Chasing or being chased?

There are two scenes in this cartoon. In one, President Roosevelt with “the stick” is attacked by a buzzing “3rd term bee” as he heads toward the “to retirement 1909” sign. In the second, President Roosevelt attempts to catch the “3rd term bee” with a net as he heads toward the “to the White House 1909” sign.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The forgotten cartoonist N. Eingen, in The Woman’s National Daily, contributed to the public’s interest, and the insatiable curiosity and skepticism of cartoonists, regarding President Roosevelt’s intentions for 1908 — adhering to his pledge to declaim a third term, or run to succeed himself. Eingen seemed to suggest more hypocrisy than indecision.

It can be seen by the fraction of a mailing label on the clipping in the White House scrapbook, that the president likely saw this cartoon himself. These scrapbook clippings of political cartoons were ways of Roosevelt staying aware of public attitudes.

The Woman’s National Daily was a newspaper published between 1906 and 1911 in St. Louis and nearby University City, Missouri. Its headquarters building, the American Woman’s Magazine Building, served as the offices of the American Woman’s League, a suffrage and rights organization and active, locally, in hosting conferences and encampments. The building had an associated Press Annex, as well as an Art Academy where ceramics was a specialty subject. The paper was published “for the COMMON People” by the Lewis Publishing Company of Edward Gardner Lewis. The paper boasted of having the largest printing press in the world, a Goss press, around the time of this cartoon; and claimed a circulation of two million.

Lewis was an entrepreneur who founded a bank and envisioned a planned community in anticipation of the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. The women’s publications and buildings grew from those activities and were active until his bankruptcy in 1911. Lewis subsequently moved to California where he established another planned community, filed again for bankruptcy, and served a term in prison.

At the time of this cartoon, Lewis earned the enmity of the Roosevelt Administration. Postmaster General George B. Cortelyou had denied postal-mailing privileges to Lewis’s publications because they were deemed advertising vehicles and not newspapers; Cortelyou, who became Secretary of the Treasury, also acted against one of Lewis’s banks on the basis of offering services it was not chartered to engage.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-04-16

Creator(s)

Eingen, N.

Language

English

Period

U.S. President – 2nd Term (March 1905-February 1909)

Page Count

1

Production Method

Printed

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