Commerce

Two obstacles that must be removed before Uncle Sam can drive on

President McKinley stands on the roadside near a large rock labeled “Unsettled Tariff Question.” Vice President Hobart and members of McKinley’s cabinet attempt to clear the roadway by removing another large rock labeled “Unsound Financial System.” Waiting behind them on the road “To Prosperity” is Uncle Sam sitting on a large wagon filled with “U.S. Commercial Interests.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1897-03-31

Papa’s pet

President McKinley appears as a father showing favoritism by holding an infant labeled “High Protective Tariff,” while ignoring another infant labeled “Financial Question” crying in a high chair.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1897-04-07

Silly old women! – their little brooms can’t sweep back the great big ocean

Several men dressed as maids and holding brooms stand on shore or awash in huge waves labeled “Business Revival” and “Sound Money.” The men are identified on their bonnets or on their brooms as “Hoar War Tariff,” “Bland Free Silver,” “Wolcott Silver,” “Teller Free Silver,” “Jones Free Silver,” “Reid High Protection,” “Stewart Free Silver,” “Carter,” “Peffer,” “Crisp,” and “Blackburn Free Silver.” “McKinley” holds the largest broom labeled “Prohibitory Protection.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-08-14

The opening of the gate

Uncle Sam opens the “Protection Gate” at the “U.S. Custom House” where a sign states “Reduction of Tolls from 50 to 38 Percent. Wool, Lumber, Twine, and Fresh Fish, Free!!” The Roman god Mercury is driving a wagon labeled “Commerce,” pulled by horses labeled “Prosperity” and “Business Revival,” and loaded with such commodities as “Leather, Flour, Jute, Coal, Cotton, Steel, [and] Wool,” through the gate. Caption: Uncle Sam (to the genius of Commerce)–Those tolls ain’t as low as we want ’em; but they’re the best we can do at present. Now let business go on!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-08-29

Just the same here as in Asia

William L. Wilson appears as a soldier wearing a helmet labeled “Tariff Reform” and holding a rifle labeled “Enlightenment” with fixed bayonet, with which he prevents William McKinley from advancing. McKinley is dressed as a Chinese man with a hat labeled “McKinleyism,” an amulet labeled “Monopoly,” and a medal that states “The Foreigner Pays the Tax.” He is holding a large sword labeled “Fallacious Arguments” and a shield labeled “Trusts,” and his long pigtail is wrapped around a post labeled “Played Out Protection Ideas.” Caption: Superstition and old-fogyism must be conquered in the end by enlightenment and progressiveness.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1894-09-05

Its good is doubtful – its harm is certain

Two smug, well-dressed men, one labeled “Exporter” and the other labeled “Farmer,” ride in a fine carriage driven by the Roman god Mercury, his cape labeled “Commerce,” and drawn by two horses labeled “Manufacturing” and “Agriculture.” They ride past a broken carriage that crashed on a log labeled “Dingley Tariff.” The driver labeled “Importer” and the horse labeled “Import Business” sit on the ground next to the “Dingley Tariff” roadblock.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-02-01

The jingo bully

A large angry man wearing a hat labeled “Jingo” shakes his fist at a cluster of rulers labeled “Turkey, Germany, England, Italy, Japan, [and] Spain” standing on a tiny piece of land labeled “Europe,” across a body of water. Behind the man an impish Uncle Sam stacks bags of “Grain” and “Wheat” near the shore, with factories in the background. Caption: Jingo (angrily)–Look here? What are you chucking stones at our flag for? / European Boys–We ain’t chucking any stones. / Jingo (furiously)–Well, why the devil don’t you chuck ’em?

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1897-12-22

Will the Trojan horse trick work?

A large Trojan Horse labeled “Sound Money” is shown with many businessmen climbing out, carrying papers labeled “Tobacco, Steel, Wool, Coal Demands for More Protection, We Want More Protection Iron, Drugs We Demand Higher Protection, Give Us More Protection Coal, [and] Tin and Iron.” The businessmen clamber down a ladder and up the steps to the U.S. Capitol, attempting to take Congress by storm. Caption: Intrepid attempt of the Protection Greeks to capture the Capitol.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1897-02-03

Another revelation of strength

Uncle Sam stands on a wharf with five diminutive figures with attributes of the rulers of Austria (Franz Joseph I), Russia (Nicholas II), France (Felix Faure), Germany (William II), and Italy (Umberto I), and with John Bull representing England. Uncle Sam is showing the others an American steamship constructed out of bundles, barrels, and bales of exports, many indicating revenue in dollars, which, he believes, they “can’t resist.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1898-08-17

