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Commissioner of Corporations Garfield confirms that he received William Loeb’s letter returning the Bureau of Corporations file on William Miller Collier.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-10-03
Solicitor Collier writes to President Roosevelt to lay out the facts leading to his desire to tender his resignation and asks Roosevelt’s opinion on how to proceed. Collier outlines his decision to accept his current position at the Department of Commerce–funded through a Congressional appropriation for anti-trust investigations–then describes his discovery that there was no opportunity for anti-trust work at the Department. Collier would like to resign but is concerned about publicizing the fact that the Department is not prosecuting trust cases, of adversely affecting the election, and of souring his relations with the Roosevelt administration. Collier asks Roosevelt if there might be another position where he could work on anti-trust cases or if Roosevelt has further advice on this matter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-09-20
Secretary of Commerce and Labor Cortelyou has received the letter forwarded by William Loeb from Commissioner of Pensions Eugene F. Ware. The Commissioner’s annual report will be reprinted as he suggests.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-09-02
Secretary of the Navy Morton unsuccessfully tried to telephone William Loeb regarding confusing as to which government department should handle the situation with the Russian cruiser Lena, which is docked at San Francisco. Morton suggests to President Roosevelt that if he deems it proper for the Navy Department to handle it, that the State Department, Department of Commerce and Labor, and Treasury Department be notified.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-09-13
Commissioner of Labor Wright will give President Roosevelt the results of their investigations in Colorado, particularly focusing on how the results bear upon a document from “the attorney for deported miners and general counsel for the Western Federation of Miners.” Wright is most likely referring to investigations concerning a strike at Cripple Creek.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-07-20
Secretary of Commerce and Labor Metcalf has received correspondence detailing the plan of the British government to send a gunboat to patrol the waters surrounding the Commander Islands in an attempt to reduce fur seal poaching in that area. Metcalf recommends that the United States government also send a gunboat “for the purpose of seizing and arresting any American vessels that may be found sealing in such waters.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-07-16
Acting Secretary of State Loomis informs Ambassador Choate that Secretary of Commerce and Labor Victor Howard Metcalf has suggested the American government provide a vessel to patrol the Commander Islands for the purpose of seizing and arresting any American vessels found poaching fur seals. Loomis requests that Choate “ascertain if this suggestion is acceptable to the British Government.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-07-18
Secretary of Commerce and Labor Cortelyou asks President Roosevelt to defer filling an opening at the Department until his return. Cortelyou asks Roosevelt to have William Loeb wire him an update.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-06-23
Benjamin Ide Wheeler informs President Roosevelt that Representative Metcalf will not accept an appointment as Secretary of Commerce and Labor, but that Governor Pardee has shown interest in the position. Wheeler would like to see California represented in the cabinet.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-06-13
Paul Morton thanks President Roosevelt for thinking of him for the position of Secretary of Commerce if Roosevelt is elected in the fall. Morton does not want to commit to the position at this time but also does not decline it.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-06-18
Governor of Puerto Rico Hunt reports that a few Americans are attempting to form a Democratic Party in Puerto Rico based on the premise of low wages on the island. However, Hunt claims that statistics will come out shortly to refute this premise. Hunt also encloses a copy of the Democrat’s adopted platform.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-06-01
Benjamin Wheeler informs President Roosevelt that Victor Howard Metcalf’s appointment would be greatly appreciated.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-05-25
Edward Henry Harriman tells President Roosevelt that he has spoken with Paul Morton and neither of them know enough about Representative Victor Howard Metcalf to express an opinion as to his qualifications with regards to commerce. Harriman will make further inquiries in the next week. Harriman is also sending Roosevelt a copy of a speech he requested.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-05-27
George B. Cortelyou writes to President Roosevelt about an unnamed person who has provided excellent potential campaign literature.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-05-21
Secretary of Commerce and Labor Cortelyou forwards a confidential memorandum about a humorous incident to President Roosevelt. This letter is marked “Personal.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-05-18
Senator Platt inquires whether there is any truth to the rumor that Secretary of Commerce and Labor George B. Cortelyou may become Chairman of the Republican National Committee. If so, Platt would like to discuss the coming changes at the Department of Commerce and Labor.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-05-18
List of United States government agencies and what they have spent on advertising in the New York Sun.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-05
The Department of Commerce and Labor was created during the administration of Theodore Roosevelt, with George B. Cortelyou being appointed the department’s first Secretary. Victor Howard Metcalf succeeded him on 1904 to become the second Secretary of Commerce and Labor, and was then succeeded himself in 1906 by Oscar S. Straus. In 1913, as William Howard Taft left the Presidency, Congress split the department into two–the Department of Commerce and the Department of Labor.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
1989
The writer of the clipping hopes that in time the Department of Commerce and Labor will prove its usefulness, but does not believe that it has currently justified its existence.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-05-17
On the left hand side of the cartoon, Uncle Sam holds up a “Depart. of Commerce and Labor” blackboard that reads, “cost of living increased 15.5%” A Democratic donkey holds a “calamity” horn and starts to cheer. On the right hand side, Uncle Sam flips the blackboard and hits the donkey on the head. The other side reads, “wages increased 16.6%.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-03