Your TR Source
President Roosevelt sleeps in a bed next to a nightstand of books—”Hunting Big Game” and “The Winning of the West”—as he dreams about Ohio Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna riding on a Republican elephant.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-01-15
A bandaged Republican elephant writes on a paper with the heading of “Good resolutions—New Year” at a “1904” desk. There is a January calendar is on the wall. The elephant has a “postal scandal” mailbag cast and an “Indian land scandals” bandage.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-01
President Roosevelt and Secretary of State John Hay hold a “diplomacy” paper and run toward a “Chinese goods contents unknown” barrel, but they are stopped by Uncle Sam’s cane. All of the other barrels are “gun powder” barrels from different countries: “English,” “French,” “German,” “Russia,” among others.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-02-14
President Roosevelt rides on an elephant with shovels and other construction gear, saying, “Fortified? Yes!” Roosevelt rides behind Uncle Sam, who carries a shovel, and in front of a woman writing a donkey.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-02-24
President Roosevelt drives a “New York state machine,” sandwiched between New York Senator Thomas Collier Platt and New York Governor Benjamin B. Odell, on the road “to Chicago.” Behind the car is a running horse.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-03-05
President Roosevelt rides a horse “to Chicago,” followed by the “New York State machine for T. Roosevelt” driven by New York Senator Thomas Collier Platt and New York Governor Benjamin B. Odell.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-02-28
President Roosevelt attempts to ride a startled Republican elephant that is surrounded by “postal scandal” flames.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-03-14
A paint-splattered Maryland Senator Arthur P. Gorman walks towards the White House to begin painting it with paint from a can labeled the “Negro question.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-11
President Roosevelt holds “the strenuous life” bag as he carries a large man labeled “Congress” with “financial legislation,” “Cuba,” “labor,” and “the trusts” papers in his pockets.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-11
President Roosevelt holds a “Panama” football and pushes past Colombian President José Manuel Marroquín as various political leaders from other countries look on from the sidelines.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-11-16
Uncle Sam carves a “reciprocity” turkey on a bed of “prosperity” lettuce at a table where President Roosevelt and “Cuba” are seated.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-11-26
President Roosevelt protectively grasps a satchel he is wearing containing “US millions for a canal” with one hand, and throttles the neck of bandit-like “Colombia” with the other. The smaller figure still grasps a brace of pistols. In the background, Uncle Sam holds a shovel and cheers the confrontation.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-11-21
President Roosevelt butchers a turkey to divide between Panama and Columbia. Panama has received nearly all of the “$10,000,000 canal treaty” turkey, while Colombian President José Manuel Marroquín looks on in shock as he is left with only the head.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-11-26
President Roosevelt attempts to guide the “1904 G.O.P.” elephant using a spear that has hooked into its its ear. Ohio Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna smiles nonchalantly as he holds a similar spear.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-11-28
President Roosevelt and Assistant Postmaster General Joseph L. Bristow go to throw a bag of “post office rascals” into the water. Perry S. Heath holds a lifesaver that reads “statute of limitations” and a “P.O. scandals” bag as he sits on a post in the water.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-12-02
New York Governor Benjamin B. Odell and New York Senator Thomas Collier Platt fire revolvers at a “Roosevelt boom—highly explosive,” which has a tag that reads, “time fuse 1904.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-12-03
Standing in the “White House,” the “Lone Star State” shows President Roosevelt a paper that reads, “Resolved by the Daughters of the Confederacy of Texas—that we approve of the action of the president relative to Panama as a recognition by him of the divine right of secession.” There is a bust of Abraham Lincoln in the background.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-12
Postmaster General Henry C. Payne and President Roosevelt ride on a Republican elephant that pulls a woman out of a Delaware Post Office by its trunk. On its leg is a “postal scandal” covering and Delaware Senator J. Frank Allee points at the woman. As Roosevelt sits on the elephant, he holds several papers, including “canal treaty” and “Alaskan boundary.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-09-09
President Roosevelt and Postmaster General Henry C. Payne attempt to scrub the stains of the “Post Office scandal” off the Republican elephant in a tent labeled “G. O. P. The Sacred White Elephant Show.” A “Department of Publicity” megaphone sits on a table outside of the tent.
The United States Postal Service was traditionally identified with politics — and the basest exercise of politics, as local postmasters and other officials were regarded, and rewarded, as political functionaries more than experts in postal matters. Thousands of jobs were dispensed after elections, and thousands of officials were removed according to parties winning national elections. The opportunities for corruption were multiplied when expanded services, new delivery routes, and proposals for rural delivery were discussed.
There had been major scandals, and calls for reform through the years; and there were gradual reforms. For instance, when Theodore Roosevelt was Commissioner of Civil Service under Presidents Harrison and Cleveland, he succeeded in prosecuting corruption, and expanding merit-based appointments.
President Roosevelt rides a horse and stops as he sees Ohio Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna’s face in the side of a mountain. Caption: A rocky mountain not on the map.
Cartoonist W. A. Rogers depicted a political situation of the day, and despite drawing for the Democratic New York Herald, declined to attack the figures he caricatured, or persuade his readers.