The rising tide
Subject(s): Canals--Design and construction, Corruption, New York (State), Odell, Benjamin B. (Benjamin Barker), 1854-1926, Public opinion
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The governor of New York, Benjamin B. Odell, is tied with a rope labeled “Contracts” to a submerged barge labeled “$255,000,000 Barge Canal.” He is up to his neck in water labeled “Popular Indignation” and cannot touch the “sand” with his feet.
Comments and Context
It was perhaps indicative of Puck Magazine’s pessimistic outlook on the 1904 presidential election that one week before voters went to the polls, the magazine devoted its front-page cartoon to a tempest in a teapot in state politics in New York.
There were charges, exposes, and hearings about various state officials in Albany and Washington , centered on bidding and contracts on state canals. Similar scandals in 1898 had ended the political career of Governor Frank S. Black (and Theodore Roosevelt replaced him on the Republican Party ticket), but in 1904 and 1905 the scandals were less clear, although more officials were suspected.
In the end, the investigations led by attorney Charles Evans Hughes resulted in no guilty pleas nor indictments. Governor Odell was set to retire, anyway, but Puck‘s cartoonist Grant Hamilton saw an opportunity to go fishing in partisan waters.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1904-10-26
Creator(s)
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
Rights
These images are presented through a cooperative effort between the Library of Congress and Dickinson State University. No known restrictions on publication.
Citation
Cite this Record
Chicago:
The rising tide. [October 26, 1904]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277867. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Hamilton, Grant E.. The rising tide. [26 Oct. 1904]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. April 16, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277867.
APA:
Hamilton, Grant E.., [1904, October 26]. The rising tide.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277867.
Cite this Collection
Chicago:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. April 16, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs.
APA:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs.
