Gold standard

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Jacob H. Schiff

Theodore Roosevelt is working hard on his acceptance speech. Roosevelt believes that the Democrats are not to be trusted if the Party is at odds with its own presidential candidate, Alton B. Parker, on the currency question. Roosevelt criticizes Parker for having been in favor of the free silver program and switching to an endorsement of the gold standard when public opinion made it advantageous to do so. Roosevelt wishes that Elihu Root would run for office.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-07-14

Draft letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Joseph Gurney Cannon

Third draft of a letter with handwritten edits. President Roosevelt formally accepts the Republican presidential nomination. He then reviews several campaign issues and the achievements of his administration.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-15

The “ki-yis” can’t rattle him

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

In darkest congress

President Grover Cleveland stands on the floor of the House of Representatives, among congressmen, many dressed as natives, holding a large book labeled “Sound Money Message.” Caption: The missionary is all right; but the heathen are terribly hard to convert.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-12-18

A critical situation

Uncle Sam is taking a large frog out of a fish tank labeled “U.S. Treasury” before it eats all the goldfish. Caption: Uncle Sam – I’ll have to kill this here Greenback Frog; or, by Jingo! he’ll swallow up all my Gold Fish!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-01-30

Out of the silver flood!

Uncle Sam climbs out of a flood of silver coinage toward elevated ground labeled “Repeal of the Sherman Law by the 53rd Congress” using a rope labeled “Public Opinion.” He is carrying a female figure labeled “Business Interests.” Waves labeled “Sherman Silver Purchase Act” crash in the background, while overhead the sun, as a gold coin labeled “Twenty Dollars,” shines brightly.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1893-09-13

He couldn’t read

A mule and the wreckage of a wagon appear by the side of railroad tracks and an old man labeled “Silverite” hangs from a sign that states, “Danger! Look Out for Sound Money Locomotive.” A train rumbles off into the background with the caboose labeled “Sound Money Sentiment.” Caption: A pictorial prophecy for election day, November 3rd, 1896.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-07-15

The circus has come!

William C. “Whitney” is the ringmaster at a circus where “D. B. Hill” is performing a horse riding trick by trying to ride two horses at once, a small horse labeled “Gold Standard” and a larger horse labeled “Free Silver.” Also in the ring is a clown labeled “Harvey.” Among those in the audience are William McKinley, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas B. Reed, John Sherman, George F. Hoar, William B. Allison, William E. Chandler, William F. Peffer, Whitelaw Reid, Grover Cleveland, and Joseph J. C. Blackburn or Charles A. Boutelle. Caption: The New Ringmaster–Gentlemen of the audience, the great equestrian, “The Senator,” will perform his thrilling feat of riding two horses simultaneously! – Brace up, Dave, everybody’s looking at you!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-06-26

Politics makes strange wheel-fellows

Grover Cleveland and Thomas B. Reed ride down the “Sound-Money Road” on a bicycle built for two, with tires labeled “Gold Standard,” and honking horns labeled “Ki-Yi Gun” at a small dog labeled “Silverite.” Caption: “In my opinion, Speaker Reed is the strongest and brainiest man in your (the Republican) party.” President Cleveland to Congressman Milliken, as per N.Y. World.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-07-01

A desperate case of political dipsomania

A drunken man sits in a chair with jugs and bottles labeled “Repudiation Gin, Free Silver Rum, Tillman’s Firewater, Populist Whiskey, [and] Altgeld’s Fizz” on the floor next to him. His rumpled hat labeled “Democratic Party” hangs off the back of the chair. “Dr. Puck” has approached from the left and recommends that he take the “Gold Cure.” Standing on the left is a group of “eminent physicians” labeled “Harrity, Carlisle, Vilas, Whitney, [and] Russell,” and one unidentified man. Caption: Dr. Puck–My unfortunate friend, we eminent physicians have held a consultation, and have decided that nothing will save you but an immediate and thorough application of the Gold Cure.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-07-01

Trying it on

An unhappy William McKinley, wearing a military hat with cockade labeled “Protection,” is at a tailor’s shop known as “Hanna, Platt & Co. Political Clothiers.” He is being fitted for a coat with “Gold” buttons and a ribbon labeled “Gold Standard.” The coat is much too big for him, though the tailors, Marcus Alonzo Hanna and Thomas Collier Platt think it is a perfect fit. In the background, a suit hanging on a rack is labeled “Sectional Strife – Very Cheap” and a military uniform on another rack is labeled “Force Bill – Marked Down.” Caption: Hanna and Platt–Vell, vell, vell, vat a magnifercent fit!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-07-22

No party lines when the national honor is in peril

The combined forces of the gold standard supporters, including some newspaper editors, and a reluctant William McKinley, march under the standard “The Nation’s Credit Must Be Upheld,” toward a fort labeled “Fort 16 to 1” flying the banner “Repudiation,” and manned by soldiers armed with pitchforks and scythes. The newspaper editors are staffing the big guns labeled “Sound Money Press.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-07-22

