pa. Form 2589 WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH WESTERN UNION AND CABLE RECEIVERS NO. TIME FILED CHECK DAY LETTER THEO N VAIL, PRESIDENT SEND the following Day Letter, subject to the terms on back hereof, which are hereby agreed to June 27, 1914. Allen E. Burns, Esq., Secretary Alleghany Progressive League, Pittsburgh, Pa. I have tickets and reservations on twelve five train out of Pittsburgh. Please arrange automobile accomodation for Colonel Roosevelt and myself and have additional automobile to take care of seven newspaper men in our party. We arrive six fifty-five. Please wire me night-letter tomorrow night care of Oyster Bay Inn, Oyster Bay, New York what are the plans for the five hours we are in Pittsburgh. John W. McGrath. Acting Secretary. Charge to Progressive National Committee.Form 260 WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH WESTERN UNION AND CABLE TELEGRAM THEO. N. VAIL, PRESIDENT RECEIVERS No. TIME FILED CHECK SEND the following Telegram, subject to the terms on back hereof, which are hereby agreed to July 6, 1914 Mr Thomas R Shipp Secretary National Conservation Congress Washington, D. C Mr Baldwin in Europe. Will send your letter to Mr Roosevelt's Secretary EDITORS of THE OUTLOOKSAGAMORE HILL OYSTER BAY - NEW YORK July 11th, 1914. To The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Washington, D. C., Sir: If there is any intention of your Committee to act favorably on the proposed Treaty with Columbia by which we are to pay Columbia Twenty-five Million Dollars and to express regret for the action taken in the past, I respectfully request to be heard thereon. I was President throughout the time of the negotiations, first with Columbia and then with Panama, by which we acquired the right to build the Panama Canal. Every act of this Government in connection with these negotiations and [with] the other proceedings for taking possession of the Canal Zone and beginning the building of the Canal was taken by my express direction or else in carrying out the course of conduct I [as President] had laid down. I had full knowledge of everything of any importance that was done in [regard thereto] connection with the transaction by any agent of the Government and I am solely responsible for what was done. The then Secretary of State, John Hay, had almost as complete a firsthand knowledge of what occurred; but no [other] man, [now] living except myself, has this first-hand knowledge; and no man, living or dead, shared [with me] the responsibility for the action [I took] with me; save in wholly minor degree. - 2 - I ask for this hearing because I regard the proposed Treaty as a crime against the United States. It is an attack upon the honor of the United States, which, if justified, would convict the United States of infamy. Moreover it is a serious menace to the future well-being of our people. Either there is or there is not, warrant for paying this enormous sum and for making the apology. If there is no warrant for it --and of course not the slightest vestige of warrant exists-- then the payment is simply the payment of belated blackmail. If there is warrant for it, then we have no business to be on the Isthmus at all. The payment can only be justified upon the ground that this nation has played the part either of a thief or of the receiver of stolen goods. In such case the only proper course is to restore everything to the original owner. In such case it is a crime to remain on the Isthmus and it will be much worse than an absurdity for the President who has paid the twenty five million to take part in opening the Canal; for if the President and the Secretary of State are justified in paying the twenty five millions it is proof positive that in opening the Canal they are in their own opinion engaged in the dedication of stolen goods.-3- [in 1903 was right, in which case it is worse than an outrage now to pay blackmail, or it was wrong, in which case we have now no right to be on the Isthmus. If we have no right to be on the Isthmus, it would be a shameful thing for us to celebrate the opening of the Canal. If, as is unquestionably the truth, we have the right to be on the Isthmus, it would be a shameful thing cringingly to put ourselves in the wrong by the payment of blackmail.] As a matter of fact every action we took was not only open [but was absolutely] and straightforward, but [and] was rendered absolutely necessary by the misconduct of Colombia. [and] The [dignity] honor of the United States and the interest[s] not only of the United States but of the world, demanded [in] [having] the building of the Canal. [built.] Every action we took was in accordance with the highest principles of [public and] international, of national, and of private morality. I [shall be glad] request to appear before you, [and] to make a full statement of exactly what I did and of what was done by my orders, [and] to state the reasons therefor, and to answer any questions that your body or the members of your body choose to put to me. Very respectfully yours,Oyster Bay, July 24th, 1914. My dear Mr. Croly: Mr. Roosevelt wishes to know if you can take lunch with him here on Monday, August 3rd. Charles Booth, Walter Weyl, and Felix Frankfurter are to be here that day and he is anxious to have you also. Faithfully yours, Secretary to Mr. Roosevelt. Herbert Croly, Esq., Windsor, Vt.[*[Not Sent]*] [S A G A M O R E H I L L Oyster Bay, N. Y., July 24, 1914. My dear Mr. Sulzer: I have just received your letter, and, of course, I will see you. But, before I do so, I think I ought to tell you just how I feel about the candidacy this year. I do not object to you in the least because you are not a member of the Progressive Party. I feel that the Progressives this year should put themselves back of the movement for clean state government on a non-partisan ticket, making an appeal to all good citizens to stand together; and this is practically what we did when we tried to put the Judiciary of the state on a clean basis last year, by nominating a ticket with Judge Seabury, a Democrat and single taxer, and with whose other political views we did not agree, but who, we felt, would make an admirable Judge, as our candidate. It is what we did when we took part in nominating, and electing a Democrat, Mr. Michael, as Mayor of New York last Fall. I feel that the Progressive Party must always fight in the most effective way to secure the great principles which it has at heart; and, that in accomplishing this end, it may sometimes be necessary to run an absolutely straight Progressive ticket and sometimes be necessary to make an appeal to all Parties, but along entirely non-partisan lines, where the object to be sought for, as is the case in New York State this year, is not primarily a political object. But, my dear Mr. Sulzer, there are reasons, which seem to my mind conclusive, against making you the standard bearer this Fall in any such movement as] -2- that which I desire to see. Believe me, it is a painful thing for me to write, as I am writing, but it would not be right if I did not frankly answer you. You and I have always had the most friendly personal relations. I have never attacked you, and you assure me that you have never attacked me, and that the expressions attributed to you in the papers recently were not used by you. I believe cordially in many of the things, perhaps in most of the things, that you wish to see done in public life. Moreover, I believe that you were turned out of the Governorship in reality, not because of things you had done that were wrong, but because of things you had done that were right. I believed at the time that the movement against you was initiated by Mr. Murphy and the men for whom he stood, because you were fighting against their crookedness and against the system, continuance of which was necessary to their political being and to the prosperity of the evil combination between financiers and politicians, which they represented. All this I believe to be true, and it is much to your credit. But, Governor, there is another and a lamentable side to the case. The movement against you was undertaken because of what you had done that was right; but it was successful because of what you had done that was wrong. You had attempted a task of the utmost difficulty, a task in which it is quite impossible that any man shall succeed if he is himself vulnerable. Your one chance of preventing the movement against you was yourself to take gracefully the lead against Murphy and your opponents, riddling them and showing how evil their records and their purposes were. But, when you did not do this and let the fight be waged upon your own record, you put it out of the power of those, who wished you well, to help you out. In other words, if, without attempting to justify yourself for your actions in the past and without denying statements that could be proved to be true, you had shown up your opponents, I believe that the people of this State would have felt, as I felt that under such conditions, where the alternative was your continuance in office, or the triumph of Mr. Murphy in ousting you from office, it was for the-3- interest of of the State that you should continue. But, when we come to electing a man to office, we are not obliged to take any such alternative. It is not now a case of having to choose between either installing in office Mr. Murphy's agent and instrument, or else keeping in office a man who wishes to do well, but whose record is such as to make it impossible for his friends to defend him as they would with to. The question now is, how to put in office a man, who, to ability, to knowledge of the situation, to aggressive courage in meeting it, shall add a record, such that it will be impossible for the bosses to find joints in his armor, shall shall give them the advantage over him. Governor, it is a painful and a disagreeable thing for me to say, but it was your own record which enabled Mr. Murphy to thwart you and to throw you from office. I fully believe that his motives were evil, but it was what you yourself had done in the past that enabled him to put his evil intentions into execution. When your record was brought out, and when you had permitted the fight to be made only on this record, it was almost impossible that the judgment could be other than as it was actually given; and not only did the tools of the two bosses concur in this judgment, but the honest men associated in the impeachment tribunal with them almost unanimously took the same view. I know from experience how such a fight is waged. In the course of my career, I have again and again had to incur the bitter hostility of men quite at unscrupulous as Mr. Murphy and Mr. Barnes, and far more powerful. There was no incident of my record over which these men did not go, and I was able to carry through my war against them only because there was not one thing which they could successfully bring against me. My dear Governor, no man who undertakes such a task as you undertook in Albany, no man who has before him such a task as that which remains to be done at Albany, can do it successfully if the evil men against whom he ears can point to what he has himself done as proof positive that he must be condemned by the same standards that he applies to them.-4- I am the last man to believe in condemning any man for his past record, when he has shown that in good faith he is a changed man, that he genuinely regrets what he has done that was wrong in the past, and that in the future he will fight valiantly and effectively for the right. But, my dear Governor, I think that he should serve in the ranks for some little while, on such terms, before he embarrasses and distresses his friends and well-wishers, by seeking a position of such high leadership that ought not be given to him, until by actual service he has given proof of the faith there is in him. With real regret, Very sincerely yours, Hon. William Sulzer, New York, N. Y.[*[To M. H. GLYNN?]*] [*[AUGUST 5, 1914]*] [Mr. Perkins' Suggestions.] Dear Sir Referring to the exception taken in your letter of July 24th, permit me to call your attention to the resolution passed by the Assembly on the 9th of February last, appointing a Committee to investigate the Highway Department. Said resolution stated: "the administration of the Highway Department since the abolition of the Hughes Non-Partisan Highway Commission has been marked by inefficiency, waste and corruption." The resolution went on and referred to the losses of the State in this Department. It appointed a Committee "to collate as speedily as possible the proofs of such inefficiency, waste and corruption." ***"that such remedial legislation may be enacted for a change in the conduct, reorganization and management of said Department and the laws relating to the construction and maintenance of highways as will prevent a continuation of such waste and loss to the State in the expenditure of the second appropriation of Fifty Million Dollars; also that the Committee may investigate any other Departments of the State, and report at least three weeks prior to final adjournment of the Legislature." Subsequently, I understand on March 5th, the time in which this Committee was to report was extended until the 31st of December, 1914. [It is quite clear from the above that the Assembly believed that there was inefficiency, waste and corruption at least in one of the great Departments of the State. A vigorous investigation of that Department was specifically ordered, and power was given the Committee to investigate any or all other Departments. From such information as I possess this Committee has only held three or four meetings, which were held last spring and no meetings have been held for several months. The Legislature failed to appropriate any money for the use of this Committee notwithstanding the fact that the Legislature specifically stated that the administration of the highway Department had "been marked by inefficiency,][Dear Sir:- Your letter of August 3rd has just been received. I have been endeavoring to find out what action, if any, you have taken on the resolution, passed by the Assembly, on February 9, 1914. This resolution alleged the following facts regarding corruption in the State:] [*¶*] [A committee was appointed under the Resolution.] The Legislature, however, did not appropriate money to permit the committee to make its investigation. I find no record that the Lower House, which was controlled by the Republicans, made any serious effort to have the money appropriated, it being alleged to me that the Senate, which is under the control of [*2*] your party associates, declined to make the appropriation. Apparently therefore the Committee is [therefore powerless] unable to act; and it is immaterial to present the matter whether this inability is due to feebleness on the part of the organization Republicans in the Lower House in failing to make an aggressive fight for the appropriation, or [to their acquiescense[s]d or to] whether they by a collusive understanding between the leaders of the Lower House and their nominal political opponents of the Upper House [that] [if a] [there should be no appropriation] the effort [has] to get an appropriation was deliberately abandoned. In any event, the charges have been explicitly made by one of the Houses of the Legislature, acting in due form. These charges, you will note,recite the corruption and inefficiency as established facts. Similar charges have been published broadcast by Mr. Hennessey, the Special Investigator under your Predecessor, whose connection with the government has been served since your accession to office. The charges, therefore, have been made officially and in detail, by a member of the Executive Branch of the Government, and have been formally presented by a branch of the Legislative Department of the Government. What action have you taken in reference to these charges, officially and formally made, of corruption in the State Government under you? 3THEODORE ROOSEVELT THIRTY EAST FORTY SECOND STREET NEW YORK CITY August 6, 1914. My dear Sir: I have received various letters, such as yours, raising some question in connection with my attitude in religious matters, especially toward the Catholic Church; and a rather interesting phase of my correspondence on this subject is that a number of the letters accused me of being improperly subservient to the Catholic Church at the very time that a number of [extreme] ultra Catholics [attack] were attacking me on the ground that I [am] was hostile to the Catholic Church. The [simple fact is that] facts are simple. I stand as a public man, and have always stood as a public man, [for a square deal,] for impartially just and fair treatment of toward the Catholic and Protestant Churches [and, for the matter of that], [toward] of the Jewish Church, [toward] of all Ethical Societies and [toward] of every other form of religious organization, [in a] I [have] believe that the only safe plan to follow in this Republic is to treat each man on his worth as a man, holding him accountable for his deeds towards [spirit which, I believe, is one of absolute justice and impartiality.] his fellow men but granting to each and all absolute liberty of religious [bef] belief. I believe that the government should in no way either and [ord???] against any church, and should treat the [adlents?] of all churches alike & [?dly] from them merely the obedience to the laws which all good citizens must render. I have never permitted any injustice to be done by the adherents of one creed to the adherents of any other, where I hade the power to prevent it; and it [is] has been to me a matter of absolute indifference to me whether those threatening or threatened by injustice were Catholics or Protestants, Jews or Gentiles, or men not professing [relig] allegiance to any church. I have never, at home or abroad, permitted any representative of any of the [creeds,] churches, lay or clerical, to dictate to me, or to make me do anything that I deemed improper or unbecoming an American citizen; and I have never sought myself to dictate to any one is such matters--or, as far as that goes, in other matters.August 11, 1914. My dear Mr. Shipley: Permit me in behalf of Mr. Roosevelt to acknowledge receipt of, and thank you for, your letter of recent date. He regrets very much that it is impossible for him to take advantage of your kind invitation to make an address in your Congressional District. You can easily understand that if he accepted your invitation, he would have to speak in every Congressional District in the United States; and, of course, this is a physical impossibility. It would be entirely inappropriate for Mr. Roosevelt to try to solicit a Pullman pass for you. Very truly yours, Secretary to Mr. Roosevelt. Col. A. L. Shipley, Jonesboro, Tenn.August 11Form 2589 WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH WESTERN UNION AND CABLE RECEIVERS NO. TIME FILED CHECK DAY LETTER THEO N VAIL, PRESIDENT SEND the following Day Letter, subject to the terms on back hereof, which are hereby agreed to TAKE THIS MESSAGE TO WESTERN UNION TELG'R OFFICE, GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL, Phone 2934 Murray Hill. August 14, 1914. Dr. H. Nelson Jackson, Burlington, Vt. I have to-day sent the following telegram to Gibson. Quote replying your letter Mr. Thompson gives an absolutely inaccurate version of his interview with Mr. Roosevelt if he says that Mr. Roosevelt told him he did not favor Mr. Prouty for United States Senator. Mr. Roosevelt is emphatically in favor of the Progressives supporting Mr. Prouty in an effort to rid the State of the domination of the Dillingham old guard machine and to put into effect in Vermont through the Progressive Party the principles of Abraham Lincoln Republicanism as applied to the needs of the present day unquote. Am mailing copy of his [Gibson's] letter to me. J. W. McGrath. Charge to Progressive National Committee.Form 2589 WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH WESTERN UNION AND CABLE RECEIVERS NO. TIME FILED CHECK Form 2589 DAY LETTER THEO N VAIL, PRESIDENT SEND the following Day Letter, subject to the terms on back hereof, which are hereby agreed to TAKE THIS MESSSAGE TO WESTERN UNION TELG'R OFFICE GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL PHONE 29 ??? August 15, 1914. General Passenger Agent Boston and Albany Railroad, Boston, Mass. It is possible secure for Colonel Roosevelt drawing room or compartment on train leaving Palmer one sixteen arriving Boston three thirty Monday afternoon. Please advise me Parker House Boston Sunday. John W. McGrath, Secretary to Mr. Roosevelt. Charge to Progressive National Committee[*[Aug 15, 1914]*] Draft of Letter to be sent to E. P. Costigan. My dear Mr. Costigan: Let me congratulate you upon your nomination as Governor and especially let me congratulate the people of the State of [Colola] Colorado [ion] upon the chance of voting for such a ticket as yours. Give my warm regards and best wishes to Messrs Griffith and Vincent and to Mrs. Riddle. It seems to me that not since the creation of the Progressive party has there been in any state conditions so peculiarly and strongly calling for the exact application of the Progressive program of social and industrial justice as now in Colorado. Apparently the newspapers are quite right in speaking of what has occurred in Colorado as a "war." There have been numerous acts of ciolence committed by men individually and in mass; there have been clubbings, beatings, destructions of property and killings. All this is simply another way of saying that there has been actual war. The first necessity is to put the responsibility for the present position squarely and fairly where it belongs; and that is on the Government of Colorado, not only as managed at the moment but as managed for many years past, under both Republican and Democratic administrations. [parties.] Both are equally to blame in the matter. They have reduced the State of Colorado to such a condition of governmental bankruptcy that it had a abducted] it has been forced to abdicate its function as a sovereign state and call in the Federal Government to perform the elemental duties it declares itself powerless to perform. [*¶*] The second necessity is to recognize the folly, the worse than folly, of asserting that the present conditions can be met by mere shouting for "Law and Order," when what is thereby meant is exerting the power of the government to see that the lawbreakers on one side are forced to obey the law and refusing to exert the power of the government to make the law-breakers on the other side obey the law. Recently in this city the particular organ-2- of the favor in Wall Street which most violently assail our position in attacking and condemning me for the speech I made at Pittsburgh, summed up the attack by stating that all good citizens should rally against my "policy" of "policing business." This big Wall Street journal in this sentence expressed in concrete form the view of our opponents. They demand that we shall cease from policing business organizations such as the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company. At the same time, under the cry of " Law and Order", they demand that we shall police the men who committed lawless acts against this company. They demand that we shall police the lawlessness of the workingmen. In the same breath they demand that we shall not police those who by their misconduct [are] have [mainly responsible for] created the conditions [creating] which provoked this lawlessness among the working men. We on the contrary hold that it is the duty of the [We be] Government both to "police" the violence and violence, and also to "police" the causes that have led to the industrial unrest and not staged supine control these causes produce this unstable result by [a calating] provoking the sense of injury and resentment which creates disorder. In Colorado, after careful study of all the arguments made and submitted by both sides, I feel that it is not possible to assess impartially the responsibility for the initiation of the various acts of brutal and often murderous violence which have occurred during the past few months. There is no question whatever that the strikers have both openly and secretly resorted to violence, and often under circumstances of abhorrent iniquity. The men who gloss over or condone such violence are false to the State and false to their ideals of duty. I believe in the most emphatic assertion of the right and duty of the State to itself put down such violence and I believe in the immediate translation of this assertion into action. But on the other hand there appears to be no question that the employes of the corporation have in many cases themselves committed violence and have often thereby deliberately precipitated conflicts. The impression left upon my mind by the testimony accessible to me is that both the employers on the one side and the employes on the other have much responsibility and much blame. I believe that the-3- I believe that the actions of the Colorado Fuel & Iron company have been ultimately responsible for the present dreadful condition. I believe that those responsible for the control and actions of the corporation, the absentees even more than the men actually on the ground, have been in the last analysis the chief offenders, the men whose activities most need to be reformed and corrected. When I say this, I am actuated in no way by any spirit of hostility to Mr Rockefeller. He is, of course, as the largest shareholder and controlling force, more responsible than any other one man for the conditions in Colorado as regards this company. But I have been informed that in another company of his in Colorado, his big oil concerns, the conditions of life and labor have been excellent, so much so that no trouble among the wageworkers has ever arisen and no necessity for intervention by the state. If this be true I shall be more than pleased to give full credit to all those responsible for such conditions. I am as anxious to give praise in the one case as blame in the other, if the fact permit. My belief is that as regards the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, a situation of civil war has arisen, because injustice and wrongdoing on the side of the corporation has finally been met by violence and wrong-doing on the side of the employes. What is earnestly needed is not blind and unlimited championship of either side but thorough-going control of both sides by the government. Law and Order must of course be secured, as an indispensable preliminary. But let our people remember that on a certain famous occasion it was publicly announced that "order [??????] obtained in Warsaw," when in reality all that was meant was that Order had been secured by tying Liberty hand and foot and binding in fetters Justice and Good Government. Nothing permanent is gained by securing Law and Order, unless accompanied by the full recognition that it is worthless to secure them, save as a means of getting Justice. Without law and order justice can not be obtained at all. It is indispensable first of all to put down-4- violence and secure the absolute rule of the law by the public authorities themselves. But nothing permanent will have been accomplished unless then the injustice that has provoked the lawlessness is remedied. The really important matter now is not to attempt to assess with minute equity the responsibility and the blame among the contestants. The real importance of the situation lies in the indisputable fact that for years the State of Colorado, owning to the mal-administration of both the Republicans and the Democrats, has been teaching the mine workers disrespect, disregard and contempt for law rather than regard for and obedience to it. The blame and the responsibility lie squarely and equally upon both the Republican and Democratic parties, for each of these parties has had about an equal share in the administration of the government of Colorado, no matter which party was in power, to follow the same course in this matter. Wherever trouble arose between the working men and the employers, whenever the miners began to organize to support or enforce demands for improved conditions, the State, whether in control of a Republican or a Democratic administration, thereupon surrendered its right and duty to enforce the law and maintain order. It turned over this right and duty to the Mining Companies themselves, who thereupon imported into the State or organized within the State crews of gun-men and of private detectives and the like, organized them as guards around their property and prepared for the open warfare which such action inevitably precipitated. Many of these special deputies and detectives were excellent men; but this has no more to do with the case than has the fact that many of the riotous [??] were also excellent men. The point is that the state recognized in the constitution the right of private war. Of course, this conduct of the state represented failure to do duty from two standpoints. If the state at any time fails to protect property against violence, it is derelict to one of its first duties; and this without any regard to whether the property owners have themselves behaved well or ill. It was the duty of the State to itself protect the property of the corporation in question. Failure to do so meant that the corporation inevitably had to try to protect itself. But a no less inevitable result of this-5- surrender by the State of its right and its obligation to enforce its own laws and to maintain Peace and Order was to force the miners into the belief that when they take up arms against the mine guards they are not defying the State but merely attacking individuals whom they have grown to regard as their natural and proven enemies. I hold no brief for any union any more than for any corporation. I believe that union and corporation alike should be judged by their conduct. If it be true that any union, through its recognized authorities, encourages lawlessness and violence and murder, then I should stand by any citizens, whether members of a corporation or not, who endeavored to discriminate in lawful fashion against such union. But it must be remembered that the government, the representative of all the people, must secure even to such a union its rights, exactly as it secures even to a wrong-doing corporation its rights. I believe in the right of laboring men to combine and to do their bargaining collectively. I believe in the right of the non-union man to refuse to join a union and to work side by side with the union men. But I also believe that a so-called "open shop" in which unions are discriminated against is not really an "open shop" at all but the worst kind of closed shop. Apparently there are many laws on the statute books of Colorado for the protection of labor in the coal fields which are good but which have been long and systematically violated. These laws should be strictly enforced, including those providing for safety devices, for check-weighmen, for semi-monthly pay, for eight-hour days, for abolishing script, permitting organizations by the wage workers, and [[?] discrimination against] securing just treatment for union men. There should be legal recognition of the right of men who are organized, whether in a closed or open shop, to deal with their employers through selected representatives. There should also be legal safeguards for the keeping of contracts by labor organizations. Coal Mining in Colorado should be made a public utility because events in that state have actually shown that it is a public necessity and that unlimited private control has resulted badly. The State should lease its remaining coal lands under conditions which will secure justice to both the wageworkers and the public; and it-6- should be permitted in case of necessity to purchase, develop or condemn coal lands now privately owned, allowing of course just compensation; in short, the State should assert its absolute right to see that the industries are managed in a proper and not an anti-social manner. At Columbus, Ohio, on September 10th, 1910, I spoke practically as I am now speaking, although with reference to riots that had arisen in connection with railroads and not in connection with mines. What I then said applies absolutely to the situation in Colorado. The man is not a true citizen who fails to insist upon the enforcement of Law and Order at the expense of those immediately responsible for the violence and lawlessness. The man is not a true citizen who insists that such enforcement of Law and Order is by itself in any shape or way sufficient to meet the needs of the case. It must be used merely as the first and indispensable step toward securing justice and the control of the Government, impartially exercised, over employer and employe alike. The system of unchecked individualism, the system of failure to "police business," as the Wall Street journal above quoted phrases it, and of leaving big business men to do whatever they deem right has been tried to the full in Colorado in connection with these mining interests and has produced the present lamentable condition of affairs. A movement for Law and Order, which merely means the restoration of the kind of Order which reigned in Warsaw, without any fundamental change in conditions, is purely-and-simply an invitation to embark on a course of conduct which ensures a return of violence and attempted social revolution. I believe that the law-breakers and disorderly classes should be put down with the sternest severity but I also believe that no repression in itself offers any hope of a permanent solution and that the government must interfere to secure and to do substantial justice as between the offending parties. What has occurred in Colorado offers the most striking example of the absolute worthlessness of the Democratic proposal for the control of the Trusts promulgated two years ago as well as previously. The National Platform of our opponents two years ago proposed as its remedy to forbid any business concern-7- from owing more than twenty-five per cent of the total business; and the Democratic party has been engaged in what is fundamentally an effort to restore the unlimited competition of two generations back and to subject this unlimited competition only to an ineffective and weak governmental control. At the time, two years ago, I pointed out again and again that no benefit whatever would come from such a proposition. I instanced the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company as a case in point, stating that the labor conditions in that company had been officially declared by the Pittsburgh Survey to be of peculiar atrocity. I stated then that this was the type of company that most needed to be put under governmental regulation and control and yet that its capacity was far less than twenty-five per cent of the output of production of either iron, steel or coal. I then pointed out that the Democratic platform offered not the slightest prospect of remedying the conditions in these companies and asked how the public or the wageworkers would be benefited in any way if the steel industry, or the iron industry, or the coal industry was left in the control of a number of such companies as the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, all engaged in unlimited, cut-throat competition among themselves. No answer was returned to me then and still less can any answer be made now. The Democratic party in the nation has shown no more capacity to deal with this matter[ at the present] than the Democratic or Republican organizations [??] have shown capacity to deal with it in the State of Colorado. The Republican party has not shown any disposition to displace leaders whose continued in power is proof positive that its party is proof positive that the party is unfit to deal with this or any other matter. The matters I am discussing in Colorado give the most striking and complete illustration of the utter worthlessness of any endeavor to [the present Democratic plan of reaching] grapple with the evils of the so-called trust problem, save by adopting [The prime need is to adopt] the well-thought-out, carefully balanced Progressive plan. Only by action along the lines thus indicated will it be possible to undo the evils that have arisen not only in connection with the unscrupulous insolence of uncontrolled combinations but in connection with the merciless cut-throat competition which has resulted in unrestricted and uncontrolled private war, either under business forms or in the shape of frankly lawless violence. The Progressive party in Colorado is the only8. party which stand for Law, for Order and for Justice, for honesty and good sense in making and enforcing the laws and for the kind of constructive social and industrial program which can alone put a stop to the dreadful conditions that have obtained. Sincerely yours, (signed) THEODORE ROOSEVELT E. P. Costigan Esq., Denver, Colo.August 21, 1914. Dear Paul: That's good! I am glad to know what you did. Sincerely yours, P. V. Bunn, Esq., St. Louis, MO. [[*Enc in Bunn ca 8-10-14*]]Form 260 WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH WESTERN UNION AND CABLE TELEGRAM RECEIVERS NO. TIME FILED CHECK THEO. N. VAIL, PRESIDENT SEND the following Telegram, subject to the terms on back hereof, which are hereby agreed to TAKE THIS MESSAGE TO WESTERN UNION TELG'R GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL Phone 2934 Murray August 21?, 1914. John Hennessy, Esq., 590 St. Marks Place, Brooklyn, N. Y. Am very deeply obliged for your more than kind and courteous letter. I trust you are in sufficiently good shape to be able to send me the material before Tuesday. I greatly appreciate your assistance. Theodore Roosevelt. Charge to Progressive National Committee.POSTAL TELEGRAPH-CABLE COMPANY NIGHT LETTERGRAM THE POSTAL TELEGRAPH-CABLE COMPANY (INCORPORATED) TRANSMITS AND DELIVERS THIS NIGHT LETTERMAN SUBJECT TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS PRINTED ON THE BACK OF THIS BLANK. CLARENCE N. MACKAY, PRESIDENT. COUNTER NUMBER. TIME FILED. M. CHECK POSTAL TELEGRAPH NIGHT LETTERMAN COMMERCIAL CABLES INDEPENDENT COMPETITIVE PROGRESSIVE 3|406 Send the following night lettergram, without repeating, subject to the terms and conditions printed on the back hereof, which are hereby agreed to. Sept. 5, 1914. Hon. J. A. Falconer, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. It is great pleasure to me to speak with the praise I have spoken of the acts of you and the other Progressive Congressmen. I am not trying to influence the Progressive Nominations but my letter is to be used in any way to back you if nominated. THEODORE ROOSEVELT.POSTAL TELEGRAPH-CABLE COMPANY NIGHT LETTERGRAM THE POSTAL TELEGRAPH-CABLE COMPANY (INCORPORATED) TRANSMITS AND DELIVERS THIS NIGHT LETTERMAN SUBJECT TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS PRINTED ON THE BACK OF THIS BLANK. CLARENCE N. MACKAY, PRESIDENT. COUNTER NUMBER. TIME FILED. M. CHECK POSTAL TELEGRAPH NIGHT LETTERMAN COMMERCIAL CABLES INDEPENDENT COMPETITIVE PROGRESSIVE 3|406 Send the following night lettergram, without repeating, subject to the terms and conditions printed on the back hereof, which are hereby agreed to. Sept. 5th, 1914. Mr. Frank Harper, The Outlook, 287 Fourth Avenue, New York City. I must go over that article before it is published so it must be deferred until I have time to correct it. Theodore Roosevelt. Charge Progressive National Committee.Form 260 WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH WESTERN UNION AND CABLE TELEGRAM THEO N VAIL, PRESIDENT RECEIVERS No. TIME FILED CHECK SEND the following Telegram, subject to the terms on back hereof, which are hereby agreed to September 14, 1914. F. W. Femmler, Esq., Bellevue Hotel, San Francisco, Cal. Exceedingly sorry. Do not recall gentleman to whom you refer. Theodore Roosevelt/ Collect Charge to Progressive National Committee/Form 2289 WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH WESTERN UNION AND CABLE NIGHT LETTER THEO N VAIL, PRESIDENT RECEIVERS NO. TIME FILED CHECK SEND the following Night Letter, subject to the terms on back hereof, which are hereby agreed to TAKE THIS ??? TO WESTERN U??? GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL Phone 2934 Murray Hill September 18, 1914. Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, c/o Henry J. Allen, Esq., Wichita, Kans. Congressman Copley's letter urgently requests you not to make personal attack by name on present Kansas Republican Congressmen. McGrath. Charge to Progressive National Committee.September 25, 1914. My dear Mr. Kelley: Thank you very much for sending me copies of the minutes of your State Convention. Faithfully yours, Secretary to Theodore Roosevelt. H. L. Kelley, Esq., Progressive Headquarters, Salisbury, Vt. Form 260 WESTERN UNION TELEGRAM TELEGRAPH WESTERN UNION AND CABLE THEO N VAIL, PRESIDENT RECEIVERS No. TIME FILED CHECK SEND the following Telegram, subject to the terms on back hereof, which are hereby agreed to October 1, 1914. Dr. H. Nelson Jackson, Burlington, Vt. Will you meet us Hotel Witherill, Plattsburgh, New York, next Thursday night. McGrath. Charge to Prog. Nat. Com.Form 2589 WESTERN UNION DAY LETTER TAKE THIS MESSAGE TO WESTERN UNION TELG'R OFFICE GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL, Phone 2934 Murray Hill TELEGRAPH WESTERN UNION AND CABLE GEORGE W. E. ATKINS, VICE-PRESIDENT NEWCOMB CARLTON, PRESIDENT BELVIDERE BROOKS, VICE-PRESIDENT RECEIVERS No. TIME FILED CHECK SEND the following Day Letter, subject to the terms on back hereof, which are hereby agreed to October 1, 1914. Dr. H. Nelson Jackson, Burlington, Vt. Here until Monday morning. Colonel and I spend next Wednesday night Hotel Fort William Henry, Lake George, New York, Thursday night Plattsburgh, New York. Would like to see you either night. McGrath. Charge to Progressive Nat. Com.POSTAL TELEGRAPH-CABLE COMPANY NIGHT LETTERGRAM THE POSTAL TELEGRAPH-CABLE COMPANY (INCORPORATED) TRANSMITS AND DELIVERS THIS NIGHT LETTERMAN SUBJECT TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS PRINTED ON THE BACK OF THIS BLANK. CLARENCE N. MACKAY, PRESIDENT. COUNTER NUMBER. TIME FILED. M. CHECK [*POSTAL TELEGRAPH NIGHT LETTERMAN COMMERCIAL CABLES*] INDEPENDENT COMPETITIVE PROGRESSIVE 3|406 Send the following night lettergram, without repeating, subject to the terms and conditions printed on the back hereof, which are hereby agreed to. October 3, 1914. George W. Perkins, Esq., Saranac Inn Saranac Lake, N. Y. The following telegram was received from Mr. McCormick to-day quote we will take Colonel Monday as previously arranged unquote. McGrath. Charge to Prog/ Nat. Com.POSTAL TELEGRAPH-CABLE COMPANY NIGHT LETTERGRAM THE POSTAL TELEGRAPH-CABLE COMPANY (INCORPORATED) TRANSMITS AND DELIVERS THIS NIGHT LETTERMAN SUBJECT TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS PRINTED ON THE BACK OF THIS BLANK. CLARENCE N. MACKAY, PRESIDENT. COUNTER NUMBER. TIME FILED. M. CHECK [*POSTAL TELEGRAPH NIGHT LETTERMAN COMMERCIAL CABLES*] INDEPENDENT COMPETITIVE PROGRESSIVE 3|406 Send the following night lettergram, without repeating, subject to the terms and conditions printed on the back hereof, which are hereby agreed to. October 7, 1914. Francis J. Heney, Esq., Phelan Building, San Francisco, Cal. Colonel Roosevelt is very sorry that it is is impossible now to make a trip to California. All his time, right up to election day, is filled with work campaign work in this State and Pennsylvania, and the schedule cannot now be readjusted. C. K. Davis. [For T. R.]POSTAL TELEGRAPH-CABLE COMPANY NIGHT LETTERGRAM THE POSTAL TELEGRAPH-CABLE COMPANY (INCORPORATED) TRANSMITS AND DELIVERS THIS NIGHT LETTERMAN SUBJECT TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS PRINTED ON THE BACK OF THIS BLANK. CLARENCE N. MACKAY, PRESIDENT. COUNTER NUMBER. TIME FILED. M. CHECK [*POSTAL TELEGRAPH NIGHT LETTERMAN COMMERCIAL CABLES*] INDEPENDENT COMPETITIVE PROGRESSIVE 3|406 Send the following night lettergram, without repeating, subject to the terms and conditions printed on the back hereof, which are hereby agreed to. October 7, 1914. Francis J. Heney, Esq., Phelan Building, San Francisco, Cal. Colonel Roosevelt is very sorry that it is is impossible now to make a trip to California. All his time, right up to election day, is filled with work campaign work in this State and Pennsylvania, and the schedule cannot now be readjusted. C. K. Davis. [For T. R.][*[Enc in Davis 10-7-14]*] POSTAL TELEGRAPH-CABLE COMPANY IN CONNECTION WITH THE COMMERCIAL CABLE COMPANY THE GREATEST TELEGRAPH AND CABLE SYSTEM IN THE WORLD. EXTENDS OVER TWO-THIRDS OF THE WAY AROUND THE EARTH. THE POSTAL TELEGRAPH-CABLE COMPANY (INCORPORATED) TRANSMITS AND DELIVERS THE WITHIN NIGHT LETTERGRAM SUBJECT TO THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS: The Company will receive, not later than midnight, NIGHT LETTERGRAMS, written in plain English, to be transmitted only for delivery not earlier that the morning of the next ensuing business day, at rates as follows: The standard day rate for a ten-word day message shall be charged for the transmission of a NIGHT LETTERGRAM containing fifty words or less, and one-fifth of the standard day rate for a ten-word day message shall be charged for each additional ten words or less in such NIGHT LETTERGRAM. To guard against mistakes or delays, the sender of a NIGHT LETTERGRAM should order it REPEATED, that is, telegraphed back to the originating office for comparison. For this, one-half the unrepeated NIGHT LETTERGRAM rate is charged in addition. Unless otherwise indicated on the face of this blank, THIS IS AN UNREPEATED NIGHT LETTERGRAM, AND IS PAID FOR, OR AGREED TO BE PAID FOR, AS SUCH, in consideration whereof it is agreed between the sender of the NIGHT LETTERGRAM and this Company as follows: 1. The Company shall not be liable for mistakes or delays in the transmission or delivery, or for non-delivery, of any UNREPEATED NIGHT LETTERGRAM, beyond the amount received for sending the same; nor for mistakes or delays in the transmission or delivery, or for non-delivery of any REPEATED NIGHT LETTERGRAM, beyond fifty times the sum received for sending the same. UNLESS SPECIALLY VALUED AND INSURED (in which case, conditions 3 to 8, given below, shall apply to such repeated message); nor in any case for delays arising from unavoidable interruption in the working of its lines: nor for errors in obscure Night Lettergrams. 2. Correctness in the transmission of NIGHT LETTERGRAMS to any point on the lines of the Company can be INSURED by contract in writing, stating agreed amount of risk, and payment of premium thereon, at the following rates, in addition to the usual charge for REPEATED NIGHT LETTERGRAM, vi, : one per cent, for any distance not exceeding 1,000 miles and two per cent, for any greater distance. 3. This company is hereby made the agent of the sender, without liability, to forward the NIGHT LETTERGRAM over the lines of any other company when necessary to reach its destination. 4. NIGHT LETTERGRAMS will be delivered free within one-half mile of the Company's office in towns of 5,000 population or less, and within one mile of such office in other cities or towns. Beyond these limits the Company does not undertake to make delivery, but will, without liability, at the sender's request, as his agent and at his expense, endesyor to contract for him for such delivery at a reasonable price. 5. No responsibility attaches to the Company concerning NIGHT LETTERGRAM unitl the same are accepted at one of its transmitting offices, and if such a NIGHT LETTERGRAM is sent to such office by one of the Company's messagers, the latter acts for that purpose as the agent of the sender. 6. The Company shall not be liable for damages or statutory penalties in any case where the claim is not presented in writing within thirty days after the NIGHT LETTER- GRAM is filed with the Company for transmission. In further consideration of the reduced rate for this special "NIGHT LETTERGRAM" service, the following special terms are hereby agreed to: A. NIGHT LETTERGRAMS may at the option of the Telegraph Company be mailed at destination to the addressees, and the Company shall be deemed to have discharged its obligation in such cases with respect to delivery by mailing such NIGHT LETTERGRAM at destination, postage prepaid. B. NIGHT LETTERGRAMS shall be written in plain English. Cipher or code language is not permitted. 7. The above terms and conditions shall be binding upon the receiver as well as the sender of this NIGHT LETTERGRAM. 8. No employee of the Company is authorized to vary the foregoing. This is an UNREPEATED NIGHT LETTERGRAMS and is transmitted and delivered by request of the sender under the conditions named above. Errors can be guarded against only by repeating the NIGHT LETTERGRAM back to the sending station for comparison. CLARENCE H. PRESIDENT. CHARLES C. ADAMS, VICE-PRESIDENT. EDWARD REYNOLDS, VICE-PREST. AND GENERAL MANAGER CHARLES P. BRUCH, VICE-PRESIDENT POSTAL TELEGRAPH-FASTEST SERVICE IN THE WORLD Form 260 WESTERN UNION WESTERN UNION TELEGRAM THEO. N. VAIL, PRESIDENT RECEIVERS No. TIME FILED CHECK SEND the following Telegram, subject to the terms on back hereof, which are hereby agreed to October 7, 1914. [*Draft*] Senator Joseph M. Dixon, Missoula, Mont. I am to speak in the Chicago Coliseum Monday evening, October nineteenth. Medill and the Illinois Committee, as well as all the rest of us, are anxious to have you preside at the meeting. The Illinois Committee would will gladly meet your expenses. It will be a great pleasure and satisfaction to me personally if you can come on. I should greatly enjoy seeing you. Theodore Roosevelt. [*I will*]Form 2589 WESTERN UNION DAY LETTER [*TAKE THIS MESSAGE TO WESTERN UNION TELG'R OFFICE GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL, Phone 2934 Murray Hill*] TELEGRAPH WESTERN UNION AND CABLE GEORGE W. E. ATKINS, VICE-PRESIDENT NEWCOMB CARLTON, PRESIDENT BELVIDERE BROOKS, VICE-PRESIDENT RECEIVERS No. TIME FILED CHECK SEND the following Day Letter, subject to the terms on back hereof, which are hereby agreed to October 16, 1914. Milton D. Purdy, Esq., New York Life Building, Minneapolis, Minn. Roosevelt campaigning this state by automobile. Am forwarding your night letter. Impossible for him to meet Minnesota request. Every hour until election is filled. C. K. Davis, [for T. R.] Charge to P. N. C.October 17, 1914. My dear Mr. Peyton: Mr. Roosevelt directs me to thank you for your kind letter of recent date and to say that he regrets it will be impossible for him to accept your invitation owing to prior engagements. Sincerely yours, Secretary to Theodore Roosevelt. William Madison Peyton, Esq., Martinsville, Va. OYSTER BY, N. Y., November 4th 1914. My dear Lieutenant Lyra: I send you herewith a copy of my book. Unfortunately the great war has prevented there being any German or French translation, so that I can only send it to you in English. I thank you heartily for the maps. They did not arrive in time for me to use them in the body of the book. I have put in one at the end, however and I am sending the others to the Royal Geographical Society of Great Britain, to be used in connection with my address when the latter is printed. I trust you are well, and that all your family are well. I think of you much. Faithfully yours,OYSTER BAY, N.Y., November 4th 1914. My dear General Lauro Muller: Herewith I send you a copy of my book. Unfortunately the present lamentable war has forced the cancellation of the French and German proposals to translate it, and therefore I have only the English copy to send you. There are some portions of it which I should be glad to have translated into Portuguese for the use of the Brazilian people, but I do not know whether this would be deemed worth while in Brazil. I ask your attention to the dedication and to the preface, wherein as elsewhere in the body of the work, I have endeavored to express the obligation I am under to the Brazilian Government, and especially, my dear Sir, to yourself. With high regard, Very sincerely yours,Oyster Bay le 4 Novembre 1914. Monsieur le général Lauro Müller Mon cher Général, Ci-inclus je vous envoie un exemplaire de mon livre. Malheureusement l'état lamentable où se trouve la France et l'Allemagne a forcément annullé les propositions de traductions françaises et allemandes, et je ne puis vous en envoyer qu'un exemplaire en anglais. Il y a quelques passages que je serais heureux de faire traduire en portugais pour les Brésiliens, mais je ne sais si l'on considerera cela au Brésil d'une importance quelconque. J'attire votre attention sur la dédicace et sur la préface ou, comme du reste partout ailleurs dans le texte du livre, je me suis éfforcé d'exprimer l'obligation sous laquelle je suis envers le gouvernement Brésilien et surtout envers vous-même. Veuillez agréer, mon cher général, l'expression de ma haute consideration. [*[Eng. translation filed 11-4-14]*]OYSTER BAY, N.Y., November 5th 1914. My dear Dr. Cajazeira: Herewith I send you a copy of my book. Unfortunately the great war has prevented its translation into German or French, and so I can only send you the English copy, which I suppose will be of no use to you. Nevertheless I desire you to have it just as a token of the affectionate regard and esteem in which Kermit and I will always hold you. I trust you are well, and that everything goes favorably with you. With high regard, Faithfully yours,Oyster Bay, le 5 Novembre 1914. Monsieur le Docteur Cajazeira, Mon cher Docteur: Ci-inclus je vous envoie un un exemplaire de mon livre. Malheureusement la grande guerre europeenne en a empeche la traduction en allemand et en francais et je ne puis vous en envoyer qu'un exemplaire en anglais qui, je le crains, ne pourra guere vous etre utile. Neanmoins je desire vous l'offrir en souvenir de l'affection et de l'estime que Kermit et moi avons tourjours eues pour vous. J'espere que vous etes en bonne sante et que tout marche comme vous le desirez. Veuillez agreer, mon cher Docteur, l'expression de la haute consideration de votre devoue [Eng. translation filed 11-5-14] OYSTER BAY, N.Y., November 5th 1914. My dear Commander Da Cunha: Herewith I send you a copy of my book. You will find in it an allusion to yourself when I speak of your hunt on the Taquary. Unfortunately I can only send the book to you in English, because this terrible war has prevented its translation into German or French, and so I fear that you will not be able to read it. But I cannot resist the pleasure of sending it to you anyhow as a token of my regard and esteem. You are one of the men whom I was particularly glad to meet, and I trust I shall see you up here sometime in the future. I take this opportunity of thanking you for having sent me the two volumes of the palms of Brazil, which are now in the living room of my house. With renewed regard and thanks, Faithfully yours, Oyster Bay, 5 Novembre 1914. Monsieur le Commandant Da Cunha, Mon cher Commandant: Ci-joint je vous envoie une copie de mon livre. Vous y trouverez une allusion à vous-même à l'endroit où je parle de notre chasse dans le Taquary. Malheureusement je no puis vous envoyer le livre qu'en anglais, parce quo cette terrible guerre en a empêché la traduction en allemand et en Francais; je crains done qu'il no vous soit impossible de le lire. Je ne puis, cependant, résister au plaisir de vous l'envoyer en souvenir de ma profonde estime et amitié. Vous êtes un des hommes quo j'ai été particulierement heureux de rencontrer et j'espere que l'avenir me procurera le plaisir de vous revoir ici. Je profite de cette occasion pour vous remercier de votre envoi des, deux volumes des Palmes du Bresil. Je les at mis en bonne place dans mon salon. Veuillez agréer, mon cher commandant, mes remerciements reitérés et l'assurance de ma profonde estime. [Eng. translation filed 11-5-14]OYSTER BAY, N. Y., November 5th 1914. My dear Colonel Rondon: Herewith I send you a copy of my book. Unfortunately this terrible European war has prevented any translations being made into German and French, so that I can only send you the English copy. This is unsatisfactory of course, but perhaps you can get someone who knows English to go through the book and to put into Portuguese the very numerous references I make to you and to the work of the Telegraphic Commission - not to mention points I dwell upon of our complete agreement as to the proper course to be followed in internal affairs, notably as regards religion and education. Lieutenant Lyra's maps did not come in time for me to include them in the book, except that I was able at the very end to [?????] insert the general outline sketch. I have sent the main map to the British Royal Geographical Society for publication in connection with the address I made before that body last June. In that address, as also in the address before the National Geographic Society in Washington, I dwelt particularly upon your work and the work of the Telegraphic Commission. I hope mention of this fact was made in Brazil. You will be amused to know that Walter Savage Landor, and I am sorry to say various other gentlemen, made a furious attack upon what we had done. Some of them asserted that we had never gone down any river at all, and that no such river existed; and the others asserted that the river had long been known, and that we simply followed routes that had already been traversed. In Paris I published in the Matin the full text of your letter about Walter Savage Landor's explorations,2. [11-5-14] and I think that I have definitely put a stop to all serious consideration of his claims as an explorer so far as competent observers and witnesses are concerned. But unwise advisers had persuaded the Pope to give him a medal for his great services as an explorer in South America and a writer, and he has made much of this fact. Pray present my warm regards to Madame Rondon and to all your family. I think of you and talk of you very often. Faithfully yours,POSTAL TELEGRAPH-CABLE COMPANY NIGHT LETTERGRAM THE POSTAL TELEGRAPH-CABLE COMPANY (INCORPORATED) TRANSMITS AND DELIVERS THIS NIGHT LETTERMAN SUBJECT TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS PRINTED ON THE BACK OF THIS BLANK. CLARENCE N. MACKAY, PRESIDENT. COUNTER NUMBER. TIME FILED. M. CHECK [*POSTAL TELEGRAPH NIGHT LETTERMAN COMMERCIAL CABLES*] INDEPENDENT COMPETITIVE PROGRESSIVE 3|406 Send the following night lettergram, without repeating, subject to the terms and conditions printed on the back hereof, which are hereby agreed to. November 11, 1914. Mr. Charles F. Clarke, Adel, Ia. If you are in New York City, Mr. Roosevelt will be glad