Theodore Rex - Edmund Morris [413]
49 an open shop Frank W. Palmer to TR, 7 July 1903 (TRP).
Chronological Note: Conditions of “intolerable tyranny” had been reported to exist in the GPO. Public Printer Palmer was accused of letting typographic and other unions create a closed and notoriously inefficient shop there, in exchange for labor peace. TR was sympathetic to an affidavit filed by a fired GPO foreman, William A. Miller, who claimed to have been penalized for raising the productivity of the bindery division by 40 percent.
TR directed that Miller be reinstated, over Palmer’s protests that such a gesture would cause the bookbinders to go on strike. He ordered George Cortelyou to investigate the situation and take whatever steps were necessary to ensure that no government union “be permitted to override the laws of the United States, which it is my sworn duty to enforce.” For a full account, see Gatewood, Theodore Roosevelt and the Art of Controversy, 134–74.
50 James S. Clarkson James S. Clarkson to Benjamin F. Barnes (TR’s assistant secretary), 15 July 1903 (TRP); The Wall Street Journal news clip, ca. 15 July 1903 (TRP).
Biographical Note: Clarkson, a notorious spoilsmaster who had fired thirty thousand Post Office appointees in a single year under Benjamin Harrison (to the extreme displeasure of Civil Service Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt), was surveyor of the Port of New York. His appointment by TR in May 1902 had, in the words of Life magazine, “sent cold chills down the necks of all civil service reformers.” When the reformers came to the White House for an explanation, TR merely threw up his hands with a smile. “Well, the truth is, as you know, in politics we have to do a great many things that we ought not to do.” To professional politicians, the appointment was both shrewd and successful: Clarkson had old scores to settle with Mark Hanna, and, grateful for his appointment, he worked energetically to elect TR in 1904. Life, 8 May 1902; Barry, Forty Years, 278–79; TR, Letters, vol. 3, 256–57, 262–63. See also David Crosson, “James S. Clarkson and Theodore Roosevelt, 1901–1904: A Study in Contrasting Political Traditions,” Annals of Iowa 42.5 (1974).
51 “Of course I will not” TR, Letters, vol. 3, 519.
52 The sun beat Review of Reviews, Aug. and Sept. 1903. TR’s field acreage (out of a ninety-seven-acre total) included pasture. The Sagamore Hill farm, run by a full-time superintendent and several assistants, supported five horses, six Jersey cows, eight pigs, several turkeys, and a flock of chickens. It was self-sufficient in hay, straw, milk, fruit, vegetables, and flowers. There was a windmill, an icehouse, and a machine that made gas. The President, a prodigious axman, ensured a steady supply of firewood. “Theodore Roosevelt as Farmer,” Farm Journal, Dec. 1906.
53 On 22 July TR, Letters, vol. 3, 526.
54 “Every morning Edie” TR in New York Sun, 11 Aug. 1903; Kolko, Triumph of Conservatism, 69; Morris, Edith Kermit Roosevelt, 139. For an attempt to interest the President in the currency question, see Leslie M. Shaw to TR, 28 July 1903 (TRP), and TR, Letters, vol. 3, 691.
55 The problem, apparently John M. Mason to author, 2 Feb. 1965. Greenbacks were limited to their 1878 circulation, silver coins set at only one hundred million dollars’ worth, and the volume of gold remained stable. This supply was inadequate to feed the growing prosperity of 1903.
56 Toward the end “Wall Street and the President,” New York Tribune, 29 Aug. 1903; Henry Clews, Fifty Years on Wall Street (New York, 1908, 1973), 771–73; The New York Times, 31 Mar. 1903. James