Capitalists and financiers

Thomas W. Lawson, as Orpheus, plays a lyre while sitting beneath a tree on a hillside in a pastoral setting. In the foreground are John D. Rockefeller, James R. Keene, J. Edward Addicks, and Henry H. Rogers as wild animals that have become entranced by the music. In the middle distance, a sheep lies on its back.

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The mythical Greek god, repository of perhaps the most attributes and personality traits of any god, added facets and powers in various tales through the centuries. No manifestation was more unlikely than in the person of Thomas W. Lawson in this Puck cartoon by Joseph Keppler Junior.

At center a valentine card features President Roosevelt as Cupid. Around the outside are other valentines featuring two European leaders, American industrial and political figures, a Russian admiral, a writer identified only as “Tom,” and a Wall Street con artist.

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Whether it was a cartoonist’s creative crutch every year, or readers’ happy expectations, the easy formula of imaginary Valentine’s Day cards for political figures was a frequent feature in Puck and other satirical weeklies of the day. Frederick Burr Opper drew many of these over his years at Puck in the 1880s and ’90s.

An elderly man labeled “Corporation Magnate” is sandwiched between the Republican Elephant and the Democratic Donkey, each holding out cups labeled, respectively, “Rep. Campaign Funds” and “Dem Campaign Funds”, seeking contributions. Caption: “Gentlemen, I cannot; my moral sense forbids!”

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Joseph Keppler, Junior, in this cover cartoon from Puck, tweaks the generic plutocrat after an intense period of chastisement. The administration of Theodore Roosevelt began “trust busting” in its first months and seldom flagged in its zeal. For at least two years, the writers labelled Muckrakers (by President Roosevelt) had burned the pages of numerous magazines, newspapers, and books with exposes and revelations about corruption in big business. In the House of Representatives, a rising corps of Republican “insurgents” picked up where Democratic Populists left off (or effectively joined forces) and fashioned a program of regulatory reform, sometimes radical in nature, to counter elements of Big Business, Big Banking, and Trusts.

A frenzy of activity is underway as many politicians and capitalists join the labor forces to construct the Panama Canal. Theodore P. Shonts, chairman of the Isthmian Canal Commission, is standing on the right, holding a whip, and directing the laborers. In the background, large groups of men labeled “Order of Walking Delegates, The Idle Rich, Amalgamated Aldermen, [and] Insurance Presidents Union No. 6” are waiting, with tools, to be called into action. Caption: Let our superfluous citizens do the work.

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S. D. Ehrhart’s expansive cartoon in Puck seized upon the news of labor challenges in the Culebra Cut portion of the Panama Canal construction, and built an elaborate cartoon-fantasy about people in politics, the social world, and finance being put to work at manual labor.

Democrats and Republicans, capitalists, social reformers, political symbols, and others enjoy a summer outing at a park.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1904-08-17

President Theodore Roosevelt stands on a reviewing stand, holding hat in raised right hand as a large group of capitalists, industrialists, and financiers wearing the tattered clothing of tramps, march past the stand. Some carry placards with such statements as: “Irrigate the Trusts,” “No place to go but the Waldorf,” “We want the earth,” “Free quick lunches,” “Pity the poor banker,” “Dividends or we perish.” At the front of the group, J. P. Morgan carries a wooden bucket labeled “The full water pail.” Caption: “Aggregated wealth largely represented among Parker’s Supporters”–New York Tribune.

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It might be said now, as it was in 1904, that the Republican Party is the home of the wealthy class, industrialists, and plutocrats. And then as now, cartoonists have fed that stereotype. Also then as now, major figures of Wall Street have supported the Democratic Party in great numbers, whether from agreement on social and political issues or frank self-interest.

The wreck of an airship labeled “High Finance” appears at the leading edge of storm clouds labeled “Investigation [and] Merger Decision Law.” The crash has ruined the blades that lifted or propelled the airship, labeled “Over Capitalization, Manipulation, Ship Building Trust, Steel Trust, [and] Northern Securities,” and has brought down six men (“Morgan, Schwab, M’Cook, Harriman, Schiff, [and] Hill”) with the wreckage and two men (“Dresser [and] Nixon”) in a swamp labeled “Ship Trust Receivership.” A lightning bolt labeled “Publicity” flashes from the clouds.

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There is a specific context of this cartoon.

A diminutive President Roosevelt stands on Wall Street, holding a large sword labeled “Public Service” before giant capitalist ogres labeled “J. J. Hill” holding a club labeled “Merger,” “Morgan” holding a club labeled “High Finance,” and “Rockefeller, Oxnard, [and] Gould.”

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Cavernous Wall Street, with Trinity Church at its western end, and the statue of George Washington marking the spot where the first president took his first oath of office, is pictured in realistic proportions in Joseph Keppler’s cartoon. But then the prerogatives of a cartoonist: the financial titans of Wall Street are oversized, and the President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, is diminutive.

Two businessmen sit in an office discussing the success of the local trolley service. Caption: Visiting Magnate — Is your new trolley-line a success? / Local Magnate — Not as great as we hoped. Nearly half the passengers can get seats.

