United States. Dept. of Justice

Letter from Charles Henry Robb to Theodore Roosevelt

The acting attorney general discusses a case concerning an alleged rubber tire trust that Georgia businessman Edward S. Munford claimed was in violation of the law. The case was referred to Sherman T. McPherson, U.S. Attorney, Southern District of Ohio, and to John J. Sullivan, U.S. Attorney, Northern District of Ohio. Robb advised Munford that because the evidence he submitted was not legal, it would not be advisable to pursue criminal proceedings. Concludes by saying that Attorney General William H. Moody and he will “go over the papers” and confer with Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-09-01

Creator(s)

Robb, Charles Henry, 1867-1939

Memorandum from Philander C. Knox

Attorney General Knox informs William Loeb that the Justice Department does not have the authority to increase naturalization facilities in New York as requested by William Halpin. Judges from the southern district of New York have rejected the idea of appointing commissioners to handle more naturalization cases. Knox suggests that judges from other New York districts might be asked to help handle the surplus.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-06

Creator(s)

Knox, Philander C. (Philander Chase), 1853-1921

Letter from William H. Moody to William Loeb

Attorney General Moody sends William Loeb the Justice Department files pertaining to the James N. Tyner case.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-07-01

Creator(s)

Moody, William H. (William Henry), 1853-1917

Hoist by their own petard

House Democrats passed two resolutions of inquiry asking if the Department of Justice has investigated the Anthracite Trust. Democrats were attempting to embarrass the Roosevelt administration, but the response from Attorney General Knox showed that the administration is effectively carrying out its duties and looking out for the people’s interests.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-04-29

Creator(s)

Unknown

Advertising expenditures for government agencies

List of United States government agencies and what they have spent on advertising in the New York Sun.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-05

Creator(s)

Unknown

Electric trust under hot fire

A federal grand jury is investigating the General Electric Company and subsidiaries, and some evidence points to the companies being controlled by the “Electric Trust.” The investigation is believed to have been ordered by President Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-09-19

Creator(s)

Unknown

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Charles J. Bonaparte

President Roosevelt congratulates Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte for his speech at Chicago, which showed his fair enforcement of the law. His attackers use the press and their wealth to recruit powerful people, like college presidents and corrupt judges, to their side at the cost of the “plain people.” These attackers know that developments like the Hepburn Rate Law, the Sherman Anti-Trust Law, the Pure Food and Drug Act, and protections for workers have been effective against moneyed interests and criminals, but they are often lawyers or editors who answer to the corporations. The individual men to whom he refers are, however, merely puppets, and the true issue should be taken with the offenders who stand behind them and control enormous wealth. He and Bonaparte are not responsible for the economic panic, but are striving for the right “in the spirit of Abraham Lincoln.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-12-23

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

The president’s mistake

The Outlook criticizes President Roosevelt’s position on authorizing the expenditure of Indian trust funds for sectarian schools and discusses why it is flawed.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-02

Creator(s)

Unknown

Letter from Albert A. Richards to Charles J. Bonaparte

Special Assistant to the Attorney General Richards responds to Attorney General Bonaparte’s notice of reports of his misconduct. The purported misconduct relates to suits against Senator Robert L. Owen’s cancelling of Native American land deeds. Richards describing his actions in the case, as well as those from the Interior Department and Owen. He asserts his innocence in the matter, and suggests that proceedings be brought against Owen due to his violation of Section 2111, R. S.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-09-18

Creator(s)

Richards, Albert A., 1855-1920

Bonaparte sorry trust magnates escape prison

Newspaper clipping on the subject of the the ongoing investigations into the “Trust Magnates” containing Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte’s official statements about the ability of the law to be used to prosecute those leading the trusts.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-09-19

Creator(s)

Unknown

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to the Department of State

President Roosevelt does not want an opinion from the Justice Department about the legality of signing a bill on a Sunday. He has already done so, and cites other precedents for doing so.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-22

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Inquiry into certain western land grants

