Debts, Public

E. W. Williamson expresses to Theodore Roosevelt that he is in urgent financial need and respectfully requests $40 to cover pressing obligations. He explains that he has secured a job starting on the 15th of the month and promises to repay the amount. Williamson recalls assisting Roosevelt during military service and hopes Roosevelt will remember his past support.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-09-09

President Roosevelt summarizes a letter from Secretary of the Treasury George B. Cortelyou telling him that the United States would likely not be able to meet its federal expenses without worsening the current economic crisis. While Roosevelt considers it prudent to not release this letter to the public, he does let Senator Allison know that the letter is on file should he wish to read it himself.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-19

President Roosevelt sends his sympathy to George Otto Trevelyan upon the death of his sister, Viscountess Margaret Jean Trevelyan Knutsford. He thanks him for clarifying why many Englishmen distrust former Prime Minister James Arthur Balfour and discusses corruption and military armament. The foreign affairs regarding Newfoundland fishery regulations and civil unrest in Cuba prove frustrating. Roosevelt shares these frustrations with Trevelyan for “the fact that I have to blow off steam.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09-09

George Otto Trevelyan explains his feelings about Arthur James Balfour, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, to President Roosevelt regarding recent financial policies in Great Britain. Trevelyan declares Balfour as “a man of words, and of no knowledge of the crisis.” He laments the depletion of the fund meant to pay off the national debt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-28

Acting Secretary of State Bacon has spoken with Jacob H. Hollander, who assures him that neither he nor Secretary of State for Treasury and Commerce Federico Velásquez y Hernández of the Dominican Republic were aware of a conversation occurring with Speyer & Company, although they have had ample opportunities. Bacon believes that Speyer & Company were not disadvantaged in any way, and that the plan they proposed was simply not as advantageous as that presented by Kuhn, Loeb, and Company and the Morton Trust company. He promises nevertheless to meet with Charles H. Tweed, as Roosevelt directs.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-14

Herbert Wolcott Bowen reports the awards of the mixed commissions paid to various countries by Venezuela. He does not believe this rate of repayment will be maintained, since President Castro is likely to violate his agreements with foreign powers. Bowen encloses two confidential reports. The first report, titled “Grievances Formulated Since the Blockade by the Legations Accredited to Caracas,” describes the complaints that several countries have against Venezuela and Castro. Grievances include the withdrawal of exequaturs, failure to pay debts, despoliation of companies, and assassinations. Based on the government revenue and expenditures of Venezuela, it is not clear what has happened to the surplus money, half of which would be a sufficient amount to pay off the debts. The second report, which is from the Italian Chargé, lists the complaints against Venezuela and notes that the Venezuelan people are suffering from monopolies and taxes. It asks, “Where do the 40 millions surplus go which should be in the treasury but are not there?”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-20

President Cleveland drives a stagecoach carrying a female passenger labeled “National Credit” and a trunk labeled “Gold Reserve.” The horse team is labeled “Firmness” and “Common Sense.” A pack of dogs is trying to rattle the horses. The dogs are identified as “Dana, Pulitzer, Frye, Bland, Sickles, Peffer, Reed, Boutelle, Wolcott, Pugh, Stewart, Jones, Morgan, Teller, [and] Lodge.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-03-13

A man labeled “Pension Fraud” holds fists full of money and stands on a stage, singing, with two musicians on the left and the “U.S. Treasury” in the background. Includes text of the song – “Now I’ve got my pension, I’m a gent!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1894-05-23

A crying infant labeled “Dingley Tariff” wears clothing labeled “Deficit from July 1st to Nov. 15th $44,411,144,” and holds a tiny pair of pants labeled “Dingley Tariff.” A man, possibly Nelson Dingley, holds a bolt of cloth labeled “New ‘Protective’ Measures” and a large pair of scissors and is standing next to the infant’s high chair.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1897-12-15

A fire at the Treasury Building is billowing clouds of smoke labeled “Deficit.” Nelson W. Aldrich is the fire chief, and he is telling firefighters Stephen B. Elkins, Joseph Gurney Cannon, Sereno Elisha Payne, and Jacob H. Gallinger to send a fire engine labeled “Lower Tariff” back to the station. President William H. Taft and Elihu Root carry a large fire extinguisher labeled “Corporation Tax” and race up the steps of the building, attempting to extinguish the blaze. Caption: Chief Aldrich (at the great Treasury blaze) — Send that engine home! We’ll put her out with the extinguisher!

comments and context

Comments and Context

Udo J. Keppler’s cartoon, for all its drama while debates over tariff legislation were raging in the Capital, betrays a certain ambiguity. Editorially, Puck frequently through the years occasionally was ambiguous about its position on tariffs and trusts. So were the political parties, despite the Republicans (who received the cartoonist’s attention here) generally being the party of big business and high tariffs. President Roosevelt had begun to warm to the concept of “fair trade” and reciprocal trade agreements, on a country-to-country basis. Such concepts would be strongly advocated by President William H. Taft, particularly with the Philippines; and famously with Canada. He was to stake — and lose — much of his political capital, urging Canadian reciprocity.

