Trimming the Filipino’s Christmas tree

Santa Claus, labeled “G.O.P.,” reaches to place the “Star of Hope” on top of a Christmas tree trimmed with lemons, marble hearts, a stuffed bear “From Teddy,” two “Little Big Sticks” and a “Big Stick,” a ball of “Promises,” and three balls labeled “Gas, Guff, [and] Wind.” On a nearby table is Joseph Cannon as a “Joe in the Box,” a “Home made frosted cake from Uncle Joe’s Pantry,” and a book of “Fairy Tales by Uncle Sam.”

Comments and Context

J. S. Pughe’s cover cartoon directly addresses a crisis in America’s handling of the Philippine Islands as an American territory, during an important moment of policymaking. The matters at hand were important to the Filipinos, of course: trade, tariffs, and economic sovereignty.

To the American public, especially since most of the bloody insurrection was quelled — largely by President Roosevelt’s amnesty and promises of self-determination — questions concerning the Philippines had become a matter of great indifference. Governor-General William H. Taft, returning to the United States and engaging in policy speeches, remarked that the sure way to clear a hall of reporters and attentive listeners was to mention the Philippines.

As a political-minded president, Roosevelt was in a quandary. It is little noted today that one of the most iconic imperialists, an instigator as well as participant in the Spanish-American War, had become a virtual anti-imperialist by the end of his presidency. His evolution did not bring him into the camp of some Democrats or Anti-Imperialist League Republicans, but he was quite willing to fast-track independence, especially to the Philippines and to Cuba.

To his credit, he felt a responsibility to help establish order and stable economies. And he saw this priority as onerous, but incumbent on the United States. He felt that, with the possible exception of the Sudan, no imperialist intentions around the world were more honorable, more respectful to natives and their futures, than the United States.

His revised policies were not totally altruistic. He believed that the new possessions needed to develop their own industries, or build on them as in the case of the Philippines and Cuba, but the interference of American trusts (sugar, tobacco, coffee, fruit) impeded his efforts on behalf of free trade or reciprocity.

Therefore, Filipino recalcitrance, the American public’s indifference, and Republican/financial opposition, convinced Roosevelt of fighting for what he saw as even a reasonable path to reciprocity and independence. After the astonishing legislative calendar, and achievements, in 1906 (mostly a package of Muckraking reforms and regulations), the president still believed at the time of this cartoon, the end of 1906, that reduction of Filipino tariffs should have no greater priority, as he wrote to Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon.

Even the matter of defending the Philippines against an eventually hostile Japan, Roosevelt — as always the sober Great Anticipator — saw that possibility as “a decade or two distant.”

Roosevelt has never received full credit for his virtual turn-around as an Imperialist, perhaps because he considered precipitous action as irresponsible. Despite subsequent presidents being sometimes more voracious than he, some of the great American statesmen were assigned to roles in the two major possessions, among them Taft, Luke E. Wright, Henry C. Ide, W. Cameron Forbes, Leonard Wood, Henry L. Stimson, and Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., as governors-general of the Philippines. In Cuba, Taft served as provisional president; in Puerto Rico, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., served as governor.

At the time of this cartoon, a third attempt by the Roosevelt administration was proposed in Congress. Taft lobbied the president, successfully, to advocate for lower tariffs for the Philippines. The first two bills, each setting rates at twenty-five to fifty per cent lower than the prevailing Dingley Tariff of 1897. The failure, in Congress, of the 1906-1907 reform package accelerated Roosevelt’s disenchantment with American imperialism. On top of everything else, Puck granted no acknowledgement of higher motives in the matter, cynically seeing only Republican Party hypocrisy.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1906-12-12

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

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