Bribery

President Roosevelt tells Ralph M. Easley of the National Civic Federation that he is impressed with sociologist Gertrude Beeks’ Panama report. Before publishing it, however, Roosevelt strongly recommends removing any unsubstantiated claims of bribery. He asks Easley how he can best provide assistance and suggests sending the report to Colonel George W. Goethals, Chairman of the Isthmian Canal Commission, to review.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-08-10

President Roosevelt asks Otto Gresham if he can show his letter to Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte and Justice William H. Moody. He is confident that the allegation of George B. Cortelyou taking campaign contributions from the meat packers is false. However, he would like to look into the allegation that Assistant Attorney General Charles Henry Robb immediately went to Mr. Miller when beginning his investigation into Judge Christian C. Kohlsaat.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-26

Secretary of War Taft discusses the U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela Bowen’s claims against Assistant Secretary of State Loomis. Bowen wants to prove that Loomis took bribery money. Taft offers to carry out an investigation with witnesses to clear up any misunderstandings.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-06-10

Lynde Harrison writes to Secretary of War Taft on the Corrupt Practices Act. Harrison, inspired by a law in the United Kingdom, wrote a similar law for Connecticut. It was not passed. He encloses a copy of the act that he submitted to Connecticut’s General Assembly. Harrison is concerned that national legislation may be necessary to address the widespread problem of bribery in elections.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-15

This is a copy of legislation Lynde Harrison submitted to the General Assembly of Connecticut. Harrison sent this copy to Secretary of War Taft following their discussions on corrupt practices.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-15

Uncle Sam points President Roosevelt, who holds his rifle, to the “grafter’s paradise” woods. There are a number of wild animals in there, including a “government land grabber” beaver, a “tobacco trust” hog, a “Tammany” tiger, and a “Panama Canal” cat. Caption: “Mr. President, there’s the big game. Now, fire away!”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09

George A. Kessler is exhibiting a letter from Alice Roosevelt certifying that Moët & Chandon champagne was used to christen Emperor William II’s yacht. A German champagne was supposed to be used during the ceremony but Kessler paid $5,000 for the champagne to be switched. This raises the question of who received the money.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902

President Roosevelt agrees with Charles Vezin that there is no difference between public and private dishonesty. Roosevelt provides a recent example of a wealthy and respected business man who would have preferred settling the Anthracite Coal Strike with bribery rather then the formalized settlement which was achieved.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1903-09-10

William Randolph Hearst sits with two large, animated money bags resting on his lap, with arms and legs, and showing two large coins as heads. On the floor next to Hearst is a box labeled “WRH Ventriloquist.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

William Randolph Hearst was a phenomenon in American life for almost 65 years. His father George was a mining prospector whose discovery of silver, then gold, led to dominance in other fields, and lucrative investments in vast lands and livestock. George was elected Senator from California and presented his son “Willie” with the San Francisco Examiner as a plaything after the latter’s expulsion from Harvard.

On the left a man labeled “Tariff Coddled Manufacturer” votes with one hand and receives a bribe in the other, in the form of a “High-Protection Schedule,” from a large hand labeled “Rep. Congress” extending above the U.S. Capitol. On the right a diminutive man votes with one hand and receives money with the other from a man leaning out of a saloon. Caption: It’s only a question of size.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Puck‘s drawing by its chief political cartoonist Udo J. Keppler, is generic — that is, a political cartoon with no politics — addressing no specific candidate or office-holder, nor discussing any pending legislation. In fact, through its existence, Puck routinely and often attacked political corruption and, as here, unholy alliances whether in high chambers of corporations or saloons in lowly slums.

Thomas Collier Platt and Cornelius Newton Bliss, as police officers, receive “Hush Money” at the door of an “Insurance Co.” from Richard A. McCurdy. Standing in the window of the building are James H. Hyde, Francis Hendricks, and John A. McCall, among others. An insert labeled “Tenderloin Dive” shows police officers accepting a bribe.

comments and context

Comments and Context

In the Muckraking Era, the public became aware of the odious similarities, first exposed in critiques during the Gilded Age of the 1870s and subsequently, between street crime of the “Other Half” and corruption among the cream of society. Keppler’s cartoon depicts that situation with almost textbook clarity.

