Your TR Source
President Roosevelt was pleased to receive Abram S. Hewitt’s letter and is very interested in his speech on reciprocity.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-10-19
President Roosevelt is anxious to speak with General Wood about the “reciprocity matter.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-10-12
President Roosevelt is eager for Senator Lodge to visit so they can discuss several matters. On economic matters, Roosevelt intends to do what he outlined in his acceptance letter, though he is unsure of how to deal with reciprocity and the ship subsidy. In terms of appointments, senators and congressmen shall name the men but Roosevelt will set the standard. He hopes to appoint good men in the South, regardless of race, but preferably Republicans.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-10-11
J.B. Corey sends Theodore Roosevelt his thoughts on Roosevelt’s recent speech to Pennsylvania farmers. Corey questions Roosevelt’s claim that he wants to serve both farmers and wage earners. In his speech, Roosevelt blamed the middle men for the issues facing farmers and consumers. Corey argues that it is not the middle men, but the “official plutocrats” who should be blamed, because they are responsible for the higher taxes on farms and increased cost of living expenses. Corey assumes Roosevelt understands that public officials’s high salaries are paid for by the working class. Corey derides President Taft, who he refers to as Roosevelt’s “protege,” for his handling of the Canadian reciprocity agreement. Corey praises Canada and mocks Taft for thinking Canadian farmers—many of whom emigrated from the United States—would be interested in the reciprocity treaty. Corey also critiques Roosevelt for an act of Congress passed during his administration which increased the president’s salary by $25,000, supposedly to pay for travel expenses. According to Corey, this act cost the working class more than the middle men ever has. Corey says that if Roosevelt is serious about helping farmers and wage earners, he should run for president again and promise to repeal the “infamous salary grab acts” and take the same salary as Abraham Lincoln.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-09-27
Senator Lodge agrees that there is “an element of grim comedy” in the failure of Canadian reciprocity. Representative Foss claimed that reciprocity would already have been achieved if Lodge had supported it twenty years ago.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-09-25
Heinrich H. T. Haas forwards Theodore Roosevelt clippings from local Virginia papers. Haas expresses his concerns about the state of the Democratic Party and gives his opinion on many prominent Virginia politicians. He also discusses “New Constitutions,” Canadian reciprocity, free trade, and tariff policy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-09-24
George A. Mebane compliments Theodore Roosevelt on his recent piece in The Outlook. Mebane agrees with Roosevelt’s opinion on the arbitration treaty.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-09-23
Joseph Bucklin Bishop sends Theodore Roosevelt a copy of a speech given by George W. Goethals to Congress. Goethals is extremely grateful to Roosevelt, and Bishop suggests Roosevelt send him a line of acknowledgment. Goethals is pleased with the progress on the canal project. Bishop has just seen news of Canada’s rejection of reciprocity, which will worsen William Howard Taft’s prospects. Bishop believes Taft’s weak character has been revealed and both he and Woodrow Wilson will likely be replaced at the convention.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-09-23
Henry P. Curtis describes a recent publication on European natural history that he believes Theodore Roosevelt might be interested in. He explains how many towns were named after the animals that once resided there, such as Wolverhampton (wolves).
Curtis also shares with Roosevelt that his father was a Whig, while Curtis is a Republican. He expresses admiration for Senator John Sherman, discusses his political adversaries, and wishes that Sherman, Alexander Hamilton, and Daniel Webster could have been presidents.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-09-15
Paul V. Collins informs Theodore Roosevelt that Minnesota and Dakota farmers opposed Canadian reciprocity, citing economic losses and betrayal by the administration, and describes efforts to organize a Farmers’ League for protection of agricultural interests.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-09-13
William S. Cowles discusses President William H. Taft’s recent speech in Connecticut regarding arbitration. He reports that the crowd was not enthusiastic and believes Taft should have spoken on reciprocity. Afterwards, Cowles and his son, William Sheffield Cowles, had the opportunity to meet Taft.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-09-11
Albert Clarke, secretary of the Home Market Club in Boston, wires to President Roosevelt to express concern that tariff revisions may be imminent. Clarke refers to a recent newspaper article on the subject. Clarke discusses reactions in Michigan, and New England, regarding possible reciprocity with Canada.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-11-20
President Roosevelt rides on an elephant and leads a Saint Patrick’s Day parade featuring the “G.O.P. band,” which includes Secretary of War William H. Taft, Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon, Pennsylvania Senator Philander C. Knox, Secretary of State Elihu Root, Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks, and Secretary of the Treasury Leslie M. Shaw. The parade has a banner with a three-leaf clover that has words in each leaf: “anti-rail-road rebate,” “Philippine tariff moderation,” and “Panama Canal—no grafting.” Roosevelt holds a “Spanish-American War” sword.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-03
Message given by President Roosevelt to Congress at the beginning of the second session of the Fifty-seventh Congress in which Roosevelt describes his legislative priorities for the year.
Sagamore Hill National Historic Site
1902
Senator Beveridge does not expect any Michigan opposition to Cuban reciprocity. He believes that the next election will be a Republican landslide across the country.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-26
After reviewing the annexed papers regarding a reciprocity treaty with Newfoundland, J. B. Osborne has determined that the Blaine-Bond Project of 1890 is a poor basis for a current reciprocity treaty.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-13
Arguments against President Roosevelt breaking with the Republican Party over Cuban reciprocity.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902
President Roosevelt is pictured as a teacher, looking out the window of his classroom at a bear, a bison, and an elk on a fine day for hunting. At the front of the room on the blackboard is written, “Extra Session/Lesson/Panama Canal/Cuban Treaty.” The U.S. Congressmen are the students seated at their desks. Caption: Roosevelt–Boys: “This hurts me more than it does you.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903
Henry Melville Whitney, the Democratic candidate for Massachusetts Lieutenant-Governor, repeated his claim that President Roosevelt had said that he was in favor of reciprocity, or Continental Free Trade. Whitney says that Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and other Republicans witnessed the conversation where Roosevelt told him this.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-10-25
President Roosevelt is pasting a bill on a fence which reads, “Come hear my great speech on Reciprosity [sic] and Social Equality and other great things.” He has numerous “Speeches” in the pack that he carries. In the background is a mountain scene and a bear.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-04-05