Awakening the policeman

In the first cartoon, a newsboy carries a daily paper that reads, “1905: amount embezzled for speculation this year: $6,520,000,” and President Roosevelt says “Wake up” to a policeman. In the second cartoon, a newsboy carries a daily paper that reads, “1906: amount embezzled for speculation this year: $7,481,000,” and Roosevelt says, “Wake up” to a policeman. In the third cartoon, a newsboy carries a daily paper that reads, “1907: amount embezzled for speculation this year: $41,458,000,” and Roosevelt says, “Get busy.” In the fourth cartoon, Roosevelt watches as the policeman marches toward several men who say, “Now see what you’ve done,” “You talked too loud,” and “You’re disturbing capital.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

This cartoon by John T. McCutcheon in the Chicago Tribune illustrates a situation that was believed in some quarters and charged from others, that President Roosevelt’s criticisms of abuses in corporate America and the banking system contributed to the recent Wall Street panic. Roosevelt accepted with equanimity that such would be the case, and wrote to many friends that he accepted the accusations philosophically.

In fact such criticisms were relatively few, perhaps because scandals among the “malefactors of great wealth” happened often often enough on their own, with no prompting from the president, and that muckraking journalists and even some members of Congress uncovered plentiful examples of corruption.

McCutcheon likely was the most prolific and consistently supportive political cartoonist of Roosevelt’s career. He was regarded as the “dean of Midwestern cartoonists,” if not American political cartooning as a whole. He and the vastly influential Chicago Tribune even split from the Republican Party when Roosevelt did, and because the leading newspaper voice of the Progressive Party in 1912.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-02-18

Creator(s)

McCutcheon, John T. (John Tinney), 1870-1949

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