Your TR Source
President Roosevelt is upset that Frank S. Witherbee’s name appears on a circular from the American Protective Tariff League which attacks the Cuban Reciprocity Treaty. Roosevelt believes that the circular will damage the Republican Party.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-09-19
President Roosevelt does not want Senator Warren’s name to appear on a circular from the American Protective Tariff League which attacks the Cuban Reciprocity Treaty. Roosevelt believes that the circular will damage the Republican Party.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-09-19
President Roosevelt is distressed that Governor Murphy might have lent his name to the American Protective Tariff League for a circular attacking the Cuban Reciprocity Treaty. Roosevelt believes that the circular will damage the Republican Party.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-09-19
President Roosevelt calls Le Grand B. Cannon’s attention to a circular produced by the American Protective Tariff League which attacks the Cuban Reciprocity Treaty. Roosevelt believes that this circular could damage the Republican Party and implies that he would be disappointed if Cannon authorized the use of his name with the circular.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-09-19
President Roosevelt encloses a circular from the American Protective Tariff League that is opposed to the Roosevelt administrations policy on Cuban reciprocity. Roosevelt would like to know if any of the board of managers have the influence to prevent these “mischievous” circulars.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-03-22
Wilbur Fisk Wakeman informs President Roosevelt that many newspapers would like to publish a copy of his letter subscribing to the American Protective Tariff League. Wakeman asks Roosevelt if he would mind sending a clean copy of the letter addressed to J. S. Sherman, who is heading the enterprise, as Wakeman explained in a previous letter. Wakeman thinks that printing a copy of Roosevelt’s letter would have a very good effect.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-02
Wilbur Fisk Wakeman thanks President Roosevelt for his subscription to the American Protective Tariff League. Wakeman hopes Roosevelt will pardon him for slightly changing the letter by substituting Chairman J. S. Sherman’s name, as the enterprise they are working on is in Sherman’s name. Wakeman also explains a plan to help recruit more people to the cause.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-01
In a letter from Henry B. Joy to Wilbur Fisk Wakeman published in the Detroit Free Press, Joy discusses his current views of political conditions, warning against the dangers of tariff tinkering and the interests of the American people. Joy further comments on the upcoming presidential election, where he sees a Democratic administration taking over but hopes for Republican nomination.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-10-23
In a battle, at a breach in the “Tariff Wall,” “Trusts, Monopoly, [and] Stand Pat” forces are being led by a king labeled “American Protective Tariff League.” They are repelling invaders fighting for “Fair Trade” and “Honest Revision.” Caption: “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more / Or close the wall up with our Standpat dead!”
Carl Hassmann, Puck‘s imported cartoonist not yet returned to Vienna, had drawn a similar cartoon a couple years previously. His earlier center-spread cartoon showed similar knights of the Middle Ages marching forth to do battle with opponents representing corruption and privilege. Unlike that cartoon, which enumerated honorable combatants by caricatures and the journals they wrote and drew for, this cartoon depicts an actual battle royal, battlements breached, and virtually no recognizable faces, or any faces.
The only caricature of a known individual is Charles A. Moore, longtime theorist and promoter of high-tariff policies, of the American Protective tariff League and American Economist Magazine. It is notable that Puck, in this cartoon, stopped short of agitating for free trade and abolition of tariffs — rather “fair trade” and “honest [downward] revisions.”
A Chinese play is being acted on a small stage with Joseph Gurney Cannon and Nelson W. Aldrich offering two small doll-like figures labeled “Small Dealer” and “Consumer” to a dragon labeled “High Protection” manned by two men labeled “Special Privilege” and “Graft.” J. S. Sherman, John Dalzell, and Sereno E. Payne play musical instruments on the left side of the stage. On the back of the stage is a Buddha icon labeled “Greed.” In the foreground, at the foot of the stage, are Chinese men labeled “Lumber Trust, Paper Trust, Steel Trust, [and] Beef Trust.” On the far right, beneath a sign that states “Box Reserved for Amer. Protective Tariff League,” is a Chinese man labeled “Chas A. Moore” holding a tray with two small figures labeled “First Voter.”