to see you at Progressive Headquarters, thirty east forty-second street at three p. m. Tuesday next. John W. McGrath, Secretary to Theodore Roosevelt. Charge to P. N. C.Form 2589 WESTERN UNION DAY LETTER TELEGRAPH WESTERN UNION AND CABLE GEORGE W. E. ATKINS, VICE-PRESIDENT NEWCOMB CARLTON, PRESIDENT BELVIDERE BROOKS, VICE-PRESIDENT RECEIVERS No. TIME FILED CHECK SEND the following Day Letter, subject to the terms on back hereof, which are hereby agreed to November 14, 1914. Professor Mike Donovan, c/o New York Athletic Club, Sixth Avenue & Central Park West, New York, N. Y. Exceedingly sorry. Unable to be present to referee the bout between you and your son. If I could do such a thing for any human being now it would be for you. For you are one of the best American citizens I know. Good luck be with you. Theodore Roosevelt. Charge to P. N. C.C O P Y: December 4, 1914. My dear Doctor Dernberg: I have scrupulously refrained from saying publicly or repeatinf to any man who would be likely to repeat it that Germany was one of the two powers to which I referred in the article of which you speak. In as much as you ask the question, however, I do not in the least mind saying that Germany was one of them. Moreover, my dear doctor Dernberg, it is a little bit difficult for me to treat your question as entirely serious. Surely you do not intend to tell me that when there has been even a remote and improbable danger of a conflict between Germany and the United States, Germany has not made plans in view of such a contingency! Some of your highest men have spoken to me with entire frankness about such preparations, even in their larger detail, and about the effect upon America of the seizure of New York, especially if a pacificist President was in the White House. You of course saw in my articles that I explicitly stated that it was entirely right for any power to make such plans; that it was no evidence of ill will against us; and that it was simply evidence that military and naval men of a great nation were seriously accepting their duties to their own nation. I explicitly stated as of course you remember, that it would be childish[like] to object to the existence of such plans but that it would be imbecile not to realize that they existed. Your countrymen have for fifty years faced facts; I am sorry to say that a large number of my countrymen refuse to face them. My dear doctor, if you wish for your own proposes and in Germany's interest to prevent America from facing facts, why, I have nothing to say in the matter; but you[*[12-4-14]*] -2- must not expect me to join the large number of my countrymen who do refuse to face them and who therefore wish to keep us helpless to protect ourselves if we are menaced. You say that von Edelshein, who published in pamphlet form a study of how Germany would proceed against America in the event of war, was not a member of the German General Staff but merely an attache of the German General Staff; that he was a lieutenant at the time; and that he left the service after rising to the rank of Major. As I understand it, you take the view that this robs his article of all importance. I do not agree with you. No Germany Army Officer, and especially no attache of the General Staff, would have been allowed to publish a pamphlet of that kind without immediate rebuke and disavowal by his superiors, if they disapproved of his action. The German Army is the last army in the world where such conduct would, if not approved of, have been permitted to pass without rebuke. The article was widely circulated. It was sold in the bookshops in various places. I wish to distinctly state that I do not regard this article and the failure of the German military authorities to disavow it as in any way offensive to the United States or giving us the slightest ground for complaint or suspicion. I wish to reiterate that I regard your military people as absolutely within their rights, as doing what was absolutely proper, in preparing for all contingencies and in treating war with every great power as a possible contingency. In Bernhardi's book, as I pointed out in the articles to which you refer, war with Austria is treated as a contingency; and this although the whole purpose of the book was to show what Austria and Germany, acting together, should do in time of war. This could give no right ground for offense in Austria. The only incredible thing is that any considerable section of our people[*[12-4-14]*] -3- should fail to understand that if there are any signs of our clashing with a foreign military power in our interests, such foreign military power will of course make plans as to the action it will take in the event of trouble. The other evening, in your conversation with me, you said that the violation of Belgian neutrality and the seizure of Belgium by Germany was an absolute necessity; that in war when a great nation was fighting for its life such steps would have to be taken; and that the only way in which they would ever be prevented was by making it more dangerous to take them than not to take them. I of course entirely agreed with this conclusion of yours and that is why I have no faith in the peace and arbitration treaties which provide no method for their enforcement and why I feel so strongly that until neutral nations make it evident that they will effectively put a stop to violations of neutrality these violations will take place. In this morning's paper I see quotations from your article for the Independent. Wherein you in effect say that when peace comes while Belgium is not to be included in the German Empire, in the sense that Wurtemberg, for instance, is included, yet that she is to be taken in as an economic unit and that Antwerp and the other cities are to be kept for the defense of the German Empire on the North Sea. If your article means anything, it means that for military and financial purposes Belgium is to be incorporated in the German Empire as the [a] result of this war. The Chancellor himself has explicitly stated that what was done to Belgium was a wrong; and of course it is out of the question to imagine any wrong that could be committed on any unoffending neutral nation greater than that which has been committed by Germany on Belgium. Your proposal is that as the sequence to this wrong the wrong-doer shall[*[12-4-14]*] --4-- take possession of the wronged power. Now, my dear Doctor Dernberg, this is simply a frank avowal that there is no such thing as international morality; and in view thereof, it seems to me idle to discuss the question as to Germany's friendship to the United States or as to her keeping any promise she makes at this time. You have said in your public utterances that Germany will respect the Monroe doctrine and your Ambassador has said that Germany does not intend to expand territorially in America. But these declarations cannot possibly be made more explicit than the declarations of your government in respect to Belgium's neutrality. When you entirely disregard your solemn agreement in one case, you have no right to expect that any attention whatever will be paid to similar statements in another case. In view of your own words about Belgium in the publication to which I have alluded and in view of what has occurred in Belgium, it seems to me idle to ask the United States to pay the slightest attention to protestations as to what Germany would or would not do in America if it become to her interest to take a given course. If Germany becomame master of the seas, what earthly reason is there to suppose that she will refrain from seizing the Panama Canal or establishing a colonial empire in America, if she deems it her interest so to do, without paying any more regard to international morality than she has paid in the case of Belgium? My dear Doctor, I can understand, although I do not approve, the theory of acting in accordance with national self-interest without any regard to any moral obligation to any other power; but I do not understand her so acting in one case as regards one unoffending nation and at the same time expecting outsiders to believe that you will not thus act if another similar case, as regards another unoffending nation should arise. Of course if is possible for you to persuade foolish people[*[12-4-14]*] --5-- to take this view; but really, my dear Doctor, it does not seem to me worth while for you to try to get me or any other man of experience, of patriotism and reasonable efficiency to take such a view. To guard against any possible misconception, let me put my own position concisely. I have very hearty admiration for the German people. I am myself partly of German descent. I know no American citizens superior to the American citizens of German descent. I immensely admire the efficiency of the German Empire, that is of the German people and government. I greatly wish that we in America would copy this efficiency, both military, industrial and social and we can only do that if we exercise the wise forethought and show the patriotism and the capacity for labor that Germany has exercised and shown. I understand entirely the great difficulties of Germany's position with France on one side and Russia on the other. But I do not and cannot accept and I never shall accept, the German theory of internation morality as shown by Germany's action toward Belgium. What I say or do is of small moment; it is very possibly true that I represent only an inappreciable element of the American people; but I do represent a certain number of American citizens who emphatically believein international morality, in international good faith, both on the part of the United States and on the part of other nations, and who no less emphaticall believe that it is as wrong to show timidity and weakness as to show brutality and cynicism in international, no less than in private dealings. Hitherto in this war Germany has on the whole been successful and it may be that you are right in your forecast that Germany will be victorious and will keep Belgium. If so, you will not have my sympathy and if I had the power you would not have my support. On the other hand, if you and the Austrians were beaten and if there was an attempt made to[*[12-4-14]*] --6-- take at the expense of Germany and Austria the action which you so light-heartedly propose to take at the expense of Belgium, whatever I could do by words would be done on behalf of the Germans; and if I had the power, I would, in such a case, exercise that power in your behalf. I would as greatly regret to see the German nation destroyed as I would to see France or England or Russia destroyed and if I had the power I would interfere as quickly to prevent one calamity as to prevent the other. In short, my belief is that this nation should judge other nations each on its conduct; and that it should fearlessly and where possible effectively take action against wrong-doing; that it should prepare itself so as to make it unsafe for any other nation to do wrong to it; and that in its turn it should scrupulously do justice to every nation that acts rightly. Very sincerely yours, (Signed) Theodore Roosevelt. Dr. Bernard Dernberg, New York City.Form 2589 WESTERN UNION DAY LETTER TELEGRAPH WESTERN UNION AND CABLE GEORGE W. E. ATKINS, VICE-PRESIDENT NEWCOMB CARLTON, PRESIDENT BELVIDERE BROOKS, VICE-PRESIDENT RECEIVERS No. TIME FILED CHECK SEND the following Day Letter, subject to the terms on back hereof, which are hereby agreed to December 9, 1914. Farnham Bishop, 174 West 89th Street, New York, N. Y. Referring your letter seventh. If you and Mr. Hyde can come to room fifteen twenty seven, thirty east forty second street at three thirty tomorrow afternoon Mr. Roosevelt would like to see you. John W. McGrath. Secretary. Charge to Progressive National Committee.Metropolitan [1914] THE LIVEST MAGAZINE IN AMERICA 432 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK Office of Theodore Roosevelt FOR REFERENCE Copy. My dear Mr. Fisher: In response to your request of December 26th for a Message to be read at a public meeting. I give you below my theory of the "ideal christian", as I have already expressed it. The true Christian is the true citizen, lofty of purpose, resolute in endeavor, ready for a hero's deeds, but never looking down on his task because it is case in the day of small things; scornful of baseness, awake to his won duties as well as to his rights, following the higher law with reverence, and in this world doing all that in him lies, so that when death comes he may feel that mankind is in some degree better because he has lived. Sincerely yours, Charles V. Fisher, Esq., 789 Kearny Ave., Arlington, N.J.[*[January 19, 1915]*] New York Short Ballot Organization, Gentlemen: I have examined with interest your pamphlet which describes your full program for the application of the Short Ballot principle to the government of New York State. I have frequently spoken on behalf of the Short Ballot in general and I concur heartily in your specific proposals. You would make the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor the only elective state officers, leaving the others to be appointed by the Governor. I approve of this. Those little offices ought to be taken out of politics. There is no legitimate Republican way or Democratic way or Progressive way of being Comptroller or Attorney-General or Secretary of State. The only issue is as to who shall get the jobs and hand out the patronage - a matter of vast interest to politicians but a very small matter in the public mind. Those little offices are appointive now, even with direct primaries, and public control over them will be increased if the appointment is taken from the master mechanics of the political machines and vested in the first citizen of the state. The measure will not make the Governor too powerful; it will add only a small percentage to his present wide appointive power and will still leave him a very modest figure indeed compared with the Mayor of New York or the President of the United States. Superficially it seems to some honest men undemocratic to take offices off the ballot in this way. In reality it is the only thing that is democratic. [For] It is six times as hard for the people to control the Governor and his five confreres separately as it is for the people to control the Gov--2-- ernor alone, and, through him, all the minor offices. I notice some [honest] sincere but as I believe misguided opposition to making the Comptroller appointive with the rest. The fear is that some day a Governor of New York may select a weak Comptroller who will let him rob the state. [but] In my judgment that is a remote and theoretical danger. The real danger is of having the Comptroller so much under private political influence that he will protect political favorites of the machine. In view of recent history I should not think that anyone would relish the task of proving that the present method of "independent" audit had been really independent or that it had been successful in preventing frauds upon the state! I concur in the idea of abolishing the confirmation of the Governor's appointments by the Senate. The original theory of that device is obvious enough but there is no use in shutting our eyes to the fact that the theory has never been known to work as intended and probably never will. It has been constantly mischievous in practice. Meanwhile New York City, working on a much bigger scale, has conferred undivided responsibility upon its Mayor for many years and, although the city has had all kinds of mayors, the plan works admirably. [I believe in an appointive judiciary. The people can get the kind of bench they want more surely by electing the right kind of Governor and letting him appoint than by choosing these most technical of public officers amid the turmoil of elections. Our elective Court of Appeals has been less in touch with the times than the appointive courts of Massachusetts and the Federal Government. Our present bi-partisan trading of judicial nominations is substantially an appointive system and the appointing powers-3- [are out of popular reach.] The four year term for Governor is desirable. The State administration can [never] not develop the stability which must necessarily precede efficiency as long as chief executives come and go with such rapidity. Yours very truly,POSTAL TELEGRAPH-COMMERCIAL CABLES CLARENCE M. MACKAY, PRESIDENT. TELEGRAM COUNTER NO. TIME FILED M. CHECK The Postal Telegram Cable Company Incorporated transmits and delivers this message subject to the terms and conditions printed on the back of this blank SEND the following Telegram, subject to the terms on back hereof, which are hereby agreed to. [DESIGN PATENT No. 40529] 2--540 New York, Feb. 2, 1915. Mr. E. J. Moffett, Secretary to General Drain, Washington, D. C. IMPOSSIBLE TO MAKE APPOINTMENT PER YOUR TELEGRAPHIC REQUEST OF YESTERDAY J W MCGRATH "COLLECT"POSTAL TELEGRAPH-CABLE COMPANY NIGHT LETTERGRAM THE POSTAL TELEGRAPH-CABLE COMPANY (INCORPORATED) TRANSMITS AND DELIVERS THIS NIGHT LETTERMAN SUBJECT TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS PRINTED ON THE BACK OF THIS BLANK. CLARENCE N. MACKAY, PRESIDENT. COUNTER NUMBER. TIME FILED. M. CHECK [*POSTAL TELEGRAPH NIGHT LETTERMAN COMMERCIAL CABLES*] INDEPENDENT COMPETITIVE PROGRESSIVE SEND the following NIGHT LETTERGRAM, subject to the terms on the back hereof, which are hereby agreed to. 3--518 New York, Feb. 2nd, 1915 Henry W. Newhall, 15 Ashburton Place, Boston, Mass. Mr. Roosevelt regrets greatly impossibility to accept your kind invitation J. W. McGrath Charge to Progressive National Committee.THEODORE ROOSEVELT THIRTY EAST FORTY SECOND STREET NEW YORK CITY February 8th, 1915. My dear Mr. von Schleinitz: I thank you for your letter. You say that neither your letter nor my answer will be published without my consent, of which I am glad, because I do not care to go into more public discussion, in the shape of published correspondence with private individuals than is necessary, and because the tone of your letter forces me to be more explicit boundary of joy of Germany than I intend to be in public, unless I am [forced to be] obliged to be. If you have seen my book, called "America and the World War", you will see that I did defend the Kaiser. As for the "slanders", of which you speak, on the German soldiers, I have not discussed them at all, because I am not sure of the facts. If I had discussed them, I should have been obliged to say that the information I had was on the whole to the effect that very great barbarities had been perpetrated by the German soldiers and that, what was worse, it looked as if these barbarities were part of a deliberate plan to terrorize the civilian population, a plan encouraged from high up, a plan to make the Germans behave "like Huns" in order to produce a terrorizing effect. I did not make these statements public because I have not gone sufficiently into the matter; but, when you ask me the question, I answer you directly. Of course, to say that American newspapers by commenting on these outrages have been guilty of conduct attitude "far worse" than that of those committing the outrages seems to me silly. Now, as to the main part of your statement - the comparison between Belgium and Mexico. No such comparison as you seek to make is possible. Mexico were a thoroughly civilized nation and if Japan, England and the United States had ex--2- explicitly guaranteed its neutrality, most emphatically I should not dream of invading Mexico. [My dear Mr. von Schleinitz,] [o]One of the difficulties of this situation is that I know from first hand and intimate conversations with hig German officers, what no intelligent german officer would in good faith deny; that for at least fifteen or twenty years the invasion of Belgium has been looked upon by Germany as something that she would unhesitatingly [do] undertake if engaged in war with France. The documents which have been found in Brussels show nothing whatever, excepting that Belgium knew this fact, just exactly as I knew it and as all other people who had studied the matter knew it, and that she was trying to keep herself in shape for self-defense. The evidence is absolutely overwhelming that Belgium's first desire was to keep out of the war and that she would no more have permitted France and England to violate her territory than she would have permitted Germany to do so. Bethmann-Hollweg's original statement was truthful and manly. It was not "an egregious blunder", unless it is considered to be a blunder for a man to tell the truth. His subsequent statements have hurt and not helped Germany. [and no man conversant with the facts can in] Now, my dear sir, there is nothing I can add to what I have put into my book. If you see Henry Cochems, I hope you will ask him to show you my last letter to him. I do not acknowledge in this country any right of any class of our citizens to act as [a class] members of any given nationality or church instead of as good Americans. I am not for Protestant or Catholic or Jew; I am not for German-American or English-American or Irish-American or French-American or Dutch-American; I am just plain and simple United States and nothing more. I think that the worst wrong that can be committed to this country is to perpetuate here lines of division-3- based on differences of creed or differences of racial origin. I am partly of German descent myself - two of my ancestors were among the founders of Germantown, having come over here when Turenne ravaged the Palatinate. I have hardly any English blood in me, although I have Scotch and Irish, as well as Dutch and French. But I am an American pure and simple. I hold that we Americans should honestly strive to work for the betterment of mankind. The first essential is that we shall be true primarily to the United States. The second essential is that we shall judge each nation on its conduct in any given emergency. You quote the case of a German-American who you say has gone back to Germany because of his disgust with the United States for not being more pro-German. I am heartily glad he has gone back. Every such man should return to Germany. He has no business to be here unless he is in good faith prepared to be and to act as a loyal American citizen, [pure and] and only as such. [simple.] Scores of my closest friends are Americans of German parentage or descent; but they are no more "German Americans" than I am a "Dutch American." They and I are not hyphenated Americans at all. We are Americans, pure and simple; and we hold that no man is morally entitled to American citizenship unless with all his heart he [takes] holds the views of the duties of American citizenship, set forth in this letter, set forth in my correspondence with and enclosures to Henry Cochems, and set forth in my little book called America and the World War, and over and over again in in my speeches and writings. Very sincerely yours, Mr. Emil von Schleinitz, Editor-in-Chief of Germania, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.THEODORE ROOSEVELT THIRTY EAST FORTY SECOND STREET NEW YORK CITY February 9th, 1915. My dear Sir: I am sorry to say that there was no room for misunderstanding at all in this matter. Major Belcher wrote me from Washington stating that Congressman Bryan was writing me vouching for him, that he was a British officer recently serving with the New Zealand territorials, and that he would like to discuss with me some phases of the Oriental question with which he was more or less familiar because of the fact that he was just returning from the Far East and New Zealand, and was to report to the War Office. There was nothing in his letter to show that he was a correspondent of any paper, but simply a British officer on [???] duty; and indeed from your letter it appears that he was not a correspondent of your paper but that after his return to England he offered to write some articles for you about the Far Eastern situation, which articles were refused by you, and that thereupon he informed you that he had had an interview with me, which he was at liberty to give to the press. The letter of Congressman Bryan recited that "Major Ernest A Belcher, of the Reserve of Officers, British, is returning to England from New Zealand to report to the War Office." The letter stated that Major Belcher was a newspaper man of experience, who hoped to write a book on the Pacific Ocean question; but laid stress on the fact that he was now serving his former military duties. There was not a word about Major Belcher having an interview with me for publication but simply a statement that he would like to discuss briefly with me some--2-- of these questions affecting New Zealand, Australia and the Orient, and that his purpose was "to report to the War Office." Mr. Bryan further stated that President Wilson had seen Major Belcher. Accordingly I made an appointment for Major Belcher to call at my house. As soon as Major Belcher appeared, I explicitly stated to him that I could not speak with him at all unless it was understood I was to speak entirely confidentially and that nothing, was for publication. He assented, and assured me that of course he would not [report] publish any thing said, but wished to get some ideas to help him in the work - of a confidential nature - which he was doing in connection with Australia and New Zealand as regards Japan, and which I gathered he was doing for your War Office. He took no notes of what I said. Some of the statements he has attributed to me are substantially, but not verbally accurate; others are absurd falsehoods. This letter is not for publication. altho I of course reserve the right to publish it, if I see fit, and if you publish [??????] I do not desire to enter into a public controversy with a man who has behaved as Major Belcher has behaved; and your paper has no right to request me to do so. You should at once have called to know if such an interview was genuine, for on its face it was suspicious. I have already explicitly and in detail publicly given the facts about the interview. There was no misunderstanding whatever. Major Belcher was guilty of conduct which [ought to be ground of] was entirely incompatible with the assumption that he is "an officer and a gentleman." Yours truly[[*50xx*]] [*To The American Legion;*] [THEODORE ROOSEVELT THIRTY EAST FORTY SECOND STREET NEW YORK CITY] [*Sagamore Hill Oyster Bay, Long Island N.Y.*] February 22nd, 1915. [*set in 8pt bold for style see letter from Leonard Wood*] I am in the most cordial sympathy with your purpose, and I believe that the method you are adopting, that of raising what you style "The American Legion", is an excellent way of realizing this purpose. I and my four sons will gladly become members. I very earnestly hope and believe that there will be no war; but the surest way to avert war is to be prepared for it; and the only way to avert disaster and disgrace in war is [to be prepared for it.] by preparation, both military and naval, in advance. [In xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx] [xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx] In the event of war I should ask permission of Congress to raise a division of cavalry, that is, nine regiments such as the regiment I commanded in Cuba; and unquestionably the ranks of these regiments would largely be filled from the men of the Legion and would in their entirety be filled by men such as those in the Legion; for in the event of war there will be no time to train the men first called upon in such duties as shooting, riding and taking care of themselves in the open. We should as a nation have begun to prepare ourselves the minute that this war broke out seven months ago. It is absolutely impossible to be sure, when there is such a tremendous war, that we [will] shall not be drawn into it against our will. The people of this country are only beginning to realize the extent--2-- of our military and naval unpreparedness. Your proposal will help to accomplish one of the[ first and most] important things needed for defense, the formation of a first reserve, which is now entirely lacking in this country. Even the most extreme advocate of peace at any price can hardly raise an objection, since the Legion will only unify, classify and co-ordinate defensive factors already in existence. You must of course work in connection with the best men in the regular army; and I am pleased to learn that your scheme is heartily backed by our leading regular officers. I shall be glad in response to the invitation from your Executive Committee to serve as Chairman of the Board of Honorary Advisers. The indispensable thing for every free people to do in the present day is with efficiency to prepare against war by making itself able to defend its rights. It is idle for us to trust to arbitration and neutrality treaties unbacked by force. It is idle to trust to the tepid good will of other nations. It is idle to trust to alliances. Let us act justly toward others and let us also be prepared with stout heart and strong hand to defend our rights against injustice from others. I earnestly hope that all good American citizens will through you put at the disposal of the country the qualifications and the training, [that] such as each may possess, that will render him valuable to our country in wartime. [We will at once need] In the event of war we shall at once need thousands of chauffeurs, thousands of men able to organize a-3- railway corps, hundreds of aviators, thousands of engineers and many scores of thousands of men able to march, to shoot, to dig trenches, to take care of themselves when they live in the open and, above all, able to show that at need they have the fighting edge. Those men should register themselves so that their services may be immediately available if, which may Heaven forfend, war should break out. Faithfully yours, Theodore RooseveltJohn Parker NOrleans John Greenway Edward Stewart White Cecil Lyons Texas Frank Knox STHEODORE ROOSEVELT THIRTY EAST FORTY SECOND STREET NEW YORK CITY February 25th, 1915 My dear Mrs. Edwards: The enclosed letter from one of the few Americans who have hunted in East Africa, outside of Macmillan who at present has any money to spare, explains itself. If you can give me any information that you think will make a special appeal to these men, I wish you would do so; and I think it would be well to have the appeal also made through Mrs. Macmillan. But the demand here for funds for the war in Europe has been very great. Most of us, including myself, have contributed pretty nearly all we can, for there are also heavy demands made upon us in home matters I don't believe we can accomplish anything unless we have something definite to go on. Sincerely yours, Mrs. G. C. N. Edwards, 113 Coleherne Court, South Kensington, S.W. London.[enc. Hepburn 2-11-15 filed with incoming correspondence][*Letter given to H M Officers and Sir Edward Grey March 9, 1915.*] COPY. THEODORE ROOSEVELT Thirty East Forty Second Street New York City, March 2nd, 1915. My dear Mr. Ambassador: It is a real pleasure to me to introduce to you Mr. Edward B. Clark, who is about to sail for Europe as a correspondent of the Chicago Evening Post. If possible, I hope you will do whatever you legitimately can to make easier his way in England. Clark is an old and valued friend of mine. He happens to be a first-class ornithologist; and I have been brought in close touch with him in that way. But in addition he is a thoroughly good citizen. He was seven years a correspondent while I was president. I was in the closest touch with him. I was able to repose absolute confidence in his good faith and his judgment. He never failed to ring true on every occasion; and he is one of that limited number of men whom I have known to stand absolutely straight for decency, when it was to his own hurt and when it would not even be known that he had behaved himself. Faithfully yours, Theodore Roosevelt. His Excellency, Sir Cecil A. Spring-Rice, The British Embassy, Washington, D. C.[AC6026A]Copy of inscription written by Col. Roosevelt to E. W. Deming in "The Winning of the West* To E. W. Deming: [*[NO]*] Dear Mr. Deming; You are an American of the best type-and your wife and children are Americans of the kind we like to regard as typical; You know, and have been a part of, the old time west, the west of the oncoming pioneer and of the vanishing wild men and wild creatures of the wilderness; and to you the heart of the matter I write is familiar! Always yours The[a]odore Roosevelt. Letter of congratulation from Colonel Roosevelt to E. W. Deming when E. W. Deming received a contract for Indian decorations in the American Museum of Nat, History. March 5th, 1915. My dear Mr. Deming: Three cheers! I am just as pleased as possible about those two pictures. I congratulate the other party to the contract more than I congratulate you. I thank you for the two little books, which I have just received and which I very much appreciate. Good luck to you and yours! Sincerely yours, The[a]odore Roosevelt. Copy Received from Mrs Deming by Mr. Chas Moore 6/13/1922NIGHT LETTER PAID March 25th, 1915 Senator Thomas J. Walsh, Washington, D. C. The sources of my information are and have been for months open to every intelligent man. The whole matter of the ship purchase bill has for months been discussed in all its details in the public press. Every man who had looked into the matter at all knew perfectly well that we were literally purchasing a quarrel with every ship that was purchased from any of the corporations owning the German interned ships. Every man knew that the object of the bill was to purchase those interned ships. If this were not so, the proposed law would have contained a proviso expressly exempting these interned ships from its provisions. Such a proviso was on several occasions voted down, you yourself as I am informed being one of those who voted it down. The failure to put in such proviso is conclusive proof that the main object in passing the act was to purchase these very ships. Such an act was of necessity an act in the interest of the corporations, foreign or native, who had any interest in the ships; and [?????] indirectly in the interest of the German Government, one of the belligerent governments. My statement [therefore] was literally and exactly correct. President Wilson and Secretary McAdoo [Bryan] have been pushing this ship purchase bill [in every way] to the utmost of their ability. This is a matter of common notoriety and I do not suppose that anyone will pretend to deny it. Their action was in the interest of the foreign corporations owning or interested in the ownership of the interned ships. If it had not been, then those ships would have been specifically exempted from the operation of the act. This statement again cannot be denied. It is useless to attempt to deny it and it would be mere folly to get me on to testify on the matter when my information is merely that which is patent to every man of common sense who takes an interest in his country's welfare and is acquainted with the course of current events. There was no precedent for the proposed action for purchase by the Government is wholly defined from purchase by private individuals, and never before has it been proposed that our Government should purchase the ships of belligerent powers. That the purpose of its bill was the purchase of the German interned ships was in effect admitted by Secretary McAdoo in his testimony before its House Committee last summer, which testimony was quoted by Senator Lodge in his first speech in the Senate on the subject and must be familiar to you. As for President Wilson and Secretary Bryan knowing that this proposed act would bring us into conflict with the powers opposed to the power owning the interned ships, I can refer you to the speeches in the United States Senate of Senators Lodge and Root and others. I am informed that our government was officially or unofficially notified of this fact by representatives of the foreign governments with which we would be brought into hostile contact by the-2- [3-25-15] measure; but whether or not this is so any man in public position who did his duty, who was informed in any way of the sentiment in the foreign countries concerned about the measure or who had read the debates of the United States Senate or the articles in our own press on the subject could not possibly have avoided knowing that we would have been brought into conflict with foreign powers by the success of the measure; that in the words of one of your own body, we were purchasing a quarrel with every ship. It therefore appears first; that President Wilson and Secretary McAdoo [Bryan] pushed the measure. Second[ly], that it was in the interest of the foreign corporations owning the interned ships. Third[ly], that the success of the measure would have meant the likelihood of embroiling us with the allied Powers. Fourthly, that all of these facts had been stated again and again; that they were brought out at length in debates in the United States Senate and in publications of every kind; that the great benefit to the corporations owning the interned ships, which were of course foreign corporations, and the fact that the purchase was in their interest, were matters of common notoriety to every intelligent man; and that it is of course childish to maintain that President Wilson and Secretary Bryan and Secretary Macadoo [sic] did not know these facts, which every one else did know. What I have said, therefore, is not only literally true but cannot be successfully disputed in any particular. It is based on knowledge available to every one. [and] All the matters spoken of are matters of common notoriety. To ask me to testify before your committee on the subject is literally and precisely as if you should ask me to testify to the damaging effect of the Tariff Bill on the American Sugar Grower by removing the duty on sugar; or to show that the amateur war with Mexico last summer (which resulted in a greater loss of life in the American Navy than occurred in the American Navy during the entire war with Spain) was ended, and Vera Cruz abandoned, without obtaining a salute for the American flag. My knowledge as to the effects of the Tariff bill on the American Sugar Grower in Louisiana and elsewhere, as to the pseudo [sic] or amateur war with Mexico, and finally as to the Ship Purchase Bill--3-- [*[3-25-15] *] is in every case based on facts which are matters of common notoriety, which are known to all intelligent men who know anything of the subject at all, which are derived from sources as readily accessible to your honorable committee as [well] as to myself and [as well as] to all other citizens. I have no more special knowledge to enable me to testify [to] about one of these matters than about the others. In [????????] there is no need of special knowledge. The facts are public property. Everyone knows them. There is no possibility of disputing them. To ask me to come before your committee is precisely like asking Senator Root, Senator Lodge, Senator Borah, Senator Burton, Senator Smoot, and all the other Senators who were opposed to the passage of the shipping bill and to whose statements and arguments you have listened to come before your committee. No good purpose could possibly be served by coming. All that I could do would be to restate with greater emphasis what I have herein stated to you. If you desire to make an argument against what I have said, it is not proper to get me before your committee in order to make the argument. Yours respectfully, Theodore Roosevelt.Rush Paid Charge Progressive National Committee March 29th, 1915. Jerry A. Mathews, Colorado Bldg., Washington, D. C. Can you meet Mr. Roosevelt Room one five two seven thirty east fortysecond street New York Wednesday at eleven o'clock. John McGrath, Secretary. Rush Paid Charge Progressive National Committee March 29th, 1915. Captain Granville R. Fortescue, 1327 Connecticut Avenue, Washington, D. C. Can you meet Colonel Roosevelt Progressive Headquarters thirty east forty second street New York Wednesday morning eleven thirty. John McGrath, Secretary. 56023Form 2589 WESTERN UNION DAY LETTER [*TELEGRAPH WESTERN UNION AND CABLE*] GEORGE W. E. ATKINS, VICE-PRESIDENT NEWCOMB CARLTON, PRESIDENT BELVIDERE BROOKS, VICE PRESIDENT RECEIVERS NO. TIME FILED CHECK SEND the following Day Letter, subject to the terms on back hereof, which are hereby agreed to March 31, 1915 Gilson Gardner, Munsey Bldg., Washington, D. C. Please come to Oyster Bay to lunch Friday. [J. W.] Mc Grath. Rush.OYSTER BAY, LONG ISLAND, N.Y. April 2nd, 1915. My dear Sir: It is a pleasure to hear from you. I am glad to have you use my name on the international "Comite d'honneur", of which you speak, for the restoration of the University of Louvain. With great regard, Sincerely yours, M. Louis de Sadeleer, The Waldorf-Astoria, New York City.Germyn Syracuse, New York 705 Walnut Ave. May Seventh 1915. Hon. E. B. Germyn, MAYOR, Scranton, Pennsylvania. My dear Mr. Mayor: This letter will be presented to you by Mr. John H. McNeal, who has been a railroad fireman and engineer for over twenty years, and as I am an honorary member of the Brotherhood, I am interested in him. I understand that he has a clean record and of course he will show you his papers from the railroad, and he has a family of seven to support. He wants to become a city fireman. My experience is, that railroad men make unusually good officers in such position. May I ask of your courtesy that you look into his case personally, and if it can with justice and propriety be done under the law, that you consider him for the position. Hoping I am not trespassing too much on your courtesy, I am, Yours very truly,[5-7-15] McNeal Syracuse, New York 705 Walnut Ave. May Seventh 1915. John H. McNeal, Esq. 1423 Swetland St. Scranton, Pa. Dear Brother McNeal: I don't know whether the enclosed will do you a bit of good; but I like your letter and I always want to do anything I can for a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen & Engineers. You hand the enclosed to the Mayor yourself. Yours very truly, Enc.Syracuse, New York 703 Walnut Ave. May Fourteen 1915. Joseph Bucklin Bishop, Esq., UNIVERSITY CLUB, 5th Ave. & 54th St. NEW YORK, N. Y. Dear Joe: Your letter pleased me very much. You are absolutely right about the reasons why I spoke. Apparently some people thought that I would incur the undying hostility of the German-Americans and the great bulk of Irish-Americans and Jewish-Americans with hope of getting political profit! I trust and believe that I should have followed the course that I did follow, and have alienated all these folks, even if I had been eagerly desiring, myself, sometime to run for public office. But in that case I would have taken the action I did, knowing I was cutting my own throat politically. In the actual event, I felt a very real relief that, just at this time, when the country needed that somebody should say what I said, and yet when it was going to be a very unpopular thing ro to say it, that there was a man who could afford to say it without any regard to the consequences. I respect Wickersham and I respect Perry Belmont for the stand those two men have taken. It seems to me this is a fundamental issue and however much I may have disapproved of a man on general principles, yet if he is right on the great matter[5-14-15] JBB-5/14/15---------2/ before us now, he deserves my support. I can't express sufficiently my scorn and contempt for Wilson and Bryan, and the dreadful thing is, that I fear that the very hyphenated Americans of whom I have spoken, plus the flubdub and pacifist votes, give them a handsome majority in the country as a whole. But if so, it is all the more necessary that some man of prominence should have spoken the truth. I am not very hopeful about his libel suit. I do not question the Judge's integrity; but he is a part of the whole system and he has a narrowly legalistic mind, and the way he has ruled out our evidence is wicked. If his rulings are indeed law, then the divorce between law and justice is very much more complete that I had supposed. Faithfully yours,[5-14-15] Syracuse, New York 703 Walnut Ave. May Fourteen 1915. [*Empringham*] Rev. James Empringham, D.D. 615 S. Crouse Ave., Syracuse, N.Y. My dear Mr. Empringham: I am literally dumbfounded at what you tell me. It is astonishing that in the twentieth century such narrowness can obtain. It was a particular pleasure to see you the other night, and I look forward to reading your pamphlet. Give my warm regards to Mrs. Empringham and all your children; and pardon my saying that your family, even if their father was born in England, and their mother in Canada, seems to me precisely the kind of family I most like to think of as typically American. Yours very truly,Syracuse, New York 703 Walnut Ave. May Fourteen 1915. Lawrence Godkin, Esq., 26 Liberty St., New York, N.Y. My dear Godkin: Your letter genuinely pleased me. I absolutely agree with you that all other political questions become as nothing in the face of this, what you rightly call "ghastly attack upon civilization." For example, there are few men who have been more consistent opponents of mine than Perry Belmont, or from whom I have more profoundly differed; but he is right on this issue and if I had the chance now, I would support him and back him in any way. I would really rather have Barnes and Murphy at the head of our Government than have Wilson and Bryan. The two former might do unpleasant things to us, but at least they would not allow outsiders to butcher our women and children on the high seas and in Mexico. With thanks, Sincerely yours,May 28th 1915. Dear Van:- Naturally, your telegram was one which I particularly appreciated. I thank you for it with all my heart. I very much want to see you. I regard your editorials on the libel suit and the war as the very best things that have been written at all! Sincerely yours, E. A. Van Valkenburg, Esq., The North American, Philadelphia, Pa.[*Thompson*] May 29th 1915. Dear Charlie:- I liked your article in the June issue of May 23rd so much that I must write and tell you so. You put the case exactly as I wished to have it put, and I have already begun referring various enthusiastic but not over-wise friends to that article for instruction. Faithfully yours, Charles Willis Thompson, Esq., The New York Times, New York City.Tobin June 1st 1915. My dear Tobin:- I appreciate your telegram. I want to thank you for all you did for Mrs. Aspinwall. Mrs. Roosevelt and I are going to San Francisco on July 20th and will stay there for four days and we would like to be just as much with you during that time as we can! Faithfully yours, R. M. Tobin, Esq., San Francisco, California.Maxim June 3, 1915. My dear Mr. Maxim: I thank you heartily for your book on "Defenceless America." It is a capital book and I believe it is safe to say that no wise and patriotic American can fail to recognize the service that you have rendered in writing it. I hope it will have the widest possible circulation throughout our country. I was glad to see the first-class letters that have been written you by such good Americans as Oscar Straus, Garrett P. Serviss, Rear-Admiral W. W. Kimball, P. C. Gray, Holmin Day and the others. On the other hand, I was saddened by the extraordinary letter sent you by the three young men who purported to speak for the Senior Class of the College of which they were members. The course of conduct which these men and those like them advocate for the nation would of course not only mean peculiarly craven avoidance of national duty by our people but would inevitably tend to encourage the spirit of individual cowardice no less than of political cowardice. The professional pacificists, the professional peace-at-any-price men, who during the last five years have been so active, who have pushed the mischievous all-arbitration treaties at Washington, who have condoned our criminal inactivity as regards Mexico and as regards the questions raised by the great world-war now waging and who have applauded our abject failure to live up to the obligations imposed upon us as a signatory power of the Hague Conventions, are at best an unlovely body of men and taken as a whole are probably the most undesirable citizens that this country contains. But it is less shocking to see such sentiments developed among old men than among young men. The college students who organize or join these peace-at-any-price leagues, are engaged, according to their feeble abilities, in2 cultivating a standard of manhood which if logically applied would make them desire to "arbitrate" with any tough individual who slap- ped the sister or sweetheart of one of them in the face. Well- meaning people, as we all know, advocate sometimes a course of action which is infamous; and, as was proved by the great Copper- head party fifty years ago, there are always some brave men to be found condoning or advocating deeds of national cowardice. But the fact remains that the advocates of pacificists who have been most prominent in our country during the past five years have been preaching poltroomery. Such preaching, if persevered in long enough, soft- ens the fibre of any nation and above all of those preaching it; and if it is reduced to practice it is ruinous to national charac- ters. These men have been doing their best to make us the China of the Occident; and the College students such as these of whom you speak have already reached a level considerably below that to which the higher type of Chinamen has now struggled on his upward path. On the whole, for the nation as for the individual the most contemptible of all sins is the sin of cowardice; and while there are other sins as base there are none baser. The prime duty for this nation is to prepare itself so that it can protect itself; and this is the duty you are preaching in your admirable volume. It is only when this duty has been accomplished that we shall be able to perform the further duty of helping the cause of world righteousness by backing the cause of international peace not merely by words but by deeds. A Peace Conference such as that which some of our countrymen propose at the moment to hold is purely noxious, until as a pre- liminary we put ourselves in such shape that what we say will excite the respect and not the derision of foreign nations, and furthermore; until we have by practical action shown that we are heartily ashamed3 of ourselves for our craven abandonment of duty in not daring to say a word when the Hague Convention had been ruthlessly violated before our eyes. Righteousness must be put before peace; and peace must be recognized as of value only when it is the handmaiden of justice. The doctrine of national or individual neutrality between right and wrong is an ignoble doctrine unworthy the support of any brave or honourable man. It is wicked to be neutral between right and wrong; and this statement can be successfully refuted only by men who unprepared to hold up Pontius Pilate the arch-typical neutral of all time, as worthy of our admiration. Our people also need to come to their senses about the manufacture and sale of arms and ammunition. Of course the same moral law applies here between nations as between individuals within a nation. There is not the slightest difference between selling ammunition in time of war and in time of peace; because when sold in time of peace it is only sold with a view to the possibility or likelihood of war. It should never be sold to people who will make bad use of it and it should freely be sold at all times to those who will use it for a proper purpose. It is absolutely essential that we shoudl have stores where citizens of a nation can buy arms and ammunition. It is a service to good citizenship to sell a revolver to an honest householder for use against burglars or to a policeman for use against gunmen. It is an outrage against humanity knowingly to sell such a revolver to burglars or gunmen. The morality of the sale depends upon the probable use. This is true of individuals and it is no less true of nations . Wishing you all possible success, I am Faithfully yours, Hudson Maxim, Esq., Lawdin, N. J.June 18th, 1915. Dear Mr. Roosevelt: Will you have the following checks made out and mailed to your father here, so that he may enclose them with letters he is sending to the people to whom the money is due? Hancock, Spriggs & Hancock $1545.46 Costello, Burden, Cooney & Walters 1465.01 Spottswood D. Bowers 1000.00 Arthur T. Warner 6457.50 Bowers & Sands 24444.65 I am enclosing to you herewith the letter of Bowers & Sands concerning those charges, all of which are in conjunction with the libel suit. Will you return it to me? Then, if you desire it, after we send the checks, I will send you all the bills referred to in this letter and the letter itself, for your files or those of Roosevelt & Son. Faithfully yours, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., Esq., New York City.OYSTER BAY LONG ISLAND, N.Y. October 20th, 1915. My dear Mr. Page: I cannot answer you in detail on that matter; nor can any satisfactory answer be given until after a thorough assessment of the matter, which shall include [???ing] by the [experience?] of men like Charles M???? of Madison, Wisconsin. Of course, I believe that in order to secure national efficiency there must me a centralization in appropriations and in some shape or way the Executive should submit a budget. But there should also be a method of holding him to a strict accountability. As a first step, the action should bein the Reclamation Service for the first few years of its existence. Both of these great departments were handled with absolute efficiency. I am informed by Mr. Pinchot that during the last year this plan has been abandoned as regards the Reclamation Service and the vicious pork-barrel system substituted. I greatly regret this. It seems to me that the practical thing would have been to have extended the former system of dealing with reclamation plans and of dealing with the Panama Canal to other departments, including the Navy and the Army and Harbors and Rivers. As regards the tariff there should be a permanent commission; all our tariff laws have been [cons??] on vicious, and substantially similar, principles. Sincerely yours, Theodore Roosevelt Arthur W. Page, Esq., The World's Work. Garden City, New York.OYSTER BAY, LONG ISLAND.N.Y. November 20th, 1915. My dear Mr. Dutton: Even to nerves dulled and jaded by the heaped up horrors of the past year and a half, the news of the terrible fate that has befallen the Armenians must give a fresh shock of sympathy and indignation. Let me emphatically point out that the sympathy is useless unless it is accompanied with indignation, and that the indignation is useless if it exhausts itself in words instead of taking shape in deeds. If this people through its government had not shirked its duty in Mexico for the last five years, and if this people through its government had not shirked its duty in connection with the world war for the last sixteen months, we would now be able to take effective action on behalf of Armenia. Mass meetings an behalf of the Armenians amount to nothing whatever if they are mere methods of giving a sentimental but ineffective and safe outlet to the feelings of those engaged in them. Indeed they amount to less than nothing. The habit of giving expression to feelings without following the expression by action is in the end thoroughly detrimental both to the will power and to the morality of the persons concerned. As long as this government proceeds, whether as regards Mexico or as regards Germany, whether as regards the European War,[whether as regards Germany] or as regards Belgium, on the principles of the peace-at-any-price man, of the professional pacificist, just so long it will be as absolutely ineffective for international righteousness as China itself. The men who act on the motto of "safety first" are acting up to a motto which2 OYSTER BAY, LONG ISLAND, N.Y. could be appropriately used by the men on a sinking steamer who jumped into the boats ahead of the women and children. [-- and who at least do not commemorate this fact by wearing buttons with "safety first on them as a device.] Until we put honor and duty first, and are willing to risk something in order to achieve righteousness both for ourselves and for others, we shall accomplish nothing; and we shall earn and deserve the contempt of the strong nations of mankind. One reason why I do not wish to take part in a mass meeting only for the denunciation of the atrocities [committed] on the Armenians is because there are ignoble souls who have preached professional pacificism as a creed or who have refused to attend similar meetings on behalf of the Belgians, who yet do not fear to take such action on behalf of the Armenians - for the simple reason that there is in America no Turkish vote, and because Turkey is not our neighbor as Mexico is, and not a formidable aggressive power like Germany, and so it is safe both politically and materially to denounce her. The American professional pacificists, the American men and women of the peace-at-any-price type who join in meetings to "denounce war" or to [with empty words to] "protest" on behalf of the Armenians or other tortured and ruined peoples carry precisely the weight that an equal number of Chinese pacificists would have by [carry if at] a similar meeting they went through the same [similar] antics in Peking. They do harm instead of good; and they deeply discredit the nation to which they belong. [It was announced the other day, by certain politicians interested in securing votes that at the end of the war this Government would "insist" on Russia and Romania doing justice to the Jews. The conduct of this Government during the present war, and its utter refusal to back words with deeds, has made it utterly unable to "insist" on anything of the kind, whether as regards Russia or Romania or any other ???????? power. A nation that was timid to protect its own men, women an children from murder and outrage, and too timid even to speak on behalf of Belgium, will not carry much weight by "protest" or "insistence" on behalf of the suffering Jews and Armenians. Foreign powers will attribute such "protests" and "insistence" and coupled with our failure to act in cases of other nationalities merely to the fact that there is in this country neither a Russian nor a Turkish vote -- ??????????? ?????????????? despite our actions.] All of the terrible iniquities of the past year and a half, including this crowning iniquity of the wholesale slaughter of the Armenians, can be traced directly to the initial wrong committed on Belgium by her invasion and subjugation; and the [criminal] responsibility [of Germany] might be shared by the3 OYSTER BAY, LONG ISLAND, N.Y. neutral powers, headed by the United States, for their failure to protest when this initial wrong was committed. In the case of the United States additional responsibility rests upon it because its lack of influence for justice and peace during the last sixteen months has been largely due to the course of timid and unworthy abandonment of duty which it has followed for nearly five years as regards Mexico. Scores of our soldiers have been killed and wounded, hundreds of our civilians, both men and women, have been murdered or outraged in person or property, by the Mexicans; and we have not only taken no action but have permitted arms to be exported to the bandits who were cutting one another's throats in Mexico and who used these arms to kill Americans; and altho we have refused to help our own citizens against any of chiefs of these bandits, we have now and then improperly helped one chief against another. The failure to do our duty in Mexico created the contempt which made Germany rightfully think it safe to go into the wholesale murder that accompanied the sinking of the Lusitania; and the failure to do our duty in the case of the Lusitania made Germany, acting through Austria, rightfully think it safe to go into the wholesale murder that marked the sinking of the Ancona. The invasion of Belgium was followed by a policy of terrorism toward the Belgian population, the shooting of men, women and children, the destruction of Dinant and Louvain and many other places, the bombardment of unfortified places, not only by ships and by land forces but by air-craft, resulting in the killing of many hundreds of civilians, then women and children, in England, France, Belgium and Italy; in the destruction of mighty temples and great monuments of art, in Rheims, in4 OYSTER BAY. LONG ISLAND. N.Y. Venice, in Verona. The devastation of Poland and of Serbia has been awful beyond description and has been associated with infamies surpassing those of the dreadful religious and racial ears of seventeenth-century Europe. Such deeds as have been done by the nominally Christians powers in Europe, from the invasion of Belgium by Germany to the killing of Miss Cavell by the German Government, things done wholesale, things done retail, have been such as we had hoped would never again occur in civilized warfare. They are far worse than anything that has occurred in such warfare since the close of the Napoleonic contests a century ago. Such a deed as the execution of Miss Cavell, for instance, would have been utterly impossible in the days of the worst excitement during our Civil War. For all of this, the pacificists who dare not speak for righteousness, and who have [possess] such an unpleasant and evil prominence in the United. States, must share the responsibility with the most brutal type of militarists. [The weak and timid milk-and-water policy of the professional pacificists is just as ????? as the blood-and-iron policy of the ruthless and unscrupulous militarists for this terrible recrudescence of evil on a gigantic scale in the civilized world.] The crowning outrage has been committed by the Turks on the Armenians. They have suffered atrocities so hideous that it is difficult to name them, atrocities such as those inflicted upon conquered nations by the followers of Attila and of Genghis Khan. It is dreadful to think that these things can be done and that this nation nevertheless remains "neutral not only in deed but in thought," between right and the most hideous wrong, neutral between despairing and hunted people, people whose little children are murdered and their women raped, and the victorious and evil wrong-doers.5 OYSTER BAY, LONG ISLAND, N.Y. There are many sincere and wise men in China who are now endeavoring to lift China from the old conditions. These old conditions made her the greatest example of a pacificistic, peace-at-any-price, non-militaristic people. Because of their cult of pacificism, the Chinese, like the Koreans, and utterly unlike the Japanese, became absolutely powerless to defend themselves, or to win or retain the respect of other nations. They were also of course utterly helpless to work for the good of others. The professional pacificists of the United States [are seeking to make the United States follow in the footsteps of China. They] represent what has been on the whole the most evil influence at work in the United States for the last fifty years; and for five years they have [ in international affairs] shaped our governmental policy. These men, and the [whether] the politicians, publicists, college presidents, capitalists, [labor leaders, or self styled philanthropists,] have done everything they could to relax the fibre of [the] American character and weaken the strength of the American will. [They teach our people to seek that debasing] and to make us seek the dreadful security which is to be found in love of ease, in fear of risk, in the timid effort to avoid any duty that is hard or hazardous [ -- a security which purchases peace in the present not only at the cost of humiliation in the present but at the cost of disaster in the future.] They are seeking to chinafy this country. In so doing they not only make us work for our own undoing, [and] make us work for the ultimate ruin of the great democratic experiment for which our great American republic stands; but they are also rendering us utterly powerless to work for others. We have refused to do out duty by Belgium; refuse to do our duty by Armenia; because we have deified peace at any price, because we have preached and practiced that evil6 OYSTER BAY, LONG ISLAND, N.Y. pacificism which is the complement to [and] the encouragement of alien militarism. [Such pacificism puts peace above righteousness, safety in the present above both duty in the present and safety in the future.] I trust that all Americans worthy of the name feel their deepest indignation and keenest sympathy aroused by the dreadful Armenian atrocities. I trust that they feel in the same way about the ruin of Belgium's nationality, and realize that a peace obtained without restoring Belgium to its own people and righting the wrongs of the Armenians would be worse than any war. I trust they realize that unless America prepares to defend itself she can do [perform] no duty to others; and can earn only derision under such circumstances, [she earns only derision] if she prattles about forming a league for world peace, or about arbitration treaties and disarmament proposals, and commission investigation treaties, such as the unspeakably foolish ones negotiated a year or two ago at Washington and [promptly] disregarded by the very administration that negotiated them. Let us realize that the words of the weakling and the coward, of the pacificist and the poltroon, are worthless to stop wrongdoing. Wrongdoing will [only] be stopped by men who are brave as well as just, who put honor above safety, who are true to a lofty ideal of duty, and who prepare in advance to make their strength effective, and who shrink from no hazard, not even the final hazard of war, [if necessary] in order to serve the great cause of righteousness. When out people takes this stand, we will [shall] will also be able effectively to take a stand in international matters which shall prevent such cataclysms of wrong as have been witnessed in Belgium and [on an even greater scale] even more7 OYSTER BAY, LONG ISLAND, N.Y. in Armenia. Sincerely yours, Samuel T. Dutton Esq 70 Fifth Ave New York City[*Women's Home Companion*] COPY November 20th, 1915. To The Editor of the Woman's Home Companion: Through you I wish as an American as a lover of peace but a believer in courage and as a .an who believes in equality of rights for men and for women, to thank with all my heart the woman who wrote in the November number of your magazine on page 23 the article which concluded with the statement that she did raise her boy to be a soldier and that if every mother in the country would do the same, that we would be safe forever from all danger of war. I shall use what this women said in something I am about writing; and I wish to take my hat off to her and say that, heartily though I admire "John ", the master mechanic who went to the war and did not marry his sweetheart until he came back, I admire that sweetheart and wife and mother even more; and do tell her that it was Mrs. Roosevelt who brought me the article, because she liked it so much. Very truly yours, ( Signed) Theodore Roosevelt[ea Nov 1915] ("a leader who leads") Called division of my position Donald R. Richberg Synods, Can I lunch with Friday 22d in [?????] of Wednesday the 20th ReminderTHEODORE ROOSEVELT OYSTER BAY LONG ISLAND [*West*] December 10th, 1915. Mr. James E. West, Chief Scout Executive, B. S. of A., New York City. My dear Mr. West: I wish you all success in the effort to raise $200,000 for the Boy Scouts of America. I would have hesitated to do this if events had not made clear that the Boy Scouts must "be prepared" and are being prepared in such fashion as to fit them not only to be good citizens in time of peace but ready for [?] supplementary military training which shall make them able to render efficient service to the nation in time of war. Events of the past year in Europe have shown that the possession by a nation of all the virtues of peace will avail it literally nothing unless it has also the stern and rugged qualities that will enable it to hold its own when menaced by war, and finally unless it has so trained itself, so prepared itself in advance that these qualities of soul and the corresponding qualities of body will be available for immediate use if the nation's vital honor or vital interests are assailed. Until a nation has fitted itself to defend itself it is not of fundamental importance that other form its activities take. Therefore, the boys and young men of the nation must steadily be trained with this thought in view. We should copy the example of Switzerland and Australia, two of the most absolute democracies in the world, and should train our boys in the schools after they reach a certain age so that at some period between the ages of 18 and 21, they may be trained by actual service in the field with the colors to be a real and not a sham citizen soldiery. This is the only democratic system. In a democracy no man has any right to escape military training and, if necessary, military service, any more than he has the right to escape the payment of taxes. One obligation should no more be treated-2- [12-10-15] as voluntary than the other. I am glad to learn that you give merit badges for Marksmanship to be striven for by the elder boys under carefully supervised conditions. Every boy should be trained to know that every able-bodied citizen son owes a civic duty to the nation all the time and a soldier's duty in time of war. This is not a matter for voluntary action. It is not open to the right thinking boy or man to decide whether he will volunteer to be patriotic, or volunteer to have somebody else be patriotic for him. It is his duty to be patriotic. Primarily he must show his patriotism by his service to the nation in time of peace; but in time of war he owes a soldier's duty to the nation. It may not be in the fighting line but it is wherever he is best fitted to work. He should, while a boy, have such training as will help his whole general development as a useful all-round citizen of the country. As an incident to this, his training must be such that on reaching a point between the ages of 18 and 21 there will be relatively little left to teach him in order that in the event of war he can do his duty to the nation as a soldier - not much more than can be absorbed in three to six months of intensive training. The Boy Scouts like all the other boys of the country should get into their heads clearly the ides that a true democracy involves not only manhood suffrage but also manhood obligations and services in time of need and that a man who admits his obligation and makes no adequate preparation to discharge it is a poor citizen. Of course there can be no adequate preparedness for war unless there is preparedness for the duties of peace, just exactly as it is useless to prepare for the duties of peace unless we prepare also to defend ourselves. This is true in industrialism and it is even more true in training for the social attitude. The Boy Scouts should he sedulously trained so that they can act together, and at the same time each increase his individual self-reliance. There must allays be the power of acting in cooperation with others and the willingness and ability to accept responsibility and to act on one's own individual initiative. The virtues of courtesy, kindliness, unselfishness. desire[12-10-15] -3- to help others, and desire to join with others for mutual help must all be encouraged. Together with these virtues, we must also encourage the sterner virtues without which the milder ones mount to so little. As the Boy Scout develops in body and soul he must learn not only himself to treat others well, but to be able to interfere to prevent injustice by the strong against the weak. These two sets of qualities are indispensable in private life and they are no less indispensable in national and international life. The Boy Scout Movement is distinctively an asset to or country for the development of efficiency, virility and good citizenship. It is essential that its leaders be men of strong, wholesome character, of unmistakable devotion to our country, its customs and ideals as well as in soul and by law citizens thereof, whose whole-hearted loyalty is given to this nation and to this nation alone. With all good wishes, Sincerely yours, THEODORE ROOSEVELT FB 12/11/15[*12-10-15*] -4- "I should like in the first place to congratulate the Executive Board on the exceedingly temperate and fair manner in which you have dealt with this case. As regards Mr. Seton's reference to me they are not in accord with my recollection nor with historical facts. With regard to the qualifications of a Chief Scout, I agree with you that it is essential that he should be at heart and by law a citizen of the nation whose sons he is training." The officials of the Boy Scouts of America consider it obligatory upon them to give to the scout movement unmistakable American leadership. Undoubtedly our experience will tend to make more clear than ever before the necessity of all organizations having to do with boy life in America, not being dominated by men who refuse to pledge allegiance to our country and its institutions. viiDecember 14th, 1915. My dear Mr. Fear:-- I thank you for your letter and appreciate it. I remember well the active part you took and the valuable work you did in the last campaign. But, even to such a loyal friend as you, it is not possible for me to write my opinion as to the course that ought to be followed next year. By repeated and uncomfortable experience I have found that anything I say in a private letter or in a private interview even with my good and staunch friends is almost certain in the course of repetition to be misunderstood and misinterpreted. Accordingly I must have it definitely understood that I am not expected to say anything unless I speak in public over my own signature. For the last few months I have been so absorbed in the question of national defense and national preparedness to defend our honor and interest abroad and in the even greater question of real Americanism in this republic that I have not been able even to think of other matters. As regards the Progressive Party, if you will consult Progressives like George W. Perkins, Wilkinson and Childs in New York, [???????] Hale in Massachusetts, Flinn and Van Valkenberg in Pennsylvania, William Allen White, [Henry Allen] and Victor Murdock in Kansas, Ickes in Illinois, Lee in Indiana, Hiram Johnson, Meyer Lissner and Chester Rowell in California, John Parker in Louisiana, Pope in Michigan, Herbert Knox Smith in Connecticut, Kirkwood in Missouri - in short, if you will consult the Progressive leaders with whom I have been acting for four years and with whom I intend to continue to act, you will(2) find that they and I are in hearty and complete accord. In local affairs I cannot under any circumstances give any advice. Sincerely yours, (Signed) Theodore Roosevelt. Charles W. Fear, Esq., Joplin, Mo.[ca Dec. 1915] Gentlemen: I wish it were possible for me to be present to speak at your meeting. As that is not possible, I send you this line of hearty greeting + good will. It seems to me there are two matters which every good American citizen should now get clearly before his mind as regards natural defense. The first of these matters is not to mistake names for facts. Peace is not a question of names. It is a question of facts. If murders occur in a city but no police force is so incompetent that no record is made of them officially, that does not interfere with the fact that murders have been committed and that life is unsafe. In just the same way, if lives are taken by violence between nations, it is not of the slightest consequence whether those responsible for the government of the nation whose citizens have lost their lives do or not do assert that the nation is at peace. [*But*] During the last three years we have been technically at peace. But during those three years more of our citizens have been killed by Mexicans, [ca Dec.1915] 2 Germans, Austrians + Hartiens Man were killed during the entire Spanish War It is true that the American citizens killed during the past three years have been mostly non-combatants including women and children, although many men wearing the national uniform have also been killed, some of them on American soil. But the fact that women and children are killed instead of full-grown men in uniform surely increases instead of diminishing the horror. We have had a great many more killed during this time of alleged peace and thanks to the activities of the emisarries of foreign governments with the torch and the bomb on our own soil, we have had much more American property destroyed than was the case during the open war with Spain; + whereas no benefit whatever has come from the loss of life and destruction of property during the last three years ,the short war with Spain brought incalculable benefits to Cuba, Porto Rico, the Philippines, not to speak of ourselves. ----------------------- ------------------ On February 12th it will be a year since the time when we notified Germany that in case any of our [ca Dec 1915] 3 citizens were killed, we would hold her to a strict accountability; + during these eleven months many passenger ships have been sunk by German or Austrian submarines. These included among others the Falala, Lusitania, Arabic, Hesperian, Aricona, Yasaka, Ville de la Ciotat and Persian. They were British, Italian, Japanese + French. Many hundreds of Americans were among the passengers and a couple of hundred of these, including many women + children, were killed. The total deaths on these ships since March last amount to between 1900 and 2000. The campaign against them has been a campaign of sheer murder on a vaster scale than any indulged in in a like time by any of the old-time pirates of the Indian Ocean and the Spanish Main. Now the total number of lives of non-combatants including many hundreds of women and children, thus taken ----- exceeds the number of lives of combatants lost in the aggregate in all the sea-fights of the War of 1812, both on the American and on the British side. They exceed in number the lives lost by the British sailors at the Battle of Trafalgar, at the Battle of the Nile and the Battle of the Baltic combined. That is this nation has been [ca Dec.1915] 4 peaceful during the past year while peaceful ships on which its citizens were sailing lost a larger number of lives than we lost ^at sea the entire War of 1812 and than we inflected at sea in the War of 1812, a much greater loss than Farragut's fleet suffered in the aggregate in all its victories, a greater loss than Nelson's fleets suffered in his three great victories. If any individual finds satisfaction in saying that nevertheless this was peace and not wat, it is --------- hardly worth while arguing with him, for he dwells in a land of sham + of make believe. Of course, incidentally we have earned contempt and derision by our conduct in connection with the hundreds of Americans thus killed without action on our part. (in terms of peace) Every man who is both in intelligent + patriotic must therefore advocate preparedness, thorough-going and adequate, and therefore the willingness to incur the necessary expense for financing preparedness. Nearly eighteen months have gone by since with the outbreak of this war it became evident to every man willing to face the facts that [ca Dec 1915] 5 military + naval problems + international problems of every kind were infinitely more serious than we had had reason to believe, that treaties were absolutely worthless to protect any nation unless backed by armed force and that the need of pre- paredness was infinitely more urgent than any man in this country had up to that time believed. The belief that public opinion + international public opinion unbacked by force had the slightest effect in restraining a powerful military nation in any course of action it choose to undertake was shown to be a pathetic fallacy. But any man who still publicly adheres to and defends that opinion at the present time is engaged in propagating not a pathetic but an absolutely mischievous + unpatriotic fallacy. It is the simple + literal truth that public opinion during the last eighteen months has not had the very smallest effect in mitigating any atrocities or preventing any wrong-doing by aggressive military powers save to the exact degree that there was behind the public opinion actual strength which could be used if the [ca Dec 1915] 6 provocation was sufficiently great, public opinion has been absolutely useless as regards Belgium, as regards Armenia, as regards Poland. No man can assert the contrary with sincerity if he takes the trouble to examine the facts. It remains therefore for us to prepare + to prepare in adequate fashion. I commend to you very strongly the speeches + statements of Congressman Augustus P. Gardner on this subject. For eighteen months with this world- cyclone before our eyes we as a nation have sat supine without preparing in any shape or way. It is an actual fact that there has not been one soldier, one rifle, one gun added to the American Navy so far because of anything that has occurred in this war + not the slightest step has yet been taken looking toward the necessary preparedness. Such national shortsightedness, such national folly is almost inconceivable. We had ample warning to organize a scheme of defense. We have absolutely dis- regarded the warning + the measures so far officially advocated are not even measures of half-preparedness.[*[ca Dec 1915]*] 7 We should consider our national military policy as a whole. The navy is our first line of defense; but it must be remembered that it can be used wisely for defense only as an offensive arm. Parrying is never succussful from the standpoint of defence. The attack is the proper method if efficient defense. For some years we have been using the Navy internationally as a bluff defensive force or rather asserting that it would be so used & could be so used. Its real value is as an offensive force in the interests of any war and taken for our own defense. The freedom of action by the fleet is the secret of real naval power. This cannot be attained until we have at our disposal an effective military establishment which would enable us when threatened to repel any force disembarking on our coast. This is fundamental. It is only by creating a sufficient army that we can employ one fleet on its legitimate functions. The schemes of the Navy must always be correlated 8/ [ca Dec 1915] with the plans of the Army and both of them with the plans of the State Department which should never under any circumstances undertake any scheme of foreign policy or persevere in any scheme of foreign policy without considering what our military situation is and may be made. For reasons I have given elsewhere I believe that we should base our military + naval program upon the retention + defense of Alaska, Hawaii, the Panama Canal + all its approaches, including all the points on South American soil North of the Equator and of course including the Defense of our own coasts + the islands of the West Indies. To free the Navy we need ample coast defenses manned by a hundred thousand men and a mobile regular army of one hundred + fifty thousand men. As regards the Navy I call your attention in the President's message as to what the present naval program will produce is not borne out by the statements of the General Board of the Navy. For 9/ [ca Dec 1915] examples the President says that when this program is finished we will have twenty five effective battle-ships for the second line of defense. The General board on the contrary, shows that we will have but thirteen and that the other twelve are fit only for harbor defense or as a third line. In other words they are not efficient second-line ships. They are not second-line ships at all. The proposed program is a paper program. It is entirely inadequate to our needs. It is a proposal not to do something effective ineffective immediately + trust that the lack will be made good in succeeding years. Congress has never been willing to carry out the plans advocated by the General Board. Until 19119 however, the difference between what was needed + what was actually appropriated for, although real, was not appallingly great. At the very time, however, when the extra-ordinary developments of navies abroad rendered it imperative that we should enlarge our own program + treat it for more seriously than ever before, Congress stopped entirely the proper up-building of the Navy and it[*[ca Dec 1915]*] 10 present what is needed is immediately to stain every nerve of the government so that this year we will begin work on half-a-dozen formidable fighting battleships and formidable speedy armored cruisers.[*[1915?]*] [*opposed course before [??????] not after he had decided In White House told me he had controlled legislature*] Colonel Roosevelt should give us a statement on the following matters: His conversations with Barnes relative to the Agnew Racing Bills, urged by Hughes, setting forth in full, what communications he had with Mr. Belmont, that he suggested to Mr. Barnes, and later what steps he took to secure the passage of the bills and the reason why he changed his mind. Under what circumstances he came to see Senator Bayne in connection with the report of the Bayne Investigating Committee. When and under what circumstances, he first saw the Bayne investigation report. The names of various persons with whom he talked about matters referred to in this action; as near as he can, the time and place of such conversations and a statement of the substance of the conversations. It would probably be impossible to do this, as to all the persons with whom he talked, or from whom he received information, but the more important ones and the conversations and information upon which he will testify that he relied in part in writing the article complained of, should be given. A list of public documents, newspaper articles or other writings from which he secured informationconcerning the matters referred to in the action, and upon which he in part relied in publishing the statement. 2.[*(([] [].)))) [CA 1915]*] [* 4 parts are located for political means we can not mobilize any. *] [* Haze Fish [It ?] T. R. National Policy *] [* [?] Navy of } have brackets British Navy } Industry Main, Alimbird Ron Molston*] First of all there is needed a statement of a comprehensive national policy. 1. We stand for complete military preparedness. Army. Navy. (Reserves.) (Organization.) [* useless to of prprots away willit organization. *] 2. We believe in universal service. 1. For military defense. 2. For internal strength and peace at home. As a melting pot. Emphasize civic value. Physical and moral values. [*The A question pag 74 Pulls Nationals and that day that [punch] are equally good as melting pots or schools of Americanism.*] 3. We believe in national unity to be achieved in our industrial, military and national life. 1. Industrial: Railways as national units. National in corporation law. 2. Military: Location of army posts. [Federalizing the militia.] 3. Americanism: One language. One citizenship. One standard of living. A home stake in America. [* Germ philosophy in Belgium was advalld; it having had fell [out] a [?] like W. U. S. would be atood protect the needesly of Belgium against all sides [?] would not has gone days *] 4. The basis of efficient preparedness is - Industrial Preparedness: 1. Mobilizing of industrial resources. 2. Organization for national output. 3. Administration for a standard and distribution of output, as the country needs it. 4. To meet trade conditions after the war. [* Whole Europe is [out] back as taking with from National [war] point of exports is [?] *] 5. International duty: We are for Americanism for all of us. Universal service for each of us. National mobilization of industry for power and efficiency. Military defense of the country.- 2 - There is a new spirit abroad in business - it is patriotic Nationalism - service for America. National defense has awakened men to their responsibility as citizens as well as industrial leadership. Industrial preparedness means a knowledge and system by which skilled workmen at strategic points in industry, supplies and traffic shall not enlist, but will be released at the greatest point of efficiency. Railway preparedness means not only national regulation instead of control by 48 states - it means we should determine now such methods of operating roads in time of war by government officers who are also practical operating men - agreement upon a military tariff for the movement of troops and supplies; provisions for the operation, regulation and construction of roads in zones of hostility; coordination of the physical operation of the various roads in carrying supplies to points of mobilization; bringing together and training men having exceptional knowledge of handling and distributing great quantities of supplies - to constitute a reserve corps. Illustrate present situation by Mexico and what happened to you in Spanish war. The Native American. We stand for a [?] of industry; it might [?] of [?] [?][1915?] Metropolitan "THE LIVEST MAGAZINE IN AMERICA" 432 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK MEMORANDUM TO [[shorthand]] T R 6 -- [[shorthand]][*[1915]*] My dear Mr. Watson: You know how entirely I believe in your sincerity; and it is a metter of regret to me that I cannot agree with you in what you now write. And, my dear Mr. Watson, as you have written plainly to me, you will not mind my saying with equal frankness to you that I am [that] very deeply disappointed at the violent feeling you seem to have against your Catholic fellow-citizens. I do not regard such a feeling as compatible with a real and full belief in our American institutions. One of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Carroll of Maryland, was a Catholic of Irish descent. I should feel that it [was] would have been exactly as un-American to discriminate against him because of his race, creed or origin as to discriminate against his contemporary, General Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania, because he was of Lutheran German descent, or against Schuyler because he was of Calvinistic Dutch descent. As for me, it happens that of all of the public men of the United States there has been no man more bitterly and more unjustly attacked by Catholics than I have been, because of the Vatican incident in Rome nearly five years ago. On that occasion I refused, without one moment's hesitation, to yield to pressure brought by the Cardinal Secretary of State on behalf of the Pontiff himself to make me [convince] promise that I would not visit a certain-2- Methodist institution. It has been [one of the] a curious example[s] of unintelligent religious intolerance; [that] for at the same time that during the last few years [that] Protestant bigots have been attacking me because I refused to do less than justice to Catholics, Catholic bigots have been attacking me because I refused to act in Rome as regards the head of the Catholic Church in a different way from that in which I should under like circumstances have acted in Canterbury as regards the Archbishop of Canterbury or as regards any Lutheran or Reformed or other Protestant Synod or group of ecclesiastics. [But] [e]Exactly the same spirit which makes me refuse to do anything which I regard as improper on behalf of Catholics or against Protestants and which makes me refuse[s] to make me yield to any [? attitude] pressure, even from the [po] Pontiff himself, which I regard as improper, makes me (for exactly the same reasons) refuse to [? be] acquiesce in any improper action taken against Catholics, or [for] in favor of Protestants at the expense of Catholics or to submit to any dictation from any source in those vital matters [of] affecting full religious liberty and the treatment of Protestants and Catholics alike on a basis of entire and absolute [and ?] [or] justice [and decency] and fair dealing. [for Protestants.] I am not only a Protestant, but a member of the Dutch Reformed Church. I am a Mason. But I should hold myself an unworthy citizen of the United States if I failed to treat, and to insist upon the treatment of every one of my fellow citizens with absolute disregard of [h is] his creed. [w]Whether he is Protestant or Catholic,-3- Jew, Gentile or Agnostic is his own concern. He must be the master of his own soul. He must extend to others full liberty of religious belief and he is entitled to receive the same treatment himself. One of the things of which I am most proud is that when I was President, for the first time there sat in kmy Cabinet side by side Protestant and Catholic and Jew and men who were unorthodox from the standpoint of any existing church. I would fight to the last for the rights of any Protestant who was oppressed by Catholics. I would fight in similar fashion for the rights of any Catholic who was oppressed by Protestanrs. [a]And I would hold it an act of incredible baseness on my part to fail to take both positions. This is no new thing with me. I refer you to the letter I wrote in the Fall of 1908 to Mr. J. C. Martin of Ohio, which letter has been published in my Collected Presidential Addresses and Speeches and is doubtless accessible to you. I have always held these views, and I have always acted upon them. As to the particular point you raise about Mexico, I have nothing whatever to do with the Constitution of the Mexican Government to which you refer. President Wilson and Mr Bryan have actively encouraged a party in Mexico (now split into a number of bandit groups) which has committed frightful infamies against American citizens and which has also been guilty of frightful wrong-doing to many Mexicans. Many priests and-4- nuns who have suffered infamously at the hands of the bandit associations which Messrs Wilson and Bryan have encouraged in Mexico are now refugees in the United States. My concern with them is the concern of common humanity. If, instead of being priests and nuns who have been foully maltreated by the anti-clerical party, they had been Free-Masons or Protestants or men and women not belonging to any orthodox Church, who had been persecuted by the Clerical or Catholic Party, I should have protested just as emphatically and just as indignantly as I have actually done - And all my past actions, including those I have quoted to you above, guarantee the truth of what I now say. It most emphatically is the affair of the United States when, thanks to the action of the United States Presideent, hideous and revolting wrongs are committed on innocent men and especially on innocent women. Because of the action of our governmental authorities, because of the action of Messrs Wilson and Bryan,the unprincipled creatures now on top in the Mexican turmoil have been able to inflict these [wrongs] outrages. Nuns have been ravished; nuns are at this moment in maternity hospitals, awaiting the birth of children whose existence will be one long shame, whose birth means the shame of their wretched mothers; and other nuns have been under treatment for venereal diseases - and all this because the poor women, [walk] without5 one shadow of fault on their part have been exposed to the outrages of a set of bandits masquerading as members of a revolutionary party. When these facts were brought to the attention of Mr Bryan by three men, his answer was that adherents of the Huertistas had themselves raped two America women from Iowa! [*¶*] You say that the knowledge of these facts will rehabilitate Messrs Wilson and Bryan with the Southern people. I am half a Southerner; and it is impossible for me to believe that you are correct in your statement. But if you are, it certainly will not alter my position. To me it is unspeakably revolting even to consider the proposition that I am to be blamed for protesting against these hideous outrages on women on the ground, as you put it, that it is "none of our business to fight the Pope's battles." I will fight the battle of decency without any regard to whether any representative high or low[,] of any church, and without any regard to whether any opponent of any church, is for or against me. I will fight for these Catholic nuns who have been infamously treated by anti-clericals exactly as I [would] will fight for any Protestant girl or woman who was treated in similar fashion by any representatives of any clerical party. In the next issue of the Metropolitan I am dealing with infamies of this character committed by the Mexicans on American men and women - I suppose Protestants. [*¶*] If, under reversed circumstances, Catholics in the United States attacked me for assailing such outrages if committed by nominal adherents of a party fighting for the6 Catholic religion, I should pay no heed whatever to their protests. In such event I should regard them as occupying a [position] base and revolting position. Frankly, I feel in precisely the same way now about any Protestants who condemn me when I speak for women who have suffered atrocities worse than death at the hands of non masquerading as the adherents of the cause of civil liberty. I care for facts, notnames; and I stand against wrong by whomsoever committed and without any regard to the banner under which the wrong-doer professes to fight. Whether he comments wrong in the name of order or of liberty, of religion or of freedom of thought, matters nothing to me; I am against the wrong doer. You say that there will be "Hell to pay" if certain Catholic ecclesiastics, whom you name, and John Barrett (who, as far as I know, is a Protestant)) "continue to intermeddle with our politics." I have never known John Barrett to intermeddle with our politics. Of the ecclesiastics you name, there is only one who, as far as I know, has meddled with our politics, that is, Cardinal O'Connell, who has been, and I presume now is, one of my most bitter opponents and to whom I have [???] been opposed because of his [attitude toward] subserviency to Spain in our Spanish War. I paid no heed whatever to Cardinal O'Connell's attacks upon me or his opposition to me for doing what I regarded as right when certain of my Catholic fellow-citizens took a position which I regarded as wrong; and just as little shall I now pay heed to the attacks upon-7- me made by Protestants of similar type whose position I regard as equally wrong. In American affairs I treat each of my fellow-citizens, whatever his creed, whatever his wealth or poverty, whatever his occupation, exactly and precisely on his conduct. In the affairs of the world, so far as my ability and opportunity justify it, I stand for decency and humanity; and I stand against crime and brutality committed in the name [fo] of [religi] liberty exactly as I stand against crime and brutality committed in the name of religion; and in one case I hold the criminals as being beyond everything else criminals against the cause of liberty[,] . just as in the other case I hold them as being beyond everything else criminals against the cause of religion. [*X*] You also speak of Senator Lodge and myself as being engaged in a fight for militarism. As a matter of fact, all men who oppose the effort to put this country in a condition of efficient capacity to defend itself are themselves engaged in a fight for militarism. If this great free Democracy is left helpless in the face of any military despotism, we will thereby have done the greatest service we can to the cause of militarism throughout the world. If a free Democracy has not the intelligence to provide for its own defense, then it shows that it is-8- unfit for popular rule. Switzerland is the most democratic of countries; and no country has better prepared herself for defense. It is because of this fact that Switzerland is now free from invasion in this war. If poor Belgium had been as well prepared as Switzerland, that is, if she had had a thoroughly efficient army of half a million men, Belgian territory would not have been invaded and Belgium would have been free from the horrors of spoliation and subjugation. I am utterly unable to understand how [ayn] anypatriotic American can fail to back up the movement [in America] to [have] make America fit to defend her[self against] just rights [outsiders.] with her own strength. [*Insert above*] Now, my dear sir, let me point out to you something that occurred in the last election. You are very bitterly [against] hostile to "the Bourbon Democracy" and you say that the course I have followed in protesting against the outrages committed on nuns in Mexico is helping this Bourbon Democracy. I took part in the Louisiana campaign last fall in one Congressional district. In that district we elected our candidate for Congress by some fifteen hundre d majority. The district is composed of citizens who in the overwhelming majority are of French descent and Catholic by religion. The man the Progressives in convention nominated and afterwards elected was an American of old native American English9 descent, a Protestant and a Mason. He was nominated and elected over Catholics of French descent. Would it be possible to give a better example of the way Americans ought to behave in public life? I should have felt it was discreditable to these voters to have discriminated against the candidate because he was a Protestant, and I should held it just as discreditable for Protestants to discrimate against the candidate who happened to be a Catholic; and I am happy to say that I know of case after case where Protestant communities have put Catholics in high office simply because they were the men best fitted for the office[s]. Very truly yours, Thomas Watson, Esq., [Thomas] Thomson, Georgia.[*Anthier*] January 11th, 1916. My dear Mr. Anthier:-- It was not necessary to send Mr. Kellogg's letter, or the clipping, or anything else. I know all about you and I trust you entirely. I should be glad to use you along the lines you suggest, if ever it becomes necessary. It was a real pleasure to see you the other day. With hearty thanks, Sincerely yours, George F. Anthier, Esq., Minneapolis Tribune, 64 Home Life Bldg., Washington, D.C.Private January 11th, 1916. [*Griscom*] My dear Mr.Griscom:-- Thank you for your letter! I also am greatly puzzled to know how what to do that will be efficient. As a matter of fact, because of certain feelings that you will readily understand, there was probably no one in the country who more earnestly hoped for Wilson's success than I did. I would have thrown my hat for him if he had given me the chance. Now, I am not sure we can get a non-political meeting to attack him, as you suggest, for the Democrats will stand by him; and the concrete thing to do, to put us right in this contest, is to attack Mr. Wilson and to make people understand that only by attacking him and his course can we stand for what is decent. Would you be willing to see Ted and Willard Straight and George Perkins? They out to be consolidated begore we, "even in a nebulous manner," begin to think about such a mass meeting. Faithfully yours, Clement Acton Griscom, Esq., 20 Fifth Avenue, N.Y.City.[*[found mutilated 12-13-55 Dix]*] COPY January 11, 1918. My dear Mr. Shelley: I havejust seen your letter of January 2nd to Miss Stricker. First, as to the editorial you enclose about my daughter-in-law, Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt. This is an article reflecting upon my daughter-in-law who is with the Army Y.M.C.A. in Paris, because she executes commissions for the officers of the United States Army abroad, precisely as she executes commissions for the enlisted men. The article states that a United States Army Captain asked Mrs. Roosevelt to buy his sister a ring and criticizes Mrs. Roosevelt for accepting the commission, on the ground that the United States Army Captain wished to send his sister too expensive a ring. In other words, the writer of this editorial wished my daughter-in-law and the other women and girls who are serving in similar positions, when asked to execute commissions for men in the army for their sisters, to refuse, if they think the men in the army are sending too expensive presents to their sisters! This is such arrant nonsense that it is quite impossible that it can be honest. No man would be quite so foolish as to write such stuff sincerely; it must have been written in bad faith; and what is needed is for every straight-forward man to write at once to this paper saying that such action is a dog's trick. My daughter-in-law is serving in the Y.M.C.A. (exactly as the President's son-in-law is serving, and my son-in-law and my four sons who are abroad are all five of them in the army). My daughter-in-law left her three small children at home and has been devoting herself at much cost and without a cent of remuneration for six months to work in the Y.M.C.A. for the American Army. She has seen her husband for but two brief glimpses during that time. She has done the work of a waitress and of a messenger agent. Any man who criticizes her for what she has ben doing is playing the part of a coward and every decent man should make him feel that such is the fact. Now for what you say as to my going on to Washington to stay with my daughter, in consequence of the request of Senator Smoot and Congressman Madden that I should come on to Washington to confer with the various members of the Senate and House as to the best methods of speeding up the war and of making more efficient our part therein. You quote as to their statements from various former Progressives who you say have said, "when a man caters to his enemies he also insults his friends". The men whom you quote would do well to learn some lessons in elementary patriotism. Here again it is quite impossible that any man can really be so unspeakably foolish as to call my acceptance of the suggestion of men who have been my political opponents that I should go on to Washington to work for speeding up the war, as "catering to my enemies". Such a suggestion is simple nonsense and every man making it must know perfectly well that it is such. As for the persons who regard themselves as "insulted" by my working with anybody to speed up the war they show themselves to be weaklins or pro-German and anti-American. We are in this war to win. I will work heart and soul with anyone, former friend or former foe, future friend or future foe, to speed up the war and to make more efficient our conduct in the war, to win the peace of overwhelming victory and to prepare so that never again shall we be caught as shamefully unready to defend ourselves and do our duty as we have been caught in this crisis. For this end I will work with Senator ChamberlainC.H.P.Shelley - 2 - and Congressman Galvin, with Senator Smoot and Congressman Madden, with Senator Penrose and Senator Wadsworth, with Senator Johnson and Senator Poindexter, with Congressman Lenroot and Congressman Madill McCormick; and all other Congressmen who wish to work with me; [and] I will work with them absolutely without regard as to whether they are Republicans or Democrats; whether they have been against me in the past or for me in the past without regard to whether our ways may or may not diverge in the future. I will work with Socialists like Edward M. Russell and Clarence Darrow; and with Capitalists like Messrs. Vanderlip, Rosenwald and Hoover, without any regard as to their politics, asking only that they in good faith be interested in speeding up the war and making us efficient until we win the war. As soon as war was declared I did my best to work with the President and with the Secretary of War and would have served them in any way if they would have permitted it; and as it is I continue to uphold them in everything they do to speed up the war or to make us more efficient; and where there is failure in efficient action in the work of preparation for war or of waging the war, I shall call attention to the shortcomings only because it is imperatively necessary to do so in order that we may make our strength efficient and win the war. In 1854 Abraham Lincoln was taunted by foolish persons because in the new phase of the fight against slavery he joined hands with former opponents. He answered in substance "Will you let me good naturedly say that these men are very foolish? I stand with any man while he is right and so long as he is right and I stand against him when he is wrong. If some of these men are wrong on some other issue, what of it? Support them on this issue so long as they are right. To act otherwise is to be less than a man and less than an American." I am following the course which in my judgment every good American, every patriotic American citizen is bound in honor to follow. Faithfully yours, (Signed) Theodore Roosevelt) Mr. O.H.P. Shelley, Progressive State Central Committee, Helena, Mont.Form 260 WESTERN UNION [*TELEGRAPH WESTERN UNION AND CABLE*] TELEGRAM [*Jusserand*] GEORGE W. E. ATKINS, VICE-PRESIDENT NEWCOMB CARLTON, PRESIDENT BELVIDERE BROOKS, VICE-PRESIDENT RECEIVERS No. TIME FILED CHECK SEND the following Telegram, subject to the terms on back hereof, which are hereby agreed to February 7th 1916. His Excellency, J. J. Jusserand, French Embassy, Washington, D. C. MR. ROOSEVELT'S SHIP STOPS AT BASSE TERRE GUADELOUPE SATURDAY FEBRUARY NINETEENTH. (Charge Metropolitan Magazine.) John McGrath, Secretary. [*Bacon*] METROPOLITAN 432 FOURTH AVENUE NEW YORK Office of Theodore Roosevelt Feb. 25th, 1916. Dear Mr. Bacon:-- Here are the letters of which I spoke to you this morning. I have not yet seen the cable of which I spoke, but its purport was that these letters should be shown to your friend so that he might know the attitude Mr. Roosevelt has taken about the Korean matter. Sincerely yours, (Signed) J.W. McGrath. Enclos.METROPOLITAN 432 FOURTH AVENUE NEW YORK Office of Theodore Roosevelt [*Copy*] March 22, 1916 My dear Colonel Deakyne:-- Your letter to Mr. Roosevelt, asking for a personal word from him in regard to the service of Colonel Bromwell, was received after he went away. He will be back in a day or two. Do you still wish such a note from him? Sincerely yours, Secretary to Theodore Roosevelt. Lieut. Col. Herbert Deakyne[*Harper*] March 23, 1916. Dear Harper:-- I am very glad to hear from you. I am also glad to hear that you have another son. I now have two daughters, the younger being 10 months old. Mr. Roosevelt will be back to-morrow and I will have him autograph a copy of his new book and send it on to you. I will also send you a copy of his "Holidays in the Open". With best regards to Mrs. Harper and yourself, I am, Sincerely yours, [*[McGrath]*] Frank Harper, Esq., 1212 W. 31st St., Oklahoma City, Okla.Dear Sir. I most cordially support its moment to pension our [der] clergymen. The condition of the Protestant clergy of this country who occupy the rural parishes, and, of many in the cities who do the hard work of the ministry, has long been [the search of criticism] a cause of anxiety, because of the small salaries paid to these honored servants of the public good and their consequent inability to make suitable provision wither for their families or for infirmity or old age. [The path from the pulpit to the poor house has been all too easy in the past and] [i]It is now proposed to create the necessary funds which will protect deserving ministers from destitution when their hard days work is done. Such a cause [recommends itself and] should make [an irristible] a strong appeal to every lover of the church. The family life of [So long as you insist upon a married clergy so long will they] these clergymen [in of] offers a fine example to our [have the responsibility of families and provide the sons and] peoples. They and their [wot a] women] [daughters of the manse who] have contributed [so] richly to the welfare of our nation. [It iw well known that many of our leading] Their sons and daughters add notably to the sum of our citizenship. I welcome the [statesmen have been born and and reared in rural manses, and now the] movement to lift the burden of grinding poverty from [day has come to lift the burden of poverty and the shadow of] [impending financial disaster in] these thousands of homes. Sincerely yours [Confidential This from Rev. Dr. S. Parker Cadman] E.L.H. [*[May 10, 19116] [To Edward L. Hunt]*] [*32*][*[5-10-16]*] COPY [*May 9 -10-1916*] My dear Mr. Schwan: I thank you for your kind letter. You say you want Irishmen and Germans to vote for me. If I ran I should want all Americans to vote for me, and I don't care whether they were born in Ireland, or in Germany, or in England, or in France, or whether their ancestors came over in the "Mayflower". But I emphatically would not want any human being to vote for me as an Irishman, or as a German, or as a Frenchman, or as an Englishman, any more that I would want him to vote for me as a Jew, or a Catholic or a Protestant. I am straight United States and nothing else; and that is all any man ought to be in this country. I welcome the support of every good American, no matter where he was born, if he is a good American; but I do not want his support if he is voting as a foreigner in this land of ours. Moreover, you say that "I had better notify or qualify what I wrote about Belgium" and say something "more or less favorable to the German side." My dear sir, I wont modify, or qualify, in the smallest degree anything I have said during these eighteen months upon our duties, and upon the attitude that this country ought to take. Turn to what I have written in the book called "Fear God and Take Your Own Part," and you will find the position that I took, and on which side I stand. [*[*] I am not seeking the nomination, and I tell you, with all sincerity, that I am not in the least interested in my own personal fortunes. But I am vitally interested in the welfare of the United States and in American honor and national interest, and I am absolutely certain that the position that a self-respecting American ought to take.[*]*] Sincerely yours, (signed) Theodore Roosevelt. F. H. Schwan, Esq., 620 E. 103rd St., N.E., Cleveland, Ohio. [*[ac6872}*] May 11, 1916. Dear Colonel Roosevelt: I have received your letter of May 6, 1916, in the absence of Congressman Gardner, who has gone down to Virginia for a few weeks rest. Mr. Gardner's continued activities of the past year have rather used him up, and the doctor has suggested that he go away for a few weeks complete rest. I shall put your letter on his desk so that he will see it immediately upon his return. You will hear from him direct at that time. Sincerely yours, Secretary. Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, Oyster Bay, Long Island, N. Y. [*ac6572*] May 11, 1916. Dear Colonel Roosevelt: I have received your letter of May 6, 1916. in absence of Congressman Gardner, who has gone down to Virginia for a few weeks rest. Mr. Gardner's continued activities of the past year have rather used him up, and the doctor has suggested that he go away for a few weeks complete rest. I shall put your letter on his desk so that he will see it immediately upon his return. You will hear from him direct at that time. Sincerely yours, Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, Oyster Bay, Long Island, N. Y. Messrs. G. D. Pope, E. H. Doyle & others. Detroit, Mich. [*Pope*] I thank you heartily. I accept with great pleasure and in accordance with your request appoint Friday morning next. Theodore Roosevelt. [see 5-12-16] METROPOLITAN 432 FOURTH AVENUE NEW YORK [*Emerson*] Office of Theodore Roosevelt [*May 16, 1916*] Mr. Guy Emerson, National Secretary, Roosevelt Non-Partisan League, 12 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York City. Dear Mr. Emerson: [*[[*] I have your letter asking a statement from [*me*] as to the work of the Roosevelt Non-Partisan League. As you know, I have refused to endorse the use of my name in the primaries, or in any way to enter into any factional contest which has for its object ray nomination in Chicago in June. You also know that I have emphatically stated that it would be unwise to nominate me unless with the full understanding that such nomination means the hearty endorsement of the principles for which I stand—the principles set forth in the Chicago speech to which you refer.