Your TR Source
President Roosevelt received Seth Low’s letter this morning, just after he had already sent him a letter. Low’s last letter expresses Roosevelt’s views exactly. Roosevelt believes that national incorporation is the correct solution, but Judge Walter Chadwick Noyes’s solution is also a good one.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-24
President Roosevelt writes his son, Ted, about a variety of matters. He discusses the trouble that Emperor William II of Germany is in with both conservatives and socialists. Last year, he gave a damaging interview to American journalist William Bayard Hale, which Roosevelt intervened to prevent the New York Times from publishing. A portion was published in Century and suppressed by the Germans. Roosevelt reflects on the current state of the liberal and democratic movement, and believes that the situation is not as dire as in the French Revolution, or in 1840s America. He also explains his lukewarm support of women’s suffrage. Finally, Roosevelt offers his son advice on working with the people around him when it is natural, but not pursuing relationships that are merely social in nature.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-20
A statement issued by President Roosevelt refutes a false article in The Sun which states that he overruled then-Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock’s recommendations regarding pipeline permits for the Prairie Oil and Gas Company, to the benefit of the Standard Oil Company. Roosevelt asserts that this article is patently false, and that a so-called report detailing this incident is a falsehood. Rather, the permits were granted based on legislature, and Roosevelt believes that he has never ignored his Interior Secretaries’ recommendations.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-16
President Roosevelt assures Lawrence F. Abbott that he was not at all annoyed by the New York papers’ stories about The Outlook‘s alleged association with Standard Oil. Abbott’s father, Lyman Abbott, explained to Roosevelt last summer that James Stillman, who is associated with Standard Oil, had helped him purchase The Outlook from Henry Ward Beecher thirty years ago. He believes the story originated in The Sun, and expresses his distaste for William MacKay Laffan, that paper’s editor.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-14
President Roosevelt will take the matter that Oklahoma Attorney General West wrote about up with Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte. Bonaparte is using some of the matter in his proceedings against the Standard Oil Company, and thus cannot give it to West if doing so will harm his case.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-10-17
President Roosevelt would like to discuss the recent decision by the United States Circuit Court of Appeals of Illinois in person with Attorney General Bonaparte and Frank B. Kellogg. Roosevelt feels that the fine Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis initially imposed on Standard Oil was excessive, but would have preferred to modify the fine rather than reverse the decision. In a postscript, Roosevelt agrees with Bonaparte’s view regarding the Standard Oil Case, and sends a clipping about it. In a second postscript, Roosevelt agrees with Bonaparte that John D. Archbold must have had advance notice of the decision. Roosevelt does not believe the railroads should raise their rates until December.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-07-25
President Roosevelt tells Attorney General Bonaparte that he thinks the prosecution against Standard Oil should go on “as hard as possible,” no matter what happens in the campaign. Roosevelt has told William H. Taft that he should announce that he will not take any campaign contributions from Standard Oil. Roosevelt returns a letter from Assistant District Attorney Charles Albert Boynton and agrees with Bonaparte about Alabama Governor B. B. Comer. Roosevelt is not pleased with the situation surrounding Lycurgus H. Lingenfelder. Roosevelt makes recommendations for appointments to the Department of Justice in the wake of resignations by Milton Dwight Purdy and Alford Warriner Cooley.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-07-31
President Roosevelt congratulates William H. Taft on a recent speech. Negative coverage of Taft’s praise of Roosevelt in the Sun, Times, and Evening Post can be ignored, because neither the editors nor reporters of those publications will ever support Democratic Presidential Nominee William Jennings Bryan. Roosevelt advises staying out of the New York gubernatorial race, letting Governor Charles Evans Hughes fight the primary race on his own. In a postscript, Roosevelt says he has advised Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte to continue all suits against the Standard Oil Company during the campaign and suggests Taft not accept any money from Standard Oil for his campaign.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-07-20
Attorney General Bonaparte’s letter provides President Roosevelt with a new impression of the matter that Mr. Brooker referred to in his letter, and Roosevelt says that if Bonaparte has carefully investigated the case he should go ahead with the conclusion he came to. Roosevelt directs Bonaparte to communicate with Frank H. Hitchcock if there is any politician involved in a matter related to J. Ellen Foster. He also agrees with what Bonaparte says related to a letter from Henry L. Stimson, as well as his opinion related to negotiations with Senator Jonathan Bourne in the Standard Oil matter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-07-03
