President Roosevelt’s position on the railroad to be misunderstood. Morton explains that railroad officials are being threatened by legislators who want their special privileges to continue. Morton clarifies that at the end of the letter he did mean the Harriman investigation, but Roosevelt knows the best course of action to pursue.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-25

On the occasion of his inauguration, the New York Times re-examines President Roosevelt’s record of the past three years, and asks, can the nation expect an even bolder Roosevelt in the years to come? Roosevelt’s policies and actions of the past three years are subjected to a critical analysis.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-03-04

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.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-05-20

President Roosevelt tells Senator Allison of the many discussions he has had about the pending rate bill and its proposed amendments. While Roosevelt approved of many suggested amendments and made suggestions on how to alter others, he has never insisted that any amendment be made to the bill in order for it to be signed into law.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-05-14

President Roosevelt tells John D. Kernan that he will not support any bill that does not have the rate changes go into effect immediately, subject to review by the courts. He wonders about how to stop the courts giving temporary stays or injunctions, but is not sure if limiting this would be found unconstitutional.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-13

Although President Roosevelt is willing to speak with Ray Stannard Baker about his thoughts on the bill establishing a maximum railroad rate, he believes that not much good will come of it. He explains to Baker why he prefers first trying to get legislation setting a maximum rate before adding a provision giving the Interstate Commerce Commission the power to set definite rates.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-11-22

President Roosevelt explains why he is not in favor of Ray Stannard Baker’s suggestion that the Interstate Commerce Commission should be given the power to condemn railroad shipping rates. Roosevelt believes his maximum rate plan is the best option.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-11-20

President Roosevelt agrees with what Senator Townsend told Representative John Sharp Williams regarding a pending railroad bill. Williams intends to vote against the bill because of the segregation of the railroads, and Roosevelt says that any one who makes this argument against the bill is arguing in bad faith, and would oppose the bill anyway.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-11-06

President Roosevelt is very glad to see that William Zebina Ripley’s recent articles have been written. He wonders if Ripley could help him by discussing the railroad rates matter with Senator Winthrop Murray Crane.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-11-04

Attorney General Moody confirms that Representative Hepburn’s actions in the amendment to the Interstate Commerce Law is in line with President Roosevelt’s desires, and gives a detailed reasoning for his conclusion. In a typed addendum, Roosevelt agrees with Moody’s conclusions.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Commissioner of Corporations Garfield tells President Roosevelt he had an interesting conference with Henry Lee Higginson and James J. Hill pertaining to Roosevelt’s mention of the Interstate Commerce Commission in his message. Garfield recommended they meet with Roosevelt and Attorney General William H. Moody the next week, as he thinks it is important for the president to meet with railroad men.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-10

Judge Jones defends his use of injunctions preventing Alabama from enforcing legislation that permits the state to regulate rates charged by railroad companies in a letter to William Loeb. Jones has read in the Birmingham Age-Herald that while on a visit to Washington, D.C., Governor B. B. Comer, who is in favor of regulation, met with President Roosevelt allegedly to discuss the situation, so as to avoid a potential conflict between state and federal troops. Jones requests that Loeb inform Roosevelt of the reasoning behind Jones’s actions, as he was appointed by Roosevelt. He asserts that the injunctions were administered in accordance with the Constitution and were invoked to protect the interests of Alabamians.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-12-07

Judge Pritchard thanks President Roosevelt for sending representatives from the Department of Justice to “preserve the dignity and uphold the honor” of the 4th Circuit Court of appeals in North Carolina after a recent battle over jurisdiction threatened to turn violent. Pritchard says most North Carolinians are law abiding, but there is friction between Governor R. B. Glenn and Senator Lee S. Overman over the upcoming election.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-07-30

Attorney General Bonaparte updates President Roosevelt on legal matters in several states. In North Carolina, Bonaparte has found that many of the jurisdictional problems in the Southern Railway case are due to political posturing, and that Bonaparte’s investigator, Edward Terry Sanford, has found that the federal judge in the case, Jeter Connelly Pritchard, has acted appropriately. Bonaparte encloses a letter regarding Japanese seal poachers and suggests sending naval reinforcements. Bonaparte has directed Assistant Attorney General Alford Warriner Cooley to look into monopolistic actions of railroad and steamship companies in New England that are in possible violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-07-29

Memorandum opinion filed in the case of Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, a corporation, vs. Hudson J. Winnett, J. A. Williams, and Henry T. Clarke, Jr., as members of the Nebraska State Railway Commission. The memorandum serves to deny the complainant’s request for a temporary injunction, dissolve the subsequent restraining order, and sustain the defendant’s demurrer to the complainant’s bill.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-11-06

Commissioner of Corporations Garfield tells President Roosevelt that Charles S. Mellen of New Haven Railroad will cooperate with the government on railroad reform. Garfield also discusses the appointment of an internal revenue collector in Ohio and a suggested candidate for the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-07-12

Chairman Knapp explains the Interstate Commerce Commission’s recommendations for amendments to the act to regulate interstate commerce to Senator Elkins. Knapp writes that amendments are necessary to clarify the meaning of the act. The amendments enlarge the act’s jurisdiction and give the Interstate Commerce Commission greater authority in setting railroad rates.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-11-28

Senator Lodge thanks President Roosevelt for his letter of May 15 and apologizes for making Roosevelt read so much of his poor handwriting. Lodge praises Roosevelt’s speech that he gave in Chicago. He suggests that labor unions are more dangerous than capitalists because the labor unions control more votes. Lodge mentions several political issues, including the continuing unrest over laborers from Japan, possible charges against Assistant Secretary of State Francis B. Loomis, the appointment of Charles J. Bonaparte as Attorney General, as well as international relations. Lodge also gives some details of his trip to Italy.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-06-03

In a transcribed letter purportedly from Pennsylvania Representative Joseph Crocker Sibley to an unknown recipient, Sibley describes a meeting with an unnamed senator, Mr. B., who is against the policies regarding corporations of President Roosevelt and Secretary of Commerce and Labor James Rudolph Garfield, and can make a courageous argument against them on the floor of the Senate. In a postscript, Sibley says Mr. B. approves of the government fixing railroad rates, but against a separate court for this purpose.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-02-26