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This article suggests issues that Judge Parker should address in his letter of acceptance, such as trades-unionism in the public service, equal rights, and civil service reform.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-19
President Roosevelt encloses a letter from James Sullivan Clarkson and hopes that Joseph Bucklin Bishop can speak with him. He also discusses a letter received and answered in his absence, during his visit to Yellowstone National Park. The Utah Federation of Labor had asked that the President not travel on the Union Pacific Railroad during his western trip, appealing to Roosevelt’s “sense of justice” on behalf of employees of the railroad. As Roosevelt was out of communication, William Loeb responded by noting that travel arrangements had long been made, and to accede to the request would disappointment many thousands of people. Copies of the correspondence have been sent to Edward Henry Harriman.
1903-10-02
John F. Tobin, President of the Book and Shoe Workers Union, and other leaders of the union, discuss the proposal to eliminate the duty on hides, from which shoes are made. Tobin argues that removing the tariff would reduce the cost of leather, allowing manufacturers greater margin to raise employees’ wages, to keep pace with the cost of living. Others support the removal of the duty on leather but not on finished shoes and boots.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-03-07
Mary McDowell reports on the reasons behind the strike in the Packinghouse district of Chicago, which is more peaceful than previous strikes. Labor unions have been more successful in organizing. McDowell also discusses the living conditions of the district.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-07
Mary McDowell reports on the reasons behind the strike in the Packinghouse district of Chicago, which is more peaceful than previous strikes. Labor unions have been more successful in organizing. McDowell also discusses the living conditions of the district.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-07
Six cowboys, one labeled “Coal Trust” and another labeled “Miner’s Union,” all carry handguns which they are using to force a diminutive man labeled “Small Consumer” to dance.
In the cliched situation of uncountable cowboy tales, where the greenhorn is made to “dance” as bullies fire at his feet, the cartoonist’s iconic Little Man — labelled here “Small Consumer” — jumps for his life. Cartoonist Udo J. Keppler addresses no specific bill but rather general situation of the trusts’ control of many aspects of everyday life.
Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks, as Don Quixote, sits in a chair, reading, with a sword in raised right hand, with visions of former (and current) presidents, as well as some of the social ills that he hopes to correct. Caption: Our esteemed Vice-President takes his candidacy seriously.
Charles W. Fairbanks was a politician usually depicted by cartoonists (as by Keppler, here, in Puck) as icy and aloof. He was, in brief, the antithesis of a Theodore Roosevelt.
A man labeled “‘Independent’ Labor,” tied to a post labeled “Organized Tyranny,” is being whipped by a man labeled “Professional Entertainer.” In the background, a factory is burning.
This is a strange cartoon, a bit out of character for Puck and this cartoonist, S. D. Ehrhart. It is more radical other Puck cartoons of the era; Ehrhart seldom drew political cartoons, and virtually none of those as harsh as this.
Three statues labeled “Cook, Walking Delegate, [and] Head Waiter” stand on the left and three statues labeled “Coachman, Car Porter, [and] Janitor” stand on the right. People are bowing down, kneeling, and performing other acts of veneration before them. In the center, Puck has unfurled a banner showing citizens pulling down the equestrian statue of King George III. Caption: Puck — Where is the spirit of ’76? This is what your forefathers did to King George.
Sometimes a cartoon tells more about its times than its intended point. Cartoonist Ehrhart addresses the vagaries of modern life — the imperious attitudes, approaching arrogance and greed — as routine laborers and employees asserted themselves in modern life. Of course the cartoonist employed hyperbole, characterizing people in these positions as latter-day tyrants.
John Mitchell and Samuel Gompers, representing the United Mine Workers and the American Federation of Labor, are witches stirring a “dangerous brew” of labor violence in a cauldron labeled “Unionism” over flames labeled “Anti-Injunction Bill.” Steam rising from the pot is filled with threatening human figures and the words “Boycott, Mob Violence, Intimidation, Dynamite-Persuasion, Riot, Lawlessness, Anarchy, Parkism, Graft, [and] Incendiary Press.”
Samuel Gompers, founder and president of the American Federation of Labor (AFofL), and John Mitchell, president of the United Mine Workers of America (the union was a constituent member of the AFofL), are portrayed in this famous cartoon by Samuel Ehrhart in Puck as fomenting union strikes and labor violence.
A clerk in an office talks to his employer. Caption: Clerk — I want more salary, sir, because I am going to get married! / Employer — But I don’t believe in “unions” raising the price of labor.
When Puck thought it had a good “gag,” it was allowed to burst from the black and white interior pages of text and social cartoons, and occupy the front page in glorious colors to attract eyes on newsstands. This pun, illustrated by Gallaway, is one such example. The cartoonist, in color and black and white work, interior and exterior pages, virtually never addressed political issues.
A man labeled “Employer’s Union” and a man labeled “Workingman’s Union” drink a toast while sitting on the back of a man sprawled on the ground, clutching papers labeled “Bribes” and “Broken Contracts.” His hat nearby is labeled “Walking Delegate.” There are factories in the background.
Several employers unions and associations established themselves in the first years of the new century. They were logical and legitimate responses to the growth of labor unions in numbers of members and contract recognition. Except for such associations’ descendants as the National Association of Manufacturers — groups that eventually focused more on trade and regulations than labor negotiations — they never evolved as cartoonist Pughe envisioned.
