A hazardous business
President Roosevelt carries a tray that is barely balanced and includes a teapot of “Jap. Treaty Rights,” “T. R.’s Western popularity,” and his big stick. Meanwhile, a dog–“Western legislature”–is tangled in his feet. “Japan” says, “My tea, please.”
Comments and Context
With less than a month remaining in his presidency, Theodore Roosevelt continued to prioritize the troubled relations between the United States and Japan. Specifically, the largely local San Francisco-area friction related to Japanese immigrants and residents was a matter that he refused to ignore, instead recognizing its malignant prejudice and injustice, its immediate effect on diplomatic and trade relations between the two nations, and the dangers of provoking long-range strategic and even military responses in the future.
