Saint bovine

James Rudolph Garfield, Commissioner of Corporations, is an artist finishing a large mural of a bull, “Saint Bovine,” sitting on a cornucopia overflowing with cuts of meat. Caption: Suggested decoration for the Senate Chamber at Washington.

comments and context

Comments and Context

James Rudolph Garfield was Commissioner of Corporations in the new cabinet agency, the Department of Commerce and Labor, and as such was the administration’s real driving force to reform the activities of trusts and corporations in the United States. His tools were persuasion, diplomacy, political pressure, consultation, and proposals for legislation and regulations.

It is seldom that cartoons in Puck, particularly those by its owner and chief political cartoonist, are ambiguous. But “Saint Bovine,” the cover cartoon on the issue of March 29, 1905, reflects ambiguity surrounding the issue of the Beef Trust, issues of price fixing and health conditions, and to what extent the Roosevelt administration was committed to radical reform.

A report by Commissioner Garfield issued on March 3, weeks before this cartoon’s publication — and likely the basis of cartoonist Keppler’s drawing — was criticized in some places as weak and not strongly recommending actions to the Department of Justice. Charles Edward Russell (1860-1941), a seminal and influential Muckraker, later a Socialist and political candidate, wrote magazine articles, collected into a book in 1905, about the Beef Trust, The Greatest Trust In the World, which in the era of oil and steel monopolies bespoke the power and importance of meat packers. Upton Sinclair was inspired by Russell’s writing to write his book The Jungle.

In the face of these reactions and growing criticisms, Garfield and especially Roosevelt redoubled their efforts to reform the industry, to establish regulations, and to induce Congress to act. Eventually the Hepburn Act and Pure Food and Drug regulations resulted.

Keppler’s cartoon seems partial to Commissioner Garfield, who indeed justified the administration’s focus on the importance of beef without — in this cartoon, anyway — addressing the monopolistic control of five corporations, led by Armour, Cudahy, and Swift, over the industry.

Garfield, as Roosevelt’s eyes, ears, feet, and hands on important matters (in the Commerce and Labor Department; later as Secretary of the Interior) devoted himself to reform and legislation, and tirelessly supported his work in testimony, papers, and articles. For instance, as part of the campaign under discussion in this cartoon, Garfield wrote a series of articles replete with charts and statistics for the National Provisioner magazine comparing prices of cattle and dressed beef.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1905-03-29

Creator(s)

Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956

Period

U.S. President – 2nd Term (March 1905-February 1909)

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