President Roosevelt responds to a telephone message Senator Bourne left with William Loeb. As Roosevelt has told Bourne and John D. Archbold previously, he feels that it is a waste of time and unwise to try to carry on negotiations through Bourne, and says that the Standard Oil people should decide what course they wish to follow, and then communicate directly with Frank B. Kellogg or Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte. The letter from Bonaparte that Roosevelt previously read to Bourne was not meant to be specific guidelines, but was only meant to give Bourne an indication of the feeling within the Department of Justice.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-07-03
President Roosevelt responds to a letter from Attorney General Bonaparte, and comments on the actions of Senator Jonathan Bourne in trying to involve Roosevelt in a matter involving Standard Oil. Roosevelt plans to explain to Bourne and John D. Archbold that it does them no good to speak with him, and they need to communicate with Bonaparte and Frank B. Kellogg. Roosevelt suggests having Alford Warriner Cooley stop by Idaho on his way from Alaska and take care of some business involving United States Attorney Lycurgus H. Lingenfelter. In his postscript, Roosevelt says that he is glad that Bonaparte wrote to Meyer about Mr. Levely, as he had not heard anything about the matter. Roosevelt is glad that Bonaparte thought of John Carter Rose as a person to potentially be appointed, as Roosevelt thinks it is a very good suggestion.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-06-26
President Roosevelt forwards Attorney General Bonaparte a telegram from former Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock, and admits that his prejudice against Pliny L. Soper may have been a holdover from Hitchcock’s time in office. Roosevelt also encloses an unsigned letter that Secretary of War William H. Taft and Frank B. Kellogg discussed, and asks that Bonaparte discuss it with Milton Dwight Purdy and Kellogg. Roosevelt has heard of the matter, but thinks that little good would come from pursuing the matter currently, as it would get twisted to political purposes. Roosevelt will tell Senator Jonathan Bourne and John D. Archbold that they have to stop wasting time trying to negotiate through Roosevelt and comply with the opinion of Bonaparte and Kellogg.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-06-29
President Roosevelt has heard that two West Virginia delegates intend to support his nomination for president, although they were instructed to vote for Secretary of War William H. Taft. Roosevelt does not believe reports that this is due to influence from the Standard Oil Company, but still believes that the rumor is important and asks Judge Dayton to speak to the men.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-05-28
President Roosevelt apologizes to Senator Bourne that he could not meet with him on Sunday, as he does not like to see people on business that day if he can avoid it. Roosevelt says that any proposals made by Standard Oil will be considered, they must be conditioned on following the law, and must be detailed to Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte and Special Assistant Attorney General Frank B. Kellogg. Roosevelt knows that Bourne understands this, but he wishes for Bourne to make sure that Standard Oil understands this.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-02-23
President Roosevelt writes to Henry Lee Higginson about some of the actions that railroads and corporations have taken to try to influence public opinion regarding legislation in congress related to trusts and interstate commerce laws. Roosevelt agrees with Higginson about wanting a good system of banking and currency, and says that while Higginson may not like the bill put forward by Senator Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich, it is the only one that has been proposed.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-02-19
President Roosevelt thanks Frank B. Noyes for the letter and newspaper clippings.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-02-08
President Roosevelt tells Paul Morton that the things that Roosevelt wanted to talk to him about are not enough to warrant him coming back. Roosevelt had been feeling angry over some of the antics of Standard Oil and the Edward Henry Harriman crowd. Roosevelt believes that Morton is correct in what he said about Secretary of War William H. Taft and William Jennings Bryan.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-01-28
President Roosevelt has received George Cabot Lee’s letter and the enclosed magazine, although he takes issue with the fact that the article about trusts and stakeholders in it does not account for the facts as the administration has to face them. The stakeholders of a corporation are responsible for the actions of that corporation, and many corporations are owned in large part by their stakeholders. Thus it is the stakeholders’s responsibility to ensure that the corporation’s officials are behaving properly. The problem currently is that corporate organization shields guilty parties from facing responsibility for their actions, with agents being imprisoned for misconduct and the owners “go scot-free” or the corporation gets fined, even though it is their orders that lead to the wrongdoing. He does not believe in “letting bygones be bygones” and wants to abide by the statute of limitations.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-01-13
President Roosevelt prefers any communications about the case be exchanged between the respective counsels of the Standard Oil Company and the United States Government rather than involving himself.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-12-03
President Roosevelt discusses his thoughts about the results of the previous day’s elections with Senator Lodge, particularly his delight at the defeat of Democratic nominee for Governor of Massachusetts Henry Melville Whitney. Roosevelt is also pleased with wins in Kentucky but saddened by losses in New Jersey and Cleveland. In New York, Roosevelt is angered that Representative Herbert Parsons, who he thinks is a good man, has made an alliance with William Randolph Hearst and Standard Oil.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-06