[*[*]] I do not have to improvise my convictions on either Americanism or preparedness. I have fought for them all my life long, and when I was President I translated my convictions concerning them into governmental policy. The. events of the past two years in Europe, and of the last four or five years in Mexico have brought into vivid relief the vital need of preparedness; and the sinister revival of the politico-racial hyphen in our politics has emphasized the need of stern in-[*[1916]*] METROPOLITAN 432 FOURTH AVENUE NEW YORK Office of Theodore Roosevelt -2- [in]sistence on throgoing Americanism within our own borders. Twenty-one years ago, when I was Police commissioner of New York I said "There must be a feeling of broad, radical and intense Americanism if good work is to be done in any direction. Our citizens must act as Americans; not as Americans with a prefix and qualifications; not as Irish-Americans, German Americans, Native-Americans—but as Americans pure and simple. It is an outrage for a man to drag foreign politics into our contests and vote as an Irishman or German, or other foreigner. It is no less an outrage to discriminate against one who has become an American in good faith because of his creed or birthplace." What I thus said then is what I now say. Nineteen years ago when I was Assistant Secretary of the Navy, I said "Preparation against war is the surest guarantee for peace. [A really great people, proud and high spirited, will face all the disaster of war rather than purchase that base prosperity which is bought at the price of national honor.] It is too late to prepare for war when the time for peace has passed. [*(No lP)*] [The minute that a race loses the hard fighting virtues, then, no matter what else it may retain, no matter how skilled in commerce and finance, in science or art, it has lost its proud right to stand as the equal of the best.] Cowardice in a race as in an individual, is the unpardonable sin, and a wilful failure to prepare for danger may in its effects be as bad as cowardice. The timid men who cannot fight, and the selfish,METROPOLITAN 432 FOURTH AVENUE NEW YORK Office of Theodore Roosevelt -3- short-sighted, or foolish man who will take the steps that will enable him to fight, stand on almost the same plane. [*[A]*] [*(No¶)*] As yet to nation can hold its place on the world, or can do any work really worth doing unless it stands ready to guard the rights with an armed hand. That orderly liberty which is both the foundation and the capstone of our civilization can be gained and kept only by men who are willing to fight for an ideal; who hold high the love of honor, love of faith, love of flag, and love of country. [It is true that as action can be really great unless it is great in peace; in industry, integrity, honesty. Skilled intelligence in Civic affairs and industrial enterprises altho, the special ability of the artist, the man rigid determination to wrong no man, and to stand for righteousness --all these are necessary in a great nation. But it is also necessary that the nation should have physical no less than moral courage; the capacity to do and dare and die at need, and that grim and steadfast resolution which alone will carry a great people through a great peril. [*(N. ¶) *] [In closing; let me reapeat that] [w]We ask for an armament fit for the nation's needs, not primarily to fight, but to avert fighting as long as fighting can honorably be averted. Preparedness deters the foe, and maintains right by the show of ready mighty without the use of violence. Peace, like freedom, is not a gift that tarries long in the hands of cowards, or of those too feeble or too short-sighted to deserve it; and we ask to be givenMETROPOLITAN 432 FOURTH AVENUE NEW YORK Office of Theodore Roosevelt -4- th[is]e means to ensure that honorable peace which alone is worth having." [This is what I said as Assistant Secretary of the Navy--[Native], at a time, By the way-- when I was working fourteen and sixteen hours a day, successfully, to translate the principles I thus expressed, into the naval efficiency which was shown during the war with Spain nine months later. What I then said I say now.] Your league emphasizes its devotion to these principles and supports me only as representing these principles. This is emphatically the proper attitude to take; and because this is your attitude, and because you are working in this spirit, I very earnestly approve your work. [I appreciate to the full your confidence in me as the man who should lead in the critical times ahead of us.] The safety of this country depends upon our immediate, serious and vigorous effort to square our words with our deeds and to secure our own national rehabilitation. The slumbering patriotism of our people must be waked, and translated into concrete and efficient action. The awakening must be to a sense of national and international duty and responsibility.New York City, June 16th, 1916. My dear Professor Farrand: That's a might nice letter of yours! I appreciate it to the full and than you for it. Has Professor Hiram Bingham a wife? He is a fine fellow? I would like awfully to get him and you to come down to see me. Sincerely yours, Prof. Max Farrand, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.[*File*] COPY [*Parker*] Oyster Bay, L I, N Y, 6/23/16 Dear John:- With all that you say about the Progressive Party I am in entire accord. I absolutely believe that if the people at large had been in such frame of mind that we could have brought them up to a proper appreciation of their duty and interest, the Progressive Party would now be a permanent Party. As you say, the man who joined the Progressive Party did so for the public good and not for personal or political gain. The extraordinary thing stout the party was that even where we beat the Republicans in the number of votes cast for our candidates, we never succeeded in getting enrolled in our party organization more than a small fraction of the number who enrolled as Republicans. (In other words, immediately after the election in 1912, and to a still greater extent during the two years that followed, our people began to draft back to their former political associations. The events of the last two years have left us without six states in the Union where there is a Progressive Party worthy of taking into account.) Unquestionably many good men will be damaged and disappointed by our not going on with the party organization but equally without question if we do go on with it a greater number of good men will be damaged and disappointed to a still larger degree- - I mean the good men among our former supporters; the men who stood by our ideals. There is no man in the country who has done more than you have done, and no man for whom I have a higher regard. (I am bound to say that although Louisiana is one of the three or four states in which the Progressive Party as a party continues to exist- -, altho I said a half a dozen, I can not name more than two, California and Louisiana- - I do not believe the party as such shows any real existence. Johnson has a big following, you have a big following, but apart from you two there is no strength in the party whatever. It is not really a national party.) We elected one Congressman on the tariff issue in your State, just exactly as in my time I remember Republican Congressman being elected on the same issue in Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia and Texas. I received a smaller percentage of the vote in the North than Mc Kinley did in '96 on the Republican ticket, and he carried several Congressmen. It is a very painful alternative. We have to choose between two courses, each full of objection; but personally I cannot in any shape or way set in such manner as will make me responsible for Mr. Wilson on his retention in power. Always yours, (Sgd) THEODORE ROOSEVELT P S.- (I have the deepest feeling for the Progressives in the South, the ex-Democrats; but remember, John, the South gave us far less support than any other section of the Union, and except in Louisiana, we hardly dented the Democracy; actually, our leaders included more ex-Republicans, like Cecil Lyon, than ex-Democrats like you. We did not receive enough Democratic support to enable us even to man the party, as we tried everywhere to do, with ex-Democratic leaders. The Progressive Party has not abandoned the South. The South resolutely declined to support the Progressive Party.) HE-METROPOLITAN 432 FOURTH AVENUE NEW YORK [*Vanderbilt*] Office of Theodore Roosevelt COPY July 5th. 1916. My dear Mrs. Vanderbilt: I am very much pleased to learn through Miss Kellor of the formation of the Guard Auxiliary by you in company with Mrs. O'Ryan and various other ladies. I most heartily wish you well. I know that already in various regiments and companies, the wives of the various officers have got together to help the families of the enlisted men who have gone to the front. This organization of yours will help put the matter on a systematic basis. The men, of course, can do better work if they know that their families are provided for. This provision should be a military matter. It is a sound practical way of doing an essential part of the work of preparedness, and moreover it is the true democratic ray of handling the matter, and it is free from all connection with the ordinary applications for relief and for charitable work. Thanks to our national folly in not having provided a system of universal training and universal service, any action taken in support of the country is at present necessarily taken at the expense of the most patriotic and high-minded citizens. It is therefore a matter of duty, as well as of common sense patriotism, to help organizations such as yours, which endeavor is to provide that too heavy a burden does not fall on the wives and children of the men who go to the front. Again, wishing you all possible success, I remain, Faithfully yours, (Signed) THEODORE ROOSEVELT. Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt, % 71st Regiment Armory, Park Ave. & 34th St., New York City.Copy. July 20th, 1916. Sir: I have at last seen a copy of your letter of July 11th to me. I have never seen the letter itself, and do not suppose you sent it to me. All that is necessary for me at the moment to discuss is your quotation from what you allege I said in a private conversation held with you and Mr. Connolly when you called at my house. The only other person present was Mr. Connolly, who has sent me the following telegram in relation thereto: "Yesterday at meeting of Progressive State Committee I publicly denied Mr. Hopkins statements relative to our interviews with you. I recall no such expressions as he attributes to you, and I certainly should have remembered them if you made use of them." Owing to the extreme difficulty of quoting accurately a private conversation from memory, and from the opening such a habit gives to untrustworthy persons to color and pervert what was said, it has become an axiom of honorable conduct among gentlemen that such conversations are not to be quoted. A man who quotes them is very rarely honorable, and a man who is not honorable is very rarely truthful. I am glad that Mr. Connolly was present, and that he of his own accord made the statement given above. Your alleged quotations from me are not in accord with the facts. I shall, however, refresh your memory one point. You stated you would have supported Mr.Copy. -2- Hughes if we Progressives had nominated him earlier in the year. I think, but am not sure, you mentioned Frebruary as the date. You stated that this would have put the Progressives in an excellent personal position, and would have humiliated the Republicans by forcing them to follow the Progressive lead. In other words, you were willing to support Mr. Hughes if his nomination could be brought about in a manner that would satisfy your vanity and spite: You were not willing to support him on broad grounds. Yours truly J. A. H. Hopkins, Esq., 49 Wall Street, New York, City.[Eve in Hopkins 3-27-16] [*Willcox*] August 8th, 1916. My dear Mr. Willcox: I have prepared the little volume containing the official action of the Progressives, my own speeches, and the letters of endorsement of Mr. Hughes and Raymond Robbins. All the worth of this depends upon its being gotten out at once. I you hold it up much longer, you might just as well give it up entirely, and I might as well abandon my efforts to get the Progressives in line. The next thirty days are going to determine whether we do or do not get the Progressives. It is a serious mistake on the part of the committee not to have this pamphlet ready for widespread distribution. We should have 100,000 distributed at once. By at once, I mean Saturday next. I do not believe you understand the difficulties we are meeting in getting our Progressives into line, and every day of delay in getting out this pamphlet has meant just so much more difficulty on our part. We are not going to be able to do quite as well now as we could last week; but there ought not to be twenty-four hours delay after you get this letter.[*[8-8-16]*] -2- Please wire me at once. Very much of my own action in the Campaign must depend on whether we get this pamphlet out. For example: we have just heard from Maine, from Progressives, who state not effort is being made to show them why I took the action I did. The Republicans in Maine are telling the Progressives that I refused to run because I know I would be beaten. If the Progressives got this idea in their heads, you can guarantee that they will vote for Wilson, and the only way to offset this is by the widespread distribution and circulation of this pamphlet. Please have this attended to instantly. I expect to receive some of the volumes for distribution myself next Saturday, and I count on your seeing that this is done. Sincerely yours, William G. Willcox, Esq., Republican National Headquarters, New York City.[*[ca 9-7-16]*] Dear Madam Mr. Roosevelt has instructed me to thank you for your interesting letter of the 7th and to express his regrets that he can not assist you in the matter . I am returning this patents enclosed - Mr ---- Paper returned [*R. H. Post, Secy]*] Metropolitan "THE LIVEST MAGAZINE IN AMERICA" 432 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK MEMORANDUM TOMetropolitan "THE LIVEST MAGAZINE IN AMERICA" 432 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK MEMORANDUM TO [*[ca 9-9-16]*] My dear Sir. I regret that until after the campaign Mr. Roosevelt will not be able to prepare or make any addresses beyond the work he is doing. I might suggest your again inviting him some time in November or December - [*[R.H. Post, Secy]*] [*Carbon*][* [ca 9-11-16] *] METROPOLITAN "THE LIVEST MAGAZINE IN AMERICA" 422 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ MEMORANDUM TO My dear Sir, Mr. Roosevelt wishes me to thank you for your letter of the 11th, but he regrets extremely that his time is so taken up at present that he can not possibly give you the time that you ask for. [*R.H Post, Secy*][*[9-12-16]*] Metropolitan "THE LIVEST MAGAZINE IN AMERICA" 432 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK MEMORANDUM TO My dear Mr Matheny, Colonel Roosevelt [can not] [with] is supporting Mr. Hughes loyaly and as strongly as he's in his power [because he believes that the] [only patriotic] in public and in private. He would not do so unless he believed that this was the only proper and patriotic course to pursue. [*[R.H. Post, Secy]*] [* Carbon *][*[Ca 9-12-16]*] Metropolitan "THE LIVEST MAGAZINE IN AMERICA" 432 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK MEMORANDUM TO My dear Mr. [Kengelli] - It is quite impossible for Colonel Roosevelt to write a special article for the News, but I have asked Mr. Johns McGrath, in the Republican National Committee, 511 Fifth Ave to include the News among the papers who receive advance copies of his important speeches for release when delivered - It might be well for you to communicate with him also - [*[R. H. Post, Secy]*][*[Ca 9-19-16*] Metropolitan "THE LIVEST MAGAZINE IN AMERICA" 432 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YOUK MEMORANDUM TO My dear M[*r.*] Long, Colonel Roosevelt has instructed me to thank you for your kind request that he serve on the Board of the [Nahma?] School Camp Association, but he regrets that he can not accept any new responsibilities, much as he approves of the object of your work. [R. H Post, Secy][*[ca 9-26-16]*] Senor José Elquero, Senor Colonel Roosevelt has instructed me thank you for your courteous and instructive letter of September 25th. He deeply regrets that the limited time at his disposal prevents his [discussing] replying to it [at] as amply as the matter deserves.[*[ca 9-25-16]*] Senor José Elquero. Senor Colonel Roosevelt has instructed me thank you for your courteous and instructive letter of September 25th. He deeply regrets that the limited time at his disposal prevents his [discussing] replying to it [at] as amply as the matter deserves.Metropolitan THE LIVEST MAGAZINE IN AMERICA 432 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK Office of Theodore Roosevelt Regis H. Post Sept. 16th, 1916. My dear fellow Progressive: The primaries, for nominating candidates of our party will be held on Tuesday next Sept. 19th from 7 A.M. to 9 P.M. You will find on the Progressive ballot, as candidates for Congressman, the names of Frederick C. Hicks and Lathrop Brown -- Both will be the candidate of their respective parties -- There is no Progressive competing for our nomination. I am writing you this letter to urge you as strongly as I can to go to the primaries and vote for Mr. Hicks, as I believe he best represents[*[ca 9-26-16]*] My dear Mr [Tauch?] Colonel Roosevelt is too busy with campaign work to answer his personal mail so you must excuse my doing so for him. Mr. Roosevelt, and most of the progressives are supporting Mr. Hughes because we honestly believe that he will represent the honor & dignity of the United States better than Mr Wilson has done. Mr. Roosevelts own opinions are expressed honestly & possibly in the speeches he has made and will make during the campaign. [R.H. Post, Secy]the principles for which we stand. A vote for Mr. Brown is a vote for Mr. Wilson's policies - A vote for Mr. Hicks is a vote against those policies. For four years our party under the leadership of Mr. Roosevelt has opposed Mr. Wilson's administration, and we as a party urged Mr. Roosevelt to run against Mr. Wilson; and to nominate Mr. Brown would be to absolutely reverse our position and would be inconsistent with the Progressive National Platform. It is of paramount importance that you vote at this Primary: If the Progressive Party is to retain any influence whatever or to be in a position to perpetuate the principles for which it stands, it can only be accomplished by each and every member showing his willingness to vote and his interest at the polls. I am not writing this as Chairman of the County Committee but as a Progressive that has the welfare of the party at heart, and because I honestly believe that our organization cannot survive unless every member does his duty conscientiously as he sees it. Very sincerely yours,[* [ca 9-27-16] *] My dear Mr. Graham Mr. Roosevelt was very much touched by your letter of the 27th but unfortunately, he is not in a position to be of assistance to you personally. [R. H. Post, Secy.]Metropolitan THE LIVEST MAGAZINE IN AMERICA 432 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK Office of Theodore Roosevelt Regis H. Post Sept. 16th, 1916. My dear fellow Progressive: The primaries, for nominating candidates of our party will be held on Tuesday next Sept. 19th from 7 A.M. to 9 P.M. You will find on the Progressive ballot, as candidates for Congressman, the names of Frederick C. Hicks and Lathrop Brown -- Both will be the candidate of their respective parties -- There is no Progressive competing for our nomination. I am writing you this letter to urge you as strongly as I can to go to the primaries and vote for Mr. Hicks, as I believe he best represents the principles for which we stand[* [ca 9-29-16 ] *] My dear Mr. Mc Cleunas Colonel Roosevelt is in the middle of his western speeches - and can not give your letter the attention it deserves at this time, but he has asked me to thank you most heartily for it, and to say that he will [take] give it more assistance later. [*[R. H. Post, Secy]*]the principles for which we stand. A vote for Mr. Brown is a vote for Mr. Wilson's policies-- A vote for Mr. Hicks is a vote against those policies. For four years our party under the leadership of Mr. Roosevelt has opposed Mr. Wilson's administration, and we as a party urged Mr. Roosevelt to run against Mr. Wilson; and to nominate Mr. Brown would be to absolutely reverse our position and would be inconsistent with the Progressive National Platform. It is of paramount importance that you vote at this Primary: If the Progressive Party is to retain any influence whatever, or to be in a position to perpetuate the principles for which it stands, it can only be accomplished by each and every member showing his willingness to vote and his interest at the polls. I am not writing this as Chairman of the County Committee but as a Progressive that has the welfare of the party at heart, and because I honestly believe that our organization can not survive unless every member does his duty conscientiously as he sees it. Very sincerely yours,[* [ca 9-30-16] *] My dear Mr. Wright I am extremely sorry but Colonel Roosevelt has been obliged to make a rigid rule across to give letters - of recommendation to any one. [If he was to make an exception he would do immediately] [R H Post _ Secy]the principles for which we stand. A vote for Mr. Brown is a vote for Mr. Wilson's policies - A vote for Mr. Hicks is a vote against those policies. For four years our party under the leadership of Mr. Roosevelt has opposed Mr. Wilson's administration, and we as a party urged Mr. Roosevelt to run against Mr. Wilson; and to nominate Mr. Brown would be to absolutely reverse our position and would be inconsistent with the Progressive National Platform. It is of paramount importance that you vote at this Primary: If the Progressive Party is to retain any influence whatever, or to be in a position to perpetuate the principles for which it stands, it can only be accomplished by each and every member showing his willingness to vote and his interest at the polls. I am not writing this as Chairman of the County Committee but as a Progressive that has the welfare of the party at heart; and because I honestly believe that our organization cannot survive unless every member does his duty conscientiously as he sees it. Very sincerely yours,SENT FROM The Brown Palace Hotel DENVER TELEGRAM Oct. 25th, 1916. George W. Perkins, Esq., c/o Republican National Headquarters, 511 Fifth Avenue, New York City. There is no use in my speaking unless I say the things I think the country needs having said. This applies to the Wanamaker meeting just as much as to the other meetings. As I am committed to the Chicago meeting I will not cancel it, but I would not have accepted it if when the arrangements were made I had been told they did not wish me to speak just as strongly on Americanism as when I went there last April. [I don't care a rap about the condition of the campaign. I am not making a speech for one week.] I am in this campaign at all only because of what I regard as the permanent demands of the country, demands made by its honor and interest. I will meet any weekly or daily changes in the campaign as they occur of course but I will not [cheat] change[s] the fundamental issues on which I am speaking. [I The In] I will see McGrath in Chicago with pleasure. If agreeable to the committee please tell Mr. Childs' I will gladly dine with him Saturday evening. [Theodore Roosevelt.]am more than willing not to speak at all however; I do not desire to accept the Wannamakers invitation in view of the feeling about my Chicago speech, for if I [wal] accept another invitation to speak it must be on the copylist indentending that I do not in the smallest degree change [my] from what long speeches were prior to do convention. As I am already committed to Brooklyn and am exceedingly anxious not to hurt Mr Hughes campaign I will not cancel it. [But]October 30, 1916. [*COPY*] My dear Mr. Drake: That's a capital article. I am obliged to you for your courtesy. Faithfully yours, Herbert A. Drake, Esq., Blake Building, Camden, N. J.October 30, 1916. [*COPY*] My dear Mr. [???] Yick Nam: That's mighty nice of you! The other day I said that Mrs. Roosevelt and you were the only people who never forgot my birthday. I thank you for the beautiful handkerchiefs. With high regards, I am, Faithfully yours, Mr. Quan Yick Nam, 28 Henry State, New York, N. Y. [*Groome*] Nov. 9th, 1916. My dear Colonel Groome: Will you tell Miss Mayo to come out to Oyster Bay before 5 o'clock some day next week, letting me know in advance. It will be a real pleasure to see her. I shall have a rough draft of my introduction to show her. I am very glad that you liked my Cooper Union speech. Faithfully yours, John C. Groome, Esq., 1216 Walnut St., Philadelphia, Pa.METROPOLITAN 432 FOURTH AVENUE NEW YORK December 9th, 1916. Office of Theodore Roosevelt [*See if carbon is in file if so leave it there*] Dear Mr. Johnson: Many thanks for the interesting picture. As for Remington, I agree with you absolutely, but unfortunately my acquaintance does not lie among men of means, With real regret, Sincerely yours, Merle Johnson, Esq., Douglaston, L.I.Metropolitan THE LIVEST MAGAZINE IN AMERICA 432 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK Office of Theodore Roosevelt December 11th, 1916. [*Take this carbon out*] My dear Mr. Ewing: I thank you for your courteous letter. It seems to me that this is not a matter for me to go into personally, but needs the attention of the Government. I am entitled to no more, and to no less, protection than would be given President Wilson, or Mr. Taft, or Mr. Bryan, or the most conspicuous man in public life, or the humblest man in private life. I do not believe another patent should be issued by the Government of the type designed, to cast reflection upon any citizen. The citizens should not be required to defend themselves; the Government should refuse to act against the citizen, and in favor of individuals striving to make profit at the real or supposed expense of someone else. Faithfully yours, Thomas Ewing, Esq., Commissioner, Dept. of the Interior, United States Patent Office, Washington, D.C. [*Letter to F. N. ??????? charge Madison ?????? Author*] METROPOLITAN 432 FOURTH AVENUE NEW YORK Office of December 18, 1916 Theodore Roosevelt Dear Major: It is not often I send a photograph, but I send one to you very gladly. You need not have the least anxiety about my forgetting you if I am ever allowed to raise that Division. But, Oh Lord, there are moments when I think we are beginning to run neck and neck with the Chinese, as the greatest of the yellow nations. Faithfully yours, Major Hugh D. Wise, 15 William Street, New York City. December 20th, 1916. My dear Mr. Kermode: I am very much obliged for the report. It is interesting, of course, as everything your Museum does is interesting! You people in Canada have set us so good an example in so many things that I hope you will set us a good example by refusing to kill off all the sea lions, and by getting a game warden to protect the seabirds on the Barren Island Bird Reserve. With hearty good wishes, Sincerely yours, Francis Kermode, Esq., Museum of Natural History, Victoria, B. C. Ferguson December 21st, 1916. Dear Isabella and Bob: "On the Anzac Trail" has come and I can already see that I shall read it with absorbed interest. By the way, I was rather disappointed to see the other day that the Australians had voted down universal, obligatory service, or conscription as they call it, being influenced largely, it is [alleged] though, by a poem as monkish as "I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier." What in the name of Heaven has come over the English -- speaking peoples? We still have plenty of men of the right stuff, but the astounding thing is that there should be a majority, or a large minority, which are right down to the Chinese level. Two or three numbers hence in the Metropolitan Magazine, I will [shall] have an article holding up Canada as an example to the United States, which I hope you will read. I wish I could have see you and Isabella, but I thoroughly enjoyed my three days with Bob. I am sorry to say he is [was] a rather refreshing contrast to most of my associates, even including good Bronson Cutting. I was genuinely shocked to find Bronson not really interested in the horror and disgrace of what has occurred along the border, but absorbed in a local fight to see which of the two sets of unsavory creatures [was] the most unsavory. My campaign speeches-2- are to be published soon and I shall inflict a copy upon you. Well, this doesn't seem to be very much of a Christmas [for] anybody anywhere in the world, from the national standpoint. Personally, we shall have a lovely time, for I expect most of the children and grandchildren here, and the stockings have already been filled, and everything is prepared for the day. How I wish that your two children and both of you were here also! That would make it perfect! Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Faithfully yours, Mr. & Mrs. R. M. Ferguson, Terrone, New Mex. P.S. I have read the Anzac book, and am delighted with it; by George, I like the last few pages where he goes for the slackers and pacifists.[12-21-16] December 22nd, 1916. Dear Mr. Russell: Colonel Roosevelt has handed me your letter of December 14th and while I do not know anything about the letter in question, I will look for it and if I can find it will gladly make a copy and send it to you. Sincerely yours, Mr. Isaac Russell, c/o Evening Mail, Broadway & Fulton St., New York City. December 27th, 1916. My dear [Sir] Mr. Aron: That's very kind of you, but I simply cannot undertake any new work now; it is not a possible thing. You have no conception of how busy I am. I am very sorry your decision is as it is. A Happy New Year! Sincerely yours, Mr. Harold G. Aron, 50 Pine Street, New York.[1916?] SAGAMORE HILL. Dear Mac, Here is part III of the Metropolitan articles. Let the paper have my "Unemployment" address today. Arrange to have me see Fiala on Tuesday. Yours, T. R. I am in hearty accord with the general purposes of your movement, but I am so driven to death that I have not the time to give specific advice. I really regret this. [REPLY TO MAYNE 1-2-17]January 4, 1917. My dear Mr. Ambassador, This will be presented to you by Dr. Woods Hutchinson, an old and valued friend of mine. Dr. Hutchinson is an American citizen, and a stanch supporter of mine! He is, by birth, an Englishman, and at the outbreak of the war offered his services to Sir Fred Treves and Sir William Osler, to do anything that would not cause him to forfeit his American citizenship. He is, I need hardly say, a stanch re-ally. He desires to go abroad to inspect certain medical and sanitary matters. If you can properly assist him, I should be very glad. Sincerely yours, His Excellency, M. Jusserand, Washington, D.C.January 8, 1917. My dear Judge Kenefick: I wish I could be present at the Buffalo meeting to speak on behalf of the Belgians and Poles, and against their enslavement. As that is impossible, may I, through you, express my deep sympathy with your meeting and its purpose. This nation owes it to itself to refuse to be neutral between right and wrong. Our prime duty, of course, is the duty of self-defense, the duty of protecting the honor and the interest of this country, and of guaranteeing our own people against wrong. But second only to this duty, comes the duty of making our views heard, and, if possible, our weight felt on the side of righteousness and against iniquity in international affairs. We are false. to the memory of the great Americans of the past, if we sit by with our hands folded, and fail to make an effective protest when such hideous enormities are practiced as those practiced by Germany in Belgium. I believe that similar deeds have been done in Poland; but as regards the Belgians, and as regards the men and women deported from northern France, we have not had merely ample, but minute information. The men and women in northern France have been seat into state slavery in Germany, and over 100,000 Belgians have suffered-2- the same fate. They are sent to Germany so that by their labor they are aiding Germans in killing their fellow countrymen. No such infamy has been perpetrated in any [war] between civilized powers for over two centuries. It is for us, as the largest neutral nation, to remember that when neutrals fail to protest against action of thin kind, they become accomplices in wrong-doing. A private individual, who sees some powerful law breaker knock down a helpless woman or child, and who himself makes no protest and no effort at rescue of any kind, is rightly regarded as being tainted in some manner with the crime. Exactly the same kind of condemnation should be meted out to this nation for not having interfered to the extent of its power, in the effort to prevent the hideous iniquity that has just been perpetrated. I am very glad that this meeting of protest hem been canal! Sincerely yours, Judge Daniel J. Kenefick, Chairman, Committee of Protest on Enslavement of Belgians and Poles, 1105 Chamber of Commerce, Buffalo, New York. TELEGRAM January 10th, 1917. Mr. P. A. Baker, Bliss Building, Washington, D.C. COLONEL ROOSEVELT WILL SEE YOU AT OYSTER BAY FIVE PM FRIDAY J.M. STRICKER, Secretary. "COLLECT"January 25th, 1917. My dear Mr. Reinach: I greatly appreciate the volume you have sent me. I shall read it at once, and I know with pleasure. Will you permit me to express my unbounded admiration for your great and gallant nation? Faithfully yours, M. Joseph Reinach, Bibliotheque-Charpentier, Paris, France. Metropolitan TTHE LIVEST MAGAZINE IN MEICCA 432 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK [*Lirelte*] Office of Theodore Roosevelt January 15th, 1917. Gentlemen: The skin and the skeleton of the wolf have come, and they are fine shape. I am greatly obliged to you, and I enclose herewith a check of [*forty dollars, I ==*], I thank both of you. Sincerely yours, To [*===*] Barthflimi [*=== Jr. === Lirelte*] St. Raymond, [*====*] [*Prince of Quebec Canada*] [*doz copies*] [*Farnham*] Sagamore Hill, January 19th, 1917. Mr. Charles W. Farnham, St. Paul, Minnesota. Dear Mr. Farnham: I most heartily wish you success in your meeting. The deportation of the Belgians to work as state-serfs in Germany, for their conquerors, like the similar atrocities committed on the men and women of Northern France and of Poland, is a hideous crime against humanity. It calls for no mere perfunctory protest but for the kind of protest that makes itself felt. If the men of Lexington and Bunker Hill and Trenton were right, then the Belgians are right now; and when we tamely acquiesce in such infamies as have been committed in Belgium - of course, still more, when we tamely acquiesce in such infamies as have been committed against our own people, in cases like that of the Lusitania - we show ourselves unworthy to be the heirs of the Americans who followed Washington, and upheld the hands of Lincoln. Since the days of Pontius Pilate, neutrality between right and wrong has been recognized by all high minded men and women as itself immoral. What we need is not to promise action in the nebulous future, but to act now, in the living present. Any promise of ours about entering into international peace leagues, or guaranteeing the peace of the world, or protecting small nationalities hereafter, is worse than worthless, is mischievous and hypocritical, unless we make our words good by action in the case that is uppermost in the present. Until we can and do guarantee peace in Mexico let us not talk loudly and make empty guestures about guaranteeing the peace of the world. Unless we are willing to run some risk, and make some effort, to right the wrongs of Belgium in the present, let us refrain from indulging in insincere declamation about protecting small nations in similar cases in the future. And let us make no absurd promises about "enforcing" peace at some remote period in the future, until by foresight and labor and service and self-sacrifice we have shown that we have spiritually prepared ourselves to make our words good, and until materially we have made ready our vast, but soft and lazy strength. Very truly yours, Theodore Roosevelt.METROPOLITAN 432 FOURTH AVENUE NEW YORK. Office of Theodore Roosevelt January 22, 1917. [*take this carbon out of file*] [Dear Mr. Culbertson: If your book is at all improved, it will be a marvel! I really look forward to seeing it, although I am a little melancholy that my name should be included with Croly's. It will be a pleasure to see you at any time. Sincerely yours, W. S. Culbertson, Esq., Federal Trade Commission, Washington, D.C. January 26, 1917. Dear Governor Johnson: This will introduce to you, Mr. Frank Vanderlip of New York, of whom I have written you. Faithfully yours, Hon. Hiram W, Johnson, Executive Chambers, Sacramento, Cal.[*Gardner*] January 31, 1917. Sir: At this time I cannot sanction such a plan as you mention, without greater knowledge than I now have. For example, I should have to know whether the plans contemplated interfere with the blockade. I do not with under the guise of philanthropy, to take any action which will do damage instead of good. You could, however, shape the form of your activity in a way which would work nothing but good. The one pre-eminently neutral and entirely useful organization is the Belgian Relief Commission. This country should by governmental action, provide ample funds for that commission; funds amounting to several millions of dollars. All the warring nations will approve such action. It will undoubtedly slightly benefit the Germans, but the French and English nevertheless, from humanitarian motives, will not object, and it will partially relieve the Dutch, who have done most to care for the Belgian refugees, and who are struggling under the load. Moreover, the lives of many thousands of Belgians depend absolutely upon this relief being continued. Therefore, I heartily advocate any movement [to induce the Government to appropriate] whatever proportion of a hundred millions of dollars is necessary for the Belgian Relief Commission at this time. When once the war is over, I hope that we will appropriate [far] more than a hundred millions of dollars to help the sufferers in all the devastated and war-worn countries. It is even more essential that [*[1-31-17]*] -2- we should devote money [*to*] our own protection, that is [to] preparedness, and especially [*to*] universal military training, but if we are so foolish as not to do this, and not to prepare to defend ourselves, let us at least show that we have some instinct of genuine self respect in the cause of humanity, and that we are willing to appropriate money to [*help*] those who have suffered so bitterly. Sincerely yours, [*Gilson Gardner Washington, D.C.*] TELEGRAM New York, January 31, 1917. Gilson Gardner, 637 Munsey Bldg., Washington, D. C. Colonel Roosevelt is sending you another letter today by mail. J. M. STRICKERCOPY [*Baker*] February 2nd, 1917. Sir: I have already on file in your Department, my application to be permitted to raise a Division of Infantry, with a divisional brigade of cavalry in the event of war (possibly with the permission to make one or two of the brigades of infantry, mounted infantry). In view of the recent German note, and of the fact that my wife and I are booked to sail next week for a month in Jamaica, I respectfully write you as follows. If you believe that there will be war, and a call for volunteers to go to war immediately, I respectfully and earnestly request that you notify me at once, so that I man not sail. Otherwise, I shall sail, and in such case, I respectfully request that if or when it becomes certain to go to war, you will direct that a telegram be sent to me, at the Metropolitan Magazine office, New York, from whence a cable will be sent me to Jamaica, and I shall immediately return. I have prepared the skeleton outline of what I have desired the Division to be, and what men I should recommend to the Department, for brigade and regimental commanders, Chief of Staff, Chief Surgeon, Quartermaster general, etc. etc. etc. The men whom I desire for officers and enlisted men are, for the most part, men earning their living in the active business of life, and who would be glad to go to war at their country's call, but who could not be expected, and who would probably refuse to drop their business and see their families embarrassed, unless there is war, and the intention to send them to war. So it is not possible for me to do much more in the way of preliminary action, that I have already done, until I have official directions. Very respectfully, Hon. Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War, Washington, D.C.COPY February 7th, 1917. Sir: I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter, informing me that I could go on my trip to Jamaica. It had crossed my letter to you informing you, that in view of the President having broken off diplomatic relations with Germany, I should of course abandon my trip. In the event of being allowed to raise a division, I should of course strain every nerve to have it ready for [efficient] official action at the earliest moment, so that it could be sent across with the first expeditionary force, if the Department were willing. With this end in view, I am desirous of making all preparations that are possible in advance. I have intended, in the event of being allowed to raise a division, to request the Department to appoint Captain Frank McCoy, of the regular army, as my divisional Chief of Staff, with the rank of Colonel. Would it be proper for me to ask that he be permitted now to come on and see me here, so that I may immediately go over with him all the questions that it is possible to go over at this time, in connection with raising the division? Very respectfully yours, (Signed) Theodore Roosevelt Hon. Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War, Washington, D.C. Feb THE METROPOLITAN OFFICE OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT New York, February 13, 1917. Dear Mr. Collins: I don't know whether I will have such a position in my gift. If I were able to take you with me, it would be a pleasure; but I know nothing now as to what can be done, and therefore can not make any promises. Sincerely yours, THEODORE ROOSEVELT Mr. Paul V. Collins 1330 Massachusetts Avenue N. W. Washington, D.C February 20, 1917. My dear Mrs. Johnson: Good for you! I will do my best for your boy, if the occasion arises. Tell him to get in touch with me at once. You understand, of course, I cannot make any promises, for I don't know what I will be allowed to do. Sincerely yours, Mrs. Bessie K. Johnson, Avenida Cinco De Mayo 10, Mexico City, Mex. [*?08*] February 22, 1917. My dear Colonel:- I am a good deal at a loss what to say to you in reply to your letter of February 17th, 1917. Mann is a very peculiar individual. He is as sure of himself as any man I ever knew. If [*COPY*] Jimm Mann could know your feeling about him without being told it, it might do good. All of us, I think, sometimes retreat before dangers which we in our inner consciensness [????????]. Few of us retreat when the danger is pointed out openly. To put the case in an extreme way:- Suppose that I were to show Jim Mann your letter. If he were a leader of the ordinary type, it would probably drive him still further in the wrong direction. However, he is not a leader of the ordinary type, and my impression is that the sight of your letter would make him angry without particularly changing his course one way or the other. On the other hand, Nick is exceedingly adroit, as you know. I think that he could let Mann know the substance of your letter without giving offense and, in fact, in such a way that Mann would scarcely be conscious of the fact that Nick had spoken in anything except the most general terms. Accordingly, I am taking the liberty of showing your letter to Nick. The amount of applause which the House gives to Hamp Moore is certainly disgusting. But what disgusts me even more is the greater amount of applause which the House gives to the slushy, semi-patriotic, semi-pacifist, semi-heroic speeches. I am tired and annoyed, ----2---- So perhaps my judgment of the mood of the house; but here it is for what it is worth. In my opinion there is a large majority of the member of the house who are fervently praying that may not be put on the cold hillside of a Yea and May vote which means anything whatever. On the other hand, I believe that there is a majority which will follow the President in anything he asks for even in a declaration of War if the Present works it up a little first. The majority in support President will be larger and larger in inverse ratio to the seriousness of his demands. Sincerely yours, Colonel Theodore Roosevelt Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York. P.S. Mr. Lufkin, who is taking this dictation, tells me that my analysis of the House is correct. I consider that he paid me quite a little compliant. He gets his information a good deal from the Press Club angle. C O P Y [*[ac 6572] *] ----2---- So perhaps my judgment of the mood of the House is not good; but here it is for what it is worth. In my opinion there is a large majority of the member of the House who are fervently praying that way not be put on the cold hillside of a Yea and May vote which means anything whatever. On the other hand, I believe that there is a majority whatever. On the other hand, I believe that there is a majority which will follow the President in anything he asks for even in a declaration of War if the President works it up a little first. The majority in support of the President will be larger and larger ratio to the seriousness of his demands. Sincerely yours, Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York. P.S. Mr. Lufkin who is taking this dictation, tells me that my analysis of the House is correct. I consider that he paid me quite a little compliment. He gets his information a good dear from the Press Club angle.[*Col R letter by hand*] [*for file*] COPY. Sagamore Hill, Feb. 26, 1917. Dear George: I am sending you back your really noble address. I use the word advisedly; for no other expresses lofty sanity, foresight, and understanding. Your set forth the principles on which a statesman of today should act; and it is astounding to think that our capering fools - self-styled radicals and self-styled reactionaries alike - should be blind not only to these acts, but to the part you have played and to the way in which your deeds have made good your words. Your quotation from Jefferson was peculiarly happy. The two letters, which I re-enclose, are full of melancholy interest, chiefly because in their just indignation wit the facts they refuse to face the facts. Davis points out that in 1916 millions of people did not vote, partly, doubtless, because they had no way to vote which really satisfied their ideals. But he forgets that in 1912 the votewas very much lighter; yet in that year men could do exactly what he says they now desire to do; and they not only refused to do it, but refused to vote at all. In both Montana and Massachusetts we did just what Shelley and Davis say we ought now to do; and in each case we finally became an impotent or slightly mischievous faction under the lead of the Mat Hales. We do not have before us the choice between good and evil, at present; we have merely the choice between greater and lesser evils. At present any movement to establish a third party would excite in the general public no emotion except contemptuous derision; it would not accomplish as much as the present "American" or "Labor" parties, under Sulzer. But what the next two or three years will bring forth no one can say. Any effort in 1852 to "organize" a third party would have been utter folly; yet in 1854 the third party came by force of events. Davis is mistaken in thinking that the difference between radical and conservative is the natural and (present) difference, and that wisdom always lies with the radicals. It does generally; but very often not. Every great and wise statesman has been now radical, now conservative, and has been right in both positions. Washington led the radicals in 1776 and the conservatives in 1789; and he was right in both cases. Lincoln stood with the radicals to abolish slavery and with the conservatives to save the Union; and he was right in both cases. Yours ever, (Signed) Theodore Roosevelt. Mr. George W. Perkins, 71 Broadway, City.COPY. [*file*] Sagamore Hill, Feb. 28, 1917. Messrs. Edward F. Sanderson, Percy Stickney Grant, Stephen S. Wise. Gentlemen: I cannot accept your proposal of the 21st because I regard it as a waste of time to debate non-debateable subjects. To debate with Mr. Bryan his views against National Preparedness would in my judgment be precisely on a par with debating the undesirability of monogamous marriage or the morality of abolishing patriotism or the advantages of the reintroduction of slavery or the right of Judges to accept bribes from suitors or the duty of submission to the divine right of kings, or the propriety of action such as that of Benedict Arnold. At different times in the development of mankind practices such as all of these have actually obtained in certain societies, and have been defended by men of good intelligence. But every society that has advanced to the grade of morality and civilization necessary for the acceptance of the ideals and spiritual leadership of Washington and Lincoln has done so only by treating as axiomatic, and therefore as no longer debateable, certain great truths, such as the need of a clean standard in domestic relations, the wrong of slavery, the iniquity of corruption in public servants, and the high duty of preparedness - which is itself the handmaiden of effective patriotism. If a private man commits bigamy, or if a Judge readers a decision for money, we treat the action not as a subject for debate, but as a matter for punishment. Yet the moral harm wrought by either wrongdoer is slight compared to the damage done this nation by the man who argues against the patriotic duty of preparedness, as that patriotic duty was advocated and practiced ty Washington and Lincoln.-2- To debate the duty of preparedness, as the foundation for the performance of all other patriotic duty, is useless unless as a preliminary we undo the work of all our greatest men of the past, dissolve this nation into dust, and start at the beginning by deciding whether it was worth while for Washington to have founded the nation, and for Lincoln to have saved it. If we decide these questions in the affirmative, it then becomes mere silliness to debate either whether it is worth while to be patriotic or whether it is a patriotic duty to prepare to defend the country which was thus founded and thus saved. During the last years of the Byzantine Empire the question as to whether its citizens ought to prepare themselves to fight in their own defence, did become a subject for debate; and accordingly the Byzantine Empire went down to well-deserved destruction. China accepted and acted on the doctrine now preached by Mr. Bryan; and half her territory is now under alien control. But every forward-looking and enlightened citizen of China is at present actively endeavoring to prepare his country for both war and peace; and it is only the more backward among elderly chinese reactionaries who would now treat Mr. Bryan's thesis as debateable. The unpreparedness upheld by the advocates of professional pacifism does not, as is sometimes said, represent a high although impractical ideal. It is profoundly immoral and in actual practice has been conclusively shown by the events of the past few years to inspire and abet the commission of the meanest sins not only against our own country, but against the cause of international duty. American pacifism, throughout these years, has been the timid apologist and potent ally of the ruthless brutality of German militarism, both when that militarism been exercised against small neutral nations like Belgium and when it has taken form in the murder of our own men, women and children and in the dishonor of our flag.-3- Men who question the need of preparedness would do well to read the noble took of James Beck, entitled "The War and Humanity". Mr. Beck is of German descent, and comes from the peace loving Moravian stock; but he is an American, and nothing else; and, like every other man worth calling a man, dearly though he loves peace, he puts righteousness ahead of peace. In one paragraph he sums up the most pregnant of the many lessons this terrible war should hold for our people, saying:- "Possibly half the tragedies of history are due to military unpreparedness and in no way has the solemn warning of the Preacher been more strikingly illustrated; 'Where there is no vision, the people perish.' " When the Chosen People were tottering to their fall, they were deaf to the warning of the great prophets, even as we today have been deaf to the warnings thundered across the ocean. A Salvation Army friend has recently called my attention to the words of Jeremiah (49, 31-2):- "Arise, get you up to the wealthy nation, that dwelleth without care, saith the Lord, which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone. And their camels shall be a booty and the multitude of their cattle a spoil ....... and I will bring their calamity from all sides." We are a wealthy nation; we dwell without care and treat the fact that we dwell alone as a merit; and now we propose to debate the wisdom of having neither gates nor bars while on all sides loom the ominous figures of the bringers of calamity. Assuredly alien forces will make of us a booty and a spoil unless in time we show that we are not unfit to be the sons of the men who with iron courage faced the iron days; unless with forethought and resolute endeavor, before it is too late, before our doom is upon us, we set ourselves to train our vast gallantry, but our soft and lazy, strength. THEODORE ROOSEVELT.COPY. Sagamore Hill, Feb. 28, 1917. Dear George: Shaffer is sound. He is on a wholly different plane from the extremists. I believe he represents a much larger proportion of the people because of the very fact that he does not represent the ultra-ideas of some of our friends - many of whom, by the way, are ultra not only in entirely different, but in absolutely contradictory directions. Well, whether he is right about you and myself or not, I am glad that he feels as he does! At the moment I am most concerned about the national Administration and the fact that the Republicans have given no adequate alternative of leadership to Wilson's cowardly incompetence. Hughes and Taft seem but little better than he is, if at all; choate and Root are but the merest trifle better. Aside from you and myself the Progressive leaders - so far as any exist - have taken no public stand whatever/ Wilson seems slowly drifting into a war-without-fighting, from which will naturally come a peace-without-victory. The hideous thing is that our people are in such a Chinese condition of soul that they respond with enthusiasm to his infamous leadership - the cultivated classes, as shown by their special organs, being apparently not a whit above the general level. I, of course, now say nothing about him, because during what may be the preliminaries of war, when I have asked leave to raise my division, I wish to shape all my energies to the one end of getting the division and having it sent to the front; just as, if I get it, I shall shape all my energies towards making it a fighting instrument of the first class. Well - "we're not having our rathers this trip"! Always yours, (Signed) THEODORE ROOSEVELT.