Collins, J. F.

President Roosevelt holds his big stick and looks at the men he has killed with it: “confidence,” “prosperity,” “good wages,” “capital,” “business,” “industry,” and “labor.” In the background is a bird labeled “hard times.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

For all the detail invested by J. F. Collins in this cartoon — down to the bulging veins and hair on the caveman’s legs — he strangely drew one of the least convincing Roosevelt caricatures ever published. Artistic license would have allowed the characteristic pince-nez spectacles, yet they were neglected. Thanks to the label on the Big Stick, we are assured that the guilty thug is Theodore Roosevelt.

A man looks at “Doctor Cortelyou” and holds a bag of “$: Dr. Hayseed’s pills” while Uncle Sam lies incapacitated in a bed. Cortelyou says, “I’ve made a careful diagnosis of Uncle’s case, and I think your pills will put him on his feet.” President Roosevelt looks on and says, “I hope Uncle will get no worse.” J. Pierpont Morgan says to John D. Rockefeller, “They are very much alarmed about the condition of Uncle. I’m afraid John, the last dose you gave him didn’t do him any good. They don’t seem to think much of your skill when they called in a country practitioner.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The focus of this cartoon was that of the entire nation itself, a bare month into the Wall Street Panic of 1907. Cartoonist J. F. Collins had greater fame and a longer career as a strip cartoonist for Sunday newspapers than for political cartoons. “A Serious Case” is indeed a case study of why the case was so serious.

George Barnsdale Cox hands his card to the “door boy” at the “headquarters of the political big 4.” Cox says, “In order to cause no consternation in that crowd or have any of them die from palpitation of the heart, just present this card as quitely [sic] as possible to the bunch.” Four men sit at a table: Norman G. Kenan, Charles Phelps Taft, Ohio Representative Nicholas Longworth, and Julius Fleischmann. Longworth holds a letter from President Roosevelt that suggests the “Ohio problem” can be solved by electing Fleischmann as governor of Ohio. Fleischmann says, “My, Nick, but how your father-in-law does flatter me.” Meanwhile, Kenan says, “That letter of Teddy’s is music to my ear. We’ll have a ticket this fall that will win sure, and that’s not gas.” Taft replies, “It certainly has a very fine gingle, Norman. Isn’t it nice to be good.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-09

President Roosevelt carves up the “presidential nomination” watermelon with his “self esteem” knife, discharging two slices to the side—”first term” and “second term.” He starts to carve up “third term 1908” as he says to William H. Taft who is standing somewhat hidden in brush, “Hello, Bill!” Behind Taft is his half-brother Charles P. Taft holding his “wife’s money.” William H. Taft says to Charles P. Taft, “Good heavens! Charlie, I thought Teddy didn’t care for that anymore.” Meanwhile, Uncle Sam watches on the other side, “I thought I understand that gap to say he was tired of that fruit.” Caption: Roosevelt—“Bill, I don’t think I will need any help eating this melon.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Cartoonist J. F. Collins, straying from his minor comic strip for the World Color Printing Company, drew political cartoons for a short-lived journal, The Meddler. His drawings were of almost painful exactitude and invariably anti-Roosevelt. They were so partisan that the publishing effort possibly chose its name as an in-your-face brand, like Puck imitators including Judge, The Wasp, The Bee, and The Verdict. Or its title might have been inspired by a current nickname for Theodore Roosevelt, the “Meddler,” for his reformist and iconoclastic activities as president.

President Roosevelt stands over a kneeling William H. Taft with his “big stick” in his left hand. Caption: Roosevelt– “Good Heavens! I believe I’ve used this club too freely on Willie.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Cartoonist John F. Collins, otherwise known as the creator of several children’s Sunday comics for minor syndicates, tried to capture President Roosevelt’s heavy-handedness in guiding the career prospects of Secretary of War William H. Taft, his chosen successor. Taft was reluctant to seek the presidency, clearly aspiring to be a Supreme Court justice (eventually he was president, and a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the only person to hold both positions).

Uncle Sam holds President Roosevelt, dressed like a woman, tightly as William H. Taft sits in a baby carriage holding onto an “Ohio Indorsement” bottle being pulled by Joseph Benson Foraker. An African American man watches in the background. Caption: Uncle Sam– “So, you’re going to leave me.” Roosevelt– “If you coax me real hard, Sammy, I might remain in your employ. I’m only joking about quitting.” Willie Taft– “Mama! Mama! This naughty boy won’t let me have my bottle.” “Dat dar big cuss has no right to dat anyhow.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

John F. Collins, a cartoonist whose modest fame rests in the creation or maintenance of several children’s strips for the World Color Printing Company (St. Louis) weekend color supplements, syndicated to local newspaper across the country, proved himself capable of political invective and pictorial crudeness in this cartoon.

A “railroad magnate” sits in a tree with a top hat labeled “railroad” stuck to a branch. He says, “For heavens sake Theodore, save me!” as a bear below him labeled “state law” growls, “two cents – mile.” President Roosevelt, armed with a gun labeled “federal law,” marches away from Washington and toward the tree. There is a sign in the foreground that says, “No trespassing on these grounds.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

This cover cartoon in The Meddler the short-lived regional aspirant to the field occupied nationally by Puck, Judge, and Life, addressed the recent and well-publicized meeting of J. P. Morgan, representing railroad magnates, with President Roosevelt at the White House.