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Asahi Ikeda tells Theodore Roosevelt he misses Roosevelt a great deal. After leaving America Ikeda traveled the world and returned home where he changed his name to Ikeda and began working for a successful Japanese company. Ikeda asks for a picture of Roosevelt to hang in his room.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-13
Francis March Hatch explains to Secretary of State Root that Hawaii’s sugar plantations will suffer if Japanese laborers are excluded. With sugar exports constituting 97% of the profits generated, Hawaii relies heavily on Japanese labor and the profits it provides. The situation is so dire that Hatch feels it appropriate to write Root directly.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-13
Theodore Roosevelt congratulates Bernard Shandon Rodey on the Puerto Rico reports and is interested in the sugar planter frauds. He wishes Rodey was not staying in Alaska.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-11-14
President Roosevelt agrees with William Kent, and outlines the foreign policy stance he believes the United States should follow in its relationship with Japan. Roosevelt has come to see the matter of Japanese workers immigrating to the United States as “a race question.” He believes that Japanese citizens should not be permitted to settle permanently in America. However, Roosevelt does not want to provoke a war by offending the “sensitive” Japanese government and population. Current legislation in California and Nevada banning Japanese children from public schools frustrates him, because it is offensive to Japan and does not prevent immigration. Roosevelt wants to forbid Japanese immigration while treating the Japanese government politely and continuing to build up the American navy. He seconds Kent’s view that Japanese laborers should not work on Hawaiian sugar plantations. Roosevelt would prefer to send laborers from Spain, Portugal, or Italy, who could become naturalized United States citizens.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02-04
President Roosevelt advises Senator Knox, who will be president-elect William H. Taft’s secretary of state, on the importance and fragility of the relationship between the United States and Japan. Roosevelt explains why he believes that there is a real possibility that Japan will declare war on the United States, although this is by no means certain. Currently, many Americans are pursuing ineffectual and offensive strategies in an effort to prevent Japanese immigration to the United States. Roosevelt supports their goal but not their means. In Hawaii, meanwhile, Roosevelt disapproves of sugar planters encouraging large numbers of settlers from China and Japan to come work on their plantations. Roosevelt feels that the settlement of Hawaii by individuals from Southern Europe should be encouraged. His more general policy is threefold. He wants the government to prevent Japanese citizens from settling in America, while treating Japan “so courteously that she will not be offended more than necessary,” and building up the navy as a preventative measure. Although the value of this policy should be self-evident, Americans “are shortsighted and have short memories.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02-08
Harvard President Eliot assures President Roosevelt that sending Secretary of War William H. Taft and Assistant Secretary of State Robert Bacon to Cuba is the “best thing you can do.” Eliot believes there could be Americans lending money to the Cuban rebels. He agrees with Roosevelt that Cuba will need a strong military force to control further uprisings.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-09-17
The American consul at Cienfuegos, Cuba, asked Chargé d’affaires in Cuba Sleeper whether troops from the recently-arrived USS Marietta, commanded by William F. Fullam, should land to protect the sugar plantations there. Sleeper told them to wait for instructions from Washington.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-09-15
Acting Secretary of the Navy Converse sends President Roosevelt two translated telegrams that arrived on September 14, 1906. Commander John C. Colwell of the USS Denver received a guarantee from revolutionary forces to cease fighting for three days. Negotiations for peace have begun. Commander William F. Fullam of the USS Marietta reports that revolutionary forces are raiding sugar estates and stealing property from American citizens. He will land tomorrow in Constancia.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-09-15
President Roosevelt is notified by telegram that revolutionary forces in Cienfuegos are burning sugar plantations and that Constancia will be next. The USS Dixie has sailed and should be in Cienfuegos tomorrow morning.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-09-17
Consul General Steinhart conveys to Assistant Secretary of State Bacon a request from Cuban President Tomás Estrada Palma for American intervention in Cuba. Estrada Palma will resign as soon as American troops have landed in Cuba to protect the country from “complete anarchy.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-09-13
1908
English
(1905, March-1909, February) U.S. President – 2nd Term
George Albert Converse advises Theodore Roosevelt by telegram that the revolutionary leaders were overwhelmed by the landing parties. The sugar plantations are fine for the time being.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-09-18
Albert Whyte reports on the state of affairs in Hawaii. He says that the greed of sugar plantation owners has led Hawaii to be “overrun by the scum of creation.” Members of the Planters’ Association lament the lack of desirable labor, but Whyte believes they have not sincerely tried because they cannot get “white labor” as cheaply as workers of other ethnicities. He reports that the labor conditions on the plantations are practically like slavery and extremely degrading.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-11-18