Merchants

A merchant labeled “Dealer in Protected Goods” stands in a customhouse, with a whip which forms the words “Protective Tariff Bought from Congress.” A paper labeled “Bribe” extends from his pocket. Horrified travelers watch as custom officials search their luggage for contraband. Caption: Home-coming Americans must submit to these indignities as long as the favored merchant is allowed to retain his whip.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Keppler’s cartoon is an exercise in hyperbole… but that often is a stock-in-trade for political cartoons. Not every tourist in the era of high protective tariffs was subject to taxation for single items brought home after vacations. However, high-ticket items were targeted and taxed often enough that a growing chorus of complaints arose. 

President Roosevelt is pleased by what Nevada N. Stranahan, Collector of the Port of New York, tells him. While he has been pessimistic about New York, he now believes they will carry it. Roosevelt has instructed Secretary of the Treasury Shaw to write to Stranahan about the man Senator Platt recommended for the position on the Board of Appraisers. Roosevelt thinks Governor Odell will approve of the man, but thinks it more important that he be someone the merchants and lawyers are satisfied with.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-13

President Roosevelt would like Augustus D. Juilliard to see some of the members of the Merchants’ Association, who take the opposite position.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-11-05

Ludwig Nissen suggests that Secretary of the Treasury Shaw make an effort to stop newspapers from discrediting the economic policies of the administration. Nissen tells Shaw that newspapers should give him more credit for helping businessmen, rather than portraying him as helping speculators.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-24

Hermann Speck von Sternburg explains to William Loeb that an enclosed telegram is from a German wine merchant who is a “harmless fellow.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-01-04

Secretary of Commerce and Labor Metcalf writes to William Loeb regarding a letter from the San Francisco Merchants Exchange to President Roosevelt. Metcalf requests to meet with Roosevelt before Roosevelt responds to the letter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-11-23

The Merchants Exchange reviews the status of the boycott of American goods in China and ventures to bring its serious condition to the attention of President Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-11-06

Collection

Charles C. Myers Collection

Creation Date

1908

Creator(s)

Unknown

Language

English

A nonfiction book about determining the average cost of living in the twelfth century in Europe. The first eight pages are included in this record.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-09

Uncle Sam stands in front of a class of men, including a “shopman,” “manufacturer,” “railroad man,” “lawyer,” “farmer,” “banker,” and “merchant,” and instructs them on a document titled “President on the live issues,” which each man holds a copy of. Caption: The teacher—”Our first reading lesson will be the article entitled, ‘President on the Live Issues,’ beginning on page one. We will continue through to the end as it is one of the best things that has been written.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-09-12

Print shows at center, a “Profits” driven retail salesman who lets his merchandise go “Cheap” and at a “Bargain” through an “Easy Payments” plan depicted in the jaws of a trap. An “Agreement”is also depicted in the jaws of a trap, that states “Goods forfeited if instalment [sic] not paid when due”. Vignettes surrounding the central figure show such merchandise as chairs, carpets, beds, “the Baby-Carriage”, a stove, sewing machine, and the dinner table, being “carried off” for failure to pay on time.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-09-12

Charles S. Hamlin speaks on behalf of merchants and those in transportation along the border of the United States and Canada who are concerned about the recommendation of Commissioner Powderly to limit the border crossings of Chinese merchants. Such an act would be disastrous to New England merchants, especially for those involved in the cotton trade. Hamlin hopes that President Roosevelt will make no such radical recommendation to Congress.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-11-27