The new baby
Subject(s): Big business, Corruption, Harriman, Edward Henry, 1848-1909, Physicians, Scandals, Sick, United States. Interstate Commerce Commission
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A man labeled “Corporate Corruption” and a baby boy labeled “Rail Road Scandal” lie sick in bed. Another young child labeled “Life Insurance Scandal” is trying to climb into the bed. Hanging on the wall above the bed is a portrait labeled “E.H.H.” A man departing the room carries a doctor’s bag labeled “Interstate Commerce Com. M.D.” On a table in the foreground is a bank for “Other People’s Pennies” and a bottle of “Legislation Drops.”
Comments and Context
The point of Udo J. Keppler’s cover cartoon can be summed up as observing that the insurgent-Muckraking era’s reforms, especially those enacted in bloody battles of 1906, would not enforce themselves.
Railroad legislation and regulations, mostly in the areas of combinations in restraint of trade and rebates, required diligence and imagination to enact. The public spectacles, diving deep into many and tangled insurance scandals, likewise resulted in legislation and regulations, but were a tangled web.
Keppler’s cartoon shows the insurance companies’ challenges trying to climb into bed with corporate corruption. At the time, and because of these two trusts and many others, corporate America was quite “over” scandals. Negative public relations hurt the monopolies; and some moguls were beginning to realize that regulated control was not much worse than unregulated ownership with continual public and press opprobrium.
Possibly agreeing with corporations’ growing view of scandals in their midst, and wondering about a new type of “organization” (under government watchdogs), the Interstate Commerce Commission, largely toothless since its establishment in 1887, leaves the sickroom with few regrets.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1907-01-30
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:
The new baby. [January 30, 1907]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o285709. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956. The new baby. [30 Jan. 1907]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. August 3, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o285709.
APA:
Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956., [1907, January 30]. The new baby.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o285709.
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. August 3, 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.
