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Attorney General Bonaparte shares with President Roosevelt the letter by United States District Attorney Asa P. French regarding the investigation of the merger of Hartford and New Haven Railroad and Boston and Maine Railroad.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-08-23
President Roosevelt cannot visit Plymouth as Arthur Lord has asked. He agrees with Senator Lodge about special inspectors to enforce naturalization laws not being chosen from the civil service applicants. Roosevelt understands if Lodge is attacked in the papers for his stance on the merger bill and praises him for his efforts.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-04
President Taft explains why the railroad acquisition suit was dismissed by Attorney General Wickersham. It was decided that the systems were supplementary and not competitive so their consolidation would not constitute an unlawful restraint of trade.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-04-05
Senator Lodge clarifies that he asked the merger to be investigated, but left the trolleys alone as the matter was being taken up with the Supreme Court. He is sorry for the decision concerning Massachusetts. (The matter referenced is the merger of the Boston & Maine railroad with the New Haven railroad.)
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-05
Senator Lodge asserts his views that Edward Henry Harriman’s attempt to gain control of the Boston & Maine railroad is a real threat, verified independently of Charles S. Mellen and T. E. Byrnes. The legislation introduced would allow the state to maintain control of the railroad. Lodge does not want Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte to direct District Attorney Asa P. French to stop the dividends of the railroad until it is possible to pass legislation protecting the state.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-05-30
Senator Lodge discusses legislation and other steps being taken regarding the Boston & Maine Railroad merger to prevent Edward Henry Harriman from gaining control of that railroad and consolidate it with his other holdings. Various other financiers would like to retain their stock in the Boston & Maine. In a handwritten postscript, Lodge says that he may not make it to the Republican National Convention in Chicago because his sister is dying.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-05-27
Senator Lodge reflects on the results of the election and is generally pleased, particularly with the sound defeat of Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Henry Melville Whitney. Lodge was less pleased by the events in New York which included a fusion of the Republican Party with William Randolph Hearst’s Independence League in New York City and embarrassing behavior by Governor Charles Evans Hughes.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-09
Senator Lodge updates President Roosevelt on the investigation of the New York and New Haven Railroad, the New York and New England lease, and new steamship routes.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-08-17
Senator Lodge’s friend Arthur Lord, president of the Plymouth Pilgrim Society, asked Lodge to ask President Roosevelt if he might visit Plymouth while he is in Massachusetts to visit Provincetown. Lodge also tells Roosevelt about a journal he is reading about Andrew Hamilton’s travels through the northern colonies in 1744. Lodge thinks it is a good read and recommends it to Roosevelt. Lodge would like to speak with Roosevelt about the appointment of inspectors to enforce naturalization laws. Lodge opposes nominating from civil service lists, as the people on those lists lack the specialized training and qualities required to do the job. Finally, Lodge expects to be attacked in the newspapers for his stance on the merger bill.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-03
The understanding of the Interstate Commerce Commission is that the Sherman Antitrust Act does not apply to railroads, although without input from the Supreme Court on the matter they are unwilling to state so definitively. In any event, the particular matter of the merger of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Company with the Boston and Maine Railroad is not a violation of the act.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-08
Charles S. Mellen, president of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Company, and President Roosevelt had an explosive private meeting wherein Mellen asked for an investigation into his company’s planned merger be expedited. The investigation had been a major issue during the recent Massachusetts gubernatorial campaign.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-08
Charles S. Mellen had a spirited discussion with President Roosevelt requesting that an investigation into his railroad company’s planned merger be expedited. Mellen objected particularly to the embarrassment such an investigation causes and the indignity of the merger having been a major issue in the recent Massachusetts gubernatorial election.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-07
Charles S. Mellen has asked President Roosevelt to expedite an investigation into his railroad company’s planned merger. The article notes this request comes the day after the defeat of Henry Melville Whitney, who had been in favor of the merger, in the Massachusetts gubernatorial election.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-07
President of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Company Charles S. Mellen has met with President Roosevelt to expedite an investigation into his railroad’s merger with another New England Line. Mellen argues that such investigations are embarrassing to businesses, hinder railroad development, and ought to be completed as quickly as possible once begun. Roosevelt has agreed to finish this investigation, but any companies that violate the Sherman Act will still be prosecuted.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-07
The Department of Justice will not prosecute the merger of two New England railroad lines due largely to the intervention of Charles S. Mellen, president of one of the lines in question. Mellen, whom the article calls a “close personal friend” of President Roosevelt’s, met with the president privately to assure him the merger does not violate the Sherman Act and to push for expediting the investigation in the interest of allowing business to continue as necessary. Commissioner of the Interstate Commerce Commission Charles A. Prouty has already come out in favor of the merger as well.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-07
Charles S. Mellen, president of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Company, has met with President Roosevelt hoping to expedite a government investigation into his railroads. Mellen asserts that his company has not broken the law and argues that the government has no right to stymie the proceedings of private businesses in any case.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-07
An article in the Evening Post reports on a purportedly unsolicited visit by Charles S. Mellen to the White House to discuss his railroad’s planned merger with the Boston and Maine Railroads, offering his services to expedite any investigation the federal government might make into the merger. Several handwritten annotations comment on the article.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-06
Senator Lodge encloses an objectionable article which he ties to Wilbur F. Wakeman. He is concerned that Postmaster General Payne does not fully appreciate the importance of post office matters which have received a great deal of press attention recently. Lodge is disappointed with the falling out between Senator Platt and Governor Odell.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-04-18
Benjamin Ide Wheeler comments on a current bill in Congress pertaining to water management. Wheeler is of the opinion that the primary water management control should be at the state, not the federal, level. He has an interest in irrigation and thinks that reservoirs on existing waterways would be beneficial for the West. He also discusses President Roosevelt’s opposition to a merger that has won him quite a bit of support and possibly the Republican nomination for 1904.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-04-15