Trusts, Industrial

Frederic R. Coudert thanks Theodore Roosevelt for his kind letter following his accident. He is nearly recovered and expects to ride again shortly. Coudert is disappointed Roosevelt cannot attend the Rockefeller Institute as the microscopic displays are interesting. Alexis Carrel’s experiments dictate when he can come to Sagamore Hill. Coudert is glad Roosevelt is writing on the trust question. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-11-13

Charles Richard Van Hise speaks of the nuances present in monopolies and unrestricted competition in the American economy. Van Hise gives the railroads system as an example of successful use of commissions with no price competition. His thesis proposes there can be great economic advantage to maintain a concentration of industry and therefore those corporations should not be broken up by enforcing the Sherman Act. Instead, commissions should be created to determine prices and Van Hise provides a list of powers these commissions should have and how to achieve success.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-11-09

Opinion article from San Francisco’s The Argonaut about tariff reform and President Roosevelt’s back-and-forth stance in order to comply with Republican party uniformity. The Argonaut believes Roosevelt has to make his decision soon and will not ignore the people’s demand to revise the tariff.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-28

President Roosevelt explains to Lyman Abbott that the correspondence with Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker and John D. Archbold proves that Foraker is obscuring his true political goals. Foraker says he is against Roosevelt on issues related to African Americans, but this is actually a cover for his opposition to Roosevelt and William H. Taft’s anti-corruption stance regarding companies like Standard Oil.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-09-19

President Roosevelt writes to Edward Allsworth Ross to say once again how much he appreciates Ross’s Sin and Society. He finds it relevant to some of the current political situations, such as the frenzy over racetrack betting in New York and support of the reactionary Representative Charles E. Littlefield in Maine.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-09-14

President Roosevelt tells Judge Speer that he has not closely followed Speer’s case concerning railroad rates in Georgia, which was recently overturned by Judge Don Albert Pardee, as he was concentrating on a decision concerning Standard Oil. Roosevelt has forwarded Speer’s complaint to Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-08-14

President Roosevelt tells Nathan Bijur that it is difficult for him to understand how prosecuting “certain criminal rich” would affect stock markets around the world, but understands that he will be responsible for the results, whether he deserves it or not. Roosevelt cannot change his Provincetown speech, but will look for the opportunity to make a statement like the one Bijur suggests.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-08-14

After conflicting statements, President Roosevelt asks Edward Henry Harriman how much control the Southern Pacific Company has over the California Development Company.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-02

William A. Dana informs Theodore Roosevelt that he should be nominated for president in 1912, criticizing the Sugar Trust for raising prices and urging Roosevelt to use the “big stick” to lead Republicans to victory.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-09-13

Frank Arthur Putnam writes a poem that depicts the American Revolution and the Civil War and states the time has come to rise against today’s despots, which are the supremely wealthy. Putnam calls for a peaceful revolution that will change the United States from representative government to full democracy and offers solutions for how to accomplish this task. Ernest McGaffey writes a letter to Putnam that states revolution will not occur in the near future because the people are not suffering enough. McGaffey includes a poem with his letter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-06

John Carter Rose writes to President Roosevelt to ask whether a uniform way of reporting final election results can be established, to encourage him to use his recent mandate to push through policies to regulate big corporations, and to express the concern of an acquaintance of his currently serving in the Consular Service.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-12

Nicholas Murray Butler writes that the New York City newspapers have published favorable reviews of President Roosevelt’s message. Railroad executives are reacting to statements of pending regulations. It is expected that Roosevelt will discuss the tariff at a later date since he did not include the topic in his speech. Butler includes a lengthy excerpt of a letter from John S. Kennedy. Kennedy writes that Roosevelt backers are being pressured to support F. Marion Crawford for a diplomatic position in Turkey. Kennedy does not think a Catholic appointee would protect the American Protestant missionaries in Turkey. Butler surmises the pressure is being brought to bear by Mrs. Hobson. Butler concludes by reminding Roosevelt he promised to schedule a meal to celebrate the election with old friends, like Joseph Bucklin Bishop and Butler, in New York City.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-07

