Municipal officials and employees

A large octopus with the face of Richard Croker sits on top of “N.Y. City Hall” with its tentacles labeled “Tax Department, Fire Dept., Garbage Contract Job, Ramapo Job, Blackmail, Building Dept., Ice Trust, [and] Dock Dept.” A sign on City Hall states “‘For my own pocket all the time.’ R. Croker”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Richard Croker was the “boss” of Tammany Hall, the New York City Democratic organization, and thus the virtual boss of New York politics. Croker, the successor to Boss Tweed and John Kelly held sway despite occasional and short-lived reform waves, largely by an entrenched system — as an octopus using all of its tentacles — and persuasive control of immigrants. Croker was an Irish immigrant, and at the time of this cartoon, betook his immense ill-gotten wealth to Ireland and England, where he lived in splendor, raised racing horses, and controlled New York as an absentee. Times caught up with him, however: election losses, several scandals such as mismanaging New York’s Ice trust during a heat wave, and another reform wave (the Citizens Union, a taste for fusion tickets of honest citizens, and crusaders like Seth Low, former mayor of Brooklyn and shortly after this cartoon mayor of the consolidated New York City) forced his timely retirement from politics.

Cartoon showing Richard Croker, leader of New York City’s Democrat machine Tammany Hall, as a laborer carrying a block of ice labeled “Ice Trust” and a sheet of paper “N.Y Dock privileges;” he cries out, “Stop thief,” while himself being pursued by an angry mob of citizens.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Richard Croker, the boss of New York City’s corrupt Democratic machine Tammany Hall, ruled his domain so strongly that he even lived away from New York for three years — in England, where the Irish-born politician raised racehorses on an estate — controlling events through cables and assistants. However, in 1900 the city was in a crisis, a heat wave where ice prices doubled. The poor suffered, but the commodity was in the hands of one supplier, the American Ice Company, owned by Charles Morse. Among Croker’s emoluments were “gifts” of stock in the ice company, more properly the “ice trust,” or monopoly. The public was outraged, especially as Croker tried to hide behind criticism of trusts in general. He eventually quit politics, succeeded at Tammany Hall by Charles F. Murphy.

President Roosevelt asks if Mayor Low would like J. Edward Swanstrom to run again for borough president of Brooklyn, New York.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-07-23

Senator Lodge is glad to hear President Roosevelt’s outlook on the upcoming elections. He has heard from Thomas J. Akins in Missouri that the Republicans have a good chance of carrying that state. Lodge also feels that New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes’s speeches out West have been helping the ticket. William Sturgis Bigelow has not acknowledged Roosevelt’s letter because the coin has not arrived yet. Lodge also discusses the situation in Europe. He warns Roosevelt that if Jeremiah J. McCarthy, Surveyor of the Port of Boston, appeals to him to appoint a Deputy Surveyor, he should get the facts from Reynolds before acting.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-10-09

William Emlen Roosevelt is not surprised by what President Roosevelt said in his letter about appointing Hamilton Fish’s successor as Assistant Treasurer of the United States. Emlen encloses a slip from a news bureau that was handed to him by Mr. Porter. He does not think the current campaign is pleasant, as people are more interested in mudslinging than paying attention to the issues. Finally, Emlen tells his cousin about the good time he had at the “Silver Wedding” and updates him on various family travels.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-10-07

Henry White received President Roosevelt’s letter but has waited until reaching Rome to answer it. White’s views on disarmament were sent in a confidential letter through the British Embassy’s dispatch bag. He has omitted any reference to Roosevelt’s observations about the German emperor although he has borrowed some of Roosevelt’s phraseology. White writes that Roosevelt’s action in Cuba was met with “universal admiration.” White saw the Chilean minister yesterday who said that Elihu Root’s visit there brought great comfort and was epoch making. Other topics in the letter include the German and Jesuit influence in the Vatican and the reputation of the emperor as an influencer, and White’s visit with the King of Italy and their discussion of new literacy-based immigration laws.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09-20

Thomas Collier Platt waves his top hat while riding on the back of a bucking donkey. The donkey is labeled “Tribune” and has the face of Whitelaw Reid, and is in the ring at the “G.O.P. Circus.” Among those in the audience is Chauncey M. Depew.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-02-05

