Wouldn’t it be almost better to sacrifice that congressional dignity?

Minnesota Representative James A. Tawney and Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon use a crosscut saw and Iowa Representative Walter I. Smith uses a hatchet to cut “Roosevelt’s big stick” into pieces. “Congress” holds a gun to a “Secret Service” dog and says, “Halt” while a group of men look on: Edward Henry Harriman, a “gov’t grafter,” a “trust,” a “gov’t land grabber,” and a “timber thief.” The United States Capitol building is in the background.

comments and context

Comments and Context

An inevitable aspect of lame-duck politicians is that opponents generally can be freed of threats of retaliation. As President Roosevelt essentially made himself a four-year lame duck by declining in advance to succeed himself with the election-night announcement in 1904, he brought a challenge upon himself. Uniquely, much of the reform president’s opposition came from within his own party, the Republicans’ Old Guard.

As his term wound down, Congressional opponents grew bolder, none more so than as combatants in the controversy over expanding and funding the Secret Service — and the resulting name-calling and various accusations.

Cartoonist Jay N. “Ding” Darling depicted the president’s enemies at work attacking aspects of Roosevelt, including his iconic Big Stick. His point was not the juvenile and perhaps futile work of the Congressmen, including the putatively dignified Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon, but that the administration’s more serious opponents — trusts, grafters, and railroad baron Edward Henry Herriman — were enjoying the spectacle.

It is interesting to note of the subsequently obscure figures. Representative James A. Tawney was one of the authors of the stinging resolution that Congress sent to the president; and he was chairman of Appropriations Committee that would have oversee the Secret Service expansion. Representative Walter I. Smith was a member of Tawney’s committee and an active opponent of the Secret Service initiative. Party leadership later claimed that the matter was the issue on which Smith disagreed with Roosevelt, but La Follette’s Weekly in 1910 exposed Smith as a constant critic of Roosevelt. It is further interesting to note that Smith was from Iowa, otherwise a progressive state, and the home of cartoonist Ding Darling.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-09

Creator(s)

Darling, Jay N. (Jay Norwood), 1876-1962

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