President Charles William Eliot of Harvard writes that James H. Hyde is qualified to be the ambassador to France. Eliot congratulates President Roosevelt on the election results. He praises Roosevelt for his stand against monopolies. Eliot believes the federal government must “defend American society” by regulating trusts.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-06

John Byrne congratulates President Roosevelt on the recent election results. Byrne is sure that Roosevelt will be one of the greatest presidents ever. He writes about the major issues the president must address.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-15

President Roosevelt and Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon shy away from scary toys, as William Loeb watches from behind an iron fence. Frightened also are Senator Philander C. Knox, and Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks. William Jennings Bryan holds a “tariff revision” snake and a children’s toy labeled, “death to trusts.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

For a cartoon in the reliably Republican Washington Herald, Joseph Cunningham’s cartoon critically but realistically depicts Republican leaders as frightened little boys as the neighborhood bully scares them with a toy snake and a phony spider.

President Roosevelt travels in a riverboat that is headed toward tree branches in the river: “beef trust,” “tobacco trust,” “railroad trust,” “Harriman interests,” and “Standard Oil.” A teddy bear keeps him company in the barge.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Cartoonist Clifford Kennedy Berryman used the title of Mark Twain’s famous book of recollections, Life On the Mississippi, for his depiction of President Roosevelt’s progress toward Louisiana, mid-way through an extended speaking tour in the Autumn of 1907.

President Roosevelt meets with his cabinet in a room filled with snakes: “Harriman interests,” “panic,” “tobacco trust,” “powder trust,” “beef trust,” “railroad trust,” “Standard Oil,” “immunity,” “Japanese war scare,” and “telegrapher’s strike.” The chairs for Secretary of State and Secretary of War are empty.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-09-27

President Roosevelt holds a bow with an arrow labeled “Tariff Revision” and two other arrows in his mouth, “Income Tax” and “Inheritance Tax.” Just beyond him is a man labeled “Trusts” with a large apple labeled “The Tariff” on his head. The man has the arrows, “Anti-rebate,” “Anti-trust” “Railroad Rate Law,” and “Pure Food” in his chest, and he is saying, “The most unkindest cut of all!” Caption: “See if you can hit the apple, Mr. Roosevelt.”

Comments and Context

Both President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Elihu Root went public with ideas about economic and governmental reforms that shocked many people in the Republican Party and on Wall Street. Chief among these were theoretical considerations of a national income tax and a national inheritance tax. These concepts previously had been relegated, and rejected, by many Americans as Populist or even Socialist dogma.

The year 1906 had been one of tremendous ferment in politics and the economy — laws, regulations, Muckraking agitation, arrest of corporate leaders, elections of reformers. Roosevelt inspired some of these movements; he was pressured by some of them; and he did have a fear of revolution if mild reforms did not anticipate unrest. As he included some of these ideas in Annual Message in December, he made sure that Root, who agreed with the thrust of these reforms, went public too — thus removing some of the sting felt by conservative Republicans and financiers.

A squid-like entity labeled “The Trusts” sits on a seat labeled “Congress.” Caption: “On the anxious seat.”

Comments and Context

The anxiety of the creature in the cartoon of “H” is palpable. In 1906 — with the press, the courts, the Administration, and many senators and congressmen incited against the trusts, there was reason for anxiety.

Muckrakers had filled the pages of virtually every magazine and major newspaper with exposes and indictments of trusts and “robber barons.” President Roosevelt engaged in personal feuds with men like Edward Henry Harriman and John D. Rockefeller. Corporation moguls were sued in the courts, and at least two fled to Europe. The House and Senate were still in the hands of the Republican Party, and the leaders of each house were beholden to the “interests,” but a growing number of insurgents and progressives achieved a passel of reforms, mirroring regulatory initiatives of the Roosevelt Administration.

President Roosevelt holds a suitcase, binoculars, and a fan as he says, “Now for a Panama peep!” Behind him are several animal pelts: “R.R. rate legislation,” “meat trust victory,” “N.Y. state,” “60th Congress,” and “1st Ohio Dist.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-11-09