[REPLY TO STARR] 3-8-17 [[shorthand]] Duty - Century Foreword [poty] [*[3-18-17]*] The [L] cartoons of Louis [Raemakers] Raemaekers constitute the most [honrable] powerful of the [lasting] honorable contributions made by neutrals to the cause of civilization in the world war. Of course it is the combatants themselves who have furmitted as [towering figures] heroes, [of] for good [and] or for [of] evil, [of light and gloomy darkness], who in history will stand out for ever more, as [the] towering [chiefs] figures[,] of light or of gloom, against the lurid background of the war. The [smaller] weak neutral nations lacked the power to do aught, and are free [of] from blame - The one [powerful] neutral suffering powerful ro hCW played a great part, the United States, has [played] chosen instead to play a most ignoble part. In [all] these neutral [nations] countries certain prominent individuals have [played] done mean [parts.] things, [from] either because of timidity, or because of greed of gain. [or] Among those who have acted manfully Louis Raemackers stands foremost in the influence he has exerted. Peculiar credit attaches to him, and [therefore] in consequence of L's his [nation], country, Holland; for Holland lay under the very shadow of Germany; and therefore to bear testimony against the emigrants of Germany showed a [berne] departed soul; whereas [of to, had] those who lived on this side of the ocean [be] could [have whether] [sight] act in safety.About [higgins] Botts 48 o.z. Bean 3280 Bryant Dr. & Mrs Faux Hurd 43 E. 72nd St Ph 9825[(3-18-17)] 2 He had no national feeling against the Germans. He was himself half German by blood. Doubtless had the wrong been done by England and France he would have assailed them with the same flaming sincerity of truth telling that he has shown in dealing with Germany. He decided his course of conduct as regards nations just as he would have decided in the case of individuals. He judged them on their conduct in the crisis under consideration. This is the line that we ought all of us to take. Exactly as we admire the Germany of Koerner and Andreas Hofer in its struggle against the tyranny of Napoleon's France, so we should sternly condemn and act against the Prussianized Germany of the Hohenzollerns when it sins against humanity [humans]. Germany enticed [forced][began] Austria into[to] beginning the war by [force][backing] encouraging her [ into be] to play its part of a bully towards little Serbia. She began her own share of the war by the Belgian infamy; and she has piled infamy on infamy ever since. she brought Turkey into its war and looked on with approval when her ally perpetrated on the Armenian and Syrian Christians [infamies] cruelties worthy of Tamerlane. She has practiced [in a cold] with cold calculation every species of forbidden and abhorrent brutality, from the use of poison gas [in its fields] against soldiers to its[3-18-17] 954 957 4-[3-18-17] 3 use of conquered civilians as state slaves and its wholesale bully of women and children. No civilized nation in any war for over a century has [begun] been guilty of a little of the barbarity which Germany [she] has practiced as a matter of cold policy in this concert. Her offenses against the United States -- including its repeated murder of American women and children -- have been of such a character, and have been committed on such a scale, that if our leaders in office had possessed even the smallest spark of the fire that burned in the breasts of Washington and of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, we would now [be exerting] ourselves be taking part in the war, both for the sake of our own honor and for the sake of [its far] international justice and fair dealing among its nations of mankind. [From the outset] One of the a chief of Mr. Raemaekers' services has seen his steady refusal to fog the issue by denouncing war or militarism in terms that would [?] condemn equally [its war brought] a war of ruthless conquest -- -- much as that waged by Germany against Belgium -- and a war in defense of the fundamental rights of humanity -- such as that waged by Belgium against Germany. Timid souls, who lack the courage to stand up for the right, and utterly foolish souls who lack the vision to stand up for the right and who yet feel ashamed not to go through the motions of doing so, find a ready [refuge] and safe refuge in an empty demonstration of [war [?] bears] all war [?] his to never objected by the wrongdoer. [for if] On its[[shorthand]] [3-18-17] No ticket Bonnar and 6247 3 - tickets Mr[3-18-17] 4 contrary it is in his interest, for to demand was in terms that [who] include those who are in defense of right, is to show oneself its ally of those who do wrong. The American pacifists have been the effective allies of its German militarists. The whole professional pacifist movement in the United States has been really a movement in its interest of [the serin] the evil militarism of Germany. He Henry Ford peace ship [and] was a conspicuous example of this. Another was the "League to enforce [international] Peace" [of which] the leaders and foremost promoters of this league endorse the manhood to denounce it [and] amongst [as] such Germany was actually committing in the present and sought to distract attention from their own failure to perform duty by grand eloquent promises as to what they intended to do in the nebulous future. Raemaekers possessed too virile a [soul] nature to high a scorn of [baseness] all that is base and evil to be guilty of such shortcomings. His soul flamed within him at the sight of the horrible evil wrought in Belgium by the German invasion, and by the [gradually] knowledge searched into his soul, that the worst manifestations of wrong doing were due not to the sporadic excitement of private soldiers who lead cast of the shackles of discipline, but to its methodical, disciplined, coldly calculated and ruthlessly executed designs of the German [evil] [milita] military authorities. With extraordinary vigor he has portrayed phase after phase of this evil [dwelling] abetting with a burning [friend] intensity of sympathy its sufferings of the women and children,[3-18-17][3-18-17] 5 and with a burning intensity of indignation its callous and brutal exultation of its oppressors over the woe they inflicted. He has left a record which will last for many centuries; which may[?] will last as long as the written record of the crimes it illustrates [?] He draws evil with the rugged strength of Hogarth and in the same spirit of vehement protest and anger. He draws sorrow and suffering with all of Hogarth's depth of sympathy, and often with a touch of tenderness and refinement that was necessarily lacking in the works of the great eighteenth century humorist. His pictures should be [studied] everywhere. Doubtless they would do most good in Germany. But with the exception of Germany the country which needs them most is our own. Germany has wronged the helpless. We have looked on with an indifference due to fear, to greed, to sheer shortsighted inability to grasp what it all meant; and we have drugged our uneasy conscience with the phraseology of a cheap sentimentality, applauding its empty gestures and windy eloquence of our advanced excuses for our own failure to dare greatly and our refusal to [h]ead the hard and dangerous path of honorable duty. Theodore Roosevelt Sagamore Hill, March 18th, 1917[3-18-17]COPY. TELEGRAM March 19th, 1917. To the Secretary of War, Washington, D.C. In view of the fact that Germany is now actually engaged in war with us, I again earnestly ask permission to be allowed to raise a division for immediate service at the font. My purpose would be after some six weeks preliminar training here to take it direct to France for intensive training so that it could be sent to the front in the shortest possible time to whatever point was desired. I should of course ask no favors of any kind except that the division be put in the fighting line at the earliest possible moment. If the Department will allow me to assemble the division at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and will give me what aid it can, and will furnish arms and supplies as it did for the early Plattsburg camps, I will raise the money to prepare the division until Congress can act and we shall thereby gain a start of over a month in making ready. I would like to be authorized to raise three three regiment brigades of infantry, one brigade of cavalry, one brigade of artillery, one regiment of engineers, one motorcycle machine gun regiment, one aero squadron, and of course the supply branches, and so forth. As Captain McCoy whom I asked to have detailed to me as Chief of Staff has been sent to Mexico, I would ask that Captain Mosely be immediately assigned as a Chief of Staff and Lieutenant Colonel Allen, Major [?????] and Major [???????] as brigade Commanders. I would further ask for one regular officer of less rank, whose names I will suggest to you, for about every eight hundred or one thousand men in the division. Theodore Roosevelt.March 19, 1917 NiD Baker To the secretary of War Washington D.C. Keep this on file In view of the fact that Germany is now actually engaged in war with us I again earnestly ask permission to be allowed to raise a division for immediate service at the front. My purpose would be after some six weeks preliminary training here to take it direct to France for intense training so that it could be sent to the front in the shortest possible time to whatever point was desired. I should of course ask no favors of any kind except that the division be [sent to] put in the [the front] fighting line at the earliest possible moment. If [you] the Department will allow me to assemble the division at Fort Sill Oklahoma and will give me [the] what and it can a and will furnish arms and supplies as it did for its early Plattsburg camps. I will raise the money as[3-19-17] [make ready] prepare the division until Congress can act and [with] we shall thereby gain a start of over a month in making ready. I would like to be authorized to raise three [??] three regiment brigades of a infantry, one brigade of cavalry, one brigade of artillery, one regiment of engineers, one motorcycle machine gun regiment, [one signal], one aero squadron, and [to supply ??] of course the supply branches and so forth. As captain McCoy whom I asked to have detailed to me as chief of staff has been sent to Mexico I would ask that Captain Mosely be immediately assigned me as chief of staff, and Lieutenant Colonel Allen, Major Howze and Major Harbord as brigade commanders. I would further ask for one regular regular officer of less rank whose names I will suggest to you for about every eight hundred [or] or one thousand men in the division. Theodore RooseveltMarch 20th, 1917. Gentlemen; I accept with great pleasure, the invitation to speak at the Semi-Centennial Celebration of Nebraska's admission to the Union, in mid-June next. As soon as Chancellor Avery end Mr. Bushnell explained the kind of speech they wished me to make, I told them I would make every effort to do so. , Accordingly I shall speak upon the subjects I have most at heart - Americanism and Preparedness; upon the need of an absolutely undivided national allegiance in this country; and upon the need of every young man being trained substantially along the lines of the Swiss system in time of peace, so that in the event of war he can do his service to the nation in whatever position it is deemed he can best render that service. Our people represent many different race stocks, just as they represent many differed creeds. But we must recognize no difference from the standpoint of Americanism. I denounce as unpatriotic any effort to divide our people along political lines, or race, or creed. I an against all who make such an attempt, whether as German-Americans, or English-Americans, Or Irish Americans, or for matter of that, native Americans, Lot us all be Americans and nothing else, with an absolutely undivided allegiance to this country, jealous of her honor, ready at any moment to serve her, not merely with words, but with deeds, and judging every foreign nation in every crisis solely by that nation's conduct that crisis. We must none of us permit either love for any other country, or hatred for any other country, to influence in the smallest degree, our simple hearted devotion to the honor and interest of our own land. Very sincerely yours, (signed) Theodore Roosevelt. Mr. Frank H. Woods, Chairman, Mr. H. N. Bushnell, Mr. H. K. Burket Mr. Chas. Stuart Mr. J. E. Miller Mr. W. S. Whitten, Secy. Mr. S. Avery Mr. C. C. Quiggle Mr. C. J. Guengel Lincoln Commercial Club 56583COPY. Sagamore Hill, March 23rd, 1917. To the Secretary of War, Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your telegram in answer to my telegram of the 19th, and will govern myself accordingly. I understood, Sir, that there would be a far larger force than a division called out; I merely wished to be permitted to get ready a division for immediate use in the first expeditionary force sent over. In reference to your concluding sentence, I wish respectfully to point out that I am a retired Commander in Chief of the United States Army, and eligible to any position of command over American troops to which I may be appointed. As for my fitness for command of troops, I respectfully refer you to my three immediate superiors in the field, Lieutenant General S. B. M. Young (retired), Major General Samuel Sumer (retired), and Major General Leonard Wood. In the Santiago Campaign I served in the first fight as commander first of the right wing, and then of the left wing of the regiment; in the next, the big, fight as Colonel of the Regiment; and I ended the campaign in command of the brigade. The regiment, 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, in Which I first served as Lieutenant Colonel, and which I then commanded as Colonel, was raised, armed, equipped, drilled, mounted, discounted, kept for two weeks on a transport, and then put through two victorious aggressive fights, in which we lost a third of the officers, and a fifth of the enlisted men, all within a little over fifty days. I have the honor to be, Very respectfully yours, (Signed) Theodore Roosevelt.3/23 [1917] Dear Russell Those 2 letters are capital. Done in such a hurry I can only say how glad I am to see them JackMy dear Mr. Richman The grapefruit have come. They are fine. I thank you & greatly appreciate your kindness. [?????] [*[reply to Richman 3-31-17]*] [*O'Loughlin*] April 12th, 1917. Dear Cal: I had telegram to the effect that my letter should go forward immediately, to the chairman of the two committee, so I have sent them on this evening. Faithfully yours, Mr. Cal. O'Loughlin. Hibbs Bldg., Washington, D.C.[*[1917 Apr 12] *] To the Chairman of the House Committee on Military Affairs Sir, In accordance with our conversation [*, *] I have the honor to submit to you my views in writing I most earnestly and heartily support the ministration bill for providing [*for *] an army raised on the principle of universal obligatory military training and service I cannot too strongly emphasize in spirit of the Administration in this [?], and my appreciation of the need of introducing [the] principle as a permanent feature of out [*policy* ] national policy: it is to really Democratic principle, [all] only principle fit for a [*free *] Republic which should be based on equality of both rights and duty so that universal [service] suffrage and universal service should go hand in hand. It is [only on that] along the lines proposed by the Administration that we [ *can view *] shall inaugurate [*a *] on permanent military [, and it] policy and it is as only this that we can carry on the war in proper manner if it should last [over] a year or two or three years or over - and as one can foretell how long it will last. But of sure a great [?] of this 565241 War rooms? 2 Can [?] transfer attention to [?] [?] ? 3 Reason for [?] [?][4-12-17] 2 kind, a system entirely in [?] this country, can not be [?] [?] [they] [proposal is] Having mostly, probably at least a year or [?] [must] must elapse before [we] the [?] this raise would be available for use in Europe, in the hard, [agg?] [?] [?] which it or honorably incumbent on us to understand now that we have [?] into the war. My proposal is to use the volunteer system [to] not in the smallest degree as a [?] for, but [?] the at present [?] supplant to obligating system. Certain of the volunteer organizations could be used [?] very [?]; they could be put into the fighting within four months. They could therefore be used from the beginning as an integral proportion of the expeditionary forces sent abroad; a proposition which would be of [?] The volunteers would therefore [?] as to take an effective part in the war much sooner than would otherwise [?] this case. They would [?] [?] pure [?] from the military standpoint, [*56525*][4-12-17] 3 for the law could provide--or Departmental regulation could provide--that they should be composed exclusively (same list the Secretary of War might make exceptions) of men who would not be taken under the obligatory service law. There are many hundreds of thousands of men in this country who are of first class fighting material available for service within very short times who would eagerly volunteer to go to war but who would not be included among those levied under the obligatory service acts and who could not be expected to enter the regular army or the militia.--My proposal is that we utilize these men, who would otherwise remain unutilized; that we utilized them to send in the fighting line during the many months when otherwise we shall [if] have few or no men in the fighting line; that we utilize them as volunteers because otherwise they would not be utilized at all. To make use of them as pre proposed in this letter would not mean the deduction of a single man from the forces raised under the obligatory system law; they would represent purely the addition of a [large] considerable body of[*[4-12-17] *] 4 troops available for use almost instantly I therefore propose that [a motion] there [should] be added Co W New York land a section based or section 12 of the Prog poba of March 2d 1899. This section parted for raising the [30.000] 35.000 volunteers [unt?] into thirty regiments, able did most of the [?le] in spirit down it. Fitchered [in?] [?] purposed section might do as following - "The President is hereby authorized to raise a force of not more than 100,000 (or 200,000) volunteers to be recruited as be may [*deepen*] Lettermen from the county at large and to organize the same as infantry or cavalry recruits or in other units, and to appoint officers for the same, there officers to be appointed and retained or reduced or discharged in accordance with the rules which be may lay down. All enlistments for the volunteer force thus organized shall be for the term of three years or the duration of the war, unless sooner discharged. These organizations would [like] be intended for one star service, as way its case will those rat red in in 1899. 56527[*[4-12-17]*] 5 Under the act I should ask leave to raise for immediate service overseas with the first [?] an infantry division of three three-regiment brigade and one [div] divisional brigade of [?] together with an artillery brigade, a regiment of engineers, a motorcycle machine gun regiment and an [aero?], [a signal [?]] a signal corps, the supply service [?]. I should request the War Department for the detail of say two officers for ever thousand men. I send you herewith a letter for the committee containing the names of some of those officials whom [?] might [?] in our conversation yesterday; I do not think it should be published at present inasmuch as of course the suggestions would be purely provisional and subject to the pleasure of the War Department. I believe that acting under the direction and with the aid of [?] Department. I could [have the] raise the [?] and have it ready to begin [?] to France [unless] in [about] two or three months, my idea would be to have its intensive training in gas work, bomb-throwing, [*56528*][4-12-17] 6 bayonet fighting and trench work [?] in sand, they would then be sent into the trenches when they were thoroughly prepared. As for my [?] to command [troops] in the field I respectfully refer you to my three immediate field commanders [in] the Cuban campaign, Lieutenant General S. P. M. Young, Retired Major General Samuel [?] [?], and Major General Leonard Wood. In the first fight of the campaign, the [?] fight, I commanded first the right wing and then the left wing of the regiment. In the record, [?] [?] [?] fight, I commanded the regiment. I ended the campaign in command of the Brigade. The regiment with which I first served as Lieutenant Colonel and afterwards commanded as Colonel, was [?], armed, equipped, drilled, mounted, [demounted], [kept] [two] weeks on a transport, and put through two victorious, aggressive fights, in which it lost a third of the officers and a fifth of the men, within sixty days, all told. Very respectfully Theodore Roosevelt 56529[*[shorthand]*] Sent S. E. Chamberlain ChamberlainBoston, Mass., April 15, 1916. Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, Oyster Bay, Long Island, N. Y. My dear Colonel: [-] This letter is written without consultation with my colleagues and its contents will not be communicated to them unless, after consideration, you think it advisable. The situation in Massachusetts, to the best of my knowledge and belief, is as follows:- 1. The Roosevelt sentiment is amazing. "More power to your elbow" is an expression which comes to me from every class of the community. On the other hand, I am in receipt of a good many letters from different parts of the State expressing regard for me personally, but dissent from my views about you. So far as I know, those letters are spontaneous [*, *] and I cannot account for them. Nevertheless, I am fixed in my belief that the Roosevelt sentiment far outstrips the sentiment for all the other candidates combined. 2. As things stands today, the Roosevelt sentiment will not manifest itself at the primaries and this for two reasons: (a) The people are tired of politics, and primaries, to the average mind, are a part of the machinery of politics. (b) The greatest confusion exists in voters' minds as to the best course to pursue in the furtherance of your nomination. This confusion exists to a marked degree in Boston [*. *] and in commuterdom. It is fed out in State Street and permeates as far as the bank clerk travels in his daily journey.Hon. T. R. -2- So far as I can analyze the views of those sincere Roosevelt men who propose to support the so-called "unpledged" ticket, they are as follows, to-wit: "When the National Convention meets it will be perfectly evident to everyone that either Hughes or Roosevelt must be nominated. Our New York advice [=] tell us that the delegates will never stand for Hughes and that no politicians are at heart favorable to Hughes' candidacy. The politicians believe that Hughes is a cold man, etc., etc., and that Hughes will turn down his best friend, but that Roosevelt will at least listen to what you have to say. Therefore, the National Convention will turn to Roosevelt instead of to Hughes. So [*, *] let's do nothing which can possibly antagonize the leaders. Of course, the above is a tenable view and the picture may be correctly drawn. However, I disagree with it entirely. In the first place, no matter what anyone tells me, I am convinced that there are some of the leaders at least that you cannot antagonize for the simple reason that they are utterly antagonistic already. I believe Senator Crane is such a one. Furthermore [*, *] although you may antagonize a particular man to whom you administer a defeat, the other leaders are by no means heart-broken, when a catastrophe of that kind occurs. Among the politicians outside of New York State I find no such prejudice against Hughes. I believe that the average candidate for Postmaster throughout the country longs for Hughes' nomination merely because he believes that Hughes is the strongest candidate. I believe that Hughes would accept the nomination and that in some high-brow way or another this fact will be communicated to the public at the time when the convention meets. I have no confidence whatever in the theory that the convention will hesitate to name Hughes lest he should decline the nomination and leave everything hanging in the air. It seems to me, therefore, that a public demonstration of your actual strength with the people must be made before the Doubting Thomases will cotton their ears against the Hughes lullaby.Hon. T.R. -3- The writer of the enclosed letter is my dentist, Dr. E. C. Briggs. It is true that I drafted the letter and that he signed it at my suggestion. It is also true that it represents absolutely the frame of mind in which I found the Doctor. When he signed the letter he said, "That letter is all right and, moreover it is exactly what I want to know." Said I, "Even after my eloquent exposition of the situation?" It is mortifying to record that my question was answered in the affirmative. Of course, if you are not willing to answer Dr. Briggs', letter in the way I want you to, I hope that you will not answer it at all. If, however, on deliberation you decide to answer it in such a way as to steer Dr. Briggs toward the Cushing delegation, I should be glad to have you forward your reply under cover to me with permission to make the correspondence public. Provided you answer the letter in such a way as to help our ticket, it makes no difference to me how much you reprove us for undertaking this fight contrary to your wishes. For example: I should consider it reasonable for you to take the following attitude, to-wit: "Gardner, Cushing & Company were donkeys to start this fight, but now that the fight is on, there does not seem to be anything left to do except to back them up." Such a letter as the above would meet a situation which continually confronts us. Many genuine Roosevelt men have come to the conclusion that our movement in your behalf is a mistake. It does not occur to them to go a step further and inquire what they ought to do about it. In other words, it never occurs to them to say to themselves, "Granted that the Cushing-Bird, Gardner movement is a mistake, nevertheless it is a mistake which cannot be corrected. In view of that circumstance, what is the best thing for us to do?" Take the case of Dr. Bigelow, for instance. Dr. Bigelow, I understand, has refused to subscribe to our campaign on the ground that it is "a great mistake." Unless my estimate of the Doctor isHon. T. R. -4- entirely wrong, he will probably not go to the primaries at all, but if he goes, he will vote for the unpledged ticket under a sort of hazy idea that in so doing he is furthering your cause. If, however, you answer Dr. Briggs' letter the way I hope you will answer it, the Dr. Bigelows of this community will speedily wipe the dust out of their eyes. In case you should wish to get me by long distance telephone, I shall be at the Somerset Club from eleven to one Monday. I shall be at the Bancroft Hotel in Worcester late Monday evening after our rally in Mechanics Hall. Very truly yours,[*[ac6572] *] Hon. T.R. -4- entirely wrong, he will probably not go to the primaries at all, but if he goes, he will vote for the unpledged ticket under a sort of hazy idea that in so doing, he is furthering your cause. If, however, you answer Dr. Briggs' letter the way I hope you will answer it, the Dr. Bigelow [*' *] s of this community will speedily wipe the dust out of their eyes. In case you should wish to get me by long distance telephone, I shall be at the Somerset Club from eleven to one Monday. I shall be at the Bancroft Hotel in Worcester late Monday evening after our rally in Mechanics Hall. Very truly yours,April 16th [or 18th], 1917. Dear Mr. Lanahan: The men I want are just the men of your type, the men who are willing to make sacrifices and do everything in their power, but want to do it for this particular war, and at the front. I have put your application of file. Sincerely yours, [T. Roosevelt] Mr. J. K. Lanahan, 17th & Western Ave., Chicago, Ills. [*Baker file*] April 23rd, 1917. My dear Mr. Secretary: I thank you for your very frank and courteous letter of April 13th. Of course, my dear sir, you wish me to write with equal frankness in return, and I gladly do so. Since the German message of January 31st, which was practically a declaration of war, I have scrupulously refrained from public criticism of the Administration, keeping silent when I could not support it; but your letter makes it incumbent on me to speak plainly. My whole purpose is to help make good the President's message. If we make it good by efficient and speedy action it will rank with the great state papers of our history. Otherwise, it will amount to nothing. I have [??] grudgingly and whole heartedly backed up the Administration [*' *] plans. There was much about these plans of which I entirely disapproved, but I did not wish to mar the support I was giving the president by anything public in the way of criticism. I felt that the employment of the actional guard was a mistake; but I said nothing. I did [*, *] however, feel it imperative (without uttering one word of criticism of your plans) to make a strong appeal for the [*additional*] use of volunteers who would otherwise be exempt from service,[*[4-23-17] *] -2- for immediate service at the front. Not to make such use of them is in my opinion a capital mistake. You say that only "military considerations" should govern your action. In that event I am unable to understand the effort to continue to utilize the national guard, when the actual experience on the birder has shown that the attempt to do what was done in Mexico, (and what it is now proposed to do in Europe) with the National Guard inevitably produces waste, extravagance, military inefficiency and cruel injustice. Last summer you tried to mobilize the guard. You were not able to mobilize much more than half of it; and of this Held three-fifths had practically no training, and only one-fifth could shoot. Nothing more completely divorced from sound military policy can be imagined than this attempt to utilize the national guard. Did the General Staff protest against it? If so, their protest must have been over-ridden for non-military reasons. If they did not protest, and if they do not now protest, their advice on other military matters must be regarded as discredited in advance. In this letter of yours you say that only officers of the regular army (Army officers "who have devoted their lives exclusively to military matters") are to be sent on an expeditionary force.[*[4-23-17] *] - 3 - Yet the officers of the National Guard are certainly called out on the theory that they are to be sent to the front. Some of them doubtless will be glad not to go. But the many admirable men among them are eager to go; and it is a wrong to them to force them to abandon their business and go into camp when there is no serious intention to use them for the serious work that alone would justify requesting them to make the sacrifices they have made. I wish to point out another thing. You decline my application on the ground of lack of military training and experience; and yet you are summoning, and have summoned, to the field numbers of militia officers, as division and brigade commanders, who have not had one-tenth my experience. My dear sir, you forget that I have commanded troops in action in the most important battle fought by the United States army during the last half century, and that I have commanded a brigade in the campaign of which this battle was an incident. I most heartily favor universal obligatory military training and service, not only as regards this war, but as a permanent policy of the government. Selective obligatory military service, as a temporary" expedient, is better than having resort only to volunteering; but it is a mischievous error to use it in order to prevent all volunteering [*[4-23-17] *] -4- teering. Universal obligatory service, as a permanent policy, is absolutely just, fair, democratic and efficient. But it needs a period of perhaps two years in order to produce first class results; and so [*' *] does the "selective" substitute for it. It is folly not to provide by volunteering for the action that ought to be taken during these two years. [*(Volunteering to serve in the ranks of the regular army and national guard of course in no way meets the needs.) *] the vice of the volunteer system lies [???????] chiefly not in the men who do volunteer, but in the men who don't. A chief, although not the only, merit in the obligatory system lies in its securing preparedness in advance. By our folly in not adopting the obligatory system as soon as this war broke out, we have forfeited this prime benefit of preparedness. You now propose [to] use its belated adoption as an excuse [for] depriving us of the benefits of the volunteer system. This is a very grave blunder. The only right course under existing conditions is to combine the two systems. My proposal is to use the volunteer system so that we can [*at once *] avail ourselves of the services of men who would otherwise [*be*] exempt, and to use the obligatory [as the permanent] system so as to make all serve who ought to serve. You propose to use the belated adoption of the obligatory system as a reason for refusing the services of half the men of the nation who are [*most*] fit to[4-23-17] -5- to serve, who are [most] eager to serve, and whose services can be utilized at once. You quote with approval the recommendation of certain of your military advisers to the effect that no expeditionary force should soon be sent across to fight. They wish instead that "all the available trained officers and men in the regular army and national guard be employed in training the new levies" so as to exert a substantial influence in a later stage of the war". You add that, as this is the proper "military policy", you do not thing it should be deported from for any "sentimental value" or "sentimental consideration". I have not asked you to consider any "sentimental value" in this matter. I am speaking of moral effect, not of sentimental value. Sentimentality is as different from morality as Rousseau's life from Abraham Lincoln's. I have just received a letter from James Bryce urging "the dispatch of an American force to the theatre of war" and saying "The moral effect of the appearance in the war line of an American force would be immense". From representatives of the French and British Governments, and of the French, British and Canadian military authorities, I have received statements to the same effect, in even more emphatic form, [*and earnest hopes that I myself should be in the force. *] Apparently your military advisers in this matter seek to persuade you that a "military[4-23-17] -6- policy" has nothing to do with "moral effect". If so, their militarism is like that of the Aulic Council of Vienna in the Napoleonic Wars, and not like that of Napoleon, who stated that in war the moral was to the material, as [two] to one. These advisers will do well to follow the teachings of Napoleon and not those of the pedantic militarists of the Aulic Council, who were the helpless victims of Napoleon. If we had been wise enough to begin thorough going preparedness two and a half years ago, after this great war broke out, and if, as the main feature thereof, we had introduced the principle of obligatory universal military training and service, (and had also done such elementary things as running the Springfield factory at full speed, in which case we would now be a million rifles to the good,) there would be scant need of a volunteer force now, for we would have been able to put a million men, well armed and equipped, into the field, and would have finished this war at once. Nine-tenths of wisdom is being wise in time. But we were not wise in time. We did not prepare in advance the instruments which would alone be thoroughly satisfactory, and which cannot possibly be improved [improvised] to meet immediate needs. Therefore, let us use every instrument[4-23-17] -7- that is available to meet the immediate needs. Let us not advance our unwisdom in the past as a justification for the fresh unwisdom in the present. If the people of a town do not prepare a fire company until a fire breaks out, they are foolish. But they are more foolish still if when the fire breaks out, they then decline to try to put it out with any means at hand, on the ground that they prefer to wait and drill a fire company. Your military advisers are now giving you precisely such advice. [Put out the fire with the means available, and at the same time start the drill of the fire company!] Our nation has not prepared in any adequate way during the last two and a half years to meet the crisis which now faces us. You, therefore, propose that we shall pay billions of dollars to the Allies to do our fighting for us, while we stay here in comfort and slowly proceed to train an army to fight in the end, unless the war is over, one way or the other, before our army is ready. This is exactly as if after Sumter was fired on, Lincoln had demanded a draft and declined to use volunteers in the interval. In such a case he would have doubtless had a good army in a year. But it would then have been useless because the Union would meanwhile have been destroyed. Or take history of the past three years. In 1914 the British were unprepared.[4-23-17] -8- They were not nearly as unprepared as we now are, but inasmuch as their danger was far greater (for we have been safe behind the British fleet and the Allied armies) their short-sightedness was probably as blameworthy as ours. For some years Lord Roberts had been preaching universal obligatory military training and service. They declined to profit by his preaching, and war came upon them. In consequence they were wholly unfit to do in the military way what they are now doing and what Germany and France could then do. They immediately sent abroad, however, a small military force which fought valiantly. They followed it by volunteer armies as rapidly as possible. They accepted masses of volunteers from Australia and Canada. All the time they were training the great armies they have now put in the field. If they had acted upon the principles which you desire us now to apply, they would have refused to send any troops at all to France; they would have declined to receive the Canadian and Australian volunteers; they would have kept all their regulars at home to train the new levies; and to any suggestion as to the "moral effect" of such conduct, they would have responded as you do when you say that a military policy should not deal with "sentimental values" and "sentimental considerations". If England had adopted such[4-23-17] -9- a course, it is conceivable that after 18 months her army would have been better than, as a matter of fact, it actually was; but this would not have been of much consequence, because if she had so acted the war would have been already lost. Our task has been and is incomparably easier and safer than the tasks of the European powers in this war. Any one of them which behaved as we have behaved would long before this time have been ruined. And we can still secure a measure of material well being while shirking our duty. If we follow the advice of the military men you quote we shall shirk our duty. I earnestly hope we refuse this advice, and play the part of the men. I earnestly hope that we shall not advance our failure to provide universal obligatory military training in the past as an excuse for refusing to make use of the volunteer organizations that we can raise with reasonable rapidity in the present, while we are, with belated wisdom, introducing the principle of obligatory service. My dear Mr. Secretary, the proposal as you outline and adopt it, must come from doubtless well meaning military men, of the red tape and pipe clay school, who are hide bound in the pedantry of that kind of wooden militarism which is only one degree worse than its extreme opposite, the[4-23-17] -10- the folly which believes that an army can be improvised between sunrise and sunset. The two kinds of folly are nominally opposed, but really complimentary to one another. It is unnecessary for me to say that military men differ among themselves in wisdom and far-sightedness, precisely as civilians do. The civilian heads of a government, when faced by a great military crisis, have to show their own wisdom primarily in sifting out the very wise military advice from the very unwise military advise which they will receive. This is especially true in a service where promotion is chiefly by seniority and where [a large number] of the men who rise high own more to the possession of a sound stomach than to the possession of the highest qualities of head and heart. The military advice which you have received in this matter is strikingly unwise. I do not know whether those giving it openly advocated the principle of universal obligatory military training two and a half years ago - not within the last few months when people everywhere have been waking up to the matter - but two and a half years ago. If they did not, then they themselves are partly responsible for that condition of unpreparedness which renders it expedient from every stand point that we should utilize every military asset in the country.[4-23-17] -11- The proposed bill of the Administration, in the last form shown me, was not to take any man over twenty-five. My proposal is to utilize the men who will not be brought in under your proposed conscription. If we had a wise law for universal military training and service two and a half years ago, it certainly would have included some method for utilizing the men who would be of great value in war, but who are past the age limit when the first training would naturally be given. In the Spanish War I knew well the conditions of the training camps. I know that men put into service for a long period of training with no certainty that they are ever to be employed at the front, will feel far more disheartened than if they could be sent to the front within a reasonable time. I am certain that as rapidly as possible the various units should be transferred to France for intensive training; that as soon as possible an American force, under the American flag, should be established on the fighting line, should be steadily fed with new men to keep its members to the required point, and steadily reinforced by other units, so that it would be playing a continually more important part in the fighting. It is an ignoble thing for us not to put our men into the fighting line at the earliest possible moment.[4-23-17] -12- Such failure will excite derision and may have a very evil effect upon our national future. So much for the general consideration raised in your letter. Now, my dear sir, for what you specifically say about my offer. You say that the officers in command of any expedition must be chosen from the officers of the regular army, "who have devoted their lives exclusively to the study and pursuit of military matters," and have had "actual military experience", and that it would be improper to trust the "guidance and protection" of the young men sent abroad in such a force, to men like myself. Doubtless the rule you thus indicate is generally wise. But to follow it without exercising any judgment as to exceptions would have barred the confederate army from using Forrest, and the Union Army from using Logan, and would have kept Wood and Funston out of the Spanish War. Most certainly I do not claim to be a Forrest, or a Logan. But I ask you to consider my actual experience. In the Spanish War I took part in raising a regiment, which I afterward commanded. Exactly the same objections were made to the use of that regiment then that you now make to the use of the division (to be composed of just such regiments) which I ask leave to raise. One of the pacifist papers of[*[4-23-17] *] -13- that day, about a week prior to our going into action, gave expression to this feeling as follows - "competent observers have remarked that nothing more extra-ordinary has been done than the sending to Cuba of the first United States volunteer cavalry, known as the Rough Riders. Organized but four weeks, barely given their full complement of officers, and only a week of regular drill, these men have been sent to the front before they have learned the first elements of soldiery and discipline. There have been few cases of such military cruelty in our military annals." This was the prophesy. The fulfillment you will find in the reports of the expedition. In health, in achievement, and in the loss necessarily paid to purchase the achievement, the regiment stood with the best and most forward of the regular regiments with which it served. This efficiency was of course largely due to the way we set about raising it, and to the character of its first Colonel - Leonard Wood. He was at the time a surgeon in the U. S. Army. When President McKinley offered me the Colonelcy, I said I would take the Lieutenant Colonelcy if he would make Wood Colonel. Since then [*, *] Wood's record of achievement (for which he was conspicuously recognized by President McKinley his promotions of a later date having been in the regular[*[4-23-17] *] - 14 - order) have been on a par with those of Lord Kitchener prior to the outbreak of the present war: Lord Cremer once said to me that Woods administration of Cuba was the greatest feat of the kind that had been done in our time. At the close of the campaign, I was in command of the brigade, which consisted of my regiment, and of two regular regiments. Since then, I have been commander in chief of the Army of the United States, and devoted much time and though to the study of military and navel problems through the seven and a half years when I was President. I now ask permission to raise a division to consist of regiments like the regiment which I commanded in Santiago campaign (and I can raise you an Army Corps on this basis). If I were young enough, I should be willing to raise that division, and I merely go as a second Lieutenant in it. As it is, I believe I am best fitted to be the division commander in an expeditionary corps, under the chief of that corps: but if you desire to put me in a less position, and make me brigade commander, I will at once raise the division, and can raise it without difficulty, if it is to be put under any man of the type of General Wood, General Pershing, or General Kuhn. These men served with loyalty[*[4-23-17] *] -15- and efficiency under me [*when I was President *] and I believe that they will tell you, and that my former commanders, Lieutenant General Young, retired, and Major General Sumner, retired, will tell you that I will serve with loyalty and efficiency and entire subordination under my superiors. Of course, my dear sir, I could not raise the division [*speedily and satisfactorily *] without the active and generous support of yourself and of the Department. As for the young Americans who you feel should have better guidance and protection than I can give them, my dear Mr. Secretary, why not let them judge for themselves? The great majority of men who were in my old regiment will eagerly come forward under me, in so far as they are yet fit. I believe I can appeal to the [*natural *] fighting men of this country. The plan you outline in your letter makes most of these men useless as a military asset to the United States at the very time when they could be most useful. Let me give you two examples. If you grant me permission, I could put at the head of most of my regiments, captains or young majors in the regular army. One of my three civilian Colonels would probably be Roger Williams of Kentucky, who is now a Major General in the National Guard. The other two would be John Greenway of Arizona, and John Groome, the head of the Pennsylvania State constabulary. I believe that [*[4-23-17] *] -16- only the very best men in the regular army would be better Colonels than Greenway and Groome. They can be used to render to the United States, the splendid service they will render, if I am given the division for which I ask; otherwise, if the plan you outline is put in effect, they will be left unused at the very time when their services would be most valuable. As for the time necessary to train the division, I refer you to the time in which my regiment was utilized in the Spanish War. I have just received from one of the highest Canadian military authorities, a letter running in part as follows: - "I can personally say that with the Canadian system of intensive military training your announced plan to have Americans at the front in four months would be entirely practical." Under your orders, and by the aid of your Department, I am confident this could be done. If when I made my offer to you nearly three months ago, you had aided me in going ahead (the money I offered was a gift, not a loan), and if the Department has acted towards my division as General Wood acted towards the original Plattsburg camp (which started our whole Officers Reserve movement) that Division would now be ready to sail for France for the intensive training. [*The justification for the Government's permitting its use would have been precisely the cause as the justification for permitting the mass (all volunteers by the way) recently summoned to the officers [' *] training camp at Plattsburg to pay portions of their own expenses, or have their friends pay them (which your department has directed). *][*[4-23-17] *] -17- I [*desire*] that you judge me on my record. All I am asking is the chance to help make good the President's message of April 2nd. If you don't know whether the governments of the Allies would like me to raise such a division, and take it abroad at the earliest possible moment, I wish you would ask those virements yourself their feeling in the matter. I know that they earnestly desire us to send our men to the fighting line; and I have been informed from the highest sources that they would like to have me in the fighting line. Of course, they will not desire to have me go, or the division go, u Administration expresses its willingness. Let me repeat that if you permit me to raise a division, it will be [composed] of men who would not be reached in the bill you proposed to Congress, and who would otherwise not be utilized at all. I should of course like your authority to have about two regular officers for every thousand men, and perhaps four of the Reserve Officers for every thousand men, and perhaps certain additional one [*' *] s if you saw fit to grant them. But the subtraction of these men from the number of men available to train the force called out under your proposed bill would be inconsiderable,[*[4-23-17] *] -18- compared to the immense gain which would come from having such a division put into the fighting line at the earliest moment. You already know the names of some of the regular officers for whom I would ask you. At the head of the medical corps [*, *] I would ask for Lieutenant Colonel Henry Page, U. S. A. You, of course, know the record of Colonel Page as surgeon and medical director. He has his arrangements made, if he is allowed to go with me; and I believe that no division of any regular army would go with a better medical and surgical preparation than we should have under Colonel Page. In four months [*, *] the men of the division would have been seasoned, under the thorough training which you rightly demand. Most of the men who would come forward would be seasoned already, exactly as was the case in my regiment nineteen years ago. Very many would have had military training and experience. I very earnestly hope you will be able to grant my request, sir. I make it not only because I most earnestly desire to serve the country under the President and under you, but because I am certain that in this way [*, *] can render the best service. Very respectfully, [*(signed) Theodore Roosevelt *] Hon. Newton D. Baker, Washington, D.C.April 23rd, 1917. My dear Mr. Thompson: That's a mighty nice letter of yours, and I have at once put it on file reference, if I am allowed to raise the division. Sincerely yours, Mr. Joseph C. Thompson, Birmingham, Ala.[Thomas] [4-24-17] Your letter of April 24 arrived just after Col. R's. departure for Chicago. I presume you will see him there. April 29th, 1918. My dear Mrs. Laird: That's mighty nice letter of yours. I appreciate it to the full and I thank you most warmly. Faithfully yours, Mrs. A. G. Laird, 1304 R. Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. [*[1917 Apr 30?]*] [*From Philip T Meredith, Harrisburg, Pa. 2*] 56518 May 1st, 1917. Dear Mr. de Redenat: That's a very nice letter of yours, and I believe you could be of real service to me, but I don't know whether I will be allowed to raise the division. Sincerely yours, Mr. Leon A. de Redenat, 359 West 57th Street, New York City. [*O'Loughlin*] May 1st, 1917. Dear Sir: I gravely doubt whether it would be wise for me to try to telegraph to friends in the different state you mention. I think it would do damage, if it were published, and I don't want to do anything that I am afraid of having published. I want to thank you mot heartily. I would prefer to telegraph Kahn direct, if you think that would do any good. Wire me if you do. Faithfully yours, Mr. Cal O'Loughlin, Hibbs Bldg., Washington, D.C. May 1st, 1917. My dear Mr. Peacock: That's a mighty nice letter if yours. It would be a real pleasure to take you, if I am allowed to go. Sincerely yours, Mr. William C. Peacock, 1431 Central Street, Keneao City, Mo. NIGHT LETTER [*[S.H. SR]*] May 3rd, 1917. Congressman Dent, House of Representatives, Washington. D.C. I have been informed that you favor the Harding amendment. I thank you most warmly. T. R. [Ca 5-5-17?] My dear Mr. R I send my congratulations to you, & through you to all your men on the occasion of the [flag] raising of the flag. Our business now is to show that Americanism means something. With all good wishes. JackCol. R. has no influence & therefore is unable to comply with your request. with respect. Sincerely Yrs [[REPLY TO SLACK 5-15-17]]May 8th, 1917. My dear Mr. Secretary: Many thanks for your letter of May 5th. You say that the questions raised by my letter are "simple when stripped of personal considerations". You than describe the war in Europe, and the objects to be achieved by the United States sending over a force to take part in the contest. I, of course, entirely agree with what you thus say, as to the nature of the war, the need of our sending over an efficient force to depress the morale of the enemy and raise that of our friends; etc. Your next paragraph indicates that your present intention is to send over a portion of the "regular professional army of the United States" (rather than use a force such as I suggest); and you state in the following para- graph that in consequence your mind "justifies the conclusion" expressed in your letter of April 13th. But my dear Mr. Secretary, this is the direct reverse of the conclusion of your letter of April 13th. In that letter you approved the recommendation of the general staff, that the regular army of the United States should not be sent over as an expeditionary force, but, on the contrary, should in its entirely be kept here to train the selective draft army; and you dismissed, as of "sentimental" and not "military"[5-8-17] -2 value, the idea of sending over this force at once. In your present letter you take the ground that such a force should be sent over, and give as two of the reasons that it would depress the morale of the enemy, and stimulate the morale of our associates in arms. I entirely agree with the position taken by you in this letter as to immediately sending an expeditionary force abroad, and as to the fact that it would, among other objects, achieve the two above mentioned. But permit me, my dear Mr. Secretary, to say that this shows that you have reversed the action of the general staff, which you approved in your letter of April 13th, and surely the need of such reversal, as regards the most vital military matter which must immediately be decided, shows that my criticism of the men who gave you the advice was exactly justified. The matter of most immediate importance, which the staff had to decide at the time you wrote me on April 13th, was whether we should at once begin sending forces to the other side, or whether the entire regular army and everybody else fitted to do any soldiering should be kept on this side to train our army for a year or two, in order, as you phrased it in your letter, to use the army for the decisive effect in the later stages of the war. The[5-8-17] -3- general staff adopted the latter view, as you stated it in your letter of April 13th. I protested, with all possible emphasis, against this view. The French and the military authorities, with the utmost emphasis, have since protested against it also, and have taken, in this matter, exactly the position which I took in my letter to you, and in my letters to Senator Chamberlain and Mr. Dent, and in my public utterances. From your letter, and from the statements in the press, I gather that the Administration has now reversed the position which was thus taken by the general staff, and, as regards sending abroad an expeditionary force, has come to the position I have so earnestly advocated, and which I set forth in detail in the letter that you have now answered. There remains the question of the composition of the force; and inasmuch, my dear Mr. Secretary, as in one of the vital matters the general staff misled you, and inasmuch as my advice has proved to be right, I beg you to at least consider the reasons I now advance for the advice I propose to give as regards another phase of the matter. There is every reason why a portion of the regular army should go abroad. There is also every reason why, in view of the smallness of the regular army and the[5-8-17] -4- need of its giving instruction this proportion should not be too large. There is, therefore, every reason why the force should consist of a proportion of the regular army as a nucleus, with an efficient volunteer force under and with it. Under the act of March 2nd, 1899, volunteer regiments were raised which, in actual service in the Philippines, did almost as well as the regular regiments, especially when mixed with them. My own regiment in Cuba was raised under substantially similar legislation, and so I know, at first hand, of what I am speaking. Our own regular troops, not having been trained in modern warfare, would themselves need some preliminary training in the theatre of war before we could expect them to be as good as their French or English allies, or German foes. Volunteer regiments, chosen as above indicated, and use, as hereinafter outlined, in close association with the regulars, could be made almost as good as the regulars during this period of training - and here again, my dear Mr. Secretary, remember that I am not making a mere guess, for I am stating what actually occurred in connection with my regiment at Santiago, and with the other United States volunteer regiments in the Philippines. I, therefore, respectfully, but earnestly, suggest, that I be allowed, under the direction of the War[5-8-17] -5- Department, to raise, or help raise, any army corps of two divisions. Inasmuch as we have no artillery fit to go into the battle front abroad, and inasmuch as it is at least doubtful whether artillery ought to be included permanently in the organization of an infantry division, I assume you would not wish for this first expeditionary force to have artillery. Furthermore, I believe you will find that the wisest military men do not sympathize with the plan of having one divisional regiment of cavalry with each division. Cavalry should be able to act as a mass. I, therefore, very earnestly recommend that in connection with each division we raise a three-regiment brigade of cavalry. As long as the fighting is in the trenches, this cavalry will be used dismounted, and will represent an addition to the infantry strength of equal value. (As soon as we began to fight outside the trenches, the two brigades could be joined together, and could be used as a small cavalry division, under the direction of the corps commander.) Each of the two divisions sent over would thus consist, in addition to the supply, transportation, and other services, of 3 three-regiment infantry brigades, one three-regiment cavalry brigade, a regiment of engineers, and a regiment of machine guns (I will[5-8-17] -6- give you the details of the organization, if you so desire, and send you also a carefully wrought out blue print of the entire organization of the division). For a corps of two divisions, therefore, there would be six infantry brigades, 2 cavalry brigades, 2 machine gun regiments, and 2 engineers regiments, or 28 regiments in all. There should be one regular regiment in every cavalry or infantry brigade; eight regular regiments in all. This would leave 20 volunteer regiments. As regards 4 of these, I would suggest civilian colonels; 2 of them being of the National Guard; namely, Brigadier General Roger Williams of Kentucky, and Colonel Forman of Illinois; together with Colonel John Groome of the Pennsylvania State Constabulary, and John C. Greenway of Arizona. For the other 16 colonels, together with the corps and divisional chiefs of staff and the like, I would suggest to you captains and junior majors from the regular army, including such men as those I have mentioned - Frank McCoy, Fitzhugh Lee, Edgar Collins, Phil Sheridan, Moseley, Gordon Johnston, Jim Shelley, Hugh D. Wise, the two Parker brothers, -(one cavalry, one infantry), Smedberg, Goethals, Quekenmeyer, Quackenbush, Baer, Fitch, Lincoln Andrews, and others. For brigade commanders I would suggest to you to appoint men like Lieutenant Colonel Allen, Colonel Howze, and Major Harbord. Rear Admiral Winslow, retired, would make an admirable brigade commander. The corps and division commanders would be, I presume, men already with tye rank of General, whom you chose; any men of the stamp of those mentioned in my previous letter, would do admirably. I would be glad to accept the junior brigade generalship, ranking behind the other 7 brigade commanders, as well, of course, as the division and corps commanders. This would be merely giving me the position which I held[5-8-17] -7- at the close of the Santiago campaign when, because of my conduct in the field, I was recommended by my superior officers, not only for promotion, but for the medal of honor and for brevets. In addition, I should trust that you would allow certain junior officers, emn men like Lieutenant Stonewall Jackson Christian, Lieutenant Wainwright, Lieutenant Chaffee, and others of like position, to come in as majors or adjutants, or with similar rank. If possible, I should like to use, in each volunteer regiment, two or three regulars, and six or eight, or ten reserve officers from the Plattsburgh and similar camps, together with half a dozen of the best regular non-commissioned officers, giving these the rank of second lieutenant. This would not represent an appreciable drawing off of strength from the body of men you wish to use in training the draft army, for you have about 35,000 men in the training camps, and this proposal of mine would only be to take out all told from the officers and non-commissioned officers of the regular army, and from the reserve officers, xx between 200 and 300 men, who would be employed in training some 40,000 volunteers. These volunteers would be men of exceptional quality for the war, with the special purpose of being immediately sent to the fighting line in Europe. Under this plan you would immensely increase the size of the army you sent abroad, and owing to the nature of the volunteer regiments, 4/5 of whom would be under regular officers, and all of them brigaded with regulars, the force would be almost, or practically as good as if composed solely of regulars; and yet you would not be sending abroad a wholly disproportioned amount of our small replier army, and would be enabled to use the others for the purposes of instruction at home. The two divisions at the front would be kept filled, all the losses being made good[5-8-17] -8- by recruits; and as rapidly as possible other divisions would be put beside them. In each case, as soon, xx or almost as soon, as raised, the brigades and divisions would be sent across to, or just behind, the theatre of war in France; or if this was impossible, at least to England; and there trained in bayonnet work, bombing, gasing, and all the other incidents of modern trench warfare. I have the highest respect for the individual officers and men of the National Guard, the greatest admiration for the patriotism of those who served on the border last year, and a thorough belief in the efficiency of the National Guild for its proper duty, which is purely state duty. But of course divided control between state and nation is thoroughly vicious. Moreover, many of the men in the National Guard are family men, supporting their families by their wages, and it is a cruel injustice to these men to take them to the front when there are literally millions of other man who ought to go first. Again, there are plenty of men in the National Guard who can do state work well, but who are fit for a gruelling campaign. Therefore, the National Guard regiment should not be sent out as such, if there is a desire either to do equal justice to the men, or to secure efficient results. Each regiment should furnish a nucleus which might be a quarter, or which might be a half of its strength, and which would be composed both of officers and enlisted men - and should, in most cases, be put under the command of a regular officer; then, around this nucleus as a frame-work, could be built up a purely National United States regiment, either by volunteering or by the draft. Such a regiment would be fit for duty very quickly, and would render admirable service; while at the sometime those guardsmen who ought not to be asked to undertake a foreign campaign would be left within the state, to do the necessary and important state duty which the National Guard is peculiarly fitted to perform.