Trusts and trustees

Lee C. Spooner believes Americans share the sentiment that poverty can and must be abolished and proposes how this can be accomplished, primarily by turning competition into cooperation. He argues that the laborers are the enemy of the republic, as they either turn to crime or revolution. To feel the responsibility of citizenship, the laborer must first own property. Spooner proposes they be granted a one-acre, suburban tract of land with a house through a federal initiative. Next, the prohibition of liquor will prevent laborers from wasting their earnings. Instead, they can then invest their earnings in federally regulated trusts. This redistribution of wealth will bring “socialism by purchase” and the end of poverty.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-04-19

Theodore Roosevelt thanks Albert A. Wray for his letter and the letter he wrote nine years ago. Roosevelt agrees they were right about the trust problem back then and is amused by Wray’s comments. Roosevelt invites Wray to visit at the Outlook office on Friday.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-13

Galliton B. Spivey tells Theodore Roosevelt that despite an article in the San Antonio Express claiming “Roosevelt boom causing discord,” the men working men of Texas believe in a square deal and support Roosevelt. Spivey asks Roosevelt to name himself as a nominee before the Republican National Convention.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-12

Henry L. Stimson sends Theodore Roosevelt a copy of the speech he will give at the Republican Club of New York City on the anti-trust problem. Stimson is sorry Roosevelt will be away on Sunday, but hopefully they will be able to have dinner that evening because Stimson must review Squadron A on Saturday night.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-13

John E. Forbes tells Theodore Roosevelt that he hopes Roosevelt’s plan for dealing with trusts will work if he returns to the presidency, and all signs point to Roosevelt becoming president again. Forbes has worked with hardware manufactures all his life and shares his knowledge of trusts and the damage they do to people and communities.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-12

John O. Yeiser thanks Isaac T. A. Reneau for volunteering to support this work of bringing Roosevelt’s men together in his city in order to get Roosevelt nominated for President. They are not asking Roosevelt what he thinks, but Yeiser does not believe Roosevelt would refuse the nomination and allow Taft to win again. Yeiser encourages Reneau to get the “real rough Roosevelt men” to sign the petition, and the rest will follow and Roosevelt will be elected President.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-11-29

Riley S. Young congratulates Theodore Roosevelt on his recent article in The Outlook. Young believes the current age requires capital in order to do business and therefore size should not be restricted by vague laws. Young hopes Roosevelt will allow his friends to nominate him for president.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-11-22

Thomas Fortune Ryan thanks former President Cleveland for “the personal sacrifice” in agreeing to serve on the board of trustees of the Equitable Life Assurance Society.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-06-12

John D. Rockefeller, Jr., wearing a huge crown and robe, stands on an oil storage tank labeled “Standard Oil” and glares at the viewer. The crown is adorned with railroad cars, oil tanks, and the names of four railroad companies: “Lehigh Valley R.R., St. Paul R.R., Jersey Central R.R., [and] Reading Rail Road,” and topped with a dollar sign.

comments and context

Comments and Context

What is not said or shown in this cartoon is the reality of “Trust Question.” John D Rockefeller, Jr., managing most of the family business, as it were, not only controlled a monopoly on oil, but many railroads needed to transport and market that oil. It was necessary that he make alliances with various railroad barons; which led to rate-fixing schemes. Steel was needed in countless enterprises, so partnerships were struck with Andrew Carnegie and other steel magnates, including, in turn, coal trusts. Financing for these activities was needed, and the J. P. Morgan was intimately involved in commercial enterprises. The United States was threatened to be run by the trusts as much as the national government or private enterprise, an urgent situation addressed by Theodore Roosevelt when he became president. 

President Roosevelt agrees to serve as trustee of the will but suggests a man with business capacity as a better choice. Roosevelt is indignant at the mine owners but points out that the miners are also wrong on several points. He wishes that the miners would have returned to work while the Commission investigates.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-10-08

Theodore Roosevelt appreciates the article John Burroughs wrote about him. Roosevelt is doing the best he can “to make good what you have said about my attitude about the big trusts.” Roosevelt went for a walk on the White House grounds with Edith and wishes Burroughs was there to identify the various birds.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-05-04

Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary sends Richard C. Maclaurin copies of Roosevelt’s writings and speeches and the Progressive Party platform regarding trusts and combination.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-09-26

Theodore Roosevelt writes to A. Wesley Mell to inform him that he must solve the problem with Roosevelt’s trustees because Roosevelt is too busy.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-01-20

Theodore Roosevelt writes to educator Henry S. Pritchett that he is glad Pritchett is “on the company.” This letter likely refers to Pritchett’s role as trustee of the Carnegie Foundation. Andrew Carnegie had recently donated $400,000,000 of his own money to his own organization. While it supports the public, Roosevelt still sees the need for government oversight.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1915-12-17

Theodore Roosevelt agrees with Seth Low that the fund is too small to be administered as it currently is and that the present structure is unfair to the Board of Trustees. Roosevelt tells Low to return the gifts to him and he will use them for a philanthropic purpose such as relieving unemployment in New York City.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1914-12-11

President Roosevelt tells Representative Bates to pass on well-wishes to Allegany College associates, as he is a trustee of the institution.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-03-01

President Roosevelt has heard that legislation may be recommended that would divert portions of the income of the Naval Hospital Fund, and informs Secretary of the Navy Newberry that he is strongly opposed to disturbing or changing the foundation of the fund. Roosevelt states that since it was created in 1832 the Secretary of the Navy has been the sole trustee of the Naval Hospital Fund, and that the Secretary of the Navy is authorized and required to build and maintain hospitals for navy purposes. Roosevelt believes this should not be changed.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-11

President Roosevelt was comforted by the news he got about Robert Harry Munro Ferguson from his daughter, Ethel Roosevelt. Roosevelt wishes he could visit Ferguson and his wife, Isabella Ferguson, himself. He told Douglas Robinson that Ferguson “should be made to charge something adequate for [his] services as trustee.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-04

President Roosevelt tells Douglas Robinson that he feels that Robert Harry Munro Ferguson should be paid something for his service as trustee. Roosevelt would be pleased to have Robinson’s son, Theodore Douglas Robinson, take over the trusteeship. He would also be glad to have any financial matters that arise while he is abroad taken care of by Lee, Higginson and Company. Roosevelt’s son, Theodore Roosevelt, enjoyed seeing Douglas Robinson and his family recently. However, Roosevelt was alarmed to hear about Corinne Roosevelt Robinson’s asthma.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-02

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.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-01-13