The work of the Reclamation Service in developing the larger opportunities of the western half of our country for irrigation is more important than almost any other movement.
Teddy Roosevelt
The Public Record
Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. A member of the Republican Party, he was born on October 27, 1858, in New York. Roosevelt was a prominent leader of the Progressive Movement, advocating for domestic policies that included trust-busting, regulation of corporations, and conservation of natural resources. His administration is noted for significant reforms and the establishment of national parks and forests.
People have spoken as if this discharge from the service was a punishment. I deny emphatically that such is the case, because as punishment it is utterly inadequate.
I have condemned in unstinted terms the crime of lynching perpetrated by white men, and I should take instant advantage of any opportunity whereby I could bring to justice a mob of lynchers.
If the colored men elect to stand by criminals of their own race because they are of their own race, they assuredly lay up for themselves the most dreadful day of reckoning.
Precisely the same action would have been taken had the troops been white--indeed, the discharge would probably have been made in more summary fashion.
In precisely the same spirit I have now acted with reference to these colored men who have been guilty of a black and dastardly crime.
I have done all I could to secure them equal school training when young, equal opportunity to earn their livelihood, and achieve their happiness when old.
I challenge as a right, the support of every citizen of this country, whatever his color, provided only he has in him the spirit of genuine and farsighted patriotism.
Under no circumstances will I consent to keep in the service bodies of men whom the circumstances show to be a menace to the country.
It is hereby ordered that the following-described lands in New Mexico, namely: T. 16 N., R. 1 E., Jemez meridian, excepting any tract or tracts the title to which has passed out of the United States Government or to which valid legal…
I ordered the discharge of nearly all the members of Companies B, C, and D of the Twenty-fifth Infantry by name, in the exercise of my constitutional power and in pursuance of what, after full consideration, I found to be my constitutional…
But I wish it distinctly understood that the fact of the birthplace of either officer is one which I absolutely refuse to consider.
Every farsighted friend of the colored race in its efforts to strive onward and upward, should teach first, as the most important lesson, alike to the white man and the black, the duty of treating the individual man strictly on his worth…
I have striven to break up peonage; I have upheld the hands of those who, like Judge Jones and Judge Speer, have warred against this peonage.
The number of Japanese children attending the public schools in San Francisco was very small.
It is obviously not desirable that young men should go to school with children.
I authorized and directed Secretary Metcalf to state that if there was failure to protect persons and property, then the entire power of the Federal Government within the limits of the Constitution would be used promptly and vigorously to…
Let me point out further that there would be no objection whatever to excluding from the schools any Japanese on the score of age.
The present coal law limiting the individual entry to 160 acres puts a premium on fraud.
It must be remembered that his work was not mere sanitation as the term is understood in our ordinary municipal work.
Many of the buildings they put up were excellent and are still in use.
I inspected the Ancon Hospital, going through various wards both for white patients and for colored patients.
The money value of the national forests now reserved for the use and benefit of the people exceeds considerably the sum of one thousand millions of dollars.
I also saw and had long talks with two deputations--one of machinists and one representing the railway men of the dirt trains.
Everywhere are to be seen the drainage ditches which in removing the water have removed the breeding places of the mosquitoes.