[5-8-17] -9- The selective draft has been authorized by Congress. The Harding amendment (or some similar measure) will enable the Government to admirably use men who desire to serve, whose ardor it is certainly unwise to damp, who could render invaluable service, and who otherwise would be unused. If this amendment is adopted, and the Department authorizes me to raise a force as above outlined, I can at once assign the regular officers whom the Department desires as Colonels to different localities, where they can raise regiments, or battalions, already provisionally provided. We can get private help, precisely as in connection with the training camp. While, of course, we cannot set as instantaneously as if we had begun these steps a couple of months ago, yet we can act with great speed, and in a way to establish the best possible precedent, while at the same time we are putting a substantial force of good fighting men on the firing line at the earliest possible moment. I am, sir, with great respect, Very sincerely, Non. Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War, Washington, D.C. May 10th 1917 Dear Miss Lewis: That's very good of you. I thank you. Sincerely yours, Miss Ethel S Lewis 1126 Pacific St Brooklyn, N Y May 10 - 1917 [?] Hon. H. C. Lodge 1765 Massachusetts Ave Washington D. C. I of course will back whatever you and its other leaders decide to do but in view of the treachery of Warren Brady and Kahn and the undesireability of seeming to delay action on army bill please consider and ask Kellogg, Harding, Johnson and Gorden and Anything whether it would not be well to let bill pass and issue notification that you will [?] for substanent legislation to supply [?] May 12th, 1917. My dear Mr. Bayer: That's a mighty nice letter of yours. Believe me, I appreciate it, and I thank you with all my heart. Sincerely yours, Mr. Harry W. Bayer, Berkeley Spring, W. VA. May 14 1917 My dear Mr. Dargan: Your letter of April 26th touched both Mrs. Roosevelt and myself very much. I thank you for your letter and I thank you for the enclosure. You are the kind of American in whom I believe. Sincerely yours, Mr. John J Dargan, Dalzell, S C TELEGRAM May 15th, 1917. Hon. D. R. Anthony, Jr., House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. Hearty thanks for letter. If you can make the legislation more explicit I shall be very glad. I would like to enlist [*all*] who will not be taken under the draft. THEODORE ROOSEVELT Charge to Met. Mag. Off. May 18th 1917. My dear Captain Kelor: I have had so many applications from regular officers, that I cannot answer definitely. I shall carefully consider your application in connection with the others, if I am given the chance. Faithfully yours, Captain J. M. Kelor, Jr., Room 16, Ziegler Bldg., Spokane, Wash. [*Lowden*] May 18th, 1917. My dear Governor: I thank you for the telegram. I have instantly put it on file, but of course I have no idea what I can do. Sincerely yours, Governor Frank C. Lowden, Springfield, Ills. May 18, 1917 My dear Mr. Truelsen: I thank you for your letter and it has been properly placed on file. I am returning herewith the papers you enclosed. Sincerely yours, Mr. Ejnar B Truelsen, 208 Avenue B North Miami, Fla Form 1206 WESTERN UNION TELEGRAM NEWCOMB CARLTON, PRESIDENT [*TELEGRAPH WESTERN UNION AND CABLE*] CLASS OF SERVICE DESIRED Fast Day Message Day Letter Night Message Night Letter Patrons should mark an X opposite the class of service desired; OTHERWISE THE TELEGRAM WILL BE TRANSMITTED AS A FAST DAY MESSAGE. Receiver's No. Check Time Filed Send the following telegram, subject to the terms on back hereof, which are hereby agreed to To The President, White House Washington D C [?] Fri. 5/18/17 I respectfully ask permission immediately to raise two divisions for immediate service at the front under the bill which has just become law and hold myself ready to raise four divisions if you so direct I respectfully refer for details to my last letters to the secretary of war if granted permission I earnestly ask that Captain Frank McCoy be directed to report to me at once Minister Fletcher has written me that he is willing, Also if permission to raise the divisions is granted I would like to come to Washington as soon as the war department is willing so that I may find what supplies are available and at once direct the regular officers who are chosen for brigade [and] regimental commands how and where to get to work Theodore Roosevelt[CA 5-20-17] I am sorry. I have not influence whatever & therefore am unable to be of any assistance to you in that matter. With regret. Faithfully [TO W M K PENMAN 2400 McLEAN AVE CHICAGO, ILL.]OFFICE OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 758 FIFTH AVENUE NEW YORK ROOM 402 May 25th, 1917. My dear sir: You have doubtless seen the President's announcement wherein he refused to make use of the Volunteer Force which Congress had authorized him to permit me to raise. Prior to this announcement by the President, I had sent him a telegram as follows: "I respectfully ask permission immediately to raise two divisions for immediate service at the front under the bill which has just become law and hold myself ready to raise four divisions if you so direct. I respectfully refer for details to my last letters to the secretary of war. If granted permission I earnestly ask that Captain Frank McCoy be directed to report to me at once. Minister Fletcher has written me that he is willing. Also if permission to raise the divisions is granted I would like to come to Washington as soon as the war department is willing so that I may find what supplies are available and at once direct the regular officers who are chosen for brigade and regimental commands how and where to get to work." To this the President answered as follows: "I very much regret that I cannot comply with the request in your telegram of yesterday. The reasons I have stated in a public statement made this morning and I need not assure you that my conclusions were based entirely upon imperative considerations of public policy and not upon personal or private choice." Accordingly, I communicated with as many of the men who had agreed to raise units for service in this division as possible, and after consultation with about twenty of them I issued the statement which is herewith appended.-2- I now release you and all your men. I wish to express my deep sense of obligation to you and to all those who had volunteered under and in connection with this division. As you doubtless know, I am very proud of the Rough Riders, the First Volunteer Cavalry, with whom I served in the Spanish American War. I believe it is a just and truthful statement of the facts when I say that this regiment did as well as any of the admirable regular regiments with which it served in the Santiago campaign. It was raised, armed, equipped, drilled, mounted, dismounted, kept two weeks aboard transports and put through two victorious aggressive fights in which it lost one-third of the officers and one-fifth of the men; all within sixty days from the time I received my commission. If the President had permitted me to raise the four divisions, I am certain that they would have equalled this record, only on a hundredfold larger scale. They would have all been on the firing line before or shortly after the draft army had begun to assemble: and moreover they could have been indefinitely reinforced, so that they would have grown continually stronger and more efficient. I regret from the standpoint of the country that your services were not utilized. But the country has every reason to be proud of the zeal, patriotism and business-like efficiency with which you came forward. With all good wishes, Faithfully yours, Theodore Roosevelt[For Eve. see T. R. 5-21-17]May 21, 1917. To the men who have volunteered for immediate service on the firing line in the divisions which Congress authorized: The President has announced that he will decline to permit those divisions to be organized or to permit me to have a command in connection with such a force. After consultation yesterday, personally or by wire, with some of the men who have volunteered to raise units - regiments and battalions - for the divisions, including John C. Groome of Pennsylvania, Seth Bullock of South Dakota, John C. Greenway of Arizona, John M. Parker of Louisiana, Robert Carey of Wyoming, J. P. Donnelly of Nevada, Sloan Simpson of Texas, D. C. Collier and F. R. Burnham of California, I. L. Reeves, Frazer Metzger and H. Nelson Jackson of Vermont, Harry Stimson, W. J. Schieffelin and William H. Donovan of New York, and Messrs. James R. Garfield, Raymond Robbins, R. H. Channing, David M. Goodrich, W. E. Dame, George Roosevelt, Richard Derby and various others who were immediately accessible, it was decided unanimously that in view of the decision of the President the only course open to us is forthwith to disband and to abandon all further effort in connection with the divisions, thereby leaving each man free to get into the military service in some other way, if that is possible, and, if not, then to serve his country in civil life as he best can. As good American citizens we loyally obey the decision of the Commander-in-Chief of the American army and navy. The men who have volunteered will now consider themselves absolved from all further connection with this movement. The funds that have been promises will be treated as withdrawn and applied to other purposes. I therefore direct that this statement be sent to the leaders in the various States who have been raising troops and that it be published. Our sole aim is to help in every way in the successful prosecution of the war and we most heartily feel that no individual's personal interest should for one moment be considered save as it serves the general public interest. We rejoice that a division composed of our fine regular soldiers and marines under so gallant and efficient a leader as Gen. Pershing is to be sent abroad. We have a right to a certain satisfaction in connection therewith. The Brooklyn Eagle last evening stated authoritively that "the sending of this expedition was a compromise between the original plans of the General Staff, which favored no early expedition, and the request of Col. Roosevelt for authority for an immediate expedition. The Roosevelt agitation, backed by the express desire of such distinguished military leaders as Gen. Joffre and Gen. Petain, unquestionably had its effect in bringing about the Pershing expedition. The compromise is that France gets American soldiers in the trenches but Roosevelt will not lead or accompany them. It is believed in Washington that any criticism for turning down Roosevelt will be fully answered by the fact that American soldiers are going over." If this gives the explanation of the matter, I gladly say that we-2- are all unselfishly pleased to have served this use, although naturally we regret not to have been allowed ourselves to render active service. It is due to the men who have come forward in this matter during the three and a half months since February 2nd, when I began the work of raising one or more divisions, that the following facts should be known: If yesterday my offer immediately to raise four divisions for immediate use at the front had been accepted the various units of the first division would tomorrow have begun to assemble at whatever points the War Department had indicated, and they would have assembled in full force and without an hour's delay as rapidly as the War Department directed them where to go and as soon as it provided them camping places, tents, blankets, etc. We were prepared by the use of private funds partly to make good any immediate lack in such supplies as regards many of the units. Fifteen days afterward the second division would have mobilized in a similar fashion, and then, at intervals of thirty days, the two other divisions. In accordance with what I had found to be the wish of the military authorities among our allies the divisions would have been ready to sail for France for intensive training at the theatre of war in thirty days, if the War Department were able to furnish supplies; and we would have asked permission to use the rifles and ammunition now in use in the French and British armies. All four divisions would have sailed and two would have been on the firing line by September 1st, the time at which the Secretary of War has announced that the assembling of the selective draft army is to begin. About one-half of our men, at least of those in the first division, were men who had already seen military service. I wish respectfully to point out certain errors into which the President has been led in his announcement. He states that the purpose was to give me an "independent" command. In my last letter to the Secretary of War I respectfully stated that if I were given permission to raise an army corps of two divisions, to be put under the command of some General like Wood or Pershing or Barry or Kuhn, I de- sired for myself only the position of junior among the eight brigade commanders. My position would have been exactly the same as theirs, except that I would have ranked after and have been subordinate to the rest of them. The President alludes to our proffered action as one that would have an effect "politically", but as not contributing to the "success of the war", and as representing a "policy of personal gratification or advantage". I wish respectfully but emphatically to deny[Enclosed in T. R. 5-25-17]-3- that any political consideration whatever or any desire for personal gratification or advantage entered into our calculations. Our undivided purpose was to contribute effectively to the success of the war. I know nothing whatever of the politics of the immense majority of the men who came forward, and those whose politics I do know numbered as many Democrats as Republican. My purpose was to enable the Government to use as an invaluable military asset the men who would not be reached under the selective draft, who were fit for immediate service, and the great majority of whom would not otherwise be used at all. As above pointed out, all four divisions, if the War Department could equip them, would have been sent to the aid of our hard pressed Allies before the training of the selective draft army was even begun, and they would not have been put into the firing line until the French and British military authorities deemed them fit. The President says in effect that to comply with our offer would have been mischievous from the military standpoint and he adds that the regular officers whom I have asked to have associated with me are "some of the most effective officers of the regular army", who "cannot possibly be spared from the duty of training regular troops". One of the chief qualifications for military command is to choose for one's associates and subordinates "the most effective officers", and this qualification the President thus states that I possess. As for my withdrawing them from the "more pressing and necessary duty of training" the troops, I wish to point out that I had asked for about fifty regular officers from lieutenant colonels to second lieutenants for the first division. This would be only about one-tenth of the number who will go with General Pershing's division which, the President announces, is to be composed exclusively of regulars. Therefore, the present plan will take from "most pressing and necessary duty" about ten times as many regular officers as would have been taken under our proposal. It has been stated that the regular officers are opposed to our plan. As a matter of fact "the most effective" fighting officers have been eager to be connected with or to have under them the troops we proposed to raise. The President condemns our proposal on the ground that "undramatic" action is needed, action that is "practical and of scientific definiteness and precision". There was nothing dramatic in our proposal save as all proposals indicating eagerness or willingness to sacrifice life for an ideal are dramatic. It is true that our division would have contained the sons or grandsons of men who in the Civil War wore the blue or the gray; for instance, the sons or grandsons of Phil Sheridan, Fitz Hugh Lee, Stonewall Jackson, James A. Garfield, Simon Bolivar Buckner, Adna R. Chaffee, Nathan Bedford Forest; but these men would have served either with commissions or in the ranks, precisely like the rest of us; and all alike would have been judged solely by the efficiency - including the "scientific definiteness" - with which they did their work and served the flag of their loyal devotion. THEODORE ROOSEVELT[ca 5-29-17] Col R directs me to say that if you will turn to his book "Fear God & Take Your Own Part", looking especially at the appendix, which gives his speech to the Knights of Columbus. You will find his views expressed in full. [?????][HH to Wardenburg 5-29-17]Your letter is one of those which I particularly like. I thank you for it most sincerely. Faith [ANSWER TO JOHN L SAMSEL 5-30-17] [*Robins*] June 5th, 1917. Dear Tom: The R. R. brethren seem to be holding a cross between [*c*]kan-[*C*]kan and a Witches Sabbath over my visit. Won't you and Van Valkenberg get a hold of them and straighten it out? I shall take the 10 O'clock train, and I understand that you are to meet me, and I am to get off at [*???????*]. Will you arrange together with Van about my meeting the trainmen, and will you tell me where I am going to speak? I understand the hour is 2 P.M., and I want to return to New York that afternoon. [*Ill try for the five O'clock train*] Faithfully yours, Mr. Thomas Robins, 1719 Locust Street, Philadelphia, Pa. [1917 June 6] That's mighty nice of you. I thank you for the letter & for the song. I am sorry to say that I agree with you both as to the way the people at Washington have played politics, & as to the way the news papers have soft peddled on the [?????????] question 56522[?] c 6-6-17 Dear Father Belford Could you come over & see me some time when I am in town. Next week I shall be away in Nebraska, but after that I should like to see you. I want to talk over with you about that speech. If you can, I would like to defer it a little while. Any speech I make now entails hundreds of requests for other speeches, & for reasons which I will give you, [& for which] I am not eager to make any speeches as this moment. But there is one man in this country on whom I won't go back [in] for any consideration, & that is Father Belford! Always yours, 495 Classon AveMy dear McDonald [6-6-17] That's mighty nice of you. I look forward to seeing you on the head of the stairs going down to the Philadelphia train, say on 9:45 in the Pennsylvania depot, on Sunday morning. Faith. June 8th, 1917. My dear Miss Alley: Colonel Roosevelt directs me to thank you for your courtesy in letting him see your verse. Sincerely yours, Miss Marie Alley, c/o The U. P. R.R. Rawlins, Wyo. 508 June 11, 1917. My dear Colonel Roosevelt: I have carefully read your letter of June 6th and shall send it to Constance to read to her father and then file away with what we once spoke of as "autobiographical letters." While I regret your decision, I entirely understand it. My own judgment inclines slightly, but only slightly, the other way. Sincerely yours, F Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, Oyster Bay, N.Y.[CA 6-21-17] Dear John I am very glad to receive that letter of yours. Every now or then somebody or other write me to know if there trouble you & me [?] I answer that no human being, (not even you yourself John) could make trouble between you & Me, because I believe in you with all heart, and always shall. Faith. Jno M Pother New Olean, La [ATTACHED TO PARKER 6-21-17][*[ June 22, 1917]*] My dear Mr. Metcalf An editorial for your paper of June 21st has been sent to me. It is a mighty nice editorial, & I thank you for it. Faith My dear Mr. [H?????]: I appreciate to the full your courtesy in sending that editorial. Faith 565191917 June 22 My dear Mr. Martin, I am very much obliged for the song and thank you for it. Would you give my warm regrets to Mr. + Mrs. Sunday. Tell Mrs. S. that I have a new a little grand daughter who was born on Sunday. With these my beautiful good wishes to all of your party + especially to Mr. + Mrs. S. [illegible], [signature illegible] [ca 6-23-17] My dear Rev. White I thank you, & I am greatly interested in your letter, But before I go into detail about dividing the skin of the bear, I think we had better work a little more efficiently in getting the bear [illegible signature?][*Sent this by postal*] TELEGRAM [*??8*] [*12 Collect*] COLLECT June 26th, 1917. [*B 143 X Afv 485*] C. L. Brekner Chairman Red Cross Committee [*-------------*] [*Berkley, W. Va.*] I am Extremely sorry I am speaking at Forest Hill that day. THEODORE ROOSEVELT [*no office Postal*] [*[1917 June 26]*] To whom it may concern: W. Edward Disharoon has been a telegrapher in the Long Island R. R. station for nearly 3 years. He has handled almost all of my Western Union business during that time. He has done his work faithfully & efficiently & always with the utmost good [?] & consideration & desire to be obliging. I very cordially commend him. [?] 56521Private [June 27, 1917] My dear Mr. Empey I am very much pleased with your book, & of course with the inscription. I am mighty proud that you are a fellow American. Two of my boys are now on the way to join Pershing; my other 2 sons & 1 of my sons in law will soon be going. It is a matter of the most bitter regret to me that O am not allowed to go myself. I suppose that the President felt that inasmuch as after 2 1/2 years of refusal to follow the course I advocated, he was finally obliged to come to it & he at least had to relieve his feelings by turning down the man whose course he was finally obliged to follow Sincerely [Arthur Guy Empey][* not found ca June 1917? *] My dear Gen'l White Up to a few weeks ago it was a criminal offense to recruit aliens in this country. Now by an act of Congress, our allies are at liberty to do so. Until this act was passed, it was impossible to reach the half million men of military age in America who are citizens of Great Britain & Canada. Many of these men went to the war of their own accord, but the vast majority of them had no means of paying their way to England, & moreover were uncertaiun whether they would be accepted when they got there, while no provision would be made for their wives & families if they went. Moreoover, the law that has recently beenenacted by Congress enables the British & Canadian governments to enlist their nationals who are residing here. Any British or Canadian citizen can go to the nearest U. S. Army recruiting station & be forwarded, if fit, either to Canada or to England, at the expense of his Government. Such a man is put on the pay roll as soon as he is accepted, & if he has a wife, she gets a reparation allowance. While waiting for passage across the Atlantic he will be given preliminary training, so that no time is wasted. The average training in England is 14 weeks, which is followed by a 2 months' training behind the lines, or actually in the trenches in France. Therefore inless than 6 months from the day of enlistment, the recruit may take part in offensive operations. Under existing conditions the quickest way of getting men from America to France is as above mentioned. All the British recruits who are enlisted in this country within the next 2 months can be & probably will be put in France this year. Therefore it is not only to the interest of the British Government, but it is to the interest of the U. S; it is to the interest of every one in this country to assist the British army in the enlistments of these men. I wish you all possible success. [?] T E L E G R A M July 6th, 1917. PAID Fritz Dolge, Dolge Felt Company, Oxford, Massachusetts Colonel Roosevelt will be in town next Wednesday instead of Tuesday. Will you lunch with him J. M. STRICKER Secretary. Charge to Metropolitan Magazine. July 11th, 1917. Dear Mr. Megrew: Your letter, addressed to the Metropolitan Magazine, inquiring as to Colonel Roosevelt's office hours, has handed to me. If you will call me on the telephone some day, I will try to make an appointment for you. Sincerely yours, Mr. George Megrew, 389 Fifth Avenue, New York. [*file Olander*] FOR RELEASE FRIDAY MORNING PAPERS, July 20th, 1917. July 17, 1917. My dear Sir: I thank you for your courteous letter enclosing the report of the Committee on Labor of the Illinois State Council of Defense, concerning the race riots at East St. Louis. They had nothing to do with any commission or alleged commission of rape or any other crime. Aside from race antipathy, the report seems to show that the riots were due to economic conditions. I was not informed, in any way, as to these economic conditions which it is alleged led up to the riot, until after Mr. Gompers' speech on July 6th. When on that evening I made my first remarks on the riots I supposed the underlying cause to be racial, and in my remarks I made no allusion whatever to organized labor, or indeed to labor at all, in connection with the riots. It was Mr. Gompers' speech which first gave me clearly to understand that the fundamental cause was alleged to be economic, and that organized labor regarded itself as especially concerned with the riots. Then my attention was called to the newspapers of July 4th, which carried an alleged statement by Mr. Michael Whalen, President of the Central Trades and Labor Councils of - 2 - East St. Louis. If this statement is correctly reported, Mr. Whalen said, "The chief objection to the negroes is that they would not unionize, and would not strike". I hold with the utmost intensity of conviction, that it is absolutely impossible for us to succeed along the lines of an orderly democracy, a democracy which shall be industrial as well as political, unless we treat the repression of crime, including crimes of violence, and the insistence on justice obtained through the enforcement of law, as prime necessities. I, of course, refuse, under any conditions, to accept the fact that certain persons decline "to unionize and strike" as warranting their murder, or as warranting any kind of violence against them. But I go much further than this. I will aid in every way in my power to secure by governmental as well as private action, the remedying of all the wrongs [xxx] of labor, and in so acting I shall pay no heed to any capitalistic opposition. But I refuse to treat any industrial conditions as warranting riot and murder; and I condemn all persons, whether representatives of organized labor or not, who attempt to palliate or excuse such crimes, or who fail to condemn this in clear out and unequivocal fashion. I heartily believe in organized - 3 - labor, just as, and even more than, I believe in organized capital; I am very proud of being an honorary member of one labor organization; but I will no more condone crime or violence by a labor organization or by workingmen than I will condone crime or wrongdoing by a corporation or by capitalists. A square deal [by] for every man! That is the only safe motto for the United States. This is a democracy, a government by the people, and the people have supreme power if they choose to exercise it. The people can get justice, peaceably, if they really desire it; and if they do not desire it enough to show the wisdom, patience and coolheaded determination necessary in order to get it peaceably, through the orderly process of law, then they haven't the slightest excuse for trying to get it by riot and murder. All the Governmental authorities concerned in the East St. Louis situation should have taken notice of that situation in advance, and should take notice of it now. The National Government, and all local governmental authorities in places where such a situation is likely to arise, should take notice now, and act now. Nine tenths of wisdom is being wise in time. If there has been- 4 - improper solicitation of negros to come to East St. Louis, or improper housing and working conditions among them after they have come, or an improperly low wage scale, or if anything else improper has been done by the capitalists and employers, so that injustice has been done the working men, then it was the bounden duty, and is now the bounden duty, of the Government authorities to remedy the wrong and see justice done the working men. But the first consideration is to stop, and to punish, lawless and murderous violence. [xxx] Lawless violence inevitably breeds lawless violence in return; and the first duty of the government is relentlessly to put a stop to the violence and then to deal firmly and wisely with all the conditions that led up to the violence. If black men are lawlessly and brutally murdered in the end the effect is to produce lawlessness among brutal blacks. Recently the I.W.W. has been guilty of all kinds of misconduct , and has been acting as in effect a potent ally of Germany, with whom we are at war; and finally their lawlessness produced an explosion of counter-lawlessness. Of course the Government should repress both kinds of lawlessness. It should prevent all lawless excesses against the I.W.W., - 5 - and it should also act on the theory that these excesses are fundamentally due to the previous failure of the Government to deal in drastic fashion and with all necessary severity with the turbulent, lawless, murderous and treasonable practices which have been so common among the I. W. W. and kindred organizations. And then it should deal in thoroughgoing fashion with the social and industrial conditions which have produced such results. The Americans must hold the scales even. A few years ago certain negro troops shot up a Texas town, and the other members of their companies shielded them from punishment. The Government proceeded to the limit of its power against them all, and dismissed them from the Army; not because they were black men who had committed a crime against white men, but because they had acted criminally; and Justice should be invoked against wrongdoers without regard to the color of their skins, just as it should be invoked against wrongdoers without regard as to whether they are rich or poor, whether they are employers ar employees, whether they are capitalists and heads of corporations who commit crimes of cunning and arrogance and greed, or wage workers and members of labor organizations who commit crimes of violence and envy and greed.-6- I have just received [an abusive] letter from an organization styling itself "The Industrial Council of Kansas City," and claiming to be affiliated with the Federation of Labor, which states that I accused organized labor of being responsible for the outrages at East St. Louis. I made no such accusation until the fact that there was at least a measure of truth in the accusation had been in effect set forth in the speech by the [special] representative of organized labor [at the meeting at which I spoke] and by the telegram quoted in that speech. Whenever I have the power, I will protect the white man against the black wrongdoer, and the black man against the white wrongdoer; I will as far as I have power secure justice for the laboring man who is wronged by the man of property, and for every man whether he has property or not if he is menaced by lawless violence; and when I haven't the power, I will at least raise my voice in protest, if there is the least chance of that protest doing good. We are at this moment at war with a most formidable and ruthless enemy. We are fighting for our own dearest rights; we are also fighting for the rights of all self-respecting and civilized nations to liberty and self-government. We have demanded that the negro-7- submit to the draft and do his share of the fighting exactly as the white man does. Surely when such is the case, we should give him the same protection by the [law] that we give to the white man. All of us who are fit to fight are to serve as soldiers, shoulder to shoulder, whether we are farmers or townsfolk, whether we are the workingmen or professional men, men who employ others or men who are employed by others. We fight for the same country, we are loyal to the same flag, we are all alike eager to pay with our bodies in order to serve the high ideals which those who founded and preserved this nation believed it our mission to uphold throughout the world. Surely in such case it is our duty to treat all our fellow countrymen, rich or poor, black or white, with justice and mercy and, so far as may be, in a spirit of brotherly kindness. The victims of the mob in East St. Louis were very humble people. They were slain, and their little belongings destroyed. In speaking of the draft riots in New York during the Civil War Lincoln, addressiong a Workingmens' Association, singled out as the saddest feature of the riots the killing "of some working people by other working people". We have recently entered into-8- a war, primarily it is true to secure our own national honor and vital interest, but also with the hope of bringing a little nearer to all the world the day when everywhere the humble and the might shall respect one anothers' rights and dwell together in the peace of justice. Surely, when we thus go to war against tyranny and brutality and oppression, our own hands must be clean of innocent blood. We hope to advance throughout the world the peace of righteousness and brotherhood, surely we can best do so when we insist upon this peace of righteousness and brotherhood within our own borders. In reviewing such a peace the first essential is to guarantee to every man the most elementary of rights, the right to his own life. Murder is not debateable. Sincerely yours, Mr. Victor A. Olander, Secy.-Treas., Ills. State Federation of Labor, 164 W. Washington Street, Chicago, Ills.[1918 July 17] Col R - directs me to acknowledge with thanks & appreciation your very courteous letter with enclosure. [S?]July 31st, 1917. My dear Mrs. Foley: Through your son Edward, I have just received the news of the death of your lamented husband. I beg to present you my sincere sympathy. You know how fond I was of your husband, and how companionable I found him. I greatly admired and respected him, and I admire and respect your boys. With very sincere regard, Faithfully yours, Mrs. R. H. Foley, Medora, N.D.[Aug. 9, 1917] Mr. Geo. H. Doran 26 West 61st St New York Greatly concerned to learn of your operation hope everything is all right Theodore Roosevelt [Handwriting of T. Roosevelt][Aug. 9, 1917] Mr. Geo. H. Doran 26 West 61st St New York Greatly concerned to learn of your operation hope everything is all right Theodore Roosevelt [Handwriting of T. Roosevelt][8-22-17] Col & Mrs. R. tickets & D. R. N. Y. to Chi -- Chi to K. C. Kentwood - do K. C. to Chi. arrive there Sept. 25. 9. P. M. Byllesby arrangements for Blackstone Hotel Mrs. R. tickets & D. R. Sept 27 Chi to N. Y. Col R. [?] Byllesbys came to Racine & Minneapolis & back to Chi arriving then Sept 29 - 11 50 a.m. Col. R. tickets & DR. Chi to Johnstown 9/29 - 3 15 P.M. " " Johnstown to N. Y. notify [?] & Rich Col leaving Chi 9/21 - 6 P.M. instead of 8:05 " Kirkwood - arrive 7:15 instead of 8:45 " " accept [?] K.C. to Chi " " set time of speech - what is recession " Johnstown people length of story & get time of speech (noon [?] be at [?]) " Robertson - programed " Blylesby & Puck - Time of speeches & occasions[*Robertson*] CONFIRMATION OF TELEGRAM FROM HOOKER ELECTROCHEMICAL COMPANY 40 WALL STREET, NEW YORK September 25 1917 [*file*] Mr W G Robertson, President Labor's Loyal Legion 125 Seventh Street South Minneapolis, Minn. Mrs Roosevelt is returning to New York from Chicago. Colonel Roosevelt of course anxious to do all he possibly can but do not make his day too full Better eliminate address Twin City History Club and any address other than evening regular programs Auditorium must be a few impromptu words of greeting only Everything else OK J M STRIGEER SecretaryOn Train, September 28, 1917. Major John Drain, Division Ordnance Officer, First Division, American Expeditionary Force, France. My dear Major:-- I congratulate you with all my heart, and I envy you not a little. It is the greatest of all possible experience this which you are having, and you are one of those now engaged in rendering the indispensable service to our country. I am very much obliged to you for what you say of my three boys, whom you met. Naturally, I am exceedingly proud of them. Always yours,Sagamore HIll Oct 24 1917 Dear Miss Knicker, The enclosed letter is for Mr. Fallows; & one for Hardings will be filed. Sincerely yours, Theodore RooseveltOYSTER BAY LONG ISLAND, N.Y. October 2nd, 1917. [*Private*] My dear Mr. Cropley: That's a mighty interesting letter and a very interesting article. I send it back as you request. I do not want to comment as to what I think, because I believe that the trouble [you] we have had is fundamentally due, not to "German diplomacy" but to [executive] misconduct [?] in very high quarters by very high people. Faithfully yours, Theodore Roosevelt Mr. R. E. Cropley, c/o S. N. Bond & Co., 111 Broadway, New York. [*[Eve in Cropley 10-8-17]*] TELEGRAM October 4th, 1917. Mr. P. A. Baker, General Supt. Anti-Saloon League of America, Waterville, Ohio. CAN YOU NOT WRITE ME WHAT YOU DESIRE TO SAY. I CANNOT UNDERTAKE [*ANY*] SPEECHES AT THIS TIME. THEODORE ROOSEVELT. COLLECT. [*Lambert*] October 5, 1917. Dear Alex: Your letters are the most interesting I receive; they are the longest and the fullest. What absorbing work you are engaged in, my dear fellow. I envy you more than I can say for having the chance. It is fine to think of what Nellie is doing. I am utterly discontented here. This is not a time for speech-making and writing. It is a time for fighting and for doing other work. There is much of the very work most needed at the present time which I am peculiarly fitted to do, but President Wilson is far more concerned about his own political prospects and about gratifying his personal spite than he is about utilizing men like myself and Leonard Wood. From the standpoint of his own personal and political fortunes he may be entirely right, but he is certainly entirely wrong from the standpoint of the interest of the country. Well, all I can do is to try my best to hurry things forward. At the War Department there are some men like Generals Crowder and Squier who are really doing admirably. There are others like Tasker Bliss and Crozier who most seriously hamper the rapid training and forwarding of our army. Very grave damage comes[10-5-17] -2- from the men who indiscriminately support everything the Administration does. Of course our worst foes are the creatures of the type of La Follette who I have smitten hip and thigh. I am immensely interested in what you tell me about the gas business. It is pretty grim to know my boys will be exposed to it soon. I can only hope that we shall get our masses of men abroad next summer, then we shall begin to make a dent in the German situation. If three years ago we had begun to prepare and do the things we are doing today, we could have put a couple of million men in France last May, and the war would have been over now - indeed, I am inclined to think that Germany would have thrown up her hands before the actual fighting occurred. If on February 2nd last, when we broke off diplomatic relations, the Government had behaved with energy and determination to lose sight of everything else except the successful prosecution of the war, we would have now had one half million well trained men in the trenches. Dick will I hope be on the water before this letter reaches you. Ethel is with him to spend the last fortnight. Her two babies are with us. Ted's babies are at Newport. I hope you sometimes see [*[10-5-17*]] - 3 - Eleanor in spite of the way you are working. With dearest love to Wellie, Ever yours, Dr. Alexander Lambert, TELEGRAM October 6, 1917. Miss M. E. Britt, Hotel Greenbriar, White Sulphur Springs, W. VA. CAN YOU ANSWER IMMEIATELY REGARDIG RATES J.M.STRICKER Secretary Charge to Met. Mag. TELEGRAM October 6, 1917. Miss M. E. Britt, Hotel Greenbriar, White Sulphur Springs, W. VA. CAN YOU ANSWER IMMEDIATELY EGARDING RATES. J.M.STRICKER Secretary Charge to Met. Mag.COPY. October 8th, 1917. STRICTLY PRIVATE. Dear Mr. Lowe: Most emphatically, the best way we can give aid and comfort to the enemy is to blind ourselves to truths which they know all about. Together with your letter came two letters from officers, one a Colonel and one a Captain in these camps, thanking me for the good I had done their men by what I have written and spoken. I also had two letters from two Major-Generals in command of the camps, begging me to go on, and saying that the refusal of good people to criticize the hideous shortcomings of the Administration has been more responsible than anything else for our failure to prepare in advance and for the very bad work that is being done now in connection with rifles, and the like. You say that to criticize our lack of preparedness now "is academic, because we are facing a condition and not a theory". You might just as well say that when a ship founders and it is discovered that there are no life boats or no preservers aboard it is "academic" to discuss it, because the ship is gone anyway and nothing can be done about it. Are you under the impression, my dear sir, that this is the last war, and that never again will this country be in any danger? to you not know that instead of this question being "settled and incapable of correction" it has not been solved at all? That do you mean when you say that "a movement to prepare in advance of a declaration of war would have been futile and possibly disastrous"? It could not possibly have been disastrous; it could not possibly have 565852. done anything but good. Nothing so futile as Mr. Wilson's conduct during the two and a half years prior to the war could be imagined - or rather I should say, nothing so futile and mischievous from the standpoint of the nation, however beneficial it may have been to Mr. Wilson's political ambitions. Are you aware that instead of taking advantage of this war to introduce a policy of permanent preparedness, Mr. Wilson and his subordinates have scrupulously refrained from taking one step of any kind looking toward permanent preparedness? In other words, they have not remedied a single blunder which they have committed in the past; they have not shown that they have learned a lesson. You say this question is "already settled". It is not settled. It never will be settled until our people make Mr. Wilson understand that it is to his personal advantage to do what is best for the nation; and therefore not until they make him understand that they will not pardon misdeed on the excuse that the misdeeds are "past and therefore nothing can be done about" them. Such an attitude of mushy forgetfulness of past misdeeds is the surest way to guarantee the recurrence of misdeeds in the future. You say that we shall have "an eternity in which to thresh out this question after we finish the war". My four sons are at the front. If Mr. Wilson had been doing his duty during the last eight months, there would be at least a half million thoroughly trained and armed men now at the front and there would be at least two million more men under training to support them at the front. If my sons die because of the folly which you refuse to condemn, it will be might small comfort to me to think that you are "willing to thresh out to eternity the question" of responsibility - a question which does not admit of debate at all, and as to which it is quite impossible that there should be any difference of opinion among honest men who take the trouble to inform themselves. 565863. If you, at the head of a big business, kept pardoning an officer for successive malversations of funds, and if when it was pointed out that he was still continuing a system of petty pilfering, you persisted in keeping him and said it should not be talked about because it might give opponents of the institution a chance to criticize, you would be guilty of grave wrong to your stock holders. The attitude you now actually take represents a desire to do just such grave harm to this county. The only patriotic course, my dear sir, is the course which according to my ability I am trying to follow. I heartily support the Administration in everything it does that is for the common good, and that will help in efficiently prosecuting the war. I never bring up any of its gross misdeeds of the past save when it is absolutely necessary in order to prevent its committing similar gross misdeeds in the future. I call attention to its shortcomings only when these are so patent that any enemy of the country knows of them and speaks of them with derision, and when it is a much worse than an ostrich- like policy for wellmeaning, but very short-sighted, people to try to make believe that if we don't say anything about our shortcomings they won't make any difference. Do you suppose that Germany doesn't know our utter unpreparedness? Do you suppose that the men in the camps when they drill with broomsticks don't feel ashamed, or that they think they have good rifles? No one is fooled in these matters except the American public. Anything less "academic" than trying to secure efficiency in this war, and than trying to bring home to our people the absolute need of hereafter preparing, cannot be imagined; and it is utterly out of the question to bring the truth home to them except by telling the truth, and by preventing the soft-salve quacks from deceiving them into the belief that everything 565874. has been well done - [*in*]stead of worse done than any other civilized nation had done for a hundred years. The questions have not even begun to be "settled". We are now much in the position, as regards preparedness, in which Russia was at the outset of the war. If the attitude you take in your letter is taken by the bulk of American people, then not only will our faults not be corrected, but we shall settle our questions wrong, and we shall submit to and perpetuate a system of mixed knavery and imbecility as our national policy; and if so our children and our children's children ill pay with shame and humiliation for our astounding folly. Very truly yours, (Signed) THEODOE ROOSEVELT. Mr. J. M. Lowe, Pres. National Old Trails Road Assn., Kansas City, Mo. 56588October 13, 1917. Dear Mr. O'Loughlin: Colonel Roosevelt is away on a three week's vacation. Upon his return your letter will be submitted for his attention. Sincerely yours, Secretary. Mr. J. C. O'Loughlin c/o The Biltmore, New York.October 13, 1917. Dear Mr. Wanzer: Colonel Roosevelt is away on a three week's vacation. Upon his return your letter will be submitted for his attention. Sincerely yours, Secretary. Mr. C. M. Wanzer, Urbana, Ohio.October 13, 1917. Dear Mr. Williamson: Colonel Roosevelt is away on a three week's vacation. Upon his return your letter will be submitted for his attention. Sincerely yours, Secretary. Mr. Rodney E. Williamson, 1315 Ohio Avenue, Anderson, Ind.October 14, 1917. Dear Mr. Lindsay: Colonel Roosevelt is away on a three week's vacation. Upon his return your letter will be submitted for his attention. Sincerely yours, Secretary. Mr. Forbes Lindsay, Supt., Pacific Mutual Life Ins. Co. Los Angeles, Calif.October 15, 1917. Dear Mr. Rosewater: Colonel Roosevelt is away on a three week's vacation. Upon his return your letter will be submitted for his attention. Sincerely yours, Secretary. Mr. Victor Rosewater, Omaha Daily Bee, Omaha, Nebr.October 16, 1917. Dear Dr. Barclay: Colonel Roosevelt is away on a three week's vacation. Upon his return your letter will be submitted for his attention. Sincerely yours, Secretary. Dr. Robert Barclay, 3894 Washington Blvd. St. Louis, Mo.October 20, 1917. Dear Reade: Colonel Roosevelt is away on a three week's vacation. Upon his return your letter will be submitted for his attention. Sincerely yours, Secretary. Mr. Frederick F. Reade, Clinton St. Reformed Pres. Church, Cincinnati, Ohio.October 20th, 1917. Dear President Withrow: Colonel Roosevelt is away on a three week's vacation. Upon his return your letter will be submitted for his attention. Sincerely yours, Mr. J. McClellan Withrow, Pres., Williams College Good Government Club, Williamstown, Mass.[*Bull*] COPY. October 25, 1917. Dear Henry: I do not believe that political speeches should be permitted at our camps. If political speeches are permitted, there should be absolute freedom of discussion, not merely as a right but as a duty, the only limit being loyalty to the United States. Therefore, it might be not merely the right but the duty of the speaker in the strongest terms to criticize the existing President, whoever he was. Some men might think it their duty to criticize a President who was like Buchanan, others would think it their duty to criticize a President who was like Lincoln. High-minded men, of entire purity of intention, very strongly opposed each of these men while they were president. It was proper and right that they should do so. But it would have been entirely improper for them to have done so in a military camp where they would have been speaking of the Commander in Chief of the Army. If Mr. Hillquit cannot speak at a military carp (and I very gravely doubt whether he ought to be allowed to speak at a military camp) then it is not advisable that any political speeches should be made there. I will speak in these camps whenever I am given the chance, but my appeal will be made purely to the soldiers an Americans, without regard to whether they are Democrats, Republicans, Socialists or Independents. I shall urge upon them their duty to put this war through; and furthermore their special duty as citizens, who now know something of military needs, to see that hereafter we have adequate military preparedness in this country; and that we profit by our shameful national shortcomings of the last three years, and never again permit ourselves to be so unprepared as to be exposed to the humiliation of the last nine months, when we have owed our ability to prepare for our own defence only to the fact that France and England for their on purposes have protected our weakness with their strength. Faithfully yours, (signed) THEODORE ROOSEVELT. Mr. Henry Bull, 111 Broadway, New York. October 30, 1917. My dear [*Mr.*] Bloomingdale: Your telegram gives me real pleasure. I thank you, and deeply appreciate it. With hearty good wishes. Mr. F. W. Bloomingdale, 115 Broadway, New York. October 30th, 1917. Dear Sir: In the first place, I care not a rap about "unpleasant criticism" when that criticism is also untruthful; and any adverse criticism including yours, of the article in question, is untruthful. Your own letter is so foolish and impertinent that I should not answer it were it not for your position as Manager of printed matter for the Y. M. C. A. As for your statements. First, I emphatically stated, not only in the article in question, but again and again, that the Y. M. C. A. has done admirable work in the army, and this you well knew when you wrote your letter to me. But in your second paragraph you deliberately sought to create an impression that I had spoken against the Army Y. M. C. A. You say that no man of draft age was exempted from service because of present or prospective connection with the Army Y. M. C. A. Of course he was not. He could not legally be exempted for such purposes. But various members of the Y. M. C. A. have sought to obtain such exemptions for young men, and the gallant young men among those for whom the efforts have been made, have refused the offer. You know this perfectly well. For example, you cannot be ignorant of the fact, for it was published in the New York[10-30-17] -2- papers, that various young Princeton men, when drafted, were asked by the Y. M. C. A. men in high position to get exempted so that they could stay in the Y. M. C. A. The young men in question, being gallant fellows, and understanding the real perspective of matters refused. One of them is now at Camp Upton as a private; others are in the army in other places - fighting places. A lady who has just returned from Paris, where she has been working in connection with both the Y. M. C. A. and the Red Cross, writes as follows: "I am rejoiced to read this morning Colonel Roosevelt's advice to the Y. M. C. A. young men who are in France. It is a scandal, and a mortifying situation. The French and British hint at their opinion of other Americans and one can imagine what they say behind our backs. En Busque's and slackers are only polite words. A Canadian Officer told me, 'you will have to comb out your Y.M.C.A. and similar organizations as our English had to do, and send the robust young men to the trenches'. The strange thing is that these husky young men cannot see the situation themselves in the light in which all French and British see them. Civilian young men with able bodies who never had a gun in a drill, and who yet wear khaki, ought to see the contempt they excite when they appear in uniform and yet in a uniform that insures them against harm". You can set yourself right at once if you choose;[10-30-17] -3- demand through your publications that every Y.M.C.A. man under 45 come straight home from France. There are Y.M.C.A. men under that age who for physical or other reasons cannot serve in the armies. Let those men not cross the water where their presence would be sure to be misunderstood. They can do good work here; but no man of the fighting age, and fitted to be in the fighting line, has any business in the Y. M. C. A. across the water at this time. If you take this course, and manfully acknowledge the folly of your letter to me, you will be serving the Y.M.C.A. Remember that I have borne, and am bearing, and shall bear, the heartiest testimony to the value of the Y.M.C.A. as a whole. One of my daughters-in-law is in Paris at this time working for the Y.M.C.A. But her husband, and my other sons, are in the fighting line of the army. I am very proud of the fact that several of my kinsfolk who are women, or men over the fighting age, are working for the Y.M.C.A. and similar organizations; and that my kinsfolk who are men of the fighting age are in the Army. In my family, those who are not women are men; therefore, those who are of fighting age, and who can get in the army, are in the army. The women, and the men over 45, are[10-30-17] -4- helping along other lines. Yours truly, Mr. E. E. Hamilton, 1517 East Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio. P.S. In striking contrast to your letter, I have just received one from the Acting Chairman of the Red Cross, stating the satisfaction he felt in reading my article, and telling me that the War Council of the American Red Cross has definitely adopted the policy that in recruiting workers for the Red Cross no men of draft age should be taken. I have also just received from the Rev. J. M. Farrar of Brooklyn a letter running in part as follows: "Your article in reference to Y.M.C.A. aids will do great good. I am ordering a number of copies for distribution. Dr. Mac Rossie, who has just returned from France, says that the soldiers do not want the young men to come over there to do Y.M.C.A. work, because they feel that every able bodied man ought to be at the front".