“Killed in committee”

Nelson W. Aldrich appears as a large spider on a cobweb labeled “Senate Committee Room” spread between the U.S. Capitol and a “Standard Oil” tower, on which several flies labeled “Anti-Trust Bill, Free Alcohol Bill, House Bill, Philippine Tariff Bill, [and] Legislation Needed” have landed.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Nelson W. Aldrich was not the most senior member of the United States Senate, but by wily tactics, ability, and connections he clearly was the most powerful in the Republican-dominated Upper House during the administration of President Roosevelt. From his chairmanship of the Senate Finance Committee he managed to affect virtually every piece of legislation that passed (or did not) through the Senate.

That power, regarded by many politicians as sinister, is reflected in this cartoon by J. S. Pughe. “Where bills went to die” was a lament of Democrats and insurgent (reformist) Republicans. Yet Aldrich was a different kind of Reactionary, or “Stand-Patter,” or Old Guard stalwart, as borne out by his record subsequent to the time of this cartoon. For instance, he co-sponsored the Payne-Aldrich Tariff of 1910, which reinforced high duties and was soundly rejected by some commercial interests, in the end, as well as voters: subservience to trusts that backfired on his party. After the Panic of 1907, he helped create a commission that studied, long-term, currency reform.

America will forever debate Aldrich’s role, and the commission’s recommendations, cemented in secret meetings with international bankers at Jekyll Island off the Georgia coast, that resulted in the creation of the Federal Reserve System. Aldrich wrote the enabling legislation and rammed it through the Senate before it was submitted to the states for two-thirds ratification as a Constitutional Amendment.

Additionally, though perhaps counter-intuitively, Aldrich was not complete opposed to the impetus behind the Progressive Movement. As a corporatist first and last, he foresaw attractive elements in progressives’ emphasis on efficiency and control of government machinery. Politics, and economics, could make strange bedfellows.

Through his own children (a son became chairman of Chase National Bank) and his daughter Abby’s marriage into the Rockefeller family (note the Standard Oil can in the background), Aldrich’s influence continued for generations. His namesake, Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller, was four-term governor of New York and a vice president of the United States.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1906-05-16

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