Lawson, Thomas William, 1857-1925

President Roosevelt celebrates his forty-ninth birthday with a variety of friends. In the upper left hand corner at the piano are New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes and Thomas Fortune Ryan singing, “Oh let us be joyful.” Booker T. Washington tells Henry Watterson, “Henry, I hope you’ll come down and visit me at Tuskegee.” Senator Joseph Benson Foraker says to Secretary of War William H. Taft, “I heard a good story today, Will.” Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon and Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks look at a picture of George Washington, and Fairbanks says, “That picture makes me sad. It reminds me of cherries.” William Randolph Hearst, James Roscoe Day, and Secretary of State Elihu Root look at a book of “Snapshots in New York.” William Jennings Bryan and Grover Cleveland play a game of checkers, and Bryan says, “After you, Grover.” J. Pierpont Morgan watches over the game with his hand on Bryan’s back. Henry Huttleston Rogers, F. Augustus Heinze, and Thomas William Lawson sit together. Lawson says, “Rogers, my boy, you must come over to Boston and visit me.” John D. Rockefeller points at Kenesaw Mountain Landis’s chest while President Roosevelt presents a bouquet to James J. Hill as William J. Long looks on. Finally, James T. Harahan, Edward Henry Harriman, and Stuyvesant Fish read “Snap Shots Along the Illinois Central.” Harriman remarks, “Very nice album, Stuyvesant, is it not?”

comments and context

Comments and Context

There are contexts behind this cartoon by John T. McCutcheon of The Chicago Tribune that might not be apparent to modern researchers. The first is somewhat evident by reading the dialog balloons between figures in the pairings or clusters. Almost appropriate for an April Fool’s cartoon instead of something closer to Halloween is the ironic juxtaposition in every case — political opponents or business rivals exchanging niceties. In fact, insights might be gained by reading the nature of their “about-face” encounters.

Thomas William Lawson stands among Christmas gifts and a notice posted on the wall, which states “Christmas Greeting to Lawson Put all insurance proxies in your possession on the State House Steps by 11:15 to night or–!!!” Lawson is surrounded by such gifts as a box of “Dynamite Perfectos Smoke Up! [from] Addicks,” a box of “Poisoned Candy Merry Xmas from McCall,” a large box labeled “Infernal Machine Best wishes of Wall St.,” a large jug with a skull and crossbones labeled “Drink Hearty from PA McCurdy,” a smoking bomb labeled “To Tom from John D.” nestled among flowers “From Rogers,” and a sword “From Hyde.” In the background is a Christmas tree with an oil can and one ornament showing a face.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Udo J. Keppler’s cartoon is a caricature of Thomas William Lawson, whose 14 magazine articles, collected in a sensationalist best-selling book, Frenzied Finance, marked him at the time and in subsequent history as a prototypical Muckraker on a par with Upton Sinclair (the meat industry), Ida M. Tarbell (Standard Oil), and Samuel Hopkins Adams (medicines). Lawson’s expose was of the mining business, specifically Amalgamated Copper and related companies.

A large group of politicians and journalists appear as knights on a crusade against graft and corruption. Many carry large pens like a lance. Periodicals mentioned are “Colliers, Harper’s Weekly, Life, Puck, [and] McClure’s” Magazine. Caption: Marching embattled ‘gainst the Saracens of Graft.

comments and context

Comments and Context

This cartoon by Carl Hassmann, which resembles a poster, could indeed be a historian’s guide to the leading crusading Muckrakers of the day (circa 1906, the high-water mark of reform before the Progressive Era and certainly in journalism and books). The double-page cartoon is a panegyric to the movement, a paean to the personalities.

