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President Roosevelt pets a cat with New York Senator Thomas Collier Platt’s face as he holds a “list of smoothed downers” in his other hand: “Morgan. Hill (J. J.) Gould. Harriman. Addicks. Black. Odell. Payn. Platt.” On the wall is a sign: “Oyster Bay. Notice. Smoothing down done with neatness and despatch. T. R.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-07-17
President Roosevelt is dressed as an angel and blesses Louis Frisbie Payn. Beside Roosevelt is a “list of the forgiven”: “Morgan. Hill (J. J.) Gould. Harriman. Addicks. Platt. Black. Odell.” The door reads, “White House private—admittance by invitation only. T. R.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-07-01
Uncle Sam stands in a cashier’s window labeled “U.S. Treasury” next to a notice that states, “Pay Your Income Tax Here – No Escape for Millionaire Tax-Dodgers.” Russell Sage, Hetty Green, and George J. Gould stand in line, looking forlorn and crying as they pass their “Check for Income Tax – Russell Sage, Check for Income Tax – Hetty Green, [and] Check for Income Tax – George Gould” to Uncle Sam. In their pockets are papers labeled “Taxes Evaded.” Caption: Uncle Sam–I’m sorry for you, my unfortunate friends; – I know the Income Tax is “inquisitorial and oppressive;” but I’ve got to meet the one hundred and sixty million dollars of pension appropriation, somehow!
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1895-02-06
Theodore Roosevelt stands on a hill in the background, as two large bears labeled “Interstate Commerce Commission” and “Federal Courts” break up a crowd of Wall Street capitalists and stock market manipulators, causing them to scatter in all directions. The men include Charles S. Mellen, William K. Vanderbilt, Henry Huttleston Rogers, J. Pierpont Morgan, James J. Hill, George Jay Gould, John D. Rockefeller, James McCrea, William H. Newman, Edward Henry Harriman, and Joseph Benson Foraker.
Cartoonist Udo J. Keppler, and Puck magazine, editorially, stretched theology, or at least the province of Biblical allusions, in this cartoon “Elisha Roosevelt.” The brief passage from II Kings 2:23-24 recounts the story of Israelite prophet Elisha, having succeeded Elijah and seeing him bodily taken into the clouds, is unsure of his ability to be God’s anointed prophet.
Even more skeptical are a ragtag group of scoffers (sometimes misidentified as “children,” but Keppler called them “bad boys” with gray hair) who mock Elisha. As they really are mocking God, whose sovereign choice was Elisha, the Lord sent two ravenous bears to scatter the skeptics.
A four-headed, eight-armed monster, formed out of the upper torsos of James J. Hill, Edward Henry Harriman, J. Pierpont Morgan, and George Jay Gould, juggles New York State and municipal services and federal influence in Congress, while stepping on a red liberty cap. Three diminutive figures stand in the left foreground: the center figure represents Theodore Roosevelt, the one on the left is labeled “You,” and the one on the right is labeled “Me.” Caption: Messrs. Hill, Harriman, Morgan and Gould, sole managers and proprietors.
Udo J. Keppler’s center-spread drawing in Puck is a rare example of the magazine presenting a political cartoon not on a specific issue or policy debate. As a generic observation of the “current situation,” it speaks to history as an iconic representation of the truth, and not merely a cartoonist’s truth.
The one hyperbolic element (or exaggeration in reverse) is the diminutive size of President Roosevelt in the lower left. The quartet of business titans did indeed represent measures of control over American life, politics, and the economy — along with a few other names like Rockefeller, Schiff, Belmont, and insurance executives — but Theodore Roosevelt made sure that the American people and its government asserted its own independence and dominance, at least as an arbiter in business practices.
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.
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.
Some of the moguls in hobo garb in S. D. Ehrhart’s irony-filled drawing were known to be prominent Democrat donors and supporters, for instance Edward H. Harriman, Jacob Schiff, Nathan Strauss, Jacob Schiff, and Charles Schwab. J. P. Morgan, too, contributed to both parties.
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.”
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.
As the context of Puck‘s other cartoons and commentary prove, the influential magazine was neither criticizing Roosevelt nor being unduly deferential to the trust magnates. Keppler conceptualized the relatives positions of government and corporate capitalism in 1904 — not at all as Roosevelt the “Trust-Buster” saw things; perhaps hyperbolic in the eyes of the general public; and eminently proper in the view of Wall Street’s titans.
Henry E. Huck claims he was falsely accused of misconduct at a Sanitarium in Guelph, Canada. He hopes to vindicate himself in a private trial. He encloses a list of letters sent by him, with recipients included.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-09-19
Henry E. Huck would send the story regarding the anarchy plot to officials in Ottawa if Arthur B. Heurtley supports him.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-05-05
William Allen White assures President Roosevelt that the railroads have fared well this past winter. White believes the slump in railroad stocks is due to anti-railroad sentiment in the middle Western states and the unwanted interference of attorneys hired by railroad executives Edward Henry Harriman, George Jay Gould, and Mr. Marowitz in local politics.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-03-15
J. Ramsey informs Benjamin F. Barnes that he has passed along the message to George Jay Gould. Ramsey then explains Gould’s travel plans and suggests that Barnes contact Gould directly to arrange a meeting with President Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-06-10