Your TR Source
In the upper left cartoon, President Roosevelt jumps off the “Brooklyn Bridge.” In the upper right, Roosevelt rides in a barrel at Niagara Falls. In the bottom left, Roosevelt drives a “1000 horsepower ‘smasher car'” in the “International Automobile Contest.” In the bottom right, Roosevelt rides in an “air ships” with a “gasoline tank.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-09
Legislators drop bills labeled “Bluff Legislation, The Original Trust Buster, Combination Crusher, [and] Anti-Trust Bill” into a barrel labeled “Receptacle for Anti-Trust Bills” before entering a building labeled “Congress.” They have chosen to hope for reform without having to take action. In the background, a trash-collector is dumping another barrel labeled “Receptacle for Anti-Trust Bills” into a cart.
Cartoonist Ehrhart’s cynicism is seen not in the discarded bills and their grand-sounding titles, but the indifference with which the ostentatiously dressed lawmakers toss them away. The rich, by implication, were in league with monopolists and were insincere trust-busters. Things were changing in America; only a decade earlier, few politicians even pretended to be anti-monopolists.
President Roosevelt encourages Edward G. Riggs to “get that big red apple.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-12
Cartoon shows Theodore Roosevelt, Republican Speaker of the House Sereno Elisha Payne, Long, and a man holding a sugar beet pushing a barrel “Sugar Trust Profits” up a hill “Dutch Standard Hill.” A man at the top of the hill holds an umbrella “Color restrictions.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1902
Alton B. Parker and David B. Hill with a “peanuts” feather sit in the conductor’s car of the “Belmont Never Git There Line.” Henry Gassaway Davis stands in a car with a “Davis bar’l $40,000,000” and operates the brake.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08
A Democratic donkey holds an axe and a shovel as it runs toward “Davis $40,000,000 Bar’l.” In the background is a tag for “Hearst $1,400,000.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08
William Jennings Bryan, William Randolph Hearst, and Alton B. Parker are at the starting line of a race. Bryan wears weights on his legs that read “Kansas City platform” and “Chicago platform” and has a feather in his hat that reads, “I got a new job,” Hearst rides a “regular in both campaigns” barrel with deflated wheels, and Parker rides a donkey with “1896” and “1900” on his legs. David B. Hill gives Parker advice while Grover Cleveland watches Democratic National Committee Chairman James K. Jones write down odds. George Gray, Richard Olney, Arthur P. Gorman, and Dame Democracy watch from a covered box. Uncle Sam watches from behind.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-03-27
President Roosevelt and Secretary of State John Hay hold a “diplomacy” paper and run toward a “Chinese goods contents unknown” barrel, but they are stopped by Uncle Sam’s cane. All of the other barrels are “gun powder” barrels from different countries: “English,” “French,” “German,” “Russia,” among others.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-02-14
Chair of the Republican National Committee George B. Cortelyou and Chair of the Democratic National Committee Thomas Taggart roll barrels of money toward their respective party’s headquarters. Behind them is a doorway to “Wall St.” They tell each other, “There’s nothing in it.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-10-15
President Roosevelt holds a sign out the window that reads, “We will bust no trust.” Meanwhile, Chair of the Republican National Committee George B. Cortelyou rolls a “J.P. Morgan bar’l” through the “back door” of the “National Republican Headquarters.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-10-12
A sweating President Roosevelt reads a note from Perry S. Heath that says, “Senator Hanna was McKinley’s choice for president in 1904.” Behind Roosevelt is a large barrel labeled “Roosevelt appointments that McKinley promised.” On the floor next to Roosevelt’s chair a teddy bear covers his eyes.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1904-1905
President Roosevelt smiles slightly as he carries a barrel labeled “Canal Facts.” Behind him, a teddy bear carries a box of “Inside Facts” that relate to the “Canal Zone,” “Porto Rico,” and “Panama,” while two “Canal Critics” run off into the forest.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1905-1909
A woman labeled “Dem. Party” reclines on the rocky coast of a deserted island. Nearby is an empty jug labeled “Bourbonism the Only Subsistence for 16 Years (1860-76)” and a broken cask labeled “For 8 Years (1876-84) Sustained Life on the Fraud Issue.” She has sighted a ship labeled “Independent Republicans” headed her way. John Kelly, dressed like an Indian, is creeping over rocks on the right. He holds a bow labeled “Tammany” in one hand and an arrow labeled “Deal” in the other, and he wears a medallion around his neck labeled “J.K.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-07-02
Print shows two images of Samuel J. Tilden, dressed identically, to the left and right of a barrel full of coins, labeled with monogram “SJT.” Papers extending from their pockets state “For President, S. J. Tilden. For Governor, S. J. Tilden.” Caption: “Mr. Tilden will not support any candidate whom he has not personally selected” — Daily Paper.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1882-05-10
Print shows James G. Blaine slipping off a cask labeled “Whiskey”; under his arm is tucked a paper that states “Distribution of Surplus – Jim Blaine.” Caption: Our star diplomat par excellence, in his great whiskey-tax balancing feat.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1883-12-12
A man labeled “Flower” sits on a barrel labeled “For a Presidential Nomination Only,” and Samuel J. Tilden sits on a barrel labeled “Plenty of Advice but no Money, S. J. T.” They are back to back. Tilden is reading a book labeled “The Fraud of 1876.” In the background on the left is the gloomy “New York Democratic Camp” with several dejected-looking men in front of a tent with a sign that reads “We have lost our Bar’l; but we have a Patriot.” Across the ravine, on the right, is the jubilant “N. Y. Republican Camp” with several excited men, one holding a sign that states “We have a Bar’l and 2 Patriots.” On the ground is a barrel labeled “Davenport” and with a “$.” The Democratic ticket went on to win the New York State election in November.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1885-10-07
Chester A. Arthur is a Greek Danaid pouring water labeled “Popularity” into a barrel labeled “Arthur Boom” filled with holes labeled “Stalwart Record,” so that the water pours out as fast as he pours it in. Behind him is a water pump labeled “Patronage.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-04-09