The Congressional Record reports a portion of a conversation between several senators regarding railroad grant lands owned by the Northern Pacific and Southern Pacific Railroads. Congress granted the railroads lands with the condition that they would sell them to settlers, but the companies have not been holding up their end of the bargain. The Department of Justice is taking the matter under investigation.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-01-31

Creator(s)

United States. Congress

Inquiry as to certain western land grants

Senator Charles William Fulton, of Oregon, proposes an amendment authorizing and instructing Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte to begin suits in Oregon relating to the present land grant cases. While Bonaparte may have already had the authority to do this without such a resolution, passing such a resolution assuages some of the worries of the Justice Department regarding its ability to prosecute such suits. Debate on this resolution centered around whether such a resolution was necessary, and around some of the facts of the land grant cases.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-02-18

Creator(s)

United States. Congress

Mellen talks of merger

An article in the Evening Post reports on a purportedly unsolicited visit by Charles S. Mellen to the White House to discuss his railroad’s planned merger with the Boston and Maine Railroads, offering his services to expedite any investigation the federal government might make into the merger. Several handwritten annotations comment on the article.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-06

Creator(s)

Unknown

Mellen hurries Roosevelt

Charles S. Mellen, president of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Company, has met with President Roosevelt hoping to expedite a government investigation into his railroads. Mellen asserts that his company has not broken the law and argues that the government has no right to stymie the proceedings of private businesses in any case.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-07

Creator(s)

Unknown

Mellen sees the president

The Department of Justice will not prosecute the merger of two New England railroad lines due largely to the intervention of Charles S. Mellen, president of one of the lines in question. Mellen, whom the article calls a “close personal friend” of President Roosevelt’s, met with the president privately to assure him the merger does not violate the Sherman Act and to push for expediting the investigation in the interest of allowing business to continue as necessary. Commissioner of the Interstate Commerce Commission Charles A. Prouty has already come out in favor of the merger as well.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-07

Creator(s)

Unknown

Asks President to hasten probing

Charles S. Mellen has asked President Roosevelt to expedite an investigation into his railroad company’s planned merger. The article notes this request comes the day after the defeat of Henry Melville Whitney, who had been in favor of the merger, in the Massachusetts gubernatorial election.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-07

Creator(s)

Unknown

Letter from Charles J. Bonaparte to Theodore Roosevelt

Attorney General Bonaparte updates President Roosevelt about the work of United States Attorneys throughout the country. He delivered an address at the University of Chicago, where he was questioned about the conduct of United States Attorney William H. H. Llewellyn. Oklahoma is about to gain statehood and Bonaparte would like to discuss the matter with Roosevelt, given his earlier opposition. Many people Bonaparte met in Chicago support a third term for Roosevelt. He believes they would accept Secretary of War William H. Taft as president if necessary, but would oppose Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-09-20

Creator(s)

Bonaparte, Charles J. (Charles Joseph), 1851-1921

A fault of manner

President Roosevelt acts and speaks carefully concerning his enforcement of laws affecting corporations and industries. Therefore, he is likely not pleased “by the tone of recent allusions emanating from the Department of Justice to its possible future activities,” especially those remarks attributed to Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-08-15

Creator(s)

Unknown

Memorandum regarding Ormsby McHarg

Acting Governor of New Mexico James W. Raynolds reports that Ormsby McHarg, United States Special Assistant Attorney General, and his representative Ernest P. Holcombe arrived in New Mexico and informed him that he was there to investigate acts of territorial officials, though he did not present any credentials to prove he was indeed an official of the United States. McHarg stated that he would appear in the court case of Holm Olaf Bursum, the former superintendent of prisons. In the process of relaying his intentions, McHarg threatened to involve the Department of Justice, President Roosevelt, and the press, if his demands were not met. In this and subsequent communications, McHarg accused the territorial attorney general and other officials of incompetence, ignorance of the law, and corruption. Though McHarg insisted all his communications be treated as confidential, a story appeared in the press which seems to have been planted by him.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-07-13

Creator(s)

Raynolds, James W. (James Wallace), 1873-1910