“He doesn’t study us; he only hunts us.”

President Roosevelt is on the hunt as a bear, a sheep labeled “the weakling,” and a rhinoceros labeled “new finance” run away while an octopus wrapped in a tree and a bull stay out of the way. In the background is a “muck rake” and a goat labeled “E.H.H.” on a mountain, “reserved for scape-goats.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

W. A. Rogers is a singular figure in American political cartooning. He never was a facile cartoonist or caricaturist, and his concepts seldom were persuasive; that is, the cartoons only mildly attacked or supported men and movements. For the most part he was more an editorial cartoonist, illustrating events and situations rather than attempting persuasion. This is one reason his cartoons illustrate more reference works today than many of his fellows. Yet he was highly regarded in his day, and worked for years at Harper’s Weekly and the New York Herald, substantial publications.

This cartoon is uncharacteristically critical of Theodore Roosevelt, even ridiculing the president. The cartoonist mocks the Roosevelt’s natural-history credentials, which were credible (he would be noted today as a natural historian of note if he had never entered politics) not only by the derisive caption, but the quill-pen in the Rough Rider’s hat.

The immediate context for Roger’s compositions was a very public and very contentious revival of the “Nature Faker” controversy that commenced in 1903 when John Burroughs attacked a popular genre of animal books that sentimentalized, humanized, and invented habits of wildlife. Roosevelt, incensed at the acceptance of logical thought imputed to animals by writers like Ernest Thompson Seton and William J. Long, “went public” in interviews and articles at this time.

The Boston Globe wrote an editorial, “The President a Slayer, Not a Lover, of Animals.”

The animals are a gratuitous menagerie of strange creatures, as if the cartoonist himself aimed a blunderbuss: bulls and bears; an octopus with the indeterminate face of a robber baron (Rogers was not a great caricaturist who relied on photographic likeness or captions, neither present here); an awkward Edward Henry Harriman, with whom Roosevelt was then locked in controversy; a bad manifestation of a muck rake; and “New Finance” on the eve of the Wall Street Panic.

Rogers’ implication, by the caption, was that the president loved being on the attack and cared less about studying the basics points of issues. Among criticism of Theodore Roosevelt, this intellectual pretension or shortcoming was, or is, seldom alleged. The Herald was a Democrat paper of conservative bent, and therefore frequently disagreed with Roosevelt on partisan and ideological grounds.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-05-25

Creator(s)

Rogers, W. A. (William Allen), 1854-1931

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