Harmless amusement

A little boy, wearing a military uniform and paper hat labeled “Colombia,” beats on a huge drum labeled “War” with drumsticks labeled “Bombast” and “Bluster.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

This cartoon appeared two months after Panama seceded from Colombia (it was recognized by the United States as a republic a week later), and a month before the United States Senate ratified the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty that set terms for the United States’s purchase of rights and responsibilities regarding construction of a transoceanic canal. The nation of Colombia felt aggrieved over the sudden loss of its territory and its perpetual negotiations with countries and private investors for a canal through its land.

Colombia’s aggravation led its leaders in Bogota to threaten war, but the small and corrupt nation was in no position — militarily, economically, or diplomatically — to follow through. Hence the depiction of its sole remaining devices, bombast and blustering appeals to other nations, in Pughe’s cartoon.

For centuries, dreamers and merchants alike had foreseen a canal connecting the great oceans — a path between the seas — and the logical sites were identified as through the lands of Nicaragua or Colombia. An expensive, failed French enterprise had left jungles and swamps with rusted equipment and a record of many workers’ deaths from unknown diseases.

The United States, after the two-ocean Spanish-American War and its sudden leadership of international trade, became interested in building a canal itself. In succession after the wear, the United States Senate passed the Spooner Act that enabled serious exploration, negotiations, and investment in favor of the Colombian option. After lengthy negotiations between Secretary of State John Hay and his counterpart Tomas Herran, the treaty they produced in 1903 was rejected by the Colombian legislature.

There were few more ardent advocates of a transoceanic canal than President Roosevelt, who regarded the Colombia government as attempting blackmail and suborning bribes. In November of 1903, as noted above, Panama declared its independence, received diplomatic recognition, and — by terms of the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty — was the recipient of a $10-million payment, a $250,000 annual annuity, a multitude of pledges and protections from United States; and Colombia was not.

As depicted in the Puck cartoon, Bogota could and did bang the war-drum, futilely.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1904-01-13

Creator(s)

Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909

Period

U.S. President – 1st Term (September 1901-February 1905)

Repository

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Page Count

1

Record Type

Image

Resource Type

Cartoon

Rights

These images are presented through a cooperative effort between the Library of Congress and Dickinson State University. No known restrictions on publication.

Citation