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The cover cartoon by cartoonist Nankivell can be read as a humorous complaint about crowded public transit — a critique that probably will always be fresh.

Charles M. Schwab, as Napoleon, sits on a rock in the middle of the ocean, looking back at the setting sun labeled “Business Reputation.” He is holding in his right hand papers labeled “Investigation Ship Building Scandal,” and other papers labeled “Steel Trust” are in his coat pocket.

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The depiction of Charles M. Schwab as an exiled Napoleon represents a troubled period in the career of an otherwise colorful success story of an American business icon. The steel executive who had worked for Andrew Carnegie and J. P. Morgan became a steel-industry entrepreneur with the acquisition of Bethlehem Steel.

Leaders in the areas of business and finance, as military officers labeled “Morgan, Dresser, Perkins, Schwab, Frick, Nixon, [and] Gates,” ride on horseback through the snow of a bitter winter and financial downturn in the shipping industry. To the far right are foot soldiers carrying the flag of the “Army of Stock Holders.”

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Cartoonist Pughe made an oblique acknowledgment to “a well known painting” after his own signature, yet he might have credited the French academician Messonier’s Retreat From Moscow. Instead of Napoleon, we see the disconsolate and leonine face of J. P. Morgan. Excepting the faces of the business titan and his lieutenants, this Puck cartoon virtually is a line-for-line recreation of the painting so famous at the time.

A man labelled “Trust Promoter” wakes up from a nightmare that shows a criminal labeled “Miller” and “520 per cent” breaking stones in a prison.

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Anticipating the “pyramid scheme” of Carlo Ponzi that attracted investors by promising windfall dividends — but urged investors to roll over their “profits” and only made payments from new investments — the Franklin Syndicate of William F. Miller of Brooklyn began when a gullible man invested ten dollars. In months Miller raked in thousands of dollars a day, witnesses noting piles of cash in closets and desks of his offices.

A huge J.P. Morgan carries a cornucopia filled with railroads, ships, telegraph lines, and steel rails as examples of the broad range of industry he controls. As he strides forward, the German emperor and the King of Great Britain are brushed aside. Caption: The modern trust king brings dismay to the old kings of Europe.

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This might seem to be an odd cartoon for a periodical that had run anti-monopoly cartoons since its inception in the late 1870s and anti-trust cartoons with more frequency in the years preceding this cartoon, but Puck, and many reforming journals — almost all except the most radical Populist and Socialist publications — occasionally granted the trusts some of their due: sometimes lower consumer prices, jobs from expanding industries, American dominance in world trade. A few months prior to this cartoon by Kepple, J. P. Morgan’s Northern Securities Company had been sued as a monopoly by Theodore Roosevelt’s Justice Department. But at the time of this double-page spread in Puck, Morgan returned to financial machinations and formed the International Mercantile Merchant Marine Company in an effort to monopolize transatlantic shipping lines, which might account for the preponderance of ships in Morgan’s cornucopia. The banker was camera shy because of his reluctance to be “captured” with his red and warty nose due to rosacea. However in 1902 the famed photographer induced Morgan to sit for a portrait, and likely retouched the nose; so in this year the public finally saw J. P. Morgan in full, and this might be how Keppler achieved such a good likeness.

An angry capitalist labeled “Commercial Trust” confronts an angry laborer labeled “Labor Trust” holding a club labeled “Strike.” Between them is a diminutive man labeled “Consumer” on his knees, possibly praying for a favorable resolution. Caption: The consumer suffers when these two trusts fall out.

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There is a substantial back-story to this cartoon. Keppler’s drawing depicts a matter that likely was on the mind of every reader: the increasing labor strife in America. He posed the possible incidence of societal distress, and the cartoon sets the theoretical stage for intervention from an unprecedented source: the Chief Executive. For several years labor strife had been growing more common, and more violent. Both trusts and unions were consolidating their growth and power. In 1901, in New York City, the mishandling of its monopoly by the Ice Trust posed a real threat as a heat wave loomed. In May of 1902, a month before Keppler’s cartoon was printed, the miners in Pennsylvania’s Anthracite region struck for higher wages, shorter hours, and the right to organize under the United Mine Workers. The mine owners (J. P. Morgan at the top of the “chain”) were represented by a railroad manager, George Baer. The workers were represented by John Mitchell. President Roosevelt did intervene, against advice of his Attorney General and others, including Republican leaders who feared that the party would be associated with any sort of negative outcomes. In a labyrinthine series of councils, initiatives, negotiations (including with Morgan), proposals and threats, and even a serious injury to his his leg in a carriage accident, Roosevelt cudgeled and cajoled the parties — he was immensely frustrated with the owners who sat on a large supply of coal in reserve — a compromise was reached, and production resumed in October. A winter heating crisis was averted. Miners received a 10 per cent raise in hourly pay, their workdays were reduced from 10 to nine hours per day, and union recognition was not agreed to at the time. Roosevelt scored another personal victory, only a year after assuming office, and displaying skills of foresight and persuasion, and placed another cornerstone in the establishment of presidential power, not dictating but wisely intervening. 