The tug of war in the far east

Print shows Uncle Sam with John Bull and Meiji, Emperor of Japan, standing beneath a flag labeled “Open Door Policy”, in a tug of war contest for “Trade Supremacy” with “Russia” (Nicholas II), “Germany” (William II), and “France” (Felix Faure) who are being pulled through a gate labeled “Trade Restriction.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1898-09-14

Business is business

Uncle Sam stands on a sidewalk, holding wads of dollars. The street is lined with stores and shops offering goods from several European countries, and above each shop is a sign that gives the dollar amount of goods “Sold to Uncle Sam” in the previous year. On the street are representatives from “Austria, Italy, France, Germany, Russia, [and] England (John Bull),” hailing Uncle Sam. A penniless man labeled “Spain” is standing in the middle of the street. Caption: After careful consideration Europe seems inclined to admit that Uncle Sam is right – and a good customer.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1898-06-22

The next thing to do

Uncle Sam stands at the top of a wall labeled “Prohibitive Tariff” on land labeled “U.S.” He looks across a body of water at the “Chinese Wall” being torn down by European and Japanese rulers labeled and caricatured as “France” (Felix Faure), “Germany” (William II), and “Japan” (Meiji), “England (George V), and “Russia” (Nicholas II). Caption: Uncle Sam – By Jingo! That reminds me that I’ve got a wall like that; – I’d better take it down, myself, before other people do it for me.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1898-06-29

“Charity begins at home”

Uncle Sam stands on an island labeled “Philippines” at an open gate labeled “Open to All Nations on Equal Terms.” He is welcoming an international crowd to enter through the gate. A female figure labeled “Commerce” is tugging on his coattails; she is standing on a solid, fortress-like structure labeled “U.S.” and “Protective Tariff Wall.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1898-12-28

Remarks of President Roosevelt at dedication of New York Chamber of Commerce

President Roosevelt extends his greetings to the assembled New York Chamber of Commerce and foreign ambassadors who are in attendance.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-11-11

Note on the importance of the Panama Canal

Theodore Roosevelt notes the importance the Panama Canal holds for South American countries as well as the United States. He believes Colombia will benefit most by the connection of its Pacific and Atlantic ports, but also sees potential for Argentina and other countries.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1915

Recommendations concerning federal aid to unemployment

A list of recommendations to help alleviate the problem of unemployment in the United States. Suggestions are made for projects in the areas of reclamation, rivers and harbors, roads, public works, trade and commerce, agriculture, and military service.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1915

Congratulations are now in order

Uncle Sam, with a laurel wreath on his head, stands with a female figure labeled “Prosperity,” bowing his head in acknowledgement of the respect accorded the United States by representatives from Europe and Asia. To the right, behind Uncle Sam, are booming grain export activities, and on the left, streaming through a gate labeled “Europe and Asia” are figures labeled “England, Russia, Turkey, India, Germany, South America, Greece, China, France, [and] Italy,” along with many others, seeking shipments of American wheat.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-11-18

The cold gray dawn

A disheveled Uncle Sam sits at a messy table in a restaurant after a wild party where too much alcohol has been consumed. There are overturned chairs, and a man labeled “Capital” lies on the floor beneath one end of the table. An overturned bottle labeled “Overspeculation” spills contents labeled “Overissue of Securities.” Another bottle is labeled “Overbuilding.” Bottles on the floor are labeled “Waste” and “Overproduction,” and a spill is labeled “Overestimation of Natural Resources.” Wax from a candle on the table is labeled “Overconfidence” and a bottle next to Uncle Sam is labeled “Overcapitalization.” Lying on the floor at the other end of the table, among overturned chairs, is a man labeled “Labor.” On the table above him is a spill labeled “Overspending,” and a box of cigars labeled “Overbuying” is spilling its contents on the floor. In a broken mirror on the back wall are the words “National Vanity,” and printed on a window is “Rationalism.” Caption: Uncle Sam — “And this is Thanksgiving Day!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-11-23

A few snap-shots at the “powers that be” in the average commercial house

The employees of a commercial establishment take credit and responsibility for the success of a business. Those depicted are the “Office Boy,” the “Typewriter” secretary, a “Bookkeeper,” “Drummer,” “Freight Elevator” operator, a “Bill Collector,” “Foreman,” and an “Office-Cleaner.” At center, the business owner sits at a desk and prays to that “divine and merciful Providence which watches over fools.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1897-06-16

The true agent of prosperity

A farmer holds a large sheaf of wheat labeled “Enormous Wheat Crop of 1897,” representing the bounty of Nature, with other farmers harvesting grains in the background.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1897-07-11