The right man for the job

President-elect William H. Taft jumps on the “Gatun Dam” near the “Panama Canal” as “inspecting engineers” look on. Joseph Pulitzer flies off. Caption: If there’s anything weak about the Panama Canal construction Mr. Taft ought to be able to find it.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Jay N. “Ding” Darling’s cartoon about the incoming President William H. Taft and his affirmation that all was well regarding the Panama Canal and its progress might seem to be a portrayal of the new administration’s promises of diligence.

However there were very specific issues at the time, in fact raging controversies that Taft — and the cartoonist — deemed necessary to address.

In the middle of the 1908 presidential campaign, publisher William Randolph Hearst published an expose that his reporters had been working (and bribing to procure) for two years, that the Standard Oil trust had been secretly making payments to politicians. It threw the campaign into turmoil, caused resignations, and ruined political careers. Hearst’s chief rival, publisher Joseph Pulitzer, perhaps feared being outdone in their long competition as sensationalist “yellow” journalists.

Pulitzer’s New York World published allegations that men had profited secretly and illegally during the recognition of the Republic of Panama, the management of repayments to old French bondholders, and the construction of the Canal; and that two of these men were President Roosevelt’s brother-in-law and the brother of William H. Taft, then Secretary of War but at the time of this cartoon, the President-Elect.

Roosevelt and all parties protested their innocence and in fact Pulitzer’s reporters and editors admitted to him that there were no facts at all to substantiate their allegations. Pulitzer, whose paper was the nation’s de facto official Democratic organ, immediately shifted his accusations to questions, not accusations — did Roosevelt know that a J. P. Morgan bank handled the French repatriated Panamanian money, were there missing funds, and so forth.

The President, not content with a passive admission of manufactured news, directed the Attorney General to sue Pulitzer’s publishing company for libel. Pulitzer, cloaked in statements about freedom of the press, nevertheless discreetly stayed on his yacht, outside United State territorial waters, for the remainder of his days.

Among Pulitzer’s second round of accusations was that major construction plans for the Canal were on the verge of being reversed; and that the Gatun Dam was faulty and needed to be demolished (neither story was true).

As the Canal had been in Secretary Taft’s substantial portfolio at the time, Roosevelt dispatched him to Panama to put Pulitzer’s rumors to rest. At the moment — when this Darling cartoon appeared — Taft was president-elect and forming his cabinet and administration; yet Roosevelt deemed the mission essential.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-26

Creator(s)

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

Language

English

Period

U.S. President – 2nd Term (March 1905-February 1909)

Repository

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

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