[*Hackett*] November 14, 1917. TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: I have known Mr. James Hackett for many years. He is a man of an exceptionally vigorous physical past, but now is physically unfit for work at the front. He has, however, handled thousands of men, has been an organizer on a large scale, and is desirous of being of service in any way to the United States Government in this crisis. I have no question that there are positions in which he would be of real use to the Government. Sincerely yours,November 20, 1917. Sir: I have been informed by the State Department that they have a photographic copy of a letter written by me to you on July 7th, and that the Department has reason to believe that you are acting in the interest of the Central Powers of Europe. If you are acting in the interest of the Central Powers of Europe in spite of your having held a commission in the National Guard and being an American citizen, you are a traitor to America and should be treated as such. In your correspondence with me you have always held yourself up as a most loyal American, and if you have used any letter from at or any position which these letters gave you to act against America's interests you have of course been guilty of the most serious. wrong doing. Before passing judgment, I wish to hear exactly what you have to say in the natter. Very truly yours, Mr. C. F. Z. Caracristi, Caracas, Venezuela.COPY. November 22nd, 1917. Dear Dr. Dennis: Mr. Hooker has forwarded to Colonel Roosevelt your very courteous invitation of November 17th, accompanying it with an earnest appeal for Colonel Roosevelt's acceptance if it is at all possible. Colonel Roosevelt directs me to say in reply that he is extremely sorry he is unable to be with you on the occasion mentioned, but his engagements are such that it is a physical impossibility. On November 26th he is speaking in Toronto, and his other engagements pile along in such fashion immediately on his return that it is not possible for him to attempt anything additional at this time. With real regret, Sincerely yours, Secretary. Dr. L. M. Dennis, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.[[shorthand]] November 28th, 1917. My dear Mr. Littig: I thank you for your very courteous letter, and return herewith the enclosures you so kindly submitted for my attention. Sincerely yours, Mr. C. Bosley Littig, Van Bibber, Md.Day letter. December 10th, 1917. Herman Hagedorn, Fairfield, Conn. Will you lunch with Colonel Wednesday Harvard Club one thirty. Re. letter seventh. Could Colonel be there at eight o'clock and if so where is the place and after dinner Colonel wants to have a long talk with you. J. M. Stricker. chg. Metropolitan Mag.[*[1917]*] My dear Foulke, This letter is for yourself alone ; but you can [call it] state the substance of it to Mr McNult or to Mr Mores if you chance to meet them. I must decline to be drawn into any discussion of Mr McNult's affairs. [Mr] Mr Root has officially [said to Mr McNult] stated all that there is to be said on this subject. The causes of Mr McNult's recall from Spain were [?] the subject of general conversation in Washington at the time [since?] 12 or 15 years ago. Mr Mores accepted that I furnished him and his wife the [] at the Vatican is false. Neither Mr Lodge nor [myself nor] gave Mrs Stover or anyone else at that time any [special] information in regards to Mr McNutt which was un-generally known, and which they did not known [?]2 Within the past eighteen minutes Mr Stover has revived the subject of Mr McNutt & has sought information designed to [stricken:?] Exclude him from the Papal service [?] [?] Lodge, Ambassador White + myself. I enclose you, but only for your own [?] eye, his cover letter to ref, Serval or Lodge will be drafting so show you the curse prudence of Mrs. Mores with himself and Mr Whit on this subject, but note for your own informaiton, when you come to Washington. Sincerely yours Wm Dudley Fouesce [*Feb C7] A Theo. Roosevelt to Wm. Dudley Foulke[*(Augustus P. Gardner owm T.R.)*] Hon. A.P. Gardner [*[1912]*] Touraine Hotel Boston Mass. Lodge wires that he said merely that he had discust the program with me. But I have thought much of the matter since you spoke to me yesterday and I very strongly feel that no matter what may be thought of the adviseability of Lodge's action yet as it has been taken it would be most unwise to bring in [a Taft]the resolution. If beaten the effect would be very bad on Taft whereas now he has certainly two of its four delegates. Whether beaten or not the introduction of the resolution would now have as a chief effect the damaging of Lodge which is most undesireable from every stand point personal and public state and National. I therefore urge that the resolution beabandoned and if you desire you can quote me as so advising. Theodore Roosevelt.Harold L. Ickes, Harris Trust Building, Chicago, Ill. Telegram from Sergel received asking if he will meet Colonel on train. Tell him doctors will not allow Colonel to talk on Trainas his throat is in bad shape. Bring Sergel to the Blackstone on Sunday morning at ten thirty. John W. McGrath [?????ssive] [*Ickes*] [1917?][*1917? *] [*1 A *] [*ram W *] My dear Senator Johnson, It is a little puzzling to know how to deal with such preposterous falsehoods as those to which Senator Stone has given currency by inserting them in [the] congressional record. The individuals who start and circulate such falsehoods are necessarily of shameless nature, who eagerly [?] [?] its notoriety of having this mendacity exposed and in consequence it is rarely well to notice them. But perhaps, when a Senator of the United States, [?] [?] into the record, it is worthwhile re-stating the facts. These facts have been matters of official record for nineteen years and there is not the slightest excuse for misrepresenting them.13 The first portion of the matter inserted in its Record by Senator Stone relates to the fight at Las Guasimas. [The attacks [?] are wholly false and] [really] [It reflects not one and ] The utterly baseless slanders it contains really reflect [?] not on me really not on me still] but on General Wheeler and General, then Colonel, Wood. [for] I was [merely] a Lieutenant Colonel at the time, and during the fight merely acting as Major, under the direction of Col. Wood, commanding the right wing until the fighting ceased in that part of the field, and then by order of Col. Wood, taking command of the left wing, to replace Major Brodie who had [been] just been shot. The affidavit [?] of Capt. W.H.H. Lewellen about this fight, put in its congressional Records Senator by Stone correctly states the facts [correctly] as to the action of [troops] the Rough Riders & [correctly]. [In the fight] The fight was made by its dismounted cavalry brigade commanded by General S. B. M. Young who did his task with soldiers efficiently and complete success and who is entitled to [?] credit. The Rough Rider regiments [[?] commanded by General S. B. M. Young] was commanded by [?] Colonel Leonard Wood to whom the credit for the [?] was [?] its regiment was blodied so [?] [?]. Of the high personal gallantry of General Young and Col Wood [?] [got the [?] Riders by Colonel Leonard Wood that was of [?] did the [?] times with soldierly efficiency and competence there was] unnecessary to [?] [?] was no "ambush" and neither than nor at any other time did the colored troops or any other troops "rescue" the Rough Riders; and any assertion to the contrary is [a] both a willful [fasil] falsehood and a [?] falsehood, well known to be and by whoever makes it. Of course the assertion that General Wheeler "weakly yielded to (my) importunities" to make the fight is2 abound; I was, as I have said at the time [?] - Colonel, (was not consulted in advance by my [?]) [I] and knew nothing whatever about the intention to make a fight until the orders were cabled to me late the previous evening by Colonel Wood. My Autobiography pp 256-260, gives my own part in the fight, which was [practicall] merely [?] that of each of its other subordinate officers of my rank and command [?] who were present. General Young in his official report of its fight on June 29 said "The conduct of Lt. Col Roosevelt [disengaging?] [?] [command???]," General Wheeler in his report of July 17th [?] [?] as having "specially distinguished" myself. [??] [nominated?] me for a [silver?] [armor?] for gallantry in battle, La [?], Cuba, [June?] 4st 1898." such a part as that played by that of “The conduct of Lt. Col. [??????] and [?] [?] regards the San Juan fight my part in it which was [???ally] [?] random other [?] commander but [?] [is] reflected in [?] official documents quoted in my Autobiography pp 279-291 and herewith appended. I was then a Colonel, [Brigadier] General [Leonard?] Wood commanding its brigade and general samuel [see?????] its division. The [?] [?] of [General?] Wood in its [record?] [asserts?] in effect [?] [?] [regiment?] I commanded was not in the "San Juan Hill" charge, and when I'd [?????????]. Picket's? charge at Gettysburg,. As a matter of fact the comparison is [?] in pont. Pickett's charge[d] at the battle of Gettysburg, but not at the village for which the battle was [?] our charge was at the battle of San Juan, but I dont know whether it was at the battle of San Juan. [but] . I did not which we [?] changed; I did not then know, and indeed do not now know, which was named San Juan, or whether the name was confined to the [?] [hill?] which was carried by gallant General [Vanki??] and his infantry. [?] [point?] is not of the slightest importance; and to deny that he was in its3 San Juan fight is as willful and ridiculous a piece or mendacity as to deny that Pickets men charged at Gettysburg, or that Napoleons, Wellingtons and Bluchers soldiers fought at Waterloo - for none of the French, English or Prussians [as they none of them] actually fought at the village of Waterloo, although they all fought at the battle which took its name from the village. The assertion [of] that Juan not on hogsback is another ridiculous falsehood; in the accompanying documents [a] the materials of Captain Menary, Major Jenkins, Sergeant Broshar, and Captain Barker all incidentally mention my leading my men on horseback. These documents from that President - McKinley recommended me to be Brigadier General [by?] [?] "for galanty in battle, Santiago de Cuba, July 1st 1898" [(the San Juan fight)]; that Major General Samuel S. Summer rewarded me for a medal of honor for as a reward for conspicuous gallantry at the battle of San Juan, Cuba, in July 1sr 1898 and that Major General Leonard Wood likewise recommended me for a medal of honor on the ground that my "services were of during the assault upon San Juan Hill, July 1st,1898," The4 generals named were my immediate official superiors in the battle; they and the other gallant officers whose statements are herewith appended; were in the fight with me and were eyewitnesses of the conduct to which they testified. I allude to the high character of their praise with reluctance, and only because I am left no alternative by the action of a Senator of the United States in placing in the Record such astounding slanders. I have the honor to be, very sincerely yours Theodore Roosevelt[*[CA1912] *] Suggestions for Reaching Boston from Newfane, Vt. -------------------------------------------- Motor from Newfane to Palmer, Mass. The distance by rail is sixty-nine miles, or say, four hours by automobile. By leaving Newfane at 8:30 a.m., it would be possible to arrive at Palmer at 12:30 p.m. Have lunch there. Leave Palmer at 1:16 p.m. on the Boston and Albany train, arriving at Boston at 3:30 p.m. I will meet you at Palmer and take care of the railroad transportation. John W. McGrath. Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, Oyster Bay, N. Y. [1917?] Form 1204 WESTERN UNION TELEGRAM WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH AND CABLE NEWCOMB CARLTON, PRESIDENT GEORGE W. E. ATKINS, FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT CLASS OF SERVICE SYMBOL Day Message Day Letter Blue Night Message Nite Nite Night Letter N L If none of these three symbols appears after the check (number of words) this is a day message. Otherwise [*, *] its character is indicated by the symbol appearing after the check. RECEIVED AT Pittsburg Pa 516PM 26 Mrs. Theo Roosevelt Hermits party arrived safely in England ambassador Willard met them Theodore Roosevelt[*[ca 1917] *] My dear madame, I thank you for your letter & appreciate it. I have offered to our government to raise a division, in the event of war, for immediate service in France. Faithfully yours,[attached to Crois Ca 1917][*[ca 1-6-18] *] In reply to your telegram, unfortunately Col. R does not get into town until evening. If you will call at Hotel Langdon, 5th Ave. & 56th St. at 9:30 Tuesday evening, he will be glad to see you [*[Reply to Ward 1-6-18] *]January 23, 1918. Henri Dill Benner, Esq., New York City. Dear Sir: Col. Roosevelt is so busy during his Brief stay in Washington that he has requested me to acknowledge receipt of your telegram of the 23rd, and to thank you for sending it to him. Very truly yours, Secretary to Representative Longworth.January 23, 1918. John Royal Harris, Esq., Pittsburgh, Pa. Dear Sir: Col. Roosevelt is so busy during his brief stay in Washington, that he has requested me to acknowledge receipt of the kind invitation contained in your telegram of the 2nd, and to express regret that other engagements will prevent his acceptance. Very truly yours, Secretary to Representative Longworth.January 28, 1918. Charles F. Fraze, Esq., 421 North Euclid Ave., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dear Sir: Colonel Roosevelt was literally overwhelmed with work while here. He could not, with all his efforts, attend to all that it was really necessary he should attend to. In addition [*, *] there was a mass of mail which it was a physical impossibility for him to answer personally. He requests me to thank you most warmly for your letter, and he hopes you are satisfied with what he did while in Washington. Yours very truly, Secretary.METROPOLITAN 432 FOURTH AVENUE NEW YORK Office of Theodore Roosevelt January 29, 1918. My dear Mr. Newton: Will you write me as brief statement stating that Mr. Lundeen has been advocating the repeal of the Selective Draft Act and that he was paired against the declaration of war against Austria. The other statements in your letter do not in my judgment add strength to these two, and if you will write me as a letter only dealing with these two I will at once write to Mr. Lundeen and see what answer he can make to them and govern myself accordingly. Faithfully yours, Mr. Walter H. Newton, 1224 McKnight Bldg., Minneapolis, Minn.January 31st, 1918. My dear Mr. Dyer: I don't want to make a public announcement until I speak in Maine on March 28th. [*Privately, *] I feel strongly that we should make our campaign just as you outline. The Republicans should make their campaign in the Congressional election on the genuine and wholehearted support of the war on the central powers, and they can point to the actions of the Republicans in the 65th Congress to show that they have done just a little better than the Democrats, in supporting the Democratic President in every efficient step that he has taken in the war. This proves that from the standpoint of the war it is slightly preferable to have the Republicans [*rather *] than the Democrats in power, when only the [*question of supporting *] efficient action by the administration is concerned. But furthermore, it is just as much our duty to stop inefficient action and to insist that incompetent officials be held to account. With the exception of a very few Democrats, only the Republicans can be relied upon to do this cardinal work and to carry on investigations, not to hamper the [*conduct of the war, *] but to aid it and speed it up by eliminating[*[1-31-18] *] -2- inefficiency and delay. In other words [*, *] there must be no partisan politics in the next Congressional campaign but a campaign for patriotism and love of country; [*and pointing out that the Republicans are those to trusted with their end in view. *] Let me say that your letter is capital and I sympathize with it in every way. Faithfully yours, Hon. L. C. Dyer, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. February 4, 1918. My dear Mr. Knoeppel: That's a very interesting letter of yours, but of course only government authorities can act in matter of that kind. Faithfully yours, Mr. C. E. Knoeppel, 101 Park Avenue, City.NIGHT LETTER PAID XXXXXXXX February 4, 1918. Thomas A. Marlowe, Helena, Mont. Exceedingly please and touched by your letter. Will you consult Will Hays Chairman Indiana State Committee. Have asked John King of Connecticut to get in touch with you. I thank you most heartily. THEODORE ROOSEVELT.THE ROOSEVELT HOSPITAL FIFTY-NINTH STREET, WEST CHAS. B. GRIMSHAW. SUPERINTENDENT NEW YORK [*2/13 *] 191[*8 *] Dear Miss Tilghman: I am glad you submitted the statement to me. I could not possibly authorize such a thing, because it is not anything like what Col. Roosevelt would do under the circumstances. I think you ought never to use his name in connection with any such work, withouthis personal O.K. Sincerely yours, Josephine M. SticksTHE ROOSEVELT HOSPITAL NEW YORK CITY [*Feb. 14, 1918. *] CHAS. B. GRIMSHAW SUPERINTENDENT Dear Mr. White: [*Stewart E. White*] Col. Roosevelt is still too laid up to write [=] but asks me to say that if there was any way he could help you he would bend all his energies to do it. But he is absolutely powerless. He cannot help any individual or an organization as he has found out by repeated trial. The Colonel feels most strongly that your organization is of a most helpful kind and should be sent ahead immediately.2 The very fact that you have had real practice with real guns while most of the national army encampments have had utterly fake practice with wooden guns shows that use should be [?made?] of you immediately One National Guard Organization which had all its artillery furnished by the state, not the nation, after getting in shape to be sent abroad had just had half of its guns taken for distribution in the national army, and although appealed to, the colonel was unable to, the colonel was unable toTHE ROOSEVELT HOSPITAL FIFTY-NINTH STREET, WEST CHAS. B. GRIMSHAW. SUPERINTENDENT [*3 *] NEW YORK___________191__ do anything even about this. By the Col. Roosevelt wishes to know what kind of machine guns & how many of them have been used in your organization. Col. Roosevelt is very sorry he could do nothing. Very truly yours. Secy.[*Cowles*] February 23, [*[1]*]8. Darling Bye: Just a word of thanks and appreciation for your dear remembrance of me. I am very much better and in a week or ten days I shall hope to leave the hospital. It was fine catching a glimpse of Will. I think of you all the time and of your concern and pride over Sheffield. With dearest love, Ever yours, Mr. W. S. Cowles, Farmington, Conn.Postal Night Letter Paid Feb. 24th, 1918. Henry P. Davison, Red Cross Hdq. Washington, DC I have written and wired Miss Delano earnestly asking that my nurse Miss Revere and her side partner Miss McKerracher can go over to France in the mobile unit under Dr. VanBuren by his request. The two nurses have always worked together and can continue to do so to advantage and my experience with Miss Revere as nurse convinces me that Dr. VanBuren is eminently right in wishing to have her and her side partner under him at the front. Miss McKerracher has been ordered to report at Ellis Island to morrow so if it is proper to grant this request of mine I suppose speedy action will be necessary. I know that the request is for the good of the service. Miss Revere has just taken care of me successfully in a dangerous operation and I should count myself fortunate if any of my boys were wounded to have them taken care of by here and her side partner in Dr. VanBuren's mobile unit at the front. Theodore Roosevelt Roosevelt HospitalFebruary 28th, [* [1] *]8. Dear Connolly: There wasn't the slightest use of your having marked any of the stories, because I intend to read every one! I am already on the high road to recovery. Give my warm regards to Mrs. Connolly. Always yours, James B. Connolly, Dorchester, Mass.PRIVATE. Roosevelt Hospital, New York, February 28, 1918. My dear Mrs. Hall: Greatly to my amusement the Editor of "Life" sent me your letter with the accompanying memorandum. My dear Mrs. Hall, I wish to thank you most warmly for your letter. It both pleased and touched me. Do you ever come to New York? If so I must not only see you but I must have you see Mrs. Roosevelt and whatever other members of my family are in the neighborhood. I feel there may be grave differences of opinion about me but not about my family! Of course one of my difficulties is that I am not a man of half-way beliefs, and when I am really very much interested in a [case] cause and this is of great consequence to my country and the world it is hard for me to speak as temperately and cautiously as is demanded by good people who mean well, but who mean well tepidly, and whose vision is not keen. I feel with every fiber of my being that President Wilson has done incalculable harm to this country and to the world during the last four years, and that it is a dreadful calamity that he has been President at the time of this great world crisis. He has taught out people to accept the most cynical hypocrisy as a matter of course, if it is accompanied by a sufficiency of high-flown language about virtue in the abstract. He has paralyzed our immense fighting capacity and by his delay and his entire administrative incompetence he has kept us out of effective participation of the war until- 2 - [* [2-28-18] *] Russia and Romania have been crushed, thus enabling Germany to deal with her foes in detail. His constant peace utterances tend to divide us from our allies, tend to [*encourage*] the pro-German and pacifist *tools*] of Germany in this country, and tend to check the desire of or people of fight this war through to a victorious finish. It is to me a literally inexplicable thing how any man or woman of patriotism and vision can tolerate such conduct. With high regard, Sincerely yours, Mrs. Priestley Hall, Riverside, Calif.[*[1918] *] March 2nd, [*[1*] 8. THEODORE ROOSEVELT TO THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR THE PROTECTION OF WILD LIFE IN WAR TIME. To the Profiteering proposal of the Pseudo-Patriots, the Patriots for revenue only, that protection of wild life in war time be relaxed, the united hosts of conservation reply: "YOU SHALL NOT PASS" Let this be the slogan of every farmer, of all who dwell in the open, and of all who love nature and who wish to see our natural, sources preserved for the perpetual use of our people and not destroyed for all time to gratify the greed of a moment. for Jwaters, E.A. 2271 Woolworth Bldg.Day Letter —— Postal Paid March 4th, 1918. William H. Taft, New Haven, Conn. Am sending you copy of my speech about which I wish to consult you but as you are away I have sent it to Root to examine and then go over with you. Wish you would communicate with him. THEODORE ROOSEVELT.[*Taft*] March 4th, 1918. Dear Will: If I possibly can I intend to deliver the speech I have promised to make before the Maine convention on March 28th. I have submitted copies of their proposed speech (in preliminary form) to Chairman Hayes, to the Maine people, and to various other men, including the two labor Republican congressmen - Nolan of California and Cooper of Ohio. If you have the time I wish you would read over this copy, submit if to Root, and with Root call upon me at the Hotel Langdon (Fifty-sixth Street at Fifth Avenue) on Wednesday or Thursday and tell me anything you have to say in the way of criticism or suggestion. Pray give my warm regards to Mrs. Taft. Faithfully yours, Hon. William H. Taft, New Haven, Conn. March 6th, 1918. Dear Mr. Forster: That'd very interesting. I thank you. Faithfully yours, Mr. Henry A. Forster, 33 Liberty Street, New York. March 8th, 1918. My dear Bishop Brent: I sincerely thank you for your letter. I am on the high road to recovery now. What an extraordinary escape Wood had. I am particularly glad you have seen little Mrs. Ted and that you also met Quentin. Naturally, the thing in your letter that especially interests me is what you say as to the movement to deal with the post bellum problems. I am trying to call attention to this over here. We were utterly unprepared for the war, and now it looks as though we would not be better prepared for the peace. But our first duty is to win the war - and talk about making peace at the moment is merely playing into Germany's hands. With heartiest thanks, Faithfully yours, Bishop C. H. Brent, 12 Rue D'Aguesseau, Paris, France.[*Taft*] March 8th, 1918. Dear Will: I was very sorry you could not come up with Root. I am enclosing a copy of the speech. If you have the time and can go over it at once and return to me within a day or two, I shall be greatly obliged. I have but little time left if I am to get it out in advance. Root went carefully over it and I accepted practically all of his suggestions. They were not vital, except that we struck out the paragraph relating to the new method of inheritance tax. Personally [*, *] I think this new method in some shape or other should finally be adopted, but it probably is not wise to [? ??ring] it in such a speech. With regards to Mrs. Taft, Faithfully yours, Hon. William H. Taft, New Haven, Conn.March 9th, 1918. Hon. Wm. H. Taft, New Willard Hotel, Washington, DC Have asked Mrs. Longworth to show you copy of my speech. I ought to have it back by Minday. T. Roosevelt. charge Metropolitan Magazine. March 12, 1918. My dear Captain Genella: Your letter pleaded me immensely. My dear sir, you have a record to which I touch my hat! I bitterly lament the fact that I was not permitted to serve in some position on the other side; but I am thankful that my four sons and my son-in-law are [?] serving. With high regard and all good wishes, Faithfully yours, Capt. Louis J. Genella, M.C.R.C. 2/2 Northumbrian Field, British Expeditionary Force, France.March 12, 1918. My dear General Marshall: You must permit me to send you my hearty congratulation on your promotion. It [*means*] everything from the standpoint of the army. With high regard, Faithfully yours, [*[F.C.?] *] Brig. General Marshall, c/o Major General Reed, Cavalry Div. in Texas, War Department, Washington, D.C.March 16, 1918. My dear Mr. Janvrin: I have written at once to Franklin Roosevelt and sent those papers with the request that he grant your request if possible. You understand I haven't any influence with the Administration; but if I can help I [*shall*] be glad to so. Faithfully yours, Mr. Dannis A. Janvrin, 118 Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn, N.Y.March 16, 1918. [*Taft*] Dear Will: I have embodied both of those suggestion. I think them capital. I am rather ashamed I never thought of them myself, and I am malevolently pleased that neither Root nor Ledge thought of [*them! *] Faithfully yours, Hon. William W. Taft, New Haven, Conn. [*Administration*] March 22nd, 1918. My dear Miss Gaylord: Mrs. Roosevelt read your letter with delight, especially the sentence in which you alluded to my having "had hopes" of President Wilson on the occasion of his first war message. She has always taken your view of him and objected strongly to may speaking well of that message! I entirely agree with you that it is absolutely incomprehensible how the American people can stand for [any] President who has done the things that Mr. Wilson has done. I at once inquired about the Metropolitan portrait. It is at the office. As soon as I get down to the office you shall have it autographed. I am immensely amused at the intelligence Department asking about you. Refer them to me, instantly. Faithfully yours, Miss Harriet Gaylord, 204 West 94th Street, New York City. March 26, 1918. My dear Lissner: It is fine to get your letter. I recently saw Hiram Johnson when he and Mrs. Johnson came on to bid good-bye to their son Archie. Naturally, what you say about my boys gives me keen pleasure. Now as to what you say about politics in California. I have been asked to interfere in about half of the states of the Union, and in every instance I have said I would not take part in local contests; that it would do no good to anyone, and on the contrary would cause a great deal of harm to many people, including myself. Don't you think this is the only wise course? If I divert from it in one case, I will have to divert from it in innumerable others. I shall make one or two general speeches for the whole Republican National ticket, and stop at that. That's an interesting quotation from your letter to Hiram Johnson, and I agree with it entirely. I think that that English labor party is about 90% right, although there may be 20% of it which would be damaging to try to hurry too fast. [*But the first business is to beat Germany. *] Have you seen a little book of mine called "The Foes of Our Own Household"? I wish you would look[*[3-26-18] *] - 2 - at the chapters on Industrial Justice, the Square Deal in Law Enforcement, etc. I hope you will like my Maine speech. I sent it to Hiram Johnson and to Congressman Nolan of San Francisco. The former did not make any suggestions, but said he approved of it. The latter made several suggestions, all of which I adopted. But don't forget that the Bolsheviki in our own country may be just as dangerous as the Romanoff [*'*] s. Always yours, Mr. Meyer Lissner, Lissner Bldg. Los Angeles, Calif. Russel S. 7 Lawrence 4-3-18 [[shorthand]]METROPOLITAN 432 FOURTH AVENUE NEW YORK Office of Theodore Roosevelt April 10th, 1918. My dear Mrs. Blatch: I am so pleased with the plan of your book that I have written what I have to say in the form of a foreword. Faithfully yours, Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch, 15 West 91st Street, New York City.April 17, 1918. St. George B. Tucker, Esq., #140 Broadway, New York. My dear Mr. Tucker: Colonel Roosevelt has referred to us your letter about his subscription for Liberty bonds as he has asked us to look after these matters for him. We are sorry we can do nothing in the matter, but he has already subscribed for all that he can afford. Yours very truly, (sd) ROOSEVELT & SON WER/N April 19, 1918. My dear Mr. Long: That's a really capital article of yours. I can understand your having difficulty in getting it published, for some of my own articles have been by no means easy to get published, and I think for much the same reasons. For example, if I should write with absolute frankness I should speak infinitely more severely of President Wilson than I do speak, and yet even as it is many good but rather weak souls are rendered uncomfortable by what I say. Much of the trouble which you describe in Nebraska exists in many other states. I regard it as due to the insistent activities of men like Bryan, Carnegie, David Star Jordan and other professional pacifists of the past, while in the concrete the very worst foe we have had to manhood and to Americanism in this country during the past five years, has been President Wilson himself. He trained our people to unmanliness and hypocrisy and we are paying the price now. This letter is of course for your personally [*& privately*]. Faithfully yours, Mr. John I. Long, Editor, The Enterprise, Clarks, Nebraska.[ANSWER TO LONG 4-15-18]THE KANSAS CITY STAR OFFICE OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT NEW YORK OFFICE 346 MADISON AVENUE NEW YORK April 19, 1918 My dear Mr. Swift: That's a mighty nice letter of yours. If I had a photograph I would indeed gladly send you one, but the demand became so great (literally thousands of requests for photographs are received yearly) that I was obliged to give up trying to keep them. With renewed thanks and heary appreciation, believe me Faithfully yours, Mr Edward F Swift, Chairman Local Board for Division No 8 1012 Buttonwood Street Philadelphia, Pa(Copy) April 26, 1918. My dear Senator Kellogg: I earnestly hope you can see your way clear to support the Women's Suffrage Amendment, and I am taking the liberty of sending copies of this letter to certain other Senators. I would not venture to write you on any ordinary matter of legislation, but this affects our citizenship as a whole in this great war. Many of the old-world nations have already put their women on a footing of political equality with their men. We ought not to be behind hand and surely if there is any country in the world fit and ready for full democracy among both its men and its women, it is this country. Our women at this moment are giving their sons and husbands, their time, their money and their services to the war. They are doing exactly as much as the men are doing. I believe most earnestly, as you know, that the enjoyment of right should be predicated upon the performance of duty. But the women of America are doing their duty just as much as the men, and they should receive the same rights as the men. It seems to me that the spirit of every-great deed or Abraham Lincoln's, the spirit that directed his whole course in life, was precisely the spirit in which we are working for this amendment, and I do most earnestly hope that every Republican Senator will see his way clear to vote for it. With high regard, Faithfully yours, Hon. Frank B. Kellogg, U.S. Senator Washington D.C. 56625TELEGRAM May 1st, 1918/ Mr. Ralph C. Goodwin. Chamber of Commerce. Boston, Mass. Have sent you special delivery copy of Colonel Roosevelts speech J. M. STRICKER COLLECT.[*[MAY 22, 1918]*] Senator Poindexter - #13. conservative doctrines with which I emphatically disagree, and also plenty of radical doctrines with which I disagree; and if it should happen that on either side of the case I found myself in agreement with Mr. Burleson I should, nevertheless, adhere to my beliefs. But, unless these doctrines were seditious, or represented [a] the kind of immorality and incitement to violence or other unlawful conduct (which would properly bring them under the Law), I would fight as stoutly for the right of the Editor to publish them as I would fight for my own right to publish articles against them. Such action as that of Mr. Burleson does not help the war; on the contrary, it tends to keep people so angry with the agents of the war that they become and remain hostile to the war itself. [Mr. Burleson has been as strong an anti-war influence as anyone in this country; with the exception of a few persons of the widespread influences of Mr. Hearst.] There could be no more striking example of discrimination than that furnished by the contrast between the treatment of a paper like Mr. Watson's and papers like those of Mr. Hearst; there was severity of treatment for the helpless, while the strong were given complete immunity. There is no need to rely upon my statement that the Metropolitan has been a loyal, pro-war, pro-American publication. In a letter published by Mr. Creel, since Mr. Burleson's statement was published, he states: "We reply to the Metropolitan for the very reason that we do not reply to anti-war or anti-American papers. They are known to be what they are, but the reputation of the Metropolitan for loyalty gives weight to its misstatements". This is, as shown by the use of the word "we", a complete and full acknowledgment on the part of Mr. Creel that my statements 55787Senator Poindexter - #23. [*file*] the same time to permit without rebuke the New York Post Office to attack a publication like the Metropolitan, is incompatible with the supposition that he was thinking only of the welfare of the country. [By these attacks upon Japan Mr. Hearst is doing everything he can to drive Japan into an alliance with Germany.] Mr. Hearst's paper actually stated that it believed "that our government made a great mistake when it did not meet both English aggressions and German aggressions **** with armed resistance". This [was] is announced now during the war. Yet at the very time [when] England is protecting us from Germany, and [when] without that protection we would be given no time in which slowly to make ready to protect ourselves. If we had begun to prepare in August, 1914, we would have needed no protection from others. But we refused to prepare, and therefore we owe our safety now only to the fact that our friends are able to fight for us against our enemies while we are slowly preparing to fight for ourselves. And Mr. Hearst, under these conditions expresses regret that we did not go to war against the friend who fought for us! Such a proposal is a proposal in the interest of the enemy, who murdered our women and children. On September 22nd, 1917, when the American nation still had no troops in the trenches, when we had only lent money to the allies, Mr. Hearst touched the nadir of the policy that puts the dollar above the man, when he stated that "our government has the right and power to dictate the terms of peace, and the American people expect 55788Senator Poindexter - #24. England and the other allied governments to recognize that right and to accept the terms laid down"; the statement being preceded by the following: "Having practically exhausted the resources of Russia, France and Italy the English government now seeks succor in our American resources. The money of the American people has been loaned to the allies in great sums. Still greater sums are in readiness to lend them". Statements like this cannot but aid Germany. In all of Mr. Hearst's career it may well be doubted whether he has ever proposed anything more sordid than this suggestion to the American people, to a free people with a glorious past, a people proudly able and willing to fight for its honor. The proposal is that we should treat having lent money to the allies as offsetting the fact that these allies had shed the blood of millions of their sons in protecting not only themselves but this country from the brutal dominion of Germany -- a dominion under which, if Mr. Hearst's advice had been followed, this country would now be cowering. The debt the allies owe to us for our money is infinitesimal compared to the debt that we owe them for the blood shed by their sons on battlefields where this nation had as much at stake as the nations whose armies fought thereon. On March 8th, last, Mr. Hearst, preaching hatred to Japan, and using language tending to serve Germany by bringing about a break between the United States and Japan, and perhaps Great Britain, says "if Great Britain cannot restrain her special ally Japan from acts of aggression inimical to our interests, we can remove our ships and troops from Europe and transfer them to Asia". This is a threat of 55789Senator Poindexter - #25. war with Japan; a threat that we will enter on a war of aggression in in Asia. There could be no possible [result] [in uttering] of such a threat except [service to] Germany. It was a threat to abandon the war against Germany, our enemy, and embark on a war against Japan, our ally; and this because Japan, in the interest of the allies and of civilization, had contemplated action in East Siberia against the Bolsheviki, who have shown themselves to be the allies of Germany, the enemies of civilization, and the enemies of the United States. These quotations show that Mr. Hearst has steadily endeavored to belittle the vital importance to our country of this war, and to excite the hatred of our people against allies who are faithfully fighting beside us; and such conduct can be of help only to Germany, to the enemy we are fighting. Just so long as Mr. Hearst's publications are permitted in the mails, Mr. Burleson is without excuse for excluding any other publication from them. The Administration by its acquiescence [permits the continued campaign against] Mr. Hearst [which necessarily tends to give aid and comfort to Germany and to impair the morale of our own people.] The quotations above given deprive Mr. Burleson and the Administration of which he is part of any shred of justification for their action and inaction. Mr. Burleson is of course only secondarily responsible in the matter. Mt. Hearst's papers are so important and Mr. Hearst's position among the Administration's political friends, supporters and advisers is so prominent, and the action in connection with reinstating him in his cable privileges was so 55790Senator Poindexter - #26. purely dependent upon the President himself, that no subordinate of the President can accept or be credited with the chief responsibility for any action or inaction of the Administration in relation to Mr. Hearst. The Administration is responsible for the toleration of Mr. Hearst's anti-ally, anti-war, and therefore anti-American activities, and for the reward nevertheless given him; and the service rendered on the other side by Mr. Hearst was service to the Administration and not to the country. [I have quoted above the language of complimentary endorsement in which ??? of President Wilson's Cabinet Ministers have addressed Mr. Hearst editor, Mr. Brisbane. The Presidents private secretary writes the Brisbane in the same vein. In the Chicago Herald, ?????? and ???????? of May 19th last Sunday, appears the following letter, under the heading, "A New Subscriber":-] Mr. George Harvery has pointed out in the North American Review War Weekly that Mr. Burleson is encouraging enemy language publications, by having a special division whose function is to assist editors of foreign language papers "in complying with the law". The Act of Congress provides that all foreign language papers should submit to censorship or go out of business. The Post Office Department's duty is merely to suppress those of them which are guilty of treasonable practices. Apparently, as Mr. Harvey points out, Mr. Burleson, instead of suppressing papers that preach sedition, establishes a division to show them how they can escape suppression. Mr. Hearst's papers are infinitely the most important of those which during the last year and a quarter have [tended to] serve Germany and [have] harmed the United States by attacking our allies, or opposing our effective participation in the war. There are various other papers published in English or German which have been less important offenders. On April 2nd, Professor Guernsey Jones of the University of Nebraska published an 55791Senator Poindexter - #27. article in the Nebraska State Journal on "The Enemy Press". He quoted various articles that have appeared in German-American papers, since the war, and some of them as late as January, February and March, last, championing the German-American Alliance, attacking England and Japan, announcing that "the problem of the German Press is to save Deutschtum in the United States", demanding a peace which would give Germany the victory, praising Germany's action toward Russia, and in other ways, as Professor Jones says, showing themselves to be "insolent organs of Prussianism". These papers were being published, and Mr. Hearst was publishing his papers, without interference by the Post Office Department and the Government, at the same time that proceedings were being taken against the Metropolitan Magazine, one of the staunchest upholders of the war and staunchest opponents of Prussianism in all the United States. Congress has with lavish generosity granted all the Administration has demanded to carry on the war. It has also granted the Administration extraordinary power, of a kind never hitherto granted any Administration, to deal with the internal foes of the nation; and this power can be, and has been, misused, to reward the Administration's personal or political supporters and punish the Administration's personal or political [opponents] Congress, through such bodies as the Senate Committee on Military Affairs, has exercised its power of investigation and supervision to correct executive inefficiency, executive delay, and executive abuse of power, and has done this in such fashion as to 55792[*Taft*] June 5th, 1918. Dear Will: Your letter and the accompanying papers are as interesting documents as I have ever seen. I think that they illuminate Wilson's character as few things could. What a dreadful creature he is! Fortunately, as you say, he is only obstinate in personal matters and where his own advancement, or the gratification of his malice, is concerned. But in public matters he hasn't the slightest firmness about sticking to any conviction. There fore if public opinion becomes sufficiently solid, I think we can count on his sticking in the war. The trouble is that in this really very evil crisis we need a leader and not a weathercock. It is immensely to be regretted that we cannot in some way stiffen Russia. If she is organized and exploited by Germany, as now looks possible, the damage to us [- because it will be damage to the whole world -] will be terrible. Personally I should be delighted to see us put even a small army together with the Japanese army into Russia and back up some of those Cossack Generals, and then to join with any faction that would fight the Germans and strive to free Russia and let her determine for herself her own fate. I would join with Trotzky[6-5-18] -2- or Lenine if they went into such a position in good faith. But [apparently] Wilson is merely following Hearst's lead about Russia. I think your letter is the very best exposition of Wilson's inmost soul that I have read at all. I have just been showing it to Alexander Lambert . It was a very real pleasure to see you the other day. When you next pass through New York, do let me know. I will come in town to meet you, or I will get you to come out to Sagamore Hill for lunch, or for dinner and the night if that is convenient. With warm regards to Mrs. Taft, Ever yours, Hon. William H. Taft, New Haven, Conn.Oyster Bay, N. Y. June 7th 1918. Mr. A. P. Bachman, New York. Dear Sir:- Your letter of 3rd instant was received, and I take pleasure in wishing well to the New Jersey State Militia Reserve of Orange, N. J. I have always urged a substantial guard for home defense by our citizens, thus releasing the young men for duty abroad, and showing a devotion to the cause at once sound and lasting. Yours truly, [Roosevelt][*Shaffer*] St. Louis, Mo. June 10, 1918. Mr. John C. Shaeffer, Editor, Chicago Evening Post, Chicago, Illinois. My dear Mr. Schaeffer:- In your letter you state that it is alleged to you, on high authority from Michigan, that the supposters of Mr. Newberry are claiming through the state, "That Mr. Roosevelt is earnestly supporting him in his contest for the nomination for United States Senator". They are doing this in every way to deflect support from Governor Osborn," and you speak of my statements to you in the past about my friendship and appreciation for Governor Osborn, and you request that I let it be known that I am neutral in this fight for the United States Senatorship in Michigan. I am, of course, absolutely neutral in this and all similar cases. I am not interfering in any shape or way in any local contest. I certainly thought I had made this clear as regards Michigan. The first protest made to me was by Mr. Newberry's friends, who asserted that it was being reported every where that I was supporting Governor Osborn. You now tell me that the same statement is being made by Mr. Osborn's friends, namely, that I am supporting Mr. Newberry. There is not and has not been a particle of foundation for either complaint. It is not my business to interfere in any of these contests for Senator, Congressman or other public officer; and incidentally, I may add that any such interferences by me, would merely provoke resentment and would probably damage the men on whose behalf I interfered. The utmost I have done has been in one or two instances to point out that a given man had been at least morally disloyal to America, and that this gave me the right to put the facts before my fellow Americans. In this case, of course, both Messrs. Newberry and Osborn are men of the highest honor and the most thorough going and intense Americans. I am not interfering one way or the other, in any shape or form in the Michigan or any similar contest. You are welcome to make any use you wish of this letter. Yours sincerely,[*Red Cross*] COLLECT TELEGRAM June 13, 1918. Mr. Henry W. Bull, 111 Broadway, New York I greatly regret it is not possible for Colonel Roosevelt to accept your very kindly invitation. He will not be in town on that evening. J. M. STRICKER Secretary. June 15th, 1918. My dear Mr. Walcott: I am extremely glad at last to have a copy of that book I can keep! It is a great historical document. With hearty thanks and all good wishes, Faithfully yours, Mr. F. C. Walcott, 25 Nassau Street, New York. June 20th, 1918. My dear Miss Freckelton: I am greatly pleased and interested in your letter. I thank you for it. Faithfully yours, Miss Marie Adele Freckelton, 189 Monroe Street, Brooklyn, N.Y.(COPY) Oyster Bay, N. Y., June 26th, 1918. [*file copy*] My dear Mr. Menken: You ask me to write exactly what I believe as to your services and loyalty. I do so gladly. As regards your loyalty, there cannot be one moment's serious question. There does not exist in the United States a more loyal American or one more devoted to the interests of this country. Now as to your services. I regard you as having played a great and most useful part during the three and one-half years that you have been the head and the guiding genius of the National Security League. I know that it has cost you a great deal in actual money and incalculably more in time and effort. Your services have been as disinterested as they have been efficient. I regard all good Americans as your debtors for what you have done. I regard your interview about Mr. Hearst as a very serious mistake and one which has done mischief. I understand entirely that you merely desired to state that Mr. Hearst had advocated preparedness. But Mr. Hearst's attitude since the great war began and since our participation in the war has been such that your failure in this interview explicitly to condemn and repudiate it could not but convey a false and a most unfortunate impression of your position. This was a serious and mischievous mistake. [For my judgment it renders it desirable that you should resign from the Presidency of the League as you intend doing. ??????????????????????? This is desirable from the of the League. But as far as you personally are concerned this mistake does not affect the immense amount of patriotic service you have rendered to the country. Very truly yours, Theodore Roosevelt S. Stanwood Menken, Esq., 52 William Street, New York City.[*Lynch*] June 27th, 1918. Dear Mr. Lynch: I am enclosing herewith the galley with corrections. Sincerely yours, Mr. J. Lynch, Isaac Goldmann Co., 80 Lafayette Street, City.[*Garner*] July 3, 1918. Mr. George Garner, Riggs Bldg., Washington, DC Kindly procure and hold for me lower to White Sulphur Saturday night ten O'clock. J. M. Stricker.TELEGRAM July 5th, 1918. Mr. George Garner Riggs Building, Washington, D.C. Alright please get the ticket. J. M. Stricker Charge to the Kansas City Star. July 22nd, 1918. Hon. Charles D. Hilles, 56 Maiden Lane, New York City. Dear Charles: I got your telegram at Saratoga advising of the change of arrangements which made it impossible for me to go by motor from Albany to Saratoga with Judge Taft, as we had planned. He made a great speech, and we were all very pleased with the splendid patriotic spirit of the meeting. I want to thank you for what you did last Monday in connection with the lunch for the gentlemen who had put up to me the matter of investigating the New York situation in connection with the Governorship. I still insist that I be allowed to pay the check. I was sorry, of course, that it was necessary for me to go into the matter at all, as for a month I had been listening to all the talk and never said a word to anybody. I shall not now, of course, say anything to anybody about it, as I am going to [?] absolutely straight to the line of helping elect and not select the candidates. However, when this matter was put up to me by your men, I did investigate it as carefully and conscientiously as I could, and could come to no other conclusion than than which I voiced at the lunch, ie - that it would be impossible through any agency which I could command to get the with-drawal of all candidates for the sake of harmony or otherwise bring about such action as would result in but one candidate at the primary. I [shall not say any of this, however, to anyone else.] looked carefully into this phase of the matter Whoever is nominated must be elected, and I am convinced he can be. I tried to be as judicial as is possible in my investigation. 56554Certainly it must be true that above all men I want to see best results in New York, and I realize all the difficulties which so distressed all of you.[*[7-22-18]*] Chas. D. Hilles - 2. and certainly [*, *], talked to all of the question. My conclusion was by cold-blooded judgment. Certainly [*, *] it must be true that above all men I want to see the best results in New York, and I realized all the difficulties which so distressed all of you. With very best wisher, I am, Sincerely yours, 56513TELEGRAM PRESS RATES COLLECT July 25, 1918. [*file*] Kansas City Star, Kansas City, Mo. Title. Back up the fighting men at the front. Paragraph. There is no American worth calling such whose veins do not thrill with pride when he reads of what has been done by General Pershing and his gallant army in France. The soldiers over there who wear the American uniform have made all good Americans forever their debtors. Now and always afterwards we of this country will walk with our heads high because of the men who face death and wounds, and so many of whom have given their lives, fighting for this nation and for the great ideals of humanity across the seas. Paragraph. But we must not let our pride and our admiration evaporate in mere pride, in mere admiration, of what others have done. We must put the whole strength of this nation back of the fighting men at the front. We owe it to them. We owe it at least as much to the gallant allies who for nearly four years fought the great battle that was our battle, no less than theirs. At most we have begun to come to their assistance. But let us solemnly realize that we came very late, and that it is a dreadful thing if we waste one hour that can now be saved, or weaken in the smallest degree any effort that can be made. The inability, or refusal of Bolshevist Russia to do her part in the great war for liberty and democracy has cast[*[7-25-18]*] Kansas City Star - - - -#2. a terrible added burden upon the allies. On the eastern front this has meant the temporary allied ruin, and the freeing of the armies of the autocracy for action against the western peoples. England France and Belgium for four years and Italy for over three years have been fighting the battle of civilization. Their manpower is terribly depleted. Thank Heaven we have got some hundreds of thousands of soldiers across in time to be a real element in saving Paris. Our first duty, if we wish to win the war, is to save Paris. Temporarily at least, and I hope permanently, we have done our part, in this respect. But the least faltering, the least letting-up or failure in pushing forward our preparations and our assistance would be dangerous to the allied cause and a wicked desertion of our allies. Paragraph From now on America should make this peculiarly America's war. From now on we should take the burden of the war upon our own shoulders. We should move forward at once with all the force that there is in us. We should not allow the war to drag for so much as a day, and above all we should not permit our people to fall under the spell of pacifist dreams or possible pacifist actions. There should not be an intermission of so much as a week in sending our troops across the seas. This war won't be won by food, or by money, or by savings, or by thirft stamps, or by the Red Cross, or by anything else, although all of these [may] will help to win. It will be won by the valor of the fighting men at[7-25-18] Kansas City Star ---- #3/ the front and this valor will fail unless our fighting men at the front are millions strong. Every week this summer and fall we should be putting fresh troops by scores of thousands across the ocean, and now, today, this week, we should provide for placing a larger army in the field next spring than Germany itself, or than France and England combined. We are a more populous and a richer country than Germany. We have a larger population than Great Britain and France combined. These nations have fought for four years. We have only just begun to fight. Let us at once mobilize the [whole] manpower of this country between the ages of nineteen and fifty or sixty. The draft should take in all the men of nineteen, even if they were not sent abroad until they were twenty years old. Let us act at once. Perhaps we can beat the Germans this year if we keep pouring our troops over with the utmost speed. But let us take no chances. Let us proceed upon the assumption that Germany will fight next spring, and therefore let us act, instantly, so that next spring we shall have in France an army of fighting men, exclusive of non-combatants and exclusive of home depots, which shall amount to four million armed soldiers, at the very least. Let us fight beside the French, the English and the Italians and be ready to fight instantly in the Balkan Peninsula and in Asia Minor against Germany and all her vassal states. There must be no delay, not by[7-25-18] Kansas City Star ------ #4. so much as an hour, and no letting up for one moment in the use of our entire strength. THEODORE ROOSEVELT.July 25th, 1918. Dear Will: I hate not to do as you, and Henry and my other friends request, but Will Hays feels as strongly as I do that it is not wise for me under existing conditions to run for Governor of New York. You perhaps have seen my published statement. Indeed, as a matter of fact now I simply do not think I could make myself go into a contest on local issues. As in your case, my heart is wrapped up in my boys at the front, and I am not thinking in terms of New York States conditions. Give my warm regards to Mrs. Taft. Faithfully yours, Hon. William H. Taft, New Haven, Conn. [*From Ta-Te (Roosevelt)*]July 29th, 1919. Mrs. Margaret Dreier Robins, 37 Madison Avenue, New York City. My dear Mrs. Robins: I regret exceedingly your tentative conclusion as expressed in your letter of the twenty-third. I an going to keep this open until I get back from the West on the sixth. I really am sure there is a tremendous field for usefulness for you in this connection. We must remember that the Republicans, will control the next Congress and after 1920 will control the entire government; that we want to study the whole situation, bring the best brains and heart in the Party into consideration of the problems relative to the war--industrial, social and economic- -both now and after the war, to the end that we may formulate and then execute plans that will result in the proper position being taken by the Party on all those things, and that we may then make good by their enactment in law. I want your judgment and influence on all these matters. You won't have much to do for a while, and it will never be onerous. We need you. Please reconsider. With very best wishes, I am Sincerely yours, copy for Col. Roosevelt. 