Three men labeled “Riot, Lynching, [and] Violence” burn a female figure labeled “Law and Order” at the stake. She is bound to the stake with ribbons labeled “Prejudice” and “Defiance.”
This powerful double-page spread by Joseph Keppler, Junior, in Puck is more than an argument against labor violence (was was indeed a public concern in the years following the turn of the century) or racial animosity (lynchings actually spiked in these years as well) but the general breakdown of law and order.
A ship labeled “Labor” sails into dark clouds labeled “Employers’ Disclosures” on a sea labeled “Oblivion.” Laborers on board the ship are pushing over the side a man labeled “Walking Delegate” who has papers in his pockets labeled “Bribe, Graft, [and] Blackmail.”
The iconic symbol of the Walking Delegate — roving labor organizer and representative, and sometime provocateur — was a staple in political cartoons dating back to the first Joseph Keppler, founder of Puck Magazine; and Thomas Nast of Harper’s Weekly. He was identified with selfish goals, graft, and instigator.
President Roosevelt stands at a flag-draped podium on the right, pointing to two men on the left, each with a foot on a female figure labeled “Law” lying on the ground. One man has papers labeled “Dishonest Corporations” and the other has papers labeled “Union Tyranny” and notes extending from his pockets labeled “Bribe” and “Graft.” On the front of the podium at which Roosevelt stands is a quotation: “If alive to their true interests, rich and poor alike will set their faces like flint against the spirit which seeks personal advantage by overriding the laws, without regard to whether this spirit shows itself in the form of bodily violence by one set of men or in the form of vulpine cunning by another set of men.” – President Roosevelt’s Speech, Sept. 7.
Theodore Roosevelt, before during, and after his presidency was consistent on issues of the day — remarkably so, in that without citation of time and place, historians can be challenged to attribute many of his pronouncements as being from his twenties or then end of his life.
Samuel Parks, recently released from prison on extortion charges, and still wearing his prison stripes, cracks a whip over the heads of two diminutive figures, one labeled “Capital” and the other labeled “Labor.” Sam Parks was a union walking delegate, a mediator of sorts between laborer and employer.
Once again Puck attacks the contemporary figure, and phenomenon, of the Walking Delegate and his role in the labor movement, growth of unions, and workers’ rights in the United States. Frequent cases of corruption, extortion, bribery, and even incitements to strike and riot, were associated with Walking Delegates. They usually were freelances, insinuating themselves in situations of labor strife, but sometimes represented large unions seeking to organize locals.
A caricature of the Statue of Liberty replaces Liberty with a labor union “Walking Delegate.” His torch is labeled “Lawlessness” and he holds a tablet labeled “Tyranny.” At the base are crowds of immigrants disembarking from boats, as other boats stream across the sea from a location marked with a sign that states “To the Land of the Free.”
A generation earlier, the concept of this cartoonist might have featured only a different label or two. The caricature of the Statue of Liberty might have represented an urban political boss and municipal corruption. Instead, here, the arriving immigrants, depicted in their various native outfits, are confounded by the tyranny of the crooked labor boss, the “Walking Delegate” union organizer, and advocate of violence. At this point in time, this is how many American citizens, not only immigrants, saw a large part of the labor movement.
A police officer holding a hat labeled “Law and Order” stands in a courtroom with a labor union “Walking Delegate” who has papers showing in his pocket labeled “Bribes” and “Broken Contract.” They are standing before Uncle Sam who is wearing the judicial robes of the judge. Caption: The Justice — You’ve distrubed the peace long enough and I’ve a mind to sentence you to hard labor – a most severe sentence in your case.
Just at the time when President Roosevelt’s intervention in the Anthracite Coal Strike the previous year indicated a thaw in the perception of labor unions and strikes in the minds of the public and the government, there was an uptick in labor violence and major union-related public disruptions. At the center of many workers’ actions were “Walking Delegates,” originally regarded as mere representatives of national labor organizations. Then, their roles changed and they were often regarded as agents provocateurs. Cartoonists often depicted them as bloated leeches, taking advantage of workers through onerous union dues. Finally they were seen — and sometimes were — plotters of violence during strikes, andb attacks on “scabs,” worker who crossed strike-lines.
A labor union “Walking Delegate” with one hand pulls money from the pocket of a diminutive figure labeled “Employer” and with the other hand pulls money from the pocket of another diminutive figure labeled “Working Man.”
This cartoon is one many that Puck published criticizing “Walking Delegates,” the title given to union organizers, labor representatives, negotiators, and, sometimes, advocates of strikes and everything in between. Their roles in the rise of organized labor in America are therefore varied.
A large, angry female figure representing Justice draws a sword labeled “Law and Order” as she strides toward striking union laborers who, taking the law into their own hands, are beating a “non union” worker and burning another tied to a tree. A factory is in flames in the background.
Largely forgotten today is the labor strife of the 1890s until World War I in America. A few famous clashes populate the history books: Homestead, the Pullman Strike, the Ludlow (Colorado) Massacre, in industries from mines to textile factories, and a radicalized labor movement, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) at the extreme, but there many local strikes and confrontations. Many of these resulted in deaths and injuries.