President Roosevelt looks over a fence covering his mouth and nose, as Postmaster General Henry C. Payne stirs a pot of soup labeled “Post Office Department” with a stick labeled “Investigation.” Steaming out of the pot are “Foul Oders,” “Postoffice Scandal,” “Corruption,” “Dishonesty,” and “Fraud.” Caption: “Say, Payne, don’t stir that pot any more than necessary. I’m afraid the odor might undermine my political health.”
Comments and Context
This amateurish cartoon in the Nashville News — which would in 1906 become a paper in the growing Scripps-McRae chain — nevertheless carried water for the Democrat refrain that perennial Post Office corruption was inherited by President Roosevelt’s new administration, which it was; and that Roosevelt would try to conceal it, which he did not. In fact Post Office reforms were vigorously carried out, earning the praise of Democrats and such Democrat journals as Puck; and were touted as triumphs of his presidency when he ran for reelection in 1904.
The Post Office was a continual source of political influence and corruption through the years, largely because Postmasters General had vast patronage powers. Cabinet-level secretaries and many underlings down to local post offices routinely received jobs based on their service (and financial contributions) to the victorious national parties. Many of Roosevelt’s battles during his six years as Civil Service Commissioner under presidents Harrison and Cleveland were with the Post Office bureaucracy.