PRESIDENT THEODORE ROOSEVELT - DOCUMENT SIGNED 05/05/1896 - HFSID 255873

THEODORE ROOSEVELT
As Health Commissioner, TR certifies a bill for enameled letters for his department.
Partly Printed Document Signed: "T. Roosevelt" as Health Commissioner, 1p, 8½x14 sheet folded into 3½x8½ quarters. New York, 1896 May 5. In full: "We Certify that we have examined the bills of Caesar Bros. which are hereunto annexed and specified in the above schedule, and amounting to the sum of Three 88/100 Dollars, and that they are correct and just; that the services specified therein have in fact been performed, or that the articles enumerated in the said bills have been received in good condition by the Health Department, solely for its use, and were necessary for the lawful uses and purposes of the said Department; that the prices charged therein are reasonable and proper, and as per agreement, and that the amount of said bills does not exceed the unexpected balance of the appropriation duly made to the said Department therefor. A certificate of the necessity of the above expenditure was placed on file in this Department before the expenditure was incurred." Signed by Roosevelt and three others as Commissioners of Health. Attached is a partly printed bill, 1p, 8½x7, from Caesar Bros., Enamelers, Hunter's Point, L.I., to the Health Department for 13 1½-inch enameled letters at four cents each and 112 ¾-inch enameled letters at three cents each for a total of $3.88. At the time, Roosevelt also headed the New York City Police Board. The following year, President McKinley named him Assistant Secretary of the Navy, a post he left to fight in the Spanish-American War in 1898. Both certification and bill dampstained at right margin affecting words and signatures and just touching "lt" in Roosevelt's signature. Rubber stamping on both documents, not touching signatures, rust stains on verso of certification. Certification lightly worn, chipped and shaded at edges, bill has 1½-inch separation at mid-horizontal fold.