“Roosevelt’s scaring him”—The wolf
Subject(s): Capitalists and financiers, Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919, Wolves
Click on image to zoom in
“The investor” sits in a tree holding onto a bag of money while President Roosevelt grabs “the sheep’s clothing” off the “financial wolf” at the base of the tree.
Comments and Context
Who is scaring whom? The investor with his money-bag is up a tree, but President Roosevelt intervenes in the cartoon by Payne, revealing a wolf under sheep’s clothing — a “financial” wolf.
The cartoon looks whimsical but was in fact solidly analytical and even prescient (fewer than two weeks after the cartoon’s publication, the 1907 Wall Street Panic sent markets reeling, even overseas, with companies, banks, and brokerages failing).
The “sheep’s clothing” clearly represents a financial system and economy that was humming — a general prosperity having been enjoyed in the United States for a solid decade. But speculation, over-extension, poor regulation and self-regulation, and corruption in American business created unease in the summer of 1907… and the panic in late October.
The cartoonist, Charles M. Payne, began his career drawing rural and animal comic strips, and editorial cartoons in western Pennsylvania at this time. His style of drawing throughout a successful career that lasted into the 1950s, was as here: wispy, whimsical, sparse, with attractive lines and loose shading. His greatest success came from the classic comic strip S’Matter, Pop? which ran in many newspapers, distributed by several syndicates and with variant titles. His mascot was not a teddy bear but a raccoon — a gimcrack shared by other cartoonists of the region including Billy DeBeck (later the creator of Barney Google).
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1907-10-10
Creator(s)
Language
English
Period
U.S. President – 2nd Term (March 1905-February 1909)
Page Count
1
Production Method
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:
“Roosevelt’s scaring him”—The wolf. [October 10, 1907]. Library of Congress Manuscript Division.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o301621. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Payne, Charles M., 1873-1964. “Roosevelt’s scaring him”—The wolf. [10 Oct. 1907]. Image.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 12, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o301621.
APA:
Payne, Charles M., 1873-1964., [1907, October 10]. “Roosevelt’s scaring him”—The wolf.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o301621.
Cite this Collection
Chicago:
Library of Congress Manuscript Division. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-manuscript-division. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Library of Congress Manuscript Division. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 12, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-manuscript-division.
APA:
Library of Congress Manuscript Division. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-manuscript-division.
