Oyster Bay, NY July 3d 1908 My dear senator, Mr. Loeb has transmitted to me your telephone message as to Mr. Kellogg [?] a written memorandum. My dear senator let me repeat in writing what I have said again and again to Mr. Archbold and to you and what - I stated at length in our interview of last Monday. In my judgment it is not only a waste of time but inadvisable to try to carry on the negotiations thru you as intermediary. Let the Standard Oil lawyers, any or all of them as Mr. Archbold or Mr. Rockafeller [sic] or any one else may choose, decide as to the course they wish to follow, and then communicate direct with the Kellogg or the Attorney General. I read you what Mr. Bonaparte wrote me which I had previously read to Mr. Kellogg and I furnished you with a copy of it. You now inform Mr. Loeb that this is not specific enough. It was meant by Mr. Bonaparte to advise me as to what he and Mr. Kellogg thought war the proper course to follow. I read it to you as that you might understand what the attitude of the Department of Justice was, and when I read it is you I explained [everything] to Mr. Archbold and yourself what I have done now put its writing above, namely, that it was inadvisable to attempt to carry on negotiations thru you and that the [proper person for your Co, communicate with was] not me but Mr. Bonaparte or Mr. Kellogg. Then an appeal can always be made to me; but obviously the first thing to do is have the counsel of the Standard Oil communicate with the counsel of the Department of Justice, or Kellogg, or with Mr. Bonaparte himself. Sincerely yours, Theodore Roosevelt