His triumphal progress

A nervous William McKinley rides in a lop-sided chariot with a large gold dollar labeled “Gold Standard” as one wheel and the other wheel a tiny one labeled “Tariff?”. The chariot is being pulled by the Republican “GOP” Elephant with Mark A. Hanna seated on top as the driver. Caption: It is not exactly the sort of chariot he hoped for, but he will get there in it all the same.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-08-05

Out Nebraska way

Puck, carrying a valise labeled “Sound Money Doctrine,” talks to a hayseed farmer sitting on a fence, reading the “Free Silver Screamer.” In the background, houses and barns labeled “Mortgage” are falling into ruin. Caption: Puck–What’s the matter with you? Why ain’t you getting out your crops? Grain and corn are bringing big prices, and good times have come again. / Farmer Weedly (Silver Fanatic)–No, sir-ree! What’s the use of raising crops for the gold bugs from Wall Street to eat up? Free Silver is the only thing that’ll save us!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-07-17

Among the silent ones

Uncle Sam, holding a paper labeled “Political Guide,” rides on a camel being led by Puck through the “City of Silence,” past several silent sphinxes labeled “Tom Reed, Allison, McKinley, Morton, [and] Harrison.” Includes dialogue between Uncle Sam and Puck that tells how these rulers were turned to stone for being unable to answer the currency question. Caption: Scene–The City of Silence in the Land of G.O.P., ferninst the Great Political Desert. – Enter Uncle Sam with Puck, his Dragoman.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-07-31

In the pantheon of the sun

Charles A. Dana sits at a desk. A diminutive David B. Hill, labeled “I am a Democrat,” stands on the desk next to a large book labeled “Speeches of D. B. Hill.” In a niche in the background is a bust of Benjamin F. Butler. Caption: Editor Dana (enthusiastically)–There he is, fellow citizens of this glorious republic, the greatest statesman the world has ever seen, and all that’s left of the Democratic Party!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-04-10

They both claim him

William McKinley sits on a wooden horse labeled “High Protection” with a “Silverite” on the left and a “Gold Bug” on the right pulling him in opposite directions. Caption: Eastern “Gold Bug.” –He’s ours! –he hasn’t said so yet, –but he will! Western “Silverite.” –Not much; he’s ours! –he’s said so already; lots of times!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-05-27

The Joshua of our silly senate in his great act of trying to make the sun stand still

Edward Oliver Wolcott as the biblical Joshua rides on a horse labeled “U.S. Senate” at the head of a small infantry comprised of John Sherman, George F. Hoar, George G. Vest, William A. Peffer, David B. Hill, Julius C. Burrows, Thomas H. Carter, William V. Allen, William J. Sewell, John M. Palmer, Roger Q. Mills, Justin S. Morrill, Matthew Quay, and others unidentified. Many are carrying spears or bow and arrows. They are chasing the sun labeled “Gold Standard” and descending upon a small community of farms and factories. One man carries a military standard that states, “Resolved, that some legislation be had by the U.S. Senate looking to an international conference with the nations of the world for the promotion of Bimetallism. Wolcott’s Resolution in Caucus.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1897-01-06

Address at the Founders’ Day banquet of the Union League

President Roosevelt thanks the members of the Union League of Philadelphia for their commitment to upholding the principles of Abraham Lincoln. He praises the traits that brought the American people through the Civil War and subsequent trials that the nation faced. Roosevelt asks the assembled club to reflect on former President William McKinley’s policies, and says that while policies alone cannot make a nation great, “good laws and good administration of the laws can give to strong, honest, brave men a chance to do well.” Roosevelt praises McKinley’s ability to handle the unexpected challenges of the Spanish-American War and subsequent acquisition of the Philippines. He outlines the current situation in the Philippines, with the ending of the Philippine-American War, the establishment of civil administration, and general situation of peace. Roosevelt advises that the government must solve issues related to the industrial growth of the nation.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-11-22

Address at the Founders’ Day Banquet of the Union League (press copy)

President Roosevelt thanks the members of the Union League of Philadelphia for their commitment to upholding the principles of Abraham Lincoln. He praises the traits that brought the American people through the Civil War and subsequent trials that the nation faced. Roosevelt asks the assembled club to reflect on former President William McKinley’s policies, and says that while policies alone cannot make a nation great, “good laws and good administration of the laws can give to strong, honest, brave men a chance to do well.” Roosevelt praises McKinley’s ability to handle the unexpected challenges of the Spanish-American War and subsequent acquisition of the Philippines. He outlines the current situation in the Philippines, with the ending of the Philippine-American War, the establishment of civil administration, and general situation of peace. Roosevelt advises that the government must solve issues related to the industrial growth of the nation. This is the press copy of Roosevelt’s speech.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-11-22