Gas

Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary sends compliments to the American Philosophical Society, the Franklin Institute, the American Chemical Society, and the American Gas Institute for their invitation to “the symposium in celebration of the centenary of the introduction of gas as an illuminant” but declines due to a previous engagement.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-04-01

“Congress” plugs his nose with a clothespin as he reads “Roosevelt’s message to Congress–To gas, gas, gas, gas.” Meanwhile, the gas furnace has President Roosevelt’s spectacles and large grin on it.

comments and context

Comments and Context

A six thousand word presidential message, responding to a short three-part Congressional resolution, might have seemed like “gas” to Congress, and to Democratic cartoonist James Calvert Smith, but a brief riposte could hardly have been expected. Predictably, the president’s response to Congress’s criticism was punctilious. The genesis of the back-and-forth was a request to expand the Secret Service, and Congress’s refusal to consider it.

President Roosevelt informs Attorney General Bonaparte that the Department of Agriculture has advised that a report on impure gas be made public, and asks him to do so as soon as possible.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-19