William II, the German Emperor, interviews J. Pierpont Morgan, who is sitting in a chair aboard the Corsair. William II has a long list labeled “What I want to know” of questions and wishes. Caption: He is granted an interview where others fail.

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The backstory of this cartoon is the visit paid by the American financier J. P. Morgan to the German Kaiser, Wilhelm II. Morgan has sailed his yacht Corsair, with a crew of nearly 70, to England for the postponed coronation of Edward VII. He desired to meet and dine with another European monarch, yet he met in German waters to sound out another possibility. Having recently acquired the British North Star Line, he hoped to establish an international naval cartel if he could acquire or control the German Hamburg-America Line. The kaiser, who with his brother Prince Henry, an admiral, took particular interest in Germany’s fleets, was not interested. Cartoonist Pughe saw humor in turning the situation around — making Wilhelm the supplicant.

“J. P. Morgan,” as a huge piper, plays a pipe labeled “Merger,” leading a pack of diminutive corporate investors labeled “Ship Owner, Bank Pres., Wall Str. Operator, Rail R. Magnate, Broker, [and] Corpor[a]tion Lawyer” followed by the general populace. Among them is a “Reporter” with a large-frame camera balanced on his knee. In the background, European countries show their displeasure. Caption: His music enchants the world.

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The specific inspiration for Keppler’s cartoon was a spate of activities that put Morgan in the public’s eye at this time. This, despite his notable dislike of publicity and public attention (although his photographic portrait by Alfred Stieglitz might have launched a number of caricatures). Just at this time J. P. Morgan initiated controversial takeovers and consolidations of businesses in the United States and abroad, in new fields for him, in order to effect vertical combinations in industries (controlling every phase of production). News stories dominating headlines often involved his goals and involvements: the Northern Securities trust case, the Anthracite Coal strike, and the purchase of shipbuilding companies and trans-Atlantic shipping lines, for instance.

J. Pierpont Morgan, as a strong man at a circus, attempts to inflate a balloon labeled “Steel Stock” with a pump labeled “Enormous Earnings.” In the background is a crowd of people, some holding papers labeled “Steel Stock.” Caption: A strong man, a strong pump; but no sigh of a rise.

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Sometimes the stock manipulation and monopolist’s control of values backfired. The machinations of J. P. Morgan after his acquisition of smaller steel companies if he might have failed to acquire United States Steel from Andrew Carnegie, and then his top-heavy position in the steel market after Carnegie did sell to Morgan, was the subject of editorial and political commentary at the time that he over-extended his resources. If so, Morgan’s challenges soon were overcome, and not as serious as Pughe’s cartoon suggests.

Senator Mark Hanna draws a life-sized portrait of himself as a Greek or Roman statesman. Two men labeled “Capital” and “Labor” stand nearby. In the background is a large monument stating “In memory of the man who reconciled Labor and Capital.” Caption: “I would want no greater memorial than to have the world remember that I did something to end the wars between American capital and American labor” – From speech by Senator Hanna.

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Despite the ambitions of Senator Marcus Hanna as quoted in this cartoon, there was widespread skepticism of, at least, his beneficent attitude toward labor. The perception was in large measure established in the public’s mind, and history’s judgment, by cartoonists. Keppler’s profile here is mild compared to the unrelenting and famed caricatures of Homer Davenport, chief political cartoonist of the Hearst newspapers. Taking advantage of Hanna’s first name, he drew the senator in garish checked suits with dollar signs in every square; hence the nickname “Dollar Mark.” Davenport frequently drew Hanna as a virtual cannibal, feasting on the carcasses of American laborers. Keppler, here, was mild in comparison.

Uncle Sam holds up a balance scale with “Labor” on the left and “Capital” on the right. When the two are balanced the scale points toward “Prosperity,” and when uneven the scale points toward “Depression.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1901-09-18

Investors are drowning in rough seas labeled “Wall Street” and “Speculation,” and a top hat labeled “Ingenuous Investor” is caught in a whirlpool labeled “Iron and Steel Trust.”

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The story behind this cartoon was one of longer and more serious complication than a short-lived panic, actually the first Wall Street “panic,” as opposed to actual economic depressions. It was a case of wealthy financiers struggling, and small companies and individual investors getting crushed as they wrestled. James J. Hill, the railroad magnate, partnered with J. P. Morgan for regional rail monopoly in the United States northwest, but were countered by financier Jacob Schiff and Edward H. Harriman, who by circumstance of acquisitions was a railroad baron himself, controlling the Union Pacific. Harriman attempted a stock raid, weakening the position of smaller railroads, leading to sell-offs, failures, and a general Wall Street panic, the first of its kind. When the dust settled, Hill, Morgan, and Harriman agreed to combine and form the Northern Securities Company. The ugly effects of the 1901 panic, as much as “bigness” of the Northern Securities Company itself, is what led to the Roosevelt Administration’s anti-trust suit the following year, a fact infrequently noted by history.