Eight men and one woman are seated or standing around a table. Each is identified with a Cabinet position: J.P. Morgan as “Sec’y Navy,” Thomas W. Lawson as “Sec’y War,” Thomas F. Ryan as “Att’y Gen’l,” James J. Hill as “Sec’y Int,” James H. Hyde as “Sec’y Com. and Lab.”, Russell Sage as “Sec’y Agric,” Henrietta “Hetty” Green as “Post Mistress Gen’l,” Andrew Carnegie as “Sec’y State,” and John D. Rockefeller as “Sec’y Treas.” Setting on the table is a statue labeled “Golden Calf,” and hanging on the wall are portraits of “Midas” and “Croesus.” On the far left is a ticker tape machine. Caption: “There is not in my Cabinet one man to whom it is not a financial disadvantage to stay in the Cabinet.”–President Roosevelt at Asbury Park.

comments and context

Comments and Context

This cartoon by Joseph Keppler, Junior, is more of an ad hominem attack on personalities than Puck was used to make. There is no political or policy subtext, either about the Roosevelt cabinet as the president is quoted describing. Nor were any of the moguls at the table imminent appointees. This is merely having fun (except for the obvious venom in the depictions) with Roosevelt’s statement about the financial status of his department secretaries.

Thomas W. Lawson, as Orpheus, plays a lyre while sitting beneath a tree on a hillside in a pastoral setting. In the foreground are John D. Rockefeller, James R. Keene, J. Edward Addicks, and Henry H. Rogers as wild animals that have become entranced by the music. In the middle distance, a sheep lies on its back.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The mythical Greek god, repository of perhaps the most attributes and personality traits of any god, added facets and powers in various tales through the centuries. No manifestation was more unlikely than in the person of Thomas W. Lawson in this Puck cartoon by Joseph Keppler Junior.

Thomas W. Lawson, with his America’s Cup entry “Independence,” and Nathanael G. Herreshoff with his America’s Cup entry “Constitution,” console each other after their yachts initially were denied entry in the America’s Cup challenge in 1901.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Thomas W. Lawson was a wealthy American financier born into poverty and, ironically, lived in poverty when he died. One of his passions was yacht racing. He balked at the requirement to join the New York Yacht Club in order to race his yacht “Independence” in the 1901 America’s Cup. Several years after this cartoon, the rebellious Lawson wrote a series of magazine articles, “Frenzied Finance,” discussing corruption among the business class “from the inside,” and became one of the early Muckrakers. This cartoon is a snapshot in time: Nathaniel Greene Herreshoff built the yacht “Constitution” for J. P. Morgan. It encountered initial problems in registering for the race, but eventually the “Constitution” was ratified, raced, and won the America’s Cup in 1901, the second cup for a boat designed and built by Herreshoff.

Seth Low informs Emerson Hough that he has followed the advice of John O’Hara Cosgrave and has given Thomas William Lawson permission to print Hough’s article as an advertisement at his own expense. Low does not believe there is any market for selling the article, as no one would dare publish it, so this is the only way to get it into print. If Hough prints the article during the week of the Republican National Convention, however, Low thinks that it would be very profitable, and instructs Hough to print 100,000 copies to sell. Low will meet up with Hough in Chicago, but says that Hough should make arrangements with the ‘street fakirs’ for these to be sold.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-06-11

John Adams Thayer shares his idea of starting a national journal with President Roosevelt, which Roosevelt would edit post-presidency. Such a publication would give Roosevelt free rein to discuss the country’s problems and act for the common good.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-08-12

John D. Rockefeller sits in a rocking chair and talks to a group of children–President Roosevelt, Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte, Ida M. Tarbell, Frank B. Kellogg, Thomas William Lawson, and a “muck rake” cat. A “Standard Oil” lamp lights the room. Caption: “Now, children, I’ll tell you the story of my life.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

“Spin Doctors” and the machinery of public-relations campaigns are not new to the twenty-first century. John D. Rockefeller had become well known and well off — reportedly the world’s richest man — since discovering oil in western Pennsylvania as a young man. He then discovered, as did others, what could done with oil, gas, gasoline, petroleum, and many byproducts. On his path to wealth, he controlled and often monopolized other businesses, in “vertical” and “horizontal” means; as well as people, banks, and politicians.

Daniel Davenport speaks to the Chautauqua society in Clarinda, Iowa, about the inadvisability of allowing the Interstate Commerce Commission to set railroad rates instead of the railroad owners. Davenport argues that this would lead to an increase in freight rates through a mileage tax, which would negatively impact the ability of western farmers to sell their goods throughout the country.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-08-16

A series of newspaper articles warn about a bear market during the Ides of March on Wall Street.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-05-22