“Everyman” and his dollar – the Republican morality show
Subject(s): Campaign funds, Capitalists and financiers, Fairbanks, Charles W. (Charles Warren), 1852-1918, Fund raising, Harriman, Edward Henry, 1848-1909, Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, Political campaigns, Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- ), Rogers, Henry Huttleston, 1840-1909, Sherman, J. S. (James Schoolcraft), 1855-1912, Theater--Production and direction, United States
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J. S. Sherman collects $1 donations for the Republican Party at a fund raising event in a theater. Theodore Roosevelt and Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon can be seen in the audience. “Behind the scenes” are J. Pierpont Morgan, Henry Huttleston Rogers, and Edward Henry Harriman pouring coins from large money bags into “The Dough Barrel.” Caption: But the real work of financing the campaign will, as usual, be done behind the scenes.
Comments and Context
J. S. Sherman was a long-serving member of the House of Representatives from New York — twenty years total with a four-year hiatus in the middle of the stretch — first elected in 1886. Despite his long service, he never held a position of power or significant committee assignment higher than Indian Affairs. Nevertheless, the affable “Sunny Jim” asserted behind-the-scenes influence and he was adept at conciliation and compromise.
Though he was a compromiser, Sherman was a consistent and firm conservative, never an ally of the growing group of Republican insurgents who supported President Roosevelt.
In 1906 his prominence and skills of persuasion got him selected as Chairman of the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee. Politicians in such jobs were, and still are, adept at soliciting small contributions from common citizens, and squeezing wealthy and corporate donors behind the scenes.
Keppler drew literal scenes on a stage in this cartoon. In the box, applauding, are Roosevelt and Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon. In 1904 the Republican Party, mostly through the agencies of Campaign Chair George B. Cortelyou and Finance Chairman Cornelius Newton Bliss, made last-minute appeals to major donors and corporations. Roosevelt claimed plausible deniability when those funds became an issue in 1911 due to Republican efforts to embarrass the apostate Roosevelt).
Ironically, or predictably, the three magnates who work hard in the wings to “fill the bar’l” — Edward Henry Harriman of the railroads, Henry Rogers of Standard Oil, and J. P. Morgan of everything else (banks, principally) — were known quite well to be donors to both political parties.
Sherman was rewarded for years of party loyalty when he was chosen as William H. Taft’s running mate in 1908. His conservative credentials were thought to balance a ticket with Taft, the presumed Rooseveltian reformer. Also, at a convention where there was no presidential contest (Roosevelt having anointed Taft), Sherman was advanced as a New York presence on the ticket.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1906-08-29
Creator(s)
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:
“Everyman” and his dollar – the Republican morality show. [August 29, 1906]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278569. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956. “Everyman” and his dollar – the Republican morality show. [29 Aug. 1906]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 5, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278569.
APA:
Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956., [1906, August 29]. “Everyman” and his dollar – the Republican morality show.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278569.
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 5, 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.
