A bad stretch of road
Subject(s): Democratic donkey (Symbolic character), Hanna, Marcus Alonzo, 1837-1904, Payne, Henry C. (Henry Clay), 1843-1904, Platt, Thomas Collier, 1833-1910, Republican elephant (Symbolic character), Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919, Scandals, United States. Post Office Department, United States. Post Office Dept., Wagons, Washington (D.C.)
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The “administration band wagon” that New York Senator Thomas Collier Platt is riding in gets stuck in the “Post Office scandal” mud as President Roosevelt urges the Republican elephant on. Postmaster General Henry C. Payne holds a shovel and Ohio Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna tries to push the wagon forward. Meanwhile, a Democratic donkey looks on.
Comments and Context
During the unfolding Post Office scandal of 1903, partisan Democrat papers attempted to affix blame, or at least guilt by association, to the Republican Party and the Roosevelt Administration. Most observers, however, knew that scandals, favoritism, and even bribery were endemic to the Postal Service since the founding of the Republic, and were especially rife since the Gilded Age, the post-Civil War years.
The revelations of corruption in 1903 largely were related to personnel and activities that antedated the Roosevelt Administration. An iconic cartoon of the era was a double page in Puck, the Democrat weekly, commending Roosevelt’s house-cleaning of the Post Office, astride a charging Republican elephant.
Stewart’s cartoon would suggest Republican complicity in the scandals — the Democrat donkey enjoys the scene, and Republican “boss” Thomas Collier Platt is settled in as a passenger — but to the extent that the Roosevelt Administration could not ignore the dilemma, the situation is depicted well.
Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna, who like many politicians of the era were brushed by scandals if not formally implicated, is pictured in the cartoon because he had used the First Assistant Postmaster General Perry Heath several years earlier for questionable political activities. And in 1903 Heath’s name surfaced in several investigations of malign activity.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1903-06-18
Creator(s)
Stewart, Donald Farquharson, 1880-1945
Language
English
Period
U.S. President – 1st Term (September 1901-February 1905)
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:
A bad stretch of road. [June 18, 1903]. Library of Congress Manuscript Division.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o302175. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Stewart, Donald Farquharson, 1880-1945. A bad stretch of road. [18 Jun. 1903]. Image.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. February 13, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o302175.
APA:
Stewart, Donald Farquharson, 1880-1945., [1903, June 18]. A bad stretch of road.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o302175.
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. February 13, 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.
