Still pounding away!

President Roosevelt–dressed in Americana boxing gear–punches a man labeled “Railroads” squarely in the face.

comments and context

Comments and Context

What makes this cartoon by J. H. Donahey significant to posterity is the date of its publication, immediately preceding the Wall Street Panic.

President Roosevelt had been as concerned — that is to say, locked in controversies — with railroad tycoons, railroad trusts, issues of rate regulation and collusion, union and labor matters, and related industries of steel, coal, and oil, throughout his second term. His public feud with robber baron Edward Henry Harriman was spectacular, and other monopolists like James J. Hill drew his ire.

In the summer of 1906, however, there had been a number of business failures in mining industries, railroads, and banks; and investors in the United States and around the world began to see nervousness in the markets. Brokerage houses became unable to cover losses.

The spark that lit the tinder started precisely ten days after Donahey’s cartoon, when an effort to corner the copper market by a pair of manipulators failed, and brought down the Knickerbocker Trust Company with them. Within days a domino-effect of failing brokerages, investors, banks, and related industries were likewise exposed. The work of Roosevelt’s new Treasury Secretary, George B. Cortelyou, but particularly the personal and aggressive intervention of financier J. Pierpont Morgan, kept the Panic of 1907 from becoming a widespread Depression. As it was, even foreign exchanges and economies suffered effects.

There was a general, but properly minor, suspicion that Roosevelt’s attacks on railroads and (many) monopolies initiated the market turmoil. But over-extension, overdue regulation, and the trusts’ careless management of reserves and anti-competitive practices, made the panic, if not a crash, inevitable. Progressive reforms of the next three decades resulted from the panic and its correction.

It is interesting to note Donahey’s matured skills as a caricaturist: a spot-on recognizable Roosevelt, drawn with little more of iconic elements than a hint of his pince-nez spectacles. The “T.R.” on his back is superfluous.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-10-04

Creator(s)

Donahey, J. H. (James Harrison), 1875-1949

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