Uncle Sam leans against the rail at a bar, a glass in one hand and a cigar in the other, and looking a little disheveled. A cloth hanging from a pocket is labeled “Deficit.” A bottle labeled “High Protection” rests at his right elbow. The bartender, labeled “Congress,” is represented by the figure of Senator Nelson W. Aldrich, is offering some friendly advice. Caption: “Quit nothin’! Why, a little more of the same’ll make you feel O.K.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Puck, in its opposition to higher import taxes, used in this cartoon a new weapon of censure, “Deficit.” In fact, high tariffs were bringing in much revenue to federal coffers, but there were moves afoot in both parties to replace monies from tariffs with a federal income tax.

Grover Cleveland drives a stagecoach labeled “Administration Coach” carrying “Columbia” and being pulled by two horses labeled “Honest Principles” and “Sound Policy.” The coach is stuck in a hole labeled “Deficit” and “This Hole Dug by Republican Party.” Arthur P. Gorman, standing at the rear, uses a large stick labeled “Wilson Bill” and a board labeled “Bond Issue” to try to get the wheels out of the hole. On the right, in a “Bog of Public Contempt,” are Whitelaw Reid, John Sherman, Thomas B. Reed, George F. Hoar, and Benjamin Harrison. They are laughing at Cleveland.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1894-02-21

President Cleveland holds papers labeled “National Honor and Credit” behind his back, as he faces a group of newspaper editors and legislators labeled “Tribune, N.Y. Sun, Tom Reed, Hill, World, Teller, Stewart, Vest, Peffer, [and] Hoar.” Charles A. Boutelle is at the back of the group holding a paper labeled “Boutelle Resolution.” The U.S. Capitol is in the background behind President Cleveland.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1894-01-31

An angel labeled “National Credit” with wings labeled “Sound Financial Policy” and “Repeal of Sherman Silver Law” rises above the flames of the wreck of the “U.S. Treasury.” Among the wreckage lie William McKinley bowled over by the “McKinley Bill,” John Sherman being crushed under the weight of large silver coins, Green B. Raum sitting in an empty safe labeled “U.S. Treasury,” with Benjamin Harrison and Charles Foster hanging onto the safe, and William A. Peffer among the lumber on the left.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1893-09-27

Uncle Sam uses a pitchfork to pile up money labeled “$160,000,000.00 Yearly” as food for a “U.S. White Elephant” wearing a military hat labeled “Pensions.” Caption: “Has the moth of avarice, the canker of greed, so eaten into the hearts of this generation that they are unmindful of these men? God forbid!” (From Harrison’s speech to the G.A.R. encampment.)

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1893-09-20

On the left, Grover Cleveland tips his hat as he leaves office in 1889, after passing the key to a large safe labeled “U.S. Treasury” with a “Surplus $100,000,000 Dollars” to incoming president Benjamin Harrison. On the right, President Cleveland, returning to the presidency in 1893, gestures toward the safe as Benjamin Harrison departs. The door to the safe is broken off its hinges and labeled “Looted,” and the safe is now empty. Harrison tips his hat on his way out.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1893-08-23

Waves of veterans march through a memorial arch on “Decoration Day,” carrying banners that state, “We will continue to save the country, so long as there is a dollar in the Treasury” and “Army of Pensioners.” On the right, Uncle Sam is wearing tattered clothes and sits on a step with the U.S. Capitol in the background. He is holding out his hat labeled “Deficit” and a sign that states “I Am Busted.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-05-29

Queen Victoria holds up an infant labeled “Little New Duke of York. Christening Robe Cost £300.” She presents the baby to John Bull who is holding a paper that states “Heavy Expense Account – Royal Family.” In the background is a castle labeled “Royal Nursery.” The baby is probably Edward VIII, later the Duke of Windsor.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1894-07-25

The bow of a ship approaches a waterspout labeled “80ct $” and “$2,000,000 a Month,” and a shark labeled “Panic.” Along the side of the ship are President Cleveland as captain, and several men, all unidentified, but may include George F. Edmunds, William M. Evarts, William F. Vilas, Edward L. Hedden, John Sherman, and Augustus Garland, among others. They are about to fire a gun labeled “Repeal of Silver Coinage Act” to break up the waterspout. Caption: Captain Cleveland “Fire that gun, boys – it’s the only way to break it!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-12-16