Harriman wants president to look at his sore thumb
Edward Henry Harriman holds up his thumb labeled “R.R. Regulation” and his arm, “Grab Arm,” to President Roosevelt saying, “It hurts something fierce, Mr. President!” Caption: Dr. Roosevelt: My, my! Edward, you’ll have to be very careful or you will have to have the whole arm amputated.
Comments and Context
The context of this cartoon by Jay Norwood “Ding” Darling of the Des Moines Register and Leader is the meeting the evening before at the White House between President Roosevelt and J. Pierpont Morgan, who spoke on behalf of major railroad concerns. While it was J. Pierpont Morgan who spoke for the railraod magnates, it probably was Union Pacific’s Edward Henry Harriman who had the loudest complaints.
The railroad trusts wanted laws and especially regulations eased. Through 1906 various reforms made consolidation more difficult, and railroad rates had to be lowered. The industry resented lower profits that might follow, but also argues that bank loans were harder to secure under new strictures. The president was not sympathetic to the arguments, but was intrigued by a “floated” suggestion that government “centralization” of the railroads might solved many problems. Among the results of this concept, advanced by the president of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific line, was guaranteed profits.