56514 [*Taft*] Aug. 10th, 1918. Dear Hill: Your letter is of absorbing interest. I think that taken with your previous letter which you wrote me, or of which you sent me copies, it represents the most important group of documents about this war. I am at the moment buried to the ears in correspondences. As soon as I get the chance to turn around I shall write you at length. Always yours, Hon. William Taft, New Haven, Cy. P. S. Give my love to your wife and to your daughter, and to your two gallant boys when you write to them. August 13th, 1918. My dear Mr. Moore: I thank you for your letter, but don't ask me to examine the manuscript and write about it. In the first place I haven't the time to examine any manuscript and in the next place you have no conception of the pressure upon me, to get me to recommend books and it is almost impossible for me to comply. I very gladly give the enclosed note to Mr. Hurd. Faithfully yours, Mr. Frederick Moore, Swaney Place, Pelham, Manor, N. Y. August 15th, 1918. Dear Will: The chance for me to write you that long letter seems to be always retiring into the future. But just a word that I wish to send now. The only point that it seems to me can be called one of the difference between you and me now is about the League to Enforce Peace. I think I have found a modus vivendi! I will back it as an addition to, but not as a substitute for, our preparing our own strength for our own defense. Don't you think this is the right way to handle it? I am sending you an article I wrote in the Kansas City Star on the matter. Always yours, Hon. William H. Taft, New Haven, Conn.[*Nely Ne Neilfy*] Best friends of the Tracies' at Albany & met you several times still Pres. you appointed to to take [[shorthand]] solicitation of Mr. Loeb. met you [?] of [?] at Saratoga [8-15-18] 7 VIA COMMERCIAL Eleanor Roosevelt [*Roosevelt*] 29 Avenue du de Boulogne, Paris, France. Am cabling you care Morgan [?????] Five thousand dollars Prize to be used for war activities and charities at your discretion as by my letter. THEODORE ROOSEVELT August 26th, 1918. Dear Will: Your letter was not only a great pleasure to me but a great relief. We can come together absolutely on the program you mention, that is, universal training and universal service for our youths on the lines of Switzerland and Australia, for self-defense, and for a democracy in which law and order prevail. Then we can go in on a League of Nations as an addition to and not a substitute for this training for our defense. Sincerely yours, Hon. William H. Taft, New Haven, Conn. [*Enclosed find editorial omitted from last letter.*]August 30th,1918. My dear Mrs. Connolly: Through you I wish to thank Sergent Shiery. He must be a fine type of American. By the way I entirely failed to accomplish anything in connection with the information you gave me, although I tried. Faithfully yours, Mrs. Delta E. Connelly, Roosevelt, L.I.[CA AUG 1918] Mrs. B. Oliphant Newport Vermont SAGAMORE HILL.September 7, 1918. Dear Mr. Baker: If you will call at Colonel Roosevelt's office next Wednesday, September 11th, at 12 o'clock, he will be very glad to see you. Sincerely yours, Secretary. Mr. D. C. Baker, 235 West 76th Street, New York City.[*Parsons OK*] (COPY) Sagamore Hill, September 9th, 1918. October ? TO - Mrs. Jas. Russell Parsons. Charman on Schuyler M. Meyer Woman's non-Partisan Committee 108 l. 82 Mrs. Jas. Russell Parsons. My dear Mrs. Parsons: I wish every success to the Schuyler M. Meyer Women's Nonpartisan Committee. Mr. Meyer's record in legislative war work, no less than in the work of constructive Americanism as *make note below [[strikethrough]]as in connection with the night schools and the like[[/strikethrough]] has been admirable, and it would be a misfortune if it did not receive hearty recognition. At this time all of us ought to devote our chief energies to war activities. As far as civilians are concerned the most important war work must on the average necessarily be done by the men in public life; indeed I have not stated this strongly enough, for unless the public servants of the nation do their war duty zealously and effectively, the war will be a failure. Therefore it is a prime necessity to support such of these public servants as have shown marked patriotism and efficiency. There is no war activity more important, nor more incumbent as a duty on all good citizens, than to back these men. Yours truly, (Signed) Theodore Roosevelt. * as in his bills providing for additional night-schools and for instruction in English to illiterates.Form 1228 Charge to the account of ___________________________________ $______________ WESTERN UNION TELEGRAM WESTERN UNION TELEGRAM AND CABLE NEWCOMB CARLTON, PRESIDENT GEORGE W. E. ATKINS, FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT CLASS OF SERVICE DESIRED Telegram Day Letter Night Message Night Letter Patrons should mark an X opposite the class of service desired; OTHERWISE THE MESSAGE WILL BE TRANSMITTED AS A FULL-RATE TELEGRAM Receiver's No. Check Time Filed Send the following message, subject to the terms on back hereof, which are hereby agreed to New York City, Sept. 13, 1918 Mr. Raymond Benjamin, Chairman, Republican State Committee, Attorney General's Office, San Francisco, Calif. I congratulate you upon the fact that the Republican party is re-united in California as it is in the nation as a whole stop The party is one hundred percent plus for the war and for Americanism and no Senator in Congress has shown this more conclusively than your great Senator Hiram Johnson stop The prime duty of this country at the moment is to win the war, to speed up everything so that the war may be won as speedily as possible but to be prepared to fight the war through no matter how long it takes until we secure the peace of overwhelming victory stop In order to do this it is necessary that our representatives in congress shall heartily support the administration in every move it takes for efficiently waging the war and heartily supporting every public officer insofar as he efficiently wages the war and shall generously and freely grant all the money asked by the Administration in order to wage the war stop But the need is equal that there shall be[*[9-13-18]*] Form 1228 Charge to the account of $ WESTERN UNION TELEGRAM WESTERN UNION TELEGRAM AND CABLE NEWCOMB CARLTON, PRESIDENT GEORGE W. E. ATKINS, FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT CLASS OF SERVICE DESIRED Telegram Day Letter Night Message Night Letter Patrons should mark an X opposite the class of service desired; OTHERWISE THE MESSAGE WILL BE TRANSMITTED AS A FULL-RATE TELEGRAM Receiver's No. Check Time Filed Send the following message, subject to the terms on back hereof, which are hereby agreed to #2 insistence upon efficiency, refusal to pardon inefficiency insistence upon knowing all the facts necessary in order to secure the effective waging of the war and insistence upon knowing that every dollar appropriated for war purposes represents one hundred cents wisely spent for war purposes stop In order to achieve these ends in order to secure the most efficient waging of the war and a peace of complete victory and to make certain that our expenditures of blood and treasure have not been wasted it is necessary to elect a Republican congress stop Moreover this congress should be elected because in addition to its war work it must prepare for the great tasks of peace that are ahead of us stop I wish you all good fortune stop THEODORE ROOSEVELT PAID - STRAIGHT TELEGRAM Chg. to Republican Natl. Committee 452 5th Ave. [*2*][*[Enc in Hays 9-13-18]*] ALL MESSAGES TAKEN BY THIS COMPANY ARE SUBJECT TO THE FOLLOWING TERMS: To guard against mistakes or delays, the sender of a message should order it REPEATED, that is, telegraphed back to the originating office for comparison. For this, one-half the unrepeated message rate is charged in addition. Unless otherwise indicated on its face. THIS IS AN UNREPEATED MESSAGE PAID FOR AS SUCH, in consideration whereof it is agreed between the sender of the message and this Company as follows: 1. The Company shall not be liable for mistakes or delays in the transmission or delivery, or for non-delivery of any UNREPEATED message, beyond the amount received for sending the same; nor for mistakes or delays in the transmission or delivery, or for non-delivery, of any REPEATED message, beyond fifty times the sum received for sending the same, unless specially valued; nor in any case for delays arising from unavoidable interruption in the working of its lines; nor for errors in cipher or obscure messages. 2. In any event the Company shall not be liable for damages for any mistakes or delays in the transmission or delivery, or for the non-delivery, of this message, whether caused by the negligence of its servants or otherwise, beyond the sum of FIFTY DOLLARS, at which amount this message is hereby valued, unless a greater value is stated in writing hereon at the time the message is offered to the Company for transmission, and an additional sum paid or agreed to be paid based on such value equal to one-tenth of one per cent. thereof. 3. The Company is hereby made the agent of the sender, without liability, to forward this message over the lines of any other Company when necessary to reach its destination. 4. Messages will be delivered free within one-half mile of the Company's office in town of 5,000 population or less, and within one mile of such office in other cities or towns. Beyond these limits the Company does not undertake to make delivery, but will, without liability, at the sender's request, as his agent and at his expense, endeavor to contract for him for such delivery at a reasonable price. 5. No responsibility attaches to this Company concerning messages until the same are accepted at one of its transmitting offices; and if a message is sent to such office by one of the Company's messengers, he acts for that purpose as the agent of the sender. 6. The Company will not be liable for damages or statutory penalties in any case where the claim is not presented in writing within sixty days after the message is filed with the Company for transmission. 7. Special terms governing the transmission of messages under the classes of messages enumerated below shall apply to messages in each of such respective classes in addition to all foregoing terms. 8. No employee of the Company is authorized to vary the foregoing. THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY INCORPORATED NEWCOMB CARLTON, PRESIDENT CLASSES OF SERVICE TELEGRAMS A full-rate expedited service. NIGHT MESSAGES Accepted up to 2.00 A.M. at reduced rates to be sent during the night and delivered not earlier than the morning of the ensuing business day. DAY LETTERS A deferred day service at rates lower than the standard telegram rates as follows: One and one-half times the standard Night Letter rate for the transmission of 50 words or less and one-fifth of the initial rates for each additional 10 words or less. SPECIAL TERMS APPLYING TO DAY LETTERS: In further consideration of the reduced rate for this special "Day Letter" service, the following special terms in addition to those enumerated above are hereby agreed to: A. Day Letters may be forwarded by the Telegraph Company as a deferred service and the transmission and delivery of such Day Letters is, in all respects, subordinate to the priority of transmission and delivery of regular telegrams. B. Day Letters shall be written in plain English. Code language is not permissible. C. This Day Letter may be delivered by the Telegraph Company by telephoning the same to the addressee, and such delivery shall be a complete discharge of the obligation of the Telegraph Company to deliver. D. This Day Letter is received subject to the express understanding and agreement that the Company does not undertake that a Day Letter shall be delivered on the day of its date absolutely and at all events; but that the Company's obligation in this respect is subject to the condition that there shall remain sufficient time for the transmission and delivery of such Day Letter on the day of its date during regular office hours, subject to the priority of the transmission of regular telegrams under the conditions named above. No employee of the Company is authorized to vary the foregoing. NIGHT LETTERS Accepted up to 2.00 A.M. for delivery on the morning of the ensuing business day, at rates still lower than standard night message rates, as follows: The standard telegram rate for 10 words shall be charged for the transmission of 50 words or less, and one-fifth of such standard telegram rate for 10 words shall be charged for each additional 10 words or less. SPECIAL TERMS APPLYING TO NIGHT LETTERS: In further consideration of the reduced rate for this special "Night Letter" service, the following special terms in addition to those enumerated above are hereby agreed to: A. Night Letters may at the option of the Telegraph Company be mailed at destination to the addressees, and the Company shall be deemed to have discharged its obligation in such cases with respect to delivery by mailing such Night Letters at destination, postage prepaid. B. Night Letters shall be written in plain English. Code language is not permissible. No employee of the Company is authorized to vary the foregoing.Day letter New York September 19 1918 F R Huntington Secretary Liberty Loan Committee Columbus Ohio Colonel Roosevelt can arrive Columbus Monday September 30 7.05 a m leave Columbus 9.10 same night Please wire confirmation J M Stricker Secretary Col. Roosevelt[*[1918 Dec 21]*] [[shorthand]] 56553[[shorthand]]cabot [*[1918Sep23]*] Lodge [[shorthand]] [*56546*]COLLECT TELEGRAM September 24, 1918. Mr. J. Edward L. McLean, Chairman, Liberty Loan Committee, Somerville, Mass. I wish I could come to Somerville but it is not possible. My engagements are such as to absolutely prevent it. I wish you the heartiest good luck in your efforts. I most earnestly back your people for the Liberty Loan. Again warmly thanking you and wishing you well THEODORE ROOSEVELTTELEGRAM COLLECT September 25, 1918. Mr. H. M. Dougherty. Mr. F? R. Huntington. Liberty Loan Committee. Columbus, Ohio. Colonel Roosevelt out of reach but I am sure that informal small dinner will be entirely satisfactory. Otherwise will telegraph you Friday morning. J. M. STRICKER SECRETARY [*hiorlrwe*]September 26, 1918. Dear Mr. Daugherty: Colonel Roosevelt has read your of September 20th to Mr. Hays. He says "that's very good." Colonel Roosevelt will arrive in Columbus at 7:05 A.M. and leave there at 9:10 P.M. same day. Mr. F.R. Huntington of the Liberty Loan Committee is holding Colonel Roosevelt's transportation from Columbus to Wichita, and I have instructed Colonel Roosevelt's man, Amos, to apply to Mr. Huntington for the transportation. [*Col. R. says this is OK*] I have not yet hand an opportunity to tell Colonel Roosevelt about the informal small dinner about which I telegraphed you last evening, but I am sure it will be all right. Sincerely yours, Secretary. Mr. H. M. Daugherty, Huntington Bank Bldg., Columbus, Ohio.September 27th, 1918. Dear Mr. Daugherty: Colonel Roosevelt has read your letter to Mr. Hays of the 23rd. He says to hold it until after he has spoken on Monday - probably two or three days. Sincerely yours, Secretary. Mr. H. M. Daugherty, Huntington Bank Bldg., Columbus, Ohio.[*Taft*] September 27th, 1918. Dear Will: Do you object to my sending you the enclosed? Unless you do, will you make it public, as by the request of Mary Harriman Rumsey, whose letter I also enclose? Would you mind having your secretary drop a line to me here letting me know? Faithfully yours, Hon. William H. Taft, New Haven, Conn.September 27th, 1918. My dear Mr. Taft: Is it not possible for the National War Labor Board to put two or more duly constituted women members on the Board? If you approve of this will you not bring it before the Secretary of Labor? In view of the ever increasing importance of women's labor in war production, it seems to me that it should be represented on the National Labor Board. Very faithfully yours, Hon. William H. Taft, New Haven, Conn. October 3, 1918. My dear Mr. Kern: I thank you for your letter. Give my regards to your son who is overseas. I congratulate you and your family. Sincerely yours,October 15, 1918. My dear Mr. Barrett: I agree with most of what that clipping says, but i empathetically disagree with the statement that Mr. Wilson's fourteen points are a mastery setting forth of the provisions for peace. I think most of what is therein set forth is too vague to be worth anything, and a considerable portion of the remainder is mischievous. Sincerely yours, Mr. Fred W. Barrett, Hotel Otter, Ashland, Ohio.October 17, 1918. My dear Mr. Foxlee: That's such a very nice letter of yours that pressed for time though I am, I must send you this line of thanks and acknowledgment. Faithfully yours, [Theodore Roosevelt] Mr. J. E. Foxlee, 5046 Haverford Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa.WESTERN UNION TELEGRAM WESTERN UNION TELEGRAM AND CABLE NEWCOMB CARLTON, PRESIDENT GEORGE W. E. ATKINS, FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT CLASS OF SERVICE SYMBOL Day Message Day Letter Blue Night Message Nite Night Letter N L If none of these three symbols appears after the check (number of words) this is a day message. Otherwise its character is indicated by the symbol appearing after the check. CLASS OF SERVICE SYMBOL Day Message Day Letter Blue Night Message Nite Night Letter N L If none of these three symbols appears after the check (number of words) this is a day message. Otherwise its character is indicated by the symbol appearing after the check. [*1918 OCT 22 PM 5 06*] RECEIVED AT [*54 West 45th St. N.Y. Telephone 2298 Vanderbilt*] 1918 OCT 22 PM 4 04 [*Fi*] B 229BU.39 COLLECT BLUE ?? BUFFALO NY 157 ? 22 [*107*] [NINA?] STRAND CR KANSAS CITY STAR 347 MADISON AVE NEWYORK SEND FOLLOWING NOTE SAT [????] TO JAMES H WOODS COLONIAL CLUB CAMBRIDGE MASS COL. ROOSEVELT WILL SEE YOU SUNDAY NEXT 330 PM HARVARD CLUB NEW YORK J M STRICKER SECRETARY TELEPHONE MRS PARSONS CHANGES HER LETTER SATISFACTORY J H STRICKER.October 29th, 1918. My dear Mr. Cuevas: That's very nice of you. I deeply appreciate your letter and the picture. Faithfully yours, Mr. E. D. Cuevas, 1767 Gleason Avenue, New York City. TELEGRAM November 2nd, 1918. Mr. George Garner 307 Riggs Bldg. Washington, D.C. Please call me Columbus eight four hundred at eleven tonight or between ten and twelve tomorrow morning. J. M, STRICKER CHARGE TO KANSAS CITY STAR.[*Taft*] November 2nd, 1918. Dear Will: I was more than glad to sign that document and I congratulate you on it, and I am mighty glad to be looked upon, not as a co-author but at least as a signer. Every word you say about the President in your letter is absolutely right. That's a mighty interesting memorandum of Gus Karger's and may be of real use later on. I shall not try to write you at length now. It was fine getting a glimpse of you the other day. Faithfully yours, Hon. William H. Taft, Room 931, Southern Bldg., Washington, D.C.November 6, 1918. My dear Mr. Bancroft: That's such a very nice telegram of yours that, pressed for time though I am, I must send you this line of thanks and acknowlegment. Faithfully yours, Mr. Charles R. Bancroft, Berkeley, Calif.[*Ack 11-26-18] THE KANSAS CITY STAR OFFICE OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT NEW YORK OFFICE 347 MADISON AVENUE November 26, 1918. My dear Miss Bell: That's a very nice letter of yours. If you will send the book to Colonel Roosevelt's office, he will gladly autograph it for you. Sincerely yours, Secretary. Miss Mary A. Bell,THE KANSAS CITY STAR Office of Theodore Roosevelt New York Offices 347 Madison Ave. Dec. 5, 1918. My dear Major Putnam: I do not care to go on any Board or into any organization of any kind at present, more especially as I am spending all my endeavors to secure in this country a spirit of undivided American Nationalism, based on an Americanism which disregards all questions of national origin and which treats this as a new nation, different from all other nations, entitled to the single-hearted and undivided loyalty of everyone of its citizens, and bound to develop in every way its own distinctive American Ideals. But with general purposes of your League, or Union, I am in hearty accord. I agree absolutely with you that this War has brought home to the great majority of thinking men in this country the fact that we, the English speaking peoples, of the United States and the British Empire, possess both ideals and interests in common. We can best do our duty, as members of the family of nations, to maintain peace and justice throughout the world by first rendering it impossible that the peace between ourselves can ever be broken. I agree entirely with what you say as to the immense service rendered to us by England, France, Italy, Belgium and other allies, and as to our duty to give tangible expression to our sense of this obligation. Moreover, I agree that there is no reason why there should not be on the two sides of the Atlantic the same relation for peace that has for a century obtained on the two sides of the Great Lakes. 56627-2- I regard the British Navy as probably the most potent instrumentality for peace in the world. I do not believe we should tro to build a Navy in rivalry to it, but I do believe we should have the second navy in the world. Moreover, I am now prepared to say what five years ago I would not have said. I think the time has come when the United States and the British Empire can agree to a universal arbitration treaty. In other words, I believe that the time has come when we should say that under no circumstances shall there ever be a resort to war between the United States and the British Empire, and that no question can ever arise between them that cannot be settled in judicial fashion, in some such manner as questions between states of our own Union would be settled. It is wicked not to try to live up to high ideals and to better the condition of the world. It is folly, and maybe worse than folly, not to recognize the actual facts of existence while striving thus to realize our ideals. There are many countries not yet at a level of advancement which permits real reciprocity of relations with them, and many other countries so completely unlike our own that at present no such agreement would be possible with them. But the slow march forward of the generations has brought the English speaking peoples to a point where such an agreement is entirely feasible; and it is eminently desirable among ourselves. Very truly yours, (signed) THEODORE ROOSEVELT. Major George Haven Putnam, American Rights League. 2 West 45th St., New York City. 56628THE KANSAS CITY STAR OFFICE OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT NEW YORK OFFICE 347 MADISON AVENUE December 17, 1918. My dear Miss Markee: I am sorry, but it would not be possible for Colonel Roosevelt to do as you [suggest] request. I would suggest, if you have the deeds to the property and they are properly recorded, your father's attorney would be in a position to take care of your rights and see that they are not interfered with. Sincerely yours, Secretary. Miss Katherine Markee, Roberts Road, Bryn Mawr, Pa.Senator [*[A.B.] [1918]*] Fall New Mexico I learn with amazement that the President has * wired [a] to the socialist candidate for senator in New Mexico asking for your defeat on the ground that you have not been a supporter of his Administration. The Socialist platform of 1917 which was reaffirmed in August 1918 denounces the war and declares [against] for what is in effect a Germanized peace in language which makes it out of the2 question to treat as a loyal American any man who at this crisis runs on such a platform. When the President attacks you in a message to your socialist competitor, which message must be regarded as helpful to that competitor be distinctly takes the ground that he puts loyalty to himself above loyalty to the war and this although I believe it to be the general judgment of [to get] good Americans that at this time [let loy] complete loyalty, to [Am] the country necessarily includes complete loyalty to the war. No American [in ei] representative in either house of Congress during the last five years has a more absolutely straight American and war recordthan yours. You have proved by 3 your speeches and votes and acts that in this crisis and in all our [foreign] dealings with foreign nations you consider [pa to] nothing but the cause of American nationalism and pay no heed whatever to any question of mere partisanship. You have shown this in your attitude towards Merer's no less than in your attitude towards Germany since this war began you have supported its President [on] every war we agreed on every measure for working our part in the war as speedyand efficient as possible [ye] 4 and you did this [on] when half of the leaders of the Presidents own party in Congress were opposing these measures and seeking to make our participation in the war inefficient. Yet the President [united of an] has sunk all sense of [resp] the responsibility to the whole people which his high office should impose upon him and comes out as the mere partisan leader asking for the defeat of all the loyal pre-war and pro-American senators and congressmen who ventured to inquire into corruption and extravagance and [ular] to consume delay and inefficiency5 and asking for the election of the anti-war and therefore anti-American Congressmen and Senators who although against the Administration on the measures as to which the Administration was pro-war nevertheless supported the administration and damaged the cause of America by reaching to obstruct every effort to uncover or put a stop to inefficiency, waste, delay, extravagance and corruption. You have won the right to the support of all loyal and true-hearted American patriots and I -- earnestly hope that the good people of Mexico will return you to the senate with practical unanimity. Theodore Roosevelt[*[1918]*] [*Nobel Peace Prize Fund*] 1 To the American Red Cross, through the Treasurer, Mr. John Skelton Williams.........$. 6,9[82.83]00.00 (The American Red Cross, and possibly some other war charities or war activities, will receive further sums of money from my royalties on certain [xxxxxx] scenarios of motion pictures to be shortly produced by the McClure company; all the royalties I receive from the pictures in question during the period of the war will be thus used). To Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, now working in the Y.M.C.A. in France.........$5000.00 [M] Mrs Roosevelt is working in the Y.M.C.A. I suppose that some or most of the money will be used in connection therewith; but the disposal is absolutely at her discretion. To the Young Mens' Christian Association National War Work Council, through the treasurer, Mr. Cleveland H. Dodge.............$4,000.00 To the Knights of Columbus War Activities Committee, through the treasurer, Mr. William J. Mulligan............... $ 4000.002 To the Jewish Welfare Board, for War Activities, through the treasurer, Mr. Walter G. Sachs.... $4000.00 To the Salvation Army War Fund, treasurer G. S. Reinhardsen ......... $4000.00 I have sent this check through Major Atkins, who has been doing admirable work in the battalion of the 26th Infantry in which my sons Theodore Jr [Ro] and Archibald have been serving. [$4000.00] To the Young Womans Christian Association War Work Council, colored, through Mrs. Henry P. Davison ............ $4000.00 [This] I have asked that Miss Eva Bolles [be] be consulted in the disbursal of this item. [Mrs.] My wife and I were very much struck with the work of Miss Bolles in connection with the colored Hostess [Rest] House at Camp Upton; and I have requested that the money be used for the hostess houses for colored troops and in work among colored women and girls in and about the camps and [cautionments?]. [xx] To Miss Emily Tyler [Caron?], at Porto Maurizo, Italy, for work in connection with the Italian Red Cross. ... .... $1000.00 I send this sum merely as a token of my admiration of the high gallantry and efficiency of Italy's action.3 To Langdon Warner, acting American Vice Consul at Harbin and Vladivostock, for the Czecho-Slovaks [whose] the extraordinary [feats of heroism have been] nature of whose great and heroic feat has is literally unparallelled, so far as I know, in ancient or modern warfare. $1000.00 In this case, as in all the cases that follow[.] , the value of the money contribution amounts to [very] so little that it seems hardly worth sending ; but the money was given to me by the Nobel Peace Prize committee for my action in connection with the Peace of Portsmouth, which closed the Russo - Japanese war; and I wish to use it[,] [at least] in part[, in such manner as will] to show my admiration for the high heroism of the peoples who have done most and suffered most in this great war to stand liberty for all [rell] religions, big or little, which [not justly] lend [and] self respecting and orderly lives and act justly and fairly by others. To Madame Major Boshkorovor, for use as all [desires] deems wise, as a token of my [a] respect for those Russians who have refused to follow the Bolshevists in their betrayal to Germany of Russia, of the Allies, and of the cause of liberty throughout the world. .... $1000.004 To [the Belgium Minister] Herbert C. Hoover, for use in Belgium $1000.00 To the Belgian Minister, for use among the Belgian Refugees in Holland $1000.00.x (In Holland the burden of caring for the Belgian victims of the German horror has been very heavy; I suggest, but do not direct, that the money be expended through its committee to which Miss Van der Vlier belongs). To the Serbian Minister, for the Serbian sufferer $1000 x To for use among the Armenians and Assyrian Christians $1000 x I send this through because so far as I know he has never sought to excuse or justify what I regard as our inexcusable dereliction in duty in having failed to declare war on Turkey and therefore in having failed to play a manly part [[?] the only really thing that can by] in the effort [to a] permanently to remedy the hideous wrongs of the subjects of the Turk in the only really effective way by declining Turkish rule.5 To M.L. Mirman, Prefet of Merthe-et-Moselle, the lamentable sufferings of the people, in France, of whose prefecture happen to have been brought un[?] before us,....$500.00 To Mrs. Mary Cadwallader Jones, for further similar work in France ...... $500.00 To Count [Ishii?], the Japanese Ambassader, for the Japanese Red Cross. ... ....... 500.00. The Japanese Red Cross, like the American Red Cross, has raised large sums of money for use in the Allied Countries; [it] I send this merely as a very [?] token of my admiration for the part the Japanese people have taken in this war. To Leslie M. Tarlton, Nairobi, for any war action or war charity in Uganda or British East Africa..... $500.00 To Mrs. [Percy] Stewart Jobson for [hospital and or other] reconstruction work for wounded soldiers, in England ............ $500.00 To [Mr.] Judge Joseph L. Nunan [Attorney General of] of Georgetown, Demerara, [British Guiana], for wounded soldiers and their families in Ireland ...... $500.00 To Henry P. Davison, to be used when possible for the Roumanians ....... $500.00 To Henry P. Davison, to be used when possible for the Mongenegrins .... $500.00.6 To Robert L. Thompson, for the Comforts Committee of the Navy League $500.00 To speaker Champ Clark, for war activities or charities $500.00 I suggest but do not stipulate that this be used in Missouri To Mrs. James A Sullivan for war activities or charities $500.00 I suggest but do not stipulate that this be used in Mrs. Sullivan's own neighborhood in Massachusetts. To Mrs. John A. Williams, for similar use $500.00 I suggest but do not stipulate that this be used in Mississippi To Mrs. [M????] Johnson, for similar use $500.00 I suggest but do not stipulate that this be used in California. For [[shorthand]] 82.83 [*[1918]*] Mlle. H. A. C. van der Flier Vice-President Mr. Aug. Belmont, 43 Exchange Place Treasurer AMERICAN COMMITTEE HEADQUARTERS [*[VAN DER FLIER]*] Holland - American Homes for Belgian Widows and Orphans 15 East Fortieth Street, New York Telephone Murray Hill 1717 Dear--------------------------------, It gives me [extreme] pleasure to recommend to you and to your interest [Madamoisella] [?] H.A.C. van der Flier a Dutch friend of mine, [who comes from that brave] Her country, gallant little Holland, [has done proportionately far more than any other country for those who have suffered from the German horror, [which] is at this moment a harbor of refuge for all the victims of the war, [she] ??? Van der Flier] has devoted her life [and her interests] to the care of thousands of Belgians and Allies in Holland, especially widows and children. She desires [wants to help them] at the present time [by] to bring[ing] into Holland from Belgium those among the left-behinds whose sufferings are greatest;] more of the most unfortunate ones out of [Belgium into Holland] and her plan is also to build after the war a garden village near Antwerp. She has a committee authorized by the King of Belgium to assist her as well as a Dutch committee of the most prominent people of Holland. Her American committee is headed by Mrs. Woodrow Wilson. The treasurer is Ms. Augustus Belmont. I hope that all possible [help] aid will be given to [this] ??? Van Flier and her most worthy cause. [and that you will assist her in making this garden village of] [Holland-American homes a reality to these suffering people and ?] [?] Sincerely,[*[1918]*] That's a mighty nice letter of yours & I thank you for it. FaithMr. Abbott [?] Col I C _ Henry Avernvia Hotel [[shorthand]] Howell T. Hayes J. H [[shorthand]] [[shorthand]]Get last letter to Howell, Ref. = Hayes ➡ State C. somewhere [?] Howell, (what follows in in shorthand...)_ A. D. Herb KyCOUNTER NUMBER. TIME FILED. M. POSTAL [??????] NIGHT LETTERGRAM COMMERCIAL CABLES THE POSTAL TELEGRAPH-CABLE COMPANY Transmits and delivers this NIGHT LETTERGRAM Subject to the terms and conditions printed on the back of this blank CLARENCE H. MACKAY, PRESIDENT TRADE-MARK CHECK -12 Send the following night lettergram, without repeating, subject to the terms and conditions printed on the back hereof, which are hereby agreed to Mr. Russ Avery, Los Angeles, Cal. I have the highest regard for both Mr. Heney and Mr Rowell. I have taken no part in favor of either as against the other. Both of the men have rendered invaluable service to the state and to the nation. It is my invariable rule in such primary contests between two first-class progressive candidates not to express myself in favor of either as against the other. The progressives of California are quite competent to decide the matter for themselves. Either Heney or Rowell would render literally invaluable service to the public in the Senate of the United States. Theodore Roosevelt. To William J. Boris [*[no cards made]*] Boris [[shorthand]]2 [[shorthand]]A R. Butler Khan [T Roosevelt] [[shorthand]][[shorthand]]J L Stewart [[shorthand]][[shorthand]][[shorthand]][[shorthand]][[shorthand]][[shorthand]][[shorthand]][[shorthand]][[shorthand]]Loeb jr [[shorthand]]Choate [[shorthand]] To Mrs William G. Choate 40 Central Park South N.Y.C.TELEGRAM. [*Clark*] White House, Washington. Jan. 12. My dear Dr. Clark: I am very sorry to say that the more I have thought over your invitation the more it has seemed to me that it is out of the question for me to accept. It comes at the very worst time of the year for me. I have had a long delayed promise, which this year I must keep, to president Nicholas Murray Butler to address the National Educational Association, and it is just about that time. It would be out of the question for me to make another speech then. I have no idea whether we shall be having an extra session of Congress at the time. If we do it is very possible I might run over to Baltimore and extend to you a very brief greeting; but if not, I fear it will be out of the question for me to come. I am very sorry. Sincerely yours, THEODORE ROOSEVELT.[[shorthand]] T. P. Connolly, 76 N. [?] Politics F. [?], VanGill -- messages from [?] not so sure but what Wilson was right in going slow [?].Mr. William P. Eno, 1771 N Street, Washington, D. C. My dear Mr. Eno: I have received your book on street traffic regulation. You have done a genuinely valuable piece of work. No one can compare the condition of the traffic in New York streets, and especially the down-town traffic, after your work was done with that of ten or twenty years ago without realizing the value of your service to the City. When I was Police Commissioner, I was necessarily in touch with this whole question, and am therefore in a position to recognize what you have done. Sincerely yours,Professor Irving Fisher, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. My dear Professor Fisher: It must certainly be true in a sense that when prices in general rise or fall, the purchasing power of money falls or rises, and it would certainly promote justice, especially in contracts drawn in terms of money, if the purchasing power of the money unit could be maintained fairly constant. So far as I know, your plan for a "compensated dollar" is the only one which gives any promise of accomplishing this result in a practical manner. Very truly yours,Form 260 THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY INCORPORATED 25,000 OFFICES IN AMERICA. CABLE SERVICE TO ALL THE WORLD THEO. N. VAIL, PRESIDENT BELVIDERE BROOKS, GENERAL MANAGER RECEIVER'S No. TIME FILED CHECK SEND the following message subject to the terms} on back hereof, which are hereby agreed to} HON. WILLIAM E. GLASSCOCK, CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA. GRIEVED TO HEAR OF DEATH OF SENATOR SMITH OF HUNTINGTON. WILL YOU CONVEY TO MRS SMITH MY DEEPEST SYMPATHY. THEODORE ROOSEVELTTo Mr Samuel Gompers, American Federationist, Washington, D.C. My dear Sir: I suppose that what you request is rather a general statement of [*Prog. Daily or American People?*] what the proper attitude of our people should be toward the labor problem than a statement as to specific bills or measures. I believe in workmen's compensation. I believe in the eight-hour day for man in continuous industries, and for women and children everywhere, [and] so far as the conditions will admit of it [as what we should strive towards in] for all industry. I believe that we shall ultimately have to come to some form of social (and industrial) insurance. But I do not at this time propose to speak of these specific matters because in each case as such depends upon the exact form in which the legislation is cast and upon the social and industrial conditions to which it applies. What I wish to do now is merely to say a few words on the general attitude of wageworker, capitalist and the public, so far as the [rights and duties] are concerned. These are the three parties in interest, and the rights and interests of each party must be conserved in order to make any schemes outcomes permanently workable and permanently beneficial. I freely grant that the individuals in each class have certain interests in common [that are not shared by those in the other classes,] and this fact must be recognized both in the 2. action taken by the Government and is the action taken by the individuals themselves. But I am less strongly insist that the most important interests are those common to all the parties concerned, and that no permanent solution of our difficulties will be obtained until we can get a larger and juster [????] outlook from all the parties in interest. I do not in the least mean that this shall be merely [?????]. The more sentimentalist, the man in whom [?????] amiability takes the place of hardheaded desire both to do and to enact justice, is as useless in industrial as he is in international matters. A man must think of his own rights and his own interests [if only] simply because if in this world he does not pull his own weight he will not be able to help anybody else, and will be surely a burden on his fellows of less flabby moral fiber. But in addition to thinking of his own interests and his own rights, he must also think of the rights of others, or he will in the long run [become] [a menace] represent not only a menace to the rest of the community, but also a menace to himself. The permanent problem before us so far as concerns the great industries in which the immense majority of wageworkers are engaged is to3. combine efficiency with a proper sharing of the rewards of that efficiency. It is (of course) self-evident that there will be no reward for anybody, no profit for the shareholders, no adequate wage for the working man, no proper service to the public, unless the business pays. A business run at a loss will have to shut its doors. No prosperity can be passed around until the prosperity exists. The chief permanent element in the success of any business must be efficiency. The wageworker must do everything in his power to contribute to this efficiency, and the effort to decrease his efficiency cannot in the long run result in anything except damage to all the parties concerned, including himself. On the other hand, the benefit of the increased efficiency must be shared with as near an approach as may be to equity and justice among the parties contributing to it. The wageworker who by his efficiency adds to the productivity must have that added efficiency recognized in increased wages. In other words, the benefit should in part accrue to him exactly as it is part accrued to the man who furnishes the capital without which the business cannot go on, and in part4. to the general public. The ideal condition is of course where the man who furnishes the capital is also the man who does the work and who furnishes the trained experience and ability necessary to successful management. In such case all that has to be considered [are] is his relations with his [fellows?] who stand on an equality with him and with the general public. Ultimately I hope we shall measurably achieve this ideal, in which the laborers in any industry shall normally furnish at least a substantial portion of the capital in the industry, and shall be represented in and at least in part control the management of the industry. But this ideal will not be reached until there is much education not only of the community at large but especially of the working men; until for instance it is recognized by workingmen as [clearly?] as by big business men that the best type of leadership, the best type of managing ability, [must?] be well paid or it can not be [obtained?]. In the immediate concerned not with the ideal, and with what [present?] we are the future, but with what should be done in the practical present. But As a matter of fact, in facing, and doing the best that is possible with, existing conditions, we must recognize that the capital is generally furnished by one set of men and the labor supplied by another, [and] Under those actual and existing conditions the principles I have set forth above must also be recognized, namely, (1) That there is absolute need of the highest efficiency, and (2) That the parties contributing to this efficiency shall with some approach to justice share in the benefits. I believe in unions. Exceptional conditions may exist in certain kinds of business there it is not necessary to have them, inasmuch as the benefits they give are attained in some other [manner] way; [And] and of course [I emphatically disbelieve] all good citizens frown on any form of violence, and not only [in] on any form of lawlessness, but [in] on any form of improper [coercion?] to force men into unions against their will. But In the great organised industries of today I believe that the union is as necessary an outgrowth of our industrial system as is the corporation,. [and that] [t]The5. wise and farsighted employer will recognize this fact and will appreciate that the man in the employ of a great private capitalist or great corporation must normally have the right of collective bargaining if as is generally the case the circumstances make it advisable. But the unions must accept the responsibility that comes with power. [They] It must recognize [their] its obligations to the community as a whole, to the employer, and to the worker who is not a union man, and the growth of the unions in power, which will as I firmly believe be healthful to the community, will nevertheless only be healthful and not hurtful if there is this increased sense of obligation, this full recognition of the fact that responsibility must accompany power. I do not believe in invoking the aid of Government to the [?] of individual initiative. But under modern conditions actual experience shows us that the State must act in many directions which in former times were unnecessary. The case of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company is directly in point. There seems to be no doubt that there has been grave wrongdoing on both sides. But there also seems to be no doubt that the initial wrongdoing was on the side of the corporation, and that6. there should have been such vigilant and efficient governmental supervision as to make this wrongdoing impossible. It is of course in the first place absolutely necessary to restore order and to put down lawlessness with [absolute] entire impartiality, whether committed by strikers or strike breakers, by employees and ex-employees or by men hired by the corporation. But the enforcement of law and order is not enough, and will in itself accomplish nothing unless it is used as a basis for securing justice and for preventing a repetition of the injustice that is directly responsible for the lawlessness. The Government should not only act by putting down rioting and violence, but also by an immediate investigation into what has brought about the rioting and violence, and by prompt national legislative action to supply[ing] a remedy for [?] the conditions of work and life among the employees, for these [the] conditions which have been [set] shown by careful and [forth in publications like The [?] [as being such as] to be literally intolerable in a land like ours, where the prize requisite for peace and progress is a high [?] of selfrespecting citizenship. [*[over]*]It is the duty of Government to "police" the causes that lead to industrial unrest and not [a??] wait [?] to police the resulting disorder [?] [taking?]Mr. Twyonne The Brunswick [[shorthand]]I very greatly appreciate your letter and thank you for it. H Hagadorn Fairfield Conn. 56516[[shorthand]]Return in 5 Days to The Outlook 287 Fourth Avenue New York Frank Harper Esq. [*Mr Simpson [[shorthand]] Mr Brownell Col [?] Mr N. Mitchell [[shorthand]] Mr [Oliver? Cliver?] Col. R. M. Johnson Houston Post*] [*Mr. Kolb [[shorthand]]*] [[shorthand]][[shorthand]]My dear Miss Haskell: Don't you think you had better spare yourself the bother of a trip to N.Y. to see me, & write me instead? But, if you care to come on then can you be at Hotel Langdon 5th Av & 56th St next Tuesday afternoon at 3 o'clock? JWK[[shorthand]] 1 Jenkins Woodlawn St 11 oclock [[shorthand]]Jenkins: [[shorthand]]Form 1204 WESTERN UNION TELEGRAM WESTERN UNION TELEGRAM AND CABLE NEWCOMB CARLTON, PRESIDENT GEORGE W. E. ATKINS, FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT CLASS OF SERVICE SYMBOL Telegram Day Letter Blue Night Message Nite Night Letter N L If none of these three symbols appears after the check (number of words) this is a telegram. Otherwise its character is indicated by the symbol appearing after the check. CLASS OF SERVICE SYMBOL Telegram Day Letter Blue Night Message Nite Night Letter N L If none of these three symbols appears after the check (number of words) this is a telegram. Otherwise its character is indicated by the symbol appearing after the check. RECEIVED AT 87 FAIRFIELD AVE. (NEAR MAIN ST.) BRIDGEPORT, CONN. ALWAYS OPEN [*Call after 12 300*] 319NY K 53 SI NEWYORK NOV 23 813PM JOHN T KING 266 46 BRIDGEPORT CT AM EXCEEDINGLY ANXIOUS TO HAVE YOU GIVE MISS KELLOR A FULL HOUR ON A MATTER OF IMPORTANCE WHICH SHE HAS PRESENTED TO ME I AM HEARTILY IN SYMPATHY WITH WHAT SHE IS DOING AND HOPE YOU WILL COMMUNICATE WITH HER AT HER RESIDENCE 43 FIFTH AVE THE-ODORE ROOSEVELT 9PM Telephone No 3090 Telephoned to J T King Time 1227 PM [?] this PM By RJ To be 325B 3090McC Hon. R.S. McCormick [several lines of shorthand] The President directs me to write to you for your personal information that he has been made acquainted with the facts in the matter of the application of Rudolf F. de Feldan of Yonkers_ NY for [His Apostolian] a pardon from His Apostolian Majesty the Emperor of Austria Hungary. [The President] [[shorthand]] hopes that nothing within the limits of propriety and discretion may be left undone by you on behalf of the applicant, the2 granting of whose petition would be very highly and directly appreciated. Yours,Memorandum: Prepare letter notifying each one of these persons of their appointment; also prepare a telegram to each one. MartiniqueMetropolitan "THE LIVEST MAGAZINE IN AMERICA" 432 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK MEMORANDUM TO [*[UNKNOWN]*] FILE COPY Must not be taken from office. Carbon My dear Mrs Adney, About two weeks ago I came in to the office to help Mr. Roosevelt out with his mail, as he was being overwhelmed with correspondence owing to the political campaign A few days ago, I [found] found your letter of Sept 5th in a file of neglected correspondence and after further search the two books. [?] Saturday, the Colonel had a free moment in town and I showed him the books and your letter. He was much interested with the "Dame Europa'sMetropolitan "THE LIVEST MAGAZINE IN AMERICA" 432 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK MEMORANDUM TO School" and said he remembered reading it years ago. In fact thinks it is still among his fathers books - You did not say what disposition you wanted made of the books so we assumed that you sent the "Good Hunting" for autograph & the "School" for the Colonel to read in connection with the present political campaign. I am therefore returning them to you - with "Good Hunting" autographed by Colonel Roosevelt Vy truly yrs [*[Regis A. Post? for T.R.]*]My dear Mrs. Keating Mr. Roosevelt has asked me to thank you for your letter of the 29th and to express his regret that he is so busy at this time that he can not give it the consideration it deserves [*[A.G. Post, Secy]*]the principles for which we stand. A vote for Mr. Brown is a vote for Mr. Wilson's policies - A vote for Mr. Hicks is a vote against those policies. For four years our party under the leadership of Mr. Roosevelt has opposed Mr. Wilson's administration, and we as a party urged Mr. Roosevelt to run against Mr. Wilson; and to nominate Mr. Brown would be to absolutely reverse our position and would be inconsistent with the Progressive National Platform. It is of paramount importance that you vote at this Primary: If the Progressive Party is to retain any influence whatever - or to be in a position to perpetuate the principles for which it stands, it can only be accomplished by each and every member showing his willingness to vote and his interest at the polls. I am not writing this as Chairman of the County Committee but as a Progressive that has the welfare of the party at heart, and because I honestly believe that our organization can not survive unless every member does his duty conscientiously as he sees it. Very sincerely yours,[*[SPILLANE?]*] Metropolitan "THE LIVEST MAGAZINE IN AMERICA" 432 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK MEMORANDUM TO My dear Mr Spillane, I regret extremely that Colonel Roosevelts time is so taken up on the day he visits New York, that it will be impossible to [?] the [?] you request. [*[R H Post, Secy]*][*[Ac6373A]*] [*[1903 - 1909]*] WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON. Admit to the President's house at any time, Mr. Jacob A. Riis. Wm Loeb Jr SecretarySAGAMORE HILL. [*[ROSA?]*] Dear Miss Mordecai It is so good of you to write. Mr Roosevelt did have a painful experience but now is as well as can[*[Ac 11, 227]*] and very happy playing with the five grandchildren Faithfully yours Edith Kermit Roosevelt June 27th THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS[[shorthand]] Flowers Aug 7th to Hon R.B. [?] Sayville Long Island (for birthday-cards of the President & Mrs. Roosevelt.)Flowers to Schmittberger [[shorthand]] M.F. Schmittberger 115 E. 61st St N.Y.[[shorthand]]WHITE HOUSE, [*ND*] WASHINGTON. Dear Mr Ware, This is to introduce about the best fellow I know, my close and staunch friend Mr Jacob Riis Theodore Roosevelt[[ac 6373A]] Presented with best regards to Mr. Riis.-- E.J. Ware ComrPresident Roosevelt's introduction give to Com Ware Com of Pensions[ac6373A]Lord Warwick [[shorthand]] Manchurian [[shorthand]]J. M. Whiteridge [[shorthand]]2 [[shorthand]][[shorthand]] Wilhelm II [[shorthand]] Cochran [[shorthand] Byrd D. Wise 20 Broad St.[*Culb*] [*To Oliver [Frost?] Culb*] [*To Leonard Wood To Gifford Pinchot*] [*3B*] I have become deeply interested in the Alumni Work as launched and carried forward by the Student Department of the International Committee of Young Men's Christian Associations, the aim being to utilize more fully the product of the colleges and universities through relating graduates to all forms of service in the communities where they locate. There can be no more important work on behalf of conservation and progress than the adoption and promotion of a plan whereby 1 - the names of seniors in all of our colleges and universities, together with complete information of the forms of voluntary service in which they are interested, shall be secured, and 2 - placed at the disposal of all agencies engaged in unselfish service in city and rural communities where these graduates are to locate. By means of this Movement college graduates are challenged to throw themselves wholeheartedly into all religious and philanthropic enterprises which have as their objective the betterment of society. [*Don't forget your [?] make it [?] of your citizenship, no [?] [?]; [?] in service. To Vincent Astor.*]My dear Mr. Woodworth That's a mighty nice valentine greeting & I appreciate it, all the more because it takes the form of such a charming poem by Theodore With best wishes & many thanksMy dear Mrs. Wylie Indeed I would gladly do anything I could for your husband, but in the first place Mayor Mitchell has never yet acted on any recommendation I have made to him, & in the next place I never made a recommendation unless I can personally vouch for the man, do you care to send me statements as to your husband's services & I will gladly forward them to the Mayor & ask his personal attention to them [unknown] In reply to your letter, I take pleasure in enclosing copy of my letter to- Very truly 56517[*[UNKNOWN]*] Dear Mr. B. Col. Roose sincerely appreciates your patriotic new song, but unfortunately as you now know, the President will not permit him to raise the Main SincTELEGRAM The White House, Washington. His Majesty The Sultan, Etc. I felicitate your Majesty on your fortunate escape. Theodore Roosevelt. (Sent by M. Adee) 1900 SE 1898METROPOLITAN 432 FOURTH AVENUE NEW YORK Office of Theodore Roosevelt We must do our duty both to ourselves and to others, and unless we fit ourselves to guard our own rights we shall be impotent to defend the rights of any one else. We must show that we have the rugged strength of character without which case, and luxury, and material well-being represent nothing, but promise of national disaster. We must insist that every man in the land be loyal to the United States and to no other nation on the globe; for we can tolerate no divided allegiance. We must prepare ourselves to meet every crisis; and the preparedness must be industrial and social no less than military; it must be of the soul and the mind no less than of the body. Nine tenths of wisdom is being wise in time. [Our present troubles with Mexico and Germany are the direct result of our utter failure to prepare, and of our governmental policy of almost unbelievable timidity and vacillation.] A policy of vigorous preparedness and courteous but immediate [instant] insistence on our rights from the very beginning of the war, would, instead of being provocative, have prevented all chance of trouble. It is a crime against this nation and against mankind that there has been no such preparation. [After years of trouble with Mexico] [The repeated murders of our citizens and soldiers by the Mexicans have been due solely to our failure to prepare and to the governmental policy of almost unbelievable callousness; timidity and vacillation which has been followed at Washington. For sixteen months we have been sending ultimatum after ultimatum to Germany; and the killing of our men, women and children by German submarines has continued with monotonous regularity. Note writing is not the proper response to murder.]