Lot 1785

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Description:

THEODORE ROOSEVELT
(1858 - 1919) Twenty-sixth President of the United States who started the Panama Canal, settled the Russo-Japanese War, broke up Standard Oil and encouraged conservation. ROOSEVELT ASKS THAT HIS TAFT COMMENTS BE KEPT SECRET AFTER THE FIRST MAJOR 'TRUST BUSTING' OF HIS ADMINISTRATION Excellent T.L.S. as President on White House letterhead, 1p. 4to., Washington, June 20, 1905, a revealing rellrt to Dr. Benjamin Wheeler, President of the University of California and a long time personal friend, swearing him to secrecy about remarks Roosevelt made about his political adversary, William Howard Taft, to a 'Harriman', likely railroad executive EDWARD HENRY HARRIMAN (1848-1909). The letter, marked 'PERSONAL' at the upper-left, reads in part: '...Do not quote to Mr. Harriman anything of our conversation either about Taft or anything else...I talk with you very freely and should not be willing to have what I say repeated to a third person unless I was sure that it was repeated exactly in the same form; and this neither you nor I could be sure of. I have always talked very freely with Harriman, for I like him, and shall only be too glad to talk freely with him again. So I am sure Taft would be. But I am awfully afraid there is not much to talk over in this railroad matter at present. Our difference is on a simple proposition, and all I can say is that I think they are all wrong in opposing our proposition, while they think we are all wrong in pressing it...' Some light creases, else fine condition. Edward Henry Harriman was the president of the Union Pacific Railroad, and one of the earliest 'victims' of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. Harriman sought to gain a direct route to Chicago for his company, thus he agreed to cooperate in the formation of Northern Securities Company, a holding company which effectively controlled railroading from Chicago to the Pacific Northwest. Because he thought it was a monopoly, President Roosevelt asked his Justice Department to bring suit against the Northern Securities Company using the Sherman Anti-Trust Act in 1904. Roosevelt then dismantled the company, marking the first major example of 'trust busting' of his administration. Of course, Roosevelt and Taft shared in their skepticism of corporate monopolies. Thus, it is reasonable to conclude that these 'secret' comments involved the dismantling of the Northern Securities Company in 1904. The dissolution followed a Supreme Court ruling in Northern Securities Co. v. United States case, decided five to four, and the companies were convicted under the Sherman Antitrust Act. In the following seven years, 44 other Federal antitrust cases turned out rulings similar to the Northern Securities case. Included in these break-ups were Harriman's own holdings of the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific railroads.

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August 26, 2021 10:00 AM EDT
Chesapeake City, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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Bid Increments
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$0 $99 $10
$100 $499 $20
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 + $10,000