“Like a Chinese Play, It Goes On Forever” is an abecedarian and awkward variation on “trusts bad, politicians subservient, consumers powerless” themes. Cartoonist Frank A. Nankivell, who had lived part of career in Japan, had a difficult job in approximating Asian pictograph lettering, and he relied on stereotypes of culture and attire for the cartoon.
Infrequently caricatured through the years, or mentioned in histories, is the “power behind the throne” figure on the right, Charles A. Moore. A member of the Ohio Society and president of the American Protective Tariff League, Moore was an early advocate of William McKinley’s career and worked largely behind the scenes to advance McKinley’s career as congressman, governor, and president; and Moore was a vital associate of McKinley amanuensis Mark Hanna.
A hand labeled “Protective Tariff League” sprinkles salt from a bag labeled “Sophistry Salt” onto the tail feathers of a red, white, and blue bird labeled “First Voter” in an effort to capture the bird. Reproduced in the upper left corner is a card, “Circular no. 216,” addressed to “Dear Sir” and instructing him to provide the name and home address of a “person who will cast his first vote” in the 1908 election. The Protective Tariff League, the issuer of the cards, would like to be able to forward information “on the Subject of Protection.” It is signed “Yours truly, American Protective Tariff League, 339 Broadway, New York.”
The American Protective Tariff League was a trade organization — today, a lobby — advancing the cause of high important duties and the protection of American industries, especially new business. Much of its effective work was accomplished not through stalking the halls of Congress but by articles, statistics, and abstracts in in its magazine American Economist, which was published between 1889 and 1927.
Cartoonist Udo J. Keppler obviously was no endorser of its tactic, plainly displayed in the card reproduced in this drawing: identifying voters, offering information, and organizing. It is, however, a clean method by which unions and other interest groups asserted their views, and even had a blueprint of sorts in The Federalist Papers, which argued for the positive role of lobbies and interest groups.
Senator Warren tells President Roosevelt he joined the American Protective Tariff League when it was launched and his name was added to the Board of Managers a few years later. He never attended a managers meeting and has asked to have his name removed from the Board. He acknowledges that he should have done so when he entered the Senate.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-09-30
Frank S. Witherbee opposes the position of the American Protective Tariff League on the Cuban treaty. He has spoken with his associates and may resign as manager if they are unwilling to change their view.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-09-24
Charles A. Moore informs President Roosevelt that he plans to talk with the man making malicious statements about Roosevelt while falsely claiming he represented the American Protective Tariff League. Moore asks if William Loeb can send him copies of some letters.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-08-01
A joint meeting of the board of managers and executive committee of the American Protective Tariff League declared their opposition to reciprocity in competitive products.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-09-30
Wilbur Fisk Wakeman, Treasurer and General Secretary of the American Protective Tariff League, summarizes the organization’s history of opposition to reciprocity for competitive products. He also denies statements made by Brown that the league would oppose President Roosevelt’s nomination in 1904. The American Protective Tariff League supports protection and will succeed or fail with the Republican Party.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-07-06
Business card of the American Protective Tariff League.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-05-31
The unknown writer summarizes a speech given by C. H. Brown, financial agent of the American Protective Tariff League, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Brown claims that most Republicans favor Senator Hanna’s nomination as the party’s presidential candidate in 1904.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-06-09
An article outlines the efforts of the American Protective Tariff League to fight President Roosevelt and Congressman John A. Kasson’s efforts on tariff revision. The League has defeated the Cuban reciprocity legislation, and it is rumored that it will work to defeat Roosevelt’s renomination for the presidency.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-04-16
Wilbur Fisk Wakeman is hoping for presidential support in the upcoming campaign and is against Cuban reciprocity.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-05-24