The recent flurry in the Senate
Subject(s): Aldrich, Nelson W. (Nelson Wilmarth), 1841-1915, Burton, Joseph Ralph, 1852-1923, Depew, Chauncey M. (Chauncey Mitchell), 1834-1928, Dolliver, Jonathan P. (Jonathan Prentiss), 1858-1910, Elkins, Stephen B. (Stephen Benton), 1841-1911, Foraker, Joseph Benson, 1846-1917, Legislators, Lodge, Henry Cabot, 1850-1924, Platt, Thomas Collier, 1833-1910, Spooner, John C. (John Coit), 1843-1919, Tillman, Benjamin R. (Benjamin Ryan), 1847-1918
Click on image to zoom in
On the Senate floor, several Senators engage in a free-for-all around a signpost labeled “Rail Road Interests.” Watching the melee from the “Visitors’ Gallery” is Joseph R. Burton.
Comments and Context
J. S. Pughe’s center-spread cartoon in Puck, 1906, is a reversal of many cartoons drawn through the years (most memorably by Joseph Ferdinand Keppler’s 1889 gallery of moneybags, “Bosses of the Senate.” Pughe’s variation was to draw the floor of the Senate ripped out, and the well reconfigured as the floor of a stock exchange.
New York Senator Chauncey M. Depew is portrayed as a pliant errand-boy, presumably to corporate masters, and a gaggle of senators, most prominently Nelson Aldrich of Rhode Island, pile on each other at the “Railroad Interests” station. Senators hasten to make inquiries with trusts, or receive instructions from them; indeed at the time many politicians in Washington frankly presented themselves as serving the corporate interests in their states.
Vice-President Charles W. Fairbanks in his role as president of the Senate quietly surveys the scene. If the lonely gallery spectator is mean to represent Joseph Burton, it was in 1906 that his second hearing at the Supreme Court, for accepting bribes as a senator from Kansas, found him guilty. The Senate had expelled him. It was banking and patronage, not railroad or other matters, and “only” $2500, that caused the action and led to a prison sentence. Pughe probably speculated on the irony of a relatively minor crook watching important figures grasping after far great favors and sums.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1906-03-21
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:
The recent flurry in the Senate. [March 21, 1906]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278522. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909. The recent flurry in the Senate. [21 Mar. 1906]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 12, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278522.
APA:
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909., [1906, March 21]. The recent flurry in the Senate.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278522.
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.
