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In response to the rise of railroad accidents, President Roosevelt asks Iowa Senator Allison if additional provisions can be added to the sundry civil approbation bill that just passed the House. If he is willing to take up the matter, Roosevelt will have Interstate Commerce Commission Chairman Martin A. Knapp contact him.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-02-29
President Roosevelt thanks Edgar E. Clark of the Interstate Commerce Commission for his letter and expresses his interest in the bill.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-03-01
President Roosevelt thanks Edgar E. Clark, chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission, for his letter about the hours of telegraphers and notes that this kind of information is why Clark was put at the head of the commission.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-03-02
President Roosevelt has heard from Edward A. Moseley, of the Interstate Commerce Commission, that although the bill is “a sloppy piece of legislation,” it will accomplish what it sets out to. Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte disagrees, and Roosevelt is planning to meet with him tomorrow. He asks Representative Jenkins to ensure the bill’s passage, should the present one be the best currently possible.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-02-18
President Roosevelt agrees with Wisconsin Senator La Follette that leasing “is a means to an end” but remains firm in his beliefs that preventing “noxious combinations” will ensure any combination agreed upon will be in the public’s best interest. Roosevelt has done what he could by temporarily withdrawing lands and by encouraging effective legislation, but further action will be difficult given Congress’s refusal to act on the matter. Roosevelt concludes that if this continues, he will carefully confide with Secretary of the Interior James Rudolph Garfield and United States Commissioner of General Lands Richard Achilles Ballinger and do what is necessary.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-02-19
President Roosevelt informs Lyman Abbott that there is not a vacancy on the Interstate Commerce Commission and that the only appropriate job for Andrew Jackson Montague would be that of the current commissioner, Judson C. Clements, and there is little chance of him quitting the position.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-02-22
President Roosevelt would like Chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission Knapp to bring the other members of the Commission to meet with him about the “general policy to be pursued under the interstate commerce law.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-02-13
President Roosevelt encloses a report for Charles Stedman Hanks regarding charges made against the Interstate Commerce Commission statistician Henry C. Adams by George W. R. Harriman. After an investigation, it has been proven that these charges have been made without foundation and Roosevelt declares the incident closed.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-01-31
President Roosevelt sends self-explanatory correspondence. Roosevelt understands that that Judge Clements is about to investigate the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific railroad companies and adds that he was not paying attention to the management of the two companies until Clements reported on the coal lands. Roosevelt has since heard several complaints of the companies’s management, including their connection with the grain elevators. Roosevelt believes that the complaints are widespread enough for a thorough investigation and would like the Interstate Commerce Commission, of which Clements is a member, to judge the matter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-21
President Roosevelt believes the Interstate Commerce Commission is doing “the most important work of the Government at this time” and asks them to investigate the allegations made by the director and chairman of the Union Pacific Railroad Edward Henry Harriman. Roosevelt sees this as an opportunity for the Commission to profit from criticism by evaluating and improving their methods.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-10
President Roosevelt answers J. H. Baker’s question, stating the Senator Knute Nelson was “one of the most potent forces” in the passage of the interstate commerce law and acted with “transparent good faith and courage.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-12
President Roosevelt is concerned over the accusations made by Edward Henry Harriman, a prominent railroad executive, particularly a “wilful untruth” concerning a request to raise money for the Republican party during the 1904 presidential campaign. Roosevelt tells Representative Sherman that he believes the dispute with Harriman stems from a dissatisfaction with regulations made on interstate commerce, particularly affecting railroads. Harriman is also disappointed that Roosevelt failed to appoint Senator Chauncey M. Depew as Ambassador to France as he had requested, and refuses to support the Republican party as long as Roosevelt’s policies dominate.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-08
President Roosevelt commends Francis Marion Cockrell for his work with the Interstate Commerce Commission.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-09-11
From everything President Roosevelt has heard, Mr. Woods is “a fine fellow,” but with only one vacancy left on the Interstate Commerce Commission, Roosevelt does not believe it can go to someone from another northeastern state.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-06
President Roosevelt thought S. H. Cowan’s letter was “mighty frank and manly,” and remarks on his high opinion of Cowan. Cowan’s praise of Judson C. Clements impressed him, but Roosevelt will need to consider if he believes that Clements will do better than Cowan would on the Interstate Commerce Commission. Roosevelt thinks that even if he does not appoint Cowan to the commission, he may wish for him to act as special counsel.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-07-28
President Roosevelt agrees with most of what S. H. Cowan wrote in his letter, and would like for railroad rebates to be stopped and rates reduced. He believes it is wise for the Interstate Commerce Commission to have at least one person who can speak “with full understanding of and sympathy with the interests of the wage-workers,” and feels that the lack of such men in government is a constant problem. He is inclined to reappoint most of the members of the commission, but will try to fill the vacancies with a lawyer like Cowan describes.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-07-10
President Roosevelt tells Senator Patterson that because he appointed Franklin K. Lane of California to the Interstate Commerce Commission, he does not believe that he can appoint another person from the Pacific or Inter-mountain states. If he were able to remake the Commission entirely, he may be able to take Patterson’s advice, but barring that does not believe it will be possible.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-07-12
President Roosevelt believes that the proper thing for him to do is to direct the Interstate Commerce Commission to look into the ice trust prosecution that Harry B. Kirtland wrote to him about. Roosevelt privately believes that Judge Reynolds R. Kinkade and Lyman W. Wachenheimer’s opinions in the matter have been of great value, but feels that he should not make any such public statement without being absolutely positive of the facts.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-07-16
President Roosevelt believes that with Frederick K. Lane appointed to the Interstate Commerce Commission from California, it would not be possible to appoint another person from “the Inter-mountain States.” He appreciates what Albert Shaw said about the work of the latest session of Congress, and comments that he himself is pleased about the amount of legislation, as it is somewhat uncommon for so much to have been passed in a President’s second term.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-07-09
President Roosevelt thanks Supreme Court Associate Justice Harlan for the note, and promises to read the article he sent. Roosevelt confesses to trouble with trying to appoint Harlan’s son, James Shanklin Harlan, to the Interstate Commerce Commission, as there is resistance to him appointing someone to the Commission, “whose father on the Supreme Court will pass on his actions.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-06-28