On the left, a theater manager is bribing an inspector during an inspection of fire prevention equipment, while the specter of the Grim Reaper hovers above. On the right, a female figure labeled “Public opinion” holds three diminutive men labeled “Politician, Manager, [and] Inspector” and points toward the remains of a theater following a fire.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The context of this cartoon, with artist Ehrhart being as forceful as he could be, is not named… but was clear to every reader: the recent Iroquois Theater fire in Chicago. Still regarded as one America’s most devastating disasters, the fire on December 30, 1903, less than a month previous, claimed more than 600 lives. It was a fire that spread quickly — a broken arc light igniting the muslin curtain — and the nation learned of burned bodies, closed exits, and bodies of panicked patrons crushed sometimes 10-deep in aisles and doorways.

A politician agrees with a woman labeled “W.C.T.U.” and a man holding a Bible, who are standing on the right. Behind them are the locked and barricaded doors to a cafe on which is a sign “Closed Sunday.” On the left, behind the politician, is an open door labeled “Family Entrance” from which the cafe owner is placing a bribe in the politician’s right hand. Further to the left is a police officer leaning against the building, pretending not to notice the illegal transaction. Caption: Politician (to Temperance Element) — You’re right! The sanctity of the American Sabbath must be preserved!

comments and context

Comments and Context

The cartoon illustrates an anomaly in long-running debates about “Sunday closings” of saloons. Even today in much of the United States, local ordinances restrict liquor sales on Sundays, so the controversy has only quieted, not ended. At the time of this cartoon, the WCTU (Women’s Christians Temperance Union) and other groups including religious, social, and feminist, advocated a range of reforms from Sunday closings to full-fledged prohibition of spirits (and, often, tobacco). In many places, Sunday-closing laws were circumvented by reclassification of saloons as restaurants or hotels, rebirth as “private clubs,” or by outright bribery of police and judges. Gallaway’s cartoon portrays the depth of hypocrisy — the political establishment that not only enabled circumvention, but its virtue signals to prohibitionists. When Theodore Roosevelt enforced Sunday-closing laws as Police Commissioner of New York City, he endured criticism, for instance, from common laborers and their families, whose only days of rest were Sundays. But he maintained that the remedy was to change the regulations, not condone corruption.

A merchant labeled “Dealer in Protected Goods” stands in a customhouse, with a whip which forms the words “Protective Tariff Bought from Congress.” A paper labeled “Bribe” extends from his pocket. Horrified travelers watch as custom officials search their luggage for contraband. Caption: Home-coming Americans must submit to these indignities as long as the favored merchant is allowed to retain his whip.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Keppler’s cartoon is an exercise in hyperbole… but that often is a stock-in-trade for political cartoons. Not every tourist in the era of high protective tariffs was subject to taxation for single items brought home after vacations. However, high-ticket items were targeted and taxed often enough that a growing chorus of complaints arose. 

Information regarding the Marquis de Morès, including his early activities in the United States and events surrounding his trial for murder.

Collection

Dickinson State University

Creation Date

Unknown

Theodore Roosevelt complains about misrepresentations in the press, such as publications appearing in Hearst’s American, and including a recent conflict with Governor Baldwin and previous battles with Senator Platt. He agrees with Senator Lodge regarding Canadian reciprocity and is distressed at the many contradictions in the potential treaty. Roosevelt believes that the Lorimer case is very clear. He views Senator Lorimer’s unexpected election, corrupt past, and the bribery confessions of Illinois legislators as sufficient proof of Lorimer’s guilt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-01-31

Theodore Roosevelt expresses his “hearty regard” for the service Senator La Follette has done in the Lorimer matter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-01-17

Senator Stone requested Theodore Roosevelt’s objections to the Colombian treaty report but Roosevelt was not given enough time to prepare anything new. He calls Stone’s attention to an article he wrote on the topic that was published in the February edition of Metropolitan Magazine and a speech delivered by Joseph Benson Foraker on December 17, 1903.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1915-02-23

President Roosevelt invites Lincoln Steffens to come see him at Oyster Bay. Roosevelt thinks that if Steffens’ theory is correct, the government would have to own the saloons, refuse to collect customs duties, while owning every possible corporation and industry where there would be the chance of bribery. Steffens is somewhat wrong regarding Europe, as not every government owns the saloons, and many of them have subsidies for industries. Roosevelt agrees with Steffens in the necessity of fighting against privilege, but thinks that Steffens is attacking a symptom instead of the cause.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-06-12

President Roosevelt sent Ray Stannard Baker’s letter to Attorney General William H. Moody, who is going to take charge of the bribery case in the Chicago trial himself. Roosevelt and Moody agree that the facts of the bribery should be made public. He also believes that District Attorney Charles B. Morrison has done well, in spite of what the press says.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-01-29