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New Mexico Territory Governor George Curry notifies President Roosevelt that he objects to Ormsby McHarg’s interference in matters over which he has no authority, as the Department of Justice has no right to give orders to subordinate Territorial officials as McHarg has done in the Pennsylvania Development Company case.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-10-31
Attorney General Bonaparte returns a speech with minor suggestions to President Roosevelt, and discusses his strategy in finding a case in which the government could convict and sentence the head of an industrial trust. In North Carolina, Roosevelt could not have altered the dispute between Federal and State authorities in the railroad rate case. Bonaparte passes along some clippings related to the case against Senator William Edgar Borah of Idaho. Bonaparte relates the progress in vetting William B. Sheppard for a judgeship in Florida. In New Mexico, Bonaparte says he has examined the charges against New Mexico District Attorney William H. H. Llewellyn, and believes he must be removed from office. Bonaparte will be in Oyster Bay on Friday.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-08-05
Former New Mexico Territory Governor Hagerman has refrained from addressing President Roosevelt’s statements in his letters concerning Hagerman’s forced resignation because he felt that on further reflection, Roosevelt would correct his false accusations. However, Hagerman now feels compelled to answer the accusations Roosevelt has made against him and set the record straight. Hagerman includes a detailed timeline and description of events and persons involved in his forced resignation due to accusations of land fraud. In conclusion, Hagerman says that the entire affair has hurt the standing of the Republican Party in New Mexico and asks Roosevelt to take this into consideration.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-19
Former New Mexico Territory Governor Hagerman responds to President Roosevelt’s letter accepting his resignation in language that “should not be considered less forceful because of the absence of harsh language.” Hagerman says that in 1898, Congress placed restrictions on land leases in New Mexico Territory which were inappropriate to the landscape and climate of the territory, and ever since, individuals and businesses have worked to skirt these restrictions. When Hagerman became governor, he tried to get guidance from the federal government regarding these restrictions and the seemingly illegal contracts granted by his predecessor, but received none. Hagerman was left to either break deals made by his predecessor, or fulfill them if no harm would come to the territory, and the Pennsylvania Land Company deal was one such deal. Hagerman holds that the action he took was neither illegal nor improper, and refutes several specific points from Roosevelt’s letter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-05-15
Attorney General Bonaparte expresses his concern to President Roosevelt about how the Department of Justice gave the prosecution orders in the Moyer and Haywood case without his knowledge. He is trying to bring about order to the department, be he has been out with bronchitis.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-04-23
Interior Secretary Ethan Allen Hitchcock sends President Theodore Roosevelt several papers related to conditions in Big Horn County, Wyoming. Included as well is a summary report from Special Land Inspector Edward B. Linnen.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-01
The writer asserts that Max Pracht and W. Scott Smith are “working together” and offers evidence. Pracht was suspended from the Land Office for insubordination and sought help from Senator John H. Mitchell; but when Mitchell was unable to help, Pracht turned to Smith and Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock to obtain his current post at the War Department. Events discussed since then by Pracht could only be known through a source close to the Secretary of the Interior such as Smith.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907
Secretary of the Interior Hitchcock provides President Roosevelt with a summary and documentation pertaining to investigations by the Department of the Interior into alleged illegal fencing and land fraud in Wyoming. Hitchcock reports that notices have been issued in 165 cases, proceedings have been instituted in ten with favorable results for the government, two enclosures have been removed in response to notices, two cases are pending before the Special Agent in Charge, one case is pending before the District Attorney, no report has been filed and no action taken in eight cases, and the fences in the remaining cases are presumably still standing. The item includes a detailed list of enclosures.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-11-30
Arthur G. Elston testifies about unethical conduct occurring in Division “P” of the General Land Office. Elston describes being urged by his chief, George F. Pollock, to change a report recommending charges against the Schow Brothers and Lovell Irrigation Company for willful trespass in Montana. He believes Pollock was acting under pressure from Congressman Mondell and the Commissioner of the General Land Office. Elston also testifies to being aware of similar instances of improper behavior in regards to public lands in Wyoming and Colorado.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-11-15
Clement S. Ucker, clerk for Special Service Division “P” of the General Land Office, testifies regarding allegations of corruption in the handling of public lands.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-11-21
Max Pracht reports on corruption in the land office that he witnessed while a special agent in Colorado. Pracht details the misuse of government funds by William A. Richards, Commissioner of the General Land Office, and his report of it to Secretary of the Interior Hitchcock and Hitchcock’s private secretary W. Scott Smith. The final two pages detail Pracht and Smith’s relationship.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-22
Secretary of the Interior Hitchcock confirms that he received President Roosevelt’s letter and will work to follow Roosevelt’s directions. He will ask Commissioner of Corporations James Rudolph Garfield to begin working on a report on the Standard Oil case. Having only met Colonel Butler through this investigation, Hitchcock is very impressed by him and excited that Butler will meet Roosevelt at Oyster Bay. Hitchcock is attaching his response to T. B. Latta in a related matter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-24
In a confidential letter, Interior Secretary Ethan Allen Hitchcock agrees with newspaper editor Thomas Albert Latta about the distressing condition of oil interests in the Indian Territory. Hitchcock thinks the best remedy would come from independent operators “unitedly building” pipe lines and refineries to make them independent of Standard Oil and its subsidiaries. He promises the full protection of the Department of the Interior to this class of operator. Hitchcock closes by thanking Latta for his support and asking if he may seek further assistance from him in the future.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-23
William Emlen Roosevelt would like Underground Water Resources, issued by the U.S. Geological Survey of the Department of the Interior.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-20
Secretary of the Interior Hitchcock responds to President Roosevelt’s request for information regarding an account of the correspondence featured in a New York Sun editorial from August 16, 1906. Hitchcock tells Roosevelt that he was not responsible for the editorial except to the extent that correspondence referenced was issued by his authority. The correspondence, which he summarizes, pertains to the hearings before Hitchcock on the leasing of oil lands and natural gas wells in Indian Territory and the Territory of Oklahoma.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-22
This memorandum acknowledges the direction of Acting Secretary of the Interior Thomas Ryan instructing the office to withdraw all public lands on a list enclosed at the time. This has been done at the national level, as well as local, and local officers are not to accept any coal cash entries based on declaratory statements that happened before the telegram.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08
Boies Penrose writes to set up a meeting between President Roosevelt, Arkansas Senator James K. Jones, and Pennsylvania oil magnate Theodore N. Barnsdall to discuss “serious complications in Indian Territory over gas and oil matters.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-02
John Henry Burford, Chief Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, writes to President Roosevelt to tell him of growing unrest in Oklahoma. Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock has sent secret service agents, including William J. Burns, to investigate Governor Frank C. Frantz. Burford does not know the past private life of Frantz, but attests to his record as a soldier and his present character as governor, and asks that Roosevelt not let his confidence in Frantz be shaken by reports from the Department of the Interior.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-06-30
Thomas Ryan submits the total cost of advertising for the United States Department of the Interior to William Loeb.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-04-06
William Loeb discusses advertising in local papers.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905