Theodore Roosevelt informs Ambassador Sharp of Gouverneur Morris’s “honor and his good sense” and his desire to present the French case before the American people. Roosevelt states that all French civil and military officers who help him will be rendering a service to their country. Roosevelt also mentions Morris’s ancestry.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1915-06-03

Four men labeled “Tracy, Saxton, Morton, [and] Schieren” appear as children fighting to be the first to get up a ladder labeled “Rep. Nomination” and reach a large apple labeled “New York Governorship.” Caption: The boy that gets the ladder is the boy that gets the apple.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1894-07-18

Grover Cleveland, as William Tell, holds the hand of Franklin Edson, as his son, striding past a hat labeled “Tammany” perched atop a stick labeled “Ignorant Voters” around which Samuel S. Cox, Thomas F. Grady, Hubert O. Thompson, Francis B. Spinola, and others bow down. On the left, an enraged John Kelly sits on a donkey, commanding soldiers carrying a banner labeled “Board of Aldermen.” In the background, on the right, standing beneath a sign that states “Regular Democracy,” are a group of men that includes Samuel J. Tilden, William R. Grace, Abram S. Hewitt, and Edward Cooper.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-05-16

Grover Cleveland, former mayor of Buffalo and current governor of New York, is a bullfighter standing with his right foot on the head of a bison labeled “Buffalo Democracy” with one dart labeled “Veto Buffalo Fire Dept. Bill” stuck in its side. The weakened buffalo has collapsed on papers that state “Buffalo Politicians’ Demands,” and Cleveland’s red cape is labeled “Firmness.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-04-18

Rev. Dr. Howard Crosby holds a paper that states, “Petition for the Reduction of the Grog Shops in New York –Dr. Crosby.” He is standing in the “Council-Chamber of the New York Board of Aldermen,” facing a group of anthropomorphized liquor barrels, bottles, and jugs, some labeled “Rum Seller, Liquor Dealer, [and] Gin-Mill Keeper.” Caption: Chorus of Aldermen – “We will use our ‘very best judgement’ to assist this worthy movement.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-03-28

Franklin Edson lies on a dirt path labeled “Road to Honest Government,” hanging onto the tails of two hogs going in the opposite direction, one with the face of John Kelly, labeled “Tammany,” and the other labeled “County Dem.” wearing pince-nez labeled “H.O.T.” In the background is a road sign labeled “To Tammany Bossism” and “To County Bossism,” with New York City in the distance. Caption: He had better let them both go.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-01-03

Print shows Hugh McLaughlin with a label that states “Boss McLaughlin Hades”, thrown from a pitchfork labeled “Resignation” toward John Kelly who is roasting on a grill over flaming coals in “Hades”.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1881-11-09

Outgoing New York City Mayor Franklin Edson, with papers in his pocket labeled “Commr. of Public Works,” uses a drill labeled “Perfidy” to drill a hole in a ship labeled “New York Municipal Reform Government” that is about to be launched, with the dedication ceremony taking place in the background. At his feet is a paper that states “Bad Appointments to Cripple the Incoming Administration.” The two men standing to the right, on the “Citizens Dock,” may be John Kelly and Ira Davenport.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-12-10

Customs official Edward L. Hedden holds a balance scale labeled “H.O. Thompson’s Pat. Scales.” Weighing heavily on one side of the scale is a man wearing a pin-stripe suit, holding a bottle of “Rum,” and with papers extending from his pockets that state “Spoils-man, Ward Politician, Rum-shop Keeper, [and] Vote of the B’ys.” On the other side is a man with papers that state “Reputation, Integrity and Fitness, Navy Officer War Record, [and] 16 years creditable Service.” The center of the balance shows the face of Thompson. A paper that states “List of Removals by Order of H.O. Thompson” rests on a desk in the lower right.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-09-23

President Cleveland, as a pig farmer, gets tangled in leashes attached to the hind legs of several hogs, each with a distinctive brand, labeled “Hugh McLaughlin, H. O. Thompson, Higgins, Beattie,” and one labeled “Tammany Hall” that looks like John Kelly. One hog labeled “Hedden” has broken free and is headed for the “Spoils Hog Pen” in the background. Standing on the left, observing, are Benjamin F. Butler, an unidentified man, Joseph C. S. Blackburn, and John R. McLean. Road signs state “Road to Spoils,” “National X Roads,” and “Cleveland Civil Service Reform Road.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-09-30