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In a rowdy classroom at the “Pan-American School,” Uncle Sam is the teacher admonishing Cipriano Castro, President of Venezuela, who holds a slingshot, planning a prank. Four other adults are present, “Holland, France, England, [and] Germany.” Three native children are sitting at desks. One is shooting a spitball that hits “Holland” in the face. Caption: In the Pan-American school.
Comments and Context
This cartoon by J. S. Pughe in a Puck centerspread might cause present-day readers to wonder whether Uncle Sam has always had difficulties with Latin American leaders named Castro, or with the country of Venezuela. Leaders were different in 1905, but challenges were similar.
The general situation addressed by Puck magazine was the rebellious natures of the regimes in Central and South America. President Cipriano Castro of Venezuela was only the most prominent of fractious leaders. He had seized power in Caracas in 1899 (to be overthrown himself in 1908) and his corruption invited trouble at every turn. The trouble turned to threats of intervention by European powers to whom Venezuela was indebted.
Implausibly trusting in the “umbrella” of the Monroe Doctrine, Castro was surprised when President Roosevelt, in his famous Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, forbade outside military intervention in the Western Hemisphere, but did not interfere with the outside world’s collection of debts. Rather, Roosevelt, in Venezuela and subsequently elsewhere (and followed by other United States presidents) took responsibility to intervene in hemispheric states. Roosevelt then solved at least two sets of problems at once, although not without earning the resentment of corrupt leaders elsewhere in Central and South America.
Shortly before Castro was overthrown, fleeing to Paris ostensibly to have his case of syphilis attended to, he was involved in another fracas with a European government, this time with the Dutch, who objected to Venezuela’s treatment of Dutch Jews residing in Venezuela.
In Pughe’s cartoon, the European powers represented against the wall all had had their problems with Venezuela; the new “master” of the situation, Uncle Sam (Roosevelt’s Corollary was promulgated in late 1903 and formalized in his Annual Message for 1904) is actually dealing with Castro. Puck‘s usual and unfortunate depictions of natives from foreign lands — including its own new possessions — are stereotyped Negroes, no matter what their actual racial stocks.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1905-04-12
Creator(s)
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909
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
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:
Visitors’ day. [April 12, 1905]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278093. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909. Visitors’ day. [12 Apr. 1905]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 12, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278093.
APA:
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909., [1905, April 12]. Visitors’ day.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278093.
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. March 12, 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.
