The massacre of the trees

A man labeled “Land Grafter” chops down a tree in a forest where other trees have been cut down. Scattered on the ground are doll-like figures labeled “Dummy Homesteader.”

Comments and Context

One of the side-effects of the Roosevelt Administration’s reforms and the package of progressive legislation passed in 1906 was a rapid, and rapacious, interest in Western lands by railroads and “associated” industries and powers.

Especially as President Roosevelt designated more acreage until federal protection, railroads such as Edward Henry Harriman’s Union Pacific gobbled up claims while they were available. These vestiges of land giveaways from days when Washington desired that the West be settled, and railroads be encouraged to expand, had evolved to the point where railroads schemed to claim lands rich in lumber, minerals, and other resources. This led to friction between the administration and railroad barons who acted on behalf of those who would exploit.

In Roosevelt’s view the schemes were noxious on several levels: their secrecy and favoritism; there was money, as well as lands, that should have remained the peoples’; forests, fields, mines, and resources were taken with little regard for minimal conservation considerations.

“Land grafting,” including these offenses beyond forests themselves, was a major activity at the dawn of the Roosevelt’s serious conservation victories, and though little recorded in history books, was a major concern of the president in his second term. It engaged his time and attention, and among the breaches it caused was the already-tenuous relationship with Harriman.

Land grafting by Harriman and his minions, or local opportunists, was rife. A famous incident the week before Carl Hassmann’s cartoon ran involved four Omaha men who were convicted in a land-grafting case, two of them fined $1500 each and sentenced to a year in jail, and two fined $500 each and sent to jail for eight months.

A few years later, again strangely neglected in histories, a combination formed by the Guggenheim Syndicate and J. P. Morgan were alerted to the discovery of copper in Alaska — principally at the aptly named Bonanza Mine. The two forces agreed to exploit Alaska in other realms too: from lumber (as pictured in Hassmann’s cartoon, of dummy purchases fronting for the “Morganheim Syndicate,” as it derisively was called) to canning salmon. And of course railroads would need to be built in support of all these activities.

It was a major political scandal during the administration of William H. Taft when the Guggenheim interests appeared to receive favor, and Roosevelt’s proclamations to protect Alaskan lands were threatened. Taft sided on this issue with his Secretary of the Interior Richard Ballinger, who was content to be called “development-minded.” But the opponent of anything that would upset Roosevelt’s vision, and to thwart the nine railroads that were eager to drive into Alaska’s mineral-rich interior, was Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot.

Pinchot made public attacks on Guggenheim, Morgan, Ballinger, and Taft, and was fired for insubordination. Ballinger resigned when his usefulness was spent. The ensuing hubbub severely crippled the Taft Administration (rather a lose-lose situation for the president, because the status of Alaskan lands basically went unchanged). And — again, largely neglected in historical narratives, Taft’s “betrayal” of Roosevelt’s policies was a major reason for the disaffection between the two men, leading to their 1912 rupture.

Hassmann’s cartoon made the wanton felling of trees the symbolic focus of Land Graft, and he cleverly added touches of (literal) “dummy homesteaders” make land claims on behalf of trusts; and he gave the tress anthropomorphic touches — angry or saddened expressions in their barks.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1907-04-03

Creator(s)

Hassmann, Carl, 1869-1933

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