“Seeing things at night”

President Roosevelt, wearing buckskin and a raccoon hat, sits by a campfire at night, holding a knife, his rifle by his side. In the shadows beyond the light of the fire are a snake labeled “Mormonism,” a bull labeled “Beef Trust,” a strange bird labeled “Merger Bird,” a large fuel tank labeled “Oil Trust” with a snake-like appendage extending from the front with the head of John D. Rockefeller, and a bat labeled “Castro.” A tent is behind Roosevelt, on the right.

comments and context

Comments and Context

As most good political and editorial cartoons do, the drawings in Puck refer to contemporary issues and current events. They are remarkably fruitful for researchers of later times, but sometimes are so local and so timely as to occasionally deal in obscure controversies and forgotten figures.

The concept of J. S. Pughe’s cartoon is obvious: President Roosevelt, depicted as he famously was, a hunter and camper, is encircled by menacing creatures and spirits representing his political challenges. But Roosevelt, sitting alone by the campfire with his hunting knife is scarcely menaced by them. Rather the opposite.

The cartoon appeared only two months into his second term. Freed of the invisible yoke of being an “accidental president,” having succeeded the assassinated William McKinley, Roosevelt announced a bold agenda, with many legislative and bureaucratic initiatives. The public expected no less, having endorsed his candidacy resoundingly. And the various opponents portrayed in the cartoon were ready to fight or defend.

The “Beef Trust” and the “Merger Bird” specifically represented aspects of a contentious issue and its several aspects. The public was concerned about tainted meats (a scandal that would be exploited by muckraking magazine writers and author Upton Sinclair’s book The Jungle). The President, almost peripherally, sought to break up the combination of five major packing companies in Chicago, whose monopoly controlled more than 80 per cent of the nation’s table meats — and with that control, power over prices, competition, and various trades.

John D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil was a constant irritant of the Roosevelt administration; the company’s tremendous reach, coupled with vertical organization — far from merely pumping oil, but controlling every details of its refining, delivery, and bi-products — provided a target as an abusive trust.

President Cipriano Castro of Venezuela, whose international irresponsibility invited European action and thus was the motivating factor behind the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, never was fully restrained by Roosevelt’s scolding. In the coming years he harassed immigrant Quakers, for instance; and he was ultimately overthrown in 1908.

A curious “threat” might seem to be the snake labelled “Mormonism” in the lower left. The growing Mormon population — and resulting influence — in Utah and the West was seen by much of the country as presenting a problem demanding attention. The main issue was the Church of Latter-Day Saints’ position on polygamy. The Church had an understanding with Roosevelt, at the time when they softened, or obscured, their practices. In 1904 the President prepared a book that might have served as a campaign document; but the articulation of his political beliefs, and agenda, was published in 1905. A Square Deal For Every Man addressed 75 topics in 94 pages — a remarkable, or remarkably ambitious, program.

One of the chapters in the book pledged “A Square Deal for Mormons.” It made no judgments nor promises except to deal fairly with Mormons as citizens. Reed Smoot, an LDS Apostle, had been elected to the United States Senate in 1903, but was not immediately seated because of religious objections. The Republican eventually took his seat, attended Roosevelt’s inauguration, and served more than two decades in the Upper House. The threat posed the cartoon’s snake was slowly ameliorated in the nation’s eyes; and there were no major altercations during Roosevelt’s second term.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1905-05-03

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

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