Your TR Source
In response to Theodore Roosevelt’s editorial “Labor Unions and Class Consciousness,” Peter E. Dietz sends him a copy of Social Service No. 1. He hopes Roosevelt will find the work deserving.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-08-09
Arthur McDonnell sends Theodore Roosevelt his song “A Bright Day is Coming” about labor. He hopes Roosevelt will acknowledge him.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-08-07
Leon C. Sutton worries he might not have made his goal clear in his previous letter to Theodore Roosevelt. As The Labor World is publishing their latest edition about industrial peace, arbitration, profit sharing and boycotts, Sutton hopes Theodore Roosevelt might contribute one line of encouragement to the working class. The Labor World sees themselves as the “constructive” side of organized labor.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-05-20
Parker H. Sercombe responds to Theodore Roosevelt’s article “Murder is Murder.” He reminds Roosevelt that in the context of class war, the working class has a right to fight back.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-05-06
Alfred Mosely is glad to hear that Theodore Roosevelt’s views on industrial education are the same as his own. He suggests that Roosevelt’s secretary get in touch with the Board of Education to arrange a time for Roosevelt to present a picture to them, and asks if Roosevelt would be willing to offer a brief address at the occasion. The United States must avoid falling into the pitfall of too much unskilled labor that England has stumbled into.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-03-01
Peter O’Hern praises Theodore Roosevelt’s article in The Outlook about nationalism and the workman. O’Hern has been a member of the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen for twenty years, and notes that a recent article in their publication mirrors what Roosevelt said in his Outlook article.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-08
Nora Elizabeth Scanlon’s family is impoverished, and she heard that Theodore Roosevelt is sympathetic to Irish Catholics. She asks Roosevelt to have Postmaster General Frank H. Hitchcock reinstate her husband, Jeremiah Scanlon, to his position as a mail carrier. She also wrote to King George V since she only moved to the United States because her wealthy father was killed during the agitation in Ireland.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-01
Andrew A. Hope is disappointed Theodore Roosevelt could not review his manuscript, especially since their political work is similar. He discusses the need to develop a system to emancipate the industrial class. This system includes establishing industrial schools and providing for sickness and old age. Hope includes a letter his brother was supposed to have delivered previously.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1910-12-25
Andrew A. Hope asks Theodore Roosevelt to review the enclosed manuscript about bettering the financial and social conditions of the laboring class and send his opinion. While Booker T. Washington believes Hope’s suggestions will be of value to African Americans, Hope considers it of benefit to all laboring classes.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1910-12-07
John C. Delaney provides facts regarding the Pennsylvania industries under his charge for Theodore Roosevelt’s reference. He discusses how Roosevelt has been an example in his efforts to improve the “sad conditions” of the state’s industries, especially the laws he helped pass. Delaney also shares how he was a coal breaker as a child and served in the army as a teenager.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1910-08-11
Ray Stannard Baker responds to President Roosevelt’s letter and clarifies that he is not standing by Senator Benjamin R. Tillman or others like him. Rather, as a journalist, Baker is “seeing and reporting the facts on which other men act.” Baker believes that Roosevelt asserted socialistic thought in his letter, and states that people have been moving toward socialism because, like Roosevelt, they have been emphasizing personal goodness and have found that it does not always lead to the betterment of man. Baker tells Roosevelt that he has articles coming out soon which will clarify his views on race and society. As Roosevelt suggested in his letter, he would like to meet with Roosevelt to discuss his views in depth.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-06-08
N. P. Andresen agrees with President Roosevelt that Charles H. Moyer, “Big Bill” Haywood, and Eugene V. Debs are “undesirable citizens” from the perspective of capitalists. By the same token, the Roosevelts, Rockefellers, and Hearsts are undesirable from the perspective of the working class. Given that there are overwhelmingly more people in the working class than there are capitalists, Andresen says, “it ought not to be difficult for you to form a correct impression as to who really are, and who are not, desirable citizens.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-04-25
Ambassador Francis tells Secretary of State Root about an interview with Baron Hengelmüller recently published in Vienna in which Hengelmüller praises President Roosevelt as an advocate for universal peace. Francis also reports that another Vienna newspaper announced Hengelmüller’s trip to Budapest to discuss how to restrict emigration from Hungary to America, which is greater than emigration from Austria because of the manufacturing opportunities there and the lack of such industry in Hungary. Minister of Commerce Kossuth is promoting industrial conditions in Hungary.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-06
President Roosevelt rewrites a telegram that was to be sent to Jørgen Løvland expressing his gratitude at being named the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Roosevelt changes the telegram’s statement that the prize money will go towards the building of the Panama Canal and changes it so that the money will go towards a “permanent industrial peace committee.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-03
Charles Evan Hughes outlines his platform for the 1906 New York gubernatorial campaign.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-22
A circular by Charles J. Kluser denouncing the Socialist speaker Eugene V. Debs, labeling him a revolutionary and a liar, and begging any Christians not to pay to see him speak.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-10-12
Sheet music for “Three More John Browns” written by William Cosgrove. The lyrics compare the activities of labor movements with John Brown’s actions against slavery. A portion of the proceeds will go to support the wives of Big Bill Haywood, George A. Pettibone, and Charles H. Moyer.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907
Luke E. Wright, former American Ambassador to Japan, writes about the importance of cultivating a friendship between the United States and Japan. He praises Japan as an historically accomplished nation that has adapted to become a modern world power. Wright says that the United States does not plan to try to conquer the seas or to acquire more territorial possessions in East Asia. There is no cause for aggression between the two countries, and so Wright encourages his fellow Americans to support fair and generous treatment of the Japanese. He decries those who have spoken against immigrants from friendly nations and argues that treating immigrants of any ethnicity poorly only creates tensions between nations. However, Wright argues that the working people of the two nations should not come into conflict with one another, and believes this feeling should not be considered hostility towards Japan.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-09-25
In her draft of a speech in response to her trial on The Woman Rebel dissemination, Margaret Sanger discusses social problems and the manner in which birth control can address these issues and help the working class. Sanger critiques anti-obscenity laws and the notion of birth control education as pornography. She asks whether former President Roosevelt is truly moral for encouraging large families and she is immoral for encouraging small families. Sanger also addresses the charge that her article concerning an assassination attempt incited murder. She includes quotations from well-known ancient orators and writers and also from Roosevelt, claiming that if these writings on assassination are not accused of inciting murder, she should not be accused of such either.
The Margaret Sanger Papers Project
1916-01
Margaret Sanger writes of her efforts and struggles to bring birth control education to working class women in order to combat issues such as infant and maternal mortality, abortion, and poverty. Sanger argues that it is unfair that she is considered immoral for urging working class couples to have small families while former President Roosevelt is lauded as moral for encouraging them to have large families in order to prevent race suicide.
The Margaret Sanger Papers Project
1917-04