A lookin on the Outlook

President Roosevelt sits at a desk labeled “Associate Editor” and filled with papers. On the ground is a bear skin rug and two papers: “Onward Standard Soldiers” and “The Science of Rebating.” There are three other offices: “Mr. Rogers, Managing Editor,” “Mr. Rockefeller, Editor and General Manager,” and “Mr. Archbold, Stenographer.” Rogers says, “Tell Teddy to put a four line head on that story defending our rebates!” Rockefeller says, “Tell Teddy to write an editorial on the persecution of the trusts!” On the wall is a picture of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis and a sign that reads, “In oil we trust.” Roosevelt’s big stick is in the corner.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Two weeks after the presidential election of 1908, political cartoonist Camillus Kessler of the extreme anti-Republican Women’s National Daily returned to attacking President Roosevelt, who still had approximately four more months to serve in the White House.

Kessler’s cartoon was a fantasy, an imagined reorganized office of The Outlook, the weekly magazine Roosevelt would serve as Contributing (not “Associate”) Editor upon his retirement. The cartoonist’s habitual bitterness is on a par with his irony and humor.

When the announcement of his choice of post-presidential was released, false rumors were floated of the magazine’s secret control by Standard Oil money, or such obligations. Standard Oil and its founder John D. Rockefeller had just been through several years of charges, allegations, lawsuits, exposures, and embarrassing political collusion, and such rumors could have a harmful effect on Roosevelt and the venerable Christian journal.

President Roosevelt, on learning of the rumors, immediately (November 14, 1908; two days before this cartoon’s publication) wrote to the Outlook‘s editor, Lawrence F. Abbott, in reassurance that neither man should be bothered by such scurrility, which, he predicted, would be routine as long as Roosevelt would be associated with the magazine. The fake news in several New York newspapers connected the dots in this manner: it was alleged that James Stillman, president of the National City Bank, was associated with the magazine, and had once been a business associate of John D. Rockefeller.

Among the humorous sallies of Kessler was a portrait of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who had presided over the criminal trial of John D. Rockefeller the previous year, and levied $29-million in fines for more than a thousand indictments. At the stenographer’s desk is John D. Archbold, Rockefeller’s successor. His depiction as a stenographer is ironic because it his stolen correspondence with various politicians over bribes and influence-peddling, the “Archbold Letters” that exploded as a major scandal mid-campaign.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-11-16

Creator(s)

Kessler, Camillus

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