New York (State)--New York--Wall Street

Speech delivered by William H. Taft

Secretary of War Taft discusses the “misuse and abuse” that has led to the concentration of capital “in the hands of the comparatively few,” and the demand of the public for legislation to restrain, regulate, and supervise “the exercise of the mighty means of good and evil which organized capital has proven to be.” Taft stresses, however, it is important to keep in mind that wealth used as capital for the production of goods and services is essential to the life and comfort of the people, and without it, the country would not have prospered. Taft provides a history of government involvement in regulating “organized capital” through legislation and discusses present efforts to expand the rights of laborers.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-29

Creator(s)

Taft, William H. (William Howard), 1857-1930

Letter from George von Lengerke Meyer to Theodore Roosevelt

Ambassador Meyer writes to President Roosevelt regarding his dinner meeting with English Ambassador Egerton and Egerton’s words about the Russian loan. Meyer then mentions his discussion with the King who anticipates Meyer’s move to Saint Petersburg, Russia. The King foresees Russian conflict over China, shares his bad experience involving his tampered letters in Russia, and describes a case in Saint Petersburg involving an Italian Embassy official being bribed by someone seeking to crack the telegraph code.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-02-14

Creator(s)

Meyer, George von Lengerke, 1858-1918

American affairs

A. Maurice Low writes for The National Review that President Roosevelt “as a candidate is self-restrained, modest to the verge of extreme caution, commonplace almost to decrepit dullness.” Low also argues that many “Wall Street men” make up Roosevelt’s supporters.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-09

Creator(s)

Low, A. Maurice (Alfred Maurice), 1860-1929

Letter from Leslie M. Shaw to Theodore Roosevelt

Secretary of the Treasury Shaw writes to President Roosevelt to express his confidence in the success of the Republican Presidential campaign and to say that Judge Alton B. Parker is not inspiring voters. He expresses his opinion that Missouri’s electoral votes will go to Roosevelt, largely on anti-Wall Street feeling. He also sends his schedule for the coming week and expresses his appreciation for Roosevelt’s letter of acceptance.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-09-21

Creator(s)

Shaw, Leslie M. (Leslie Mortier), 1848-1932

Letter from Franklin Matthews to Theodore Roosevelt

Franklin Matthews writes a letter of apology and explanation to President Roosevelt why an interview given by Roosevelt and the article written by Matthews did not appear in Harper’s Weekly. Matthews believes Harper’s Weekly management may have been afraid to print the article due to the possibility of offending Wall Street investors related to the magazine.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-05-22

Creator(s)

Matthews, Franklin, 1858-1917

Statement from a Wall Street Banker

A Wall Street banker summarizes the Panic of 1907. They describe the weak banking laws which created the precarious conditions on Wall Street, and how J.P. Morgan & Co. took advantage of these conditions to achieve the “greatest financial confiscation the world has ever known.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907

Creator(s)

Unknown

Letter from Henry White to Theodore Roosevelt

Henry White reports information he has learned since returning to London that might provide insight into the prospects of President Roosevelt’s renomination and reelection. Josiah Quincy reported that the Democrats do not feel they have a chance of winning. Craig W. Wadsworth also learned that Democrats do not believe that they will win. White delivered Roosevelt’s messages to various people. He also says that the sentiment on Wall Street regarding Roosevelt has changed, and that his nomination now seems more likely.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-02-05

Creator(s)

White, Henry, 1850-1927

Credit assassinated by the President

A market letter sent to investors by well-known investment firm Dick Bros. & Co. The letter is highly critical of President Roosevelt and his actions surrounding the financial panic, calling him a “Mad Messiah” and describing Roosevelt’s recent hunting trip “with swashbucklers and clowns” as “pursuing bobcats and slaying semi-domestic fat bears” at a time when Wall Street is in crisis.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-12-13

Creator(s)

Unknown

Wagner’s Wall Street warnings: extract from advertisements in the Public Press January to May, 1907

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

Creator(s)

Unknown

Letter from Amasa Pierce Thornton to Theodore Roosevelt

Amasa Pierce Thornton thinks it “practically settled” that Alton B. Parker will be the Democratic nominee for President and cites Parker’s favorable decisions to labor as the reason. With President Roosevelt and Parker both hailing from New York, Thornton notes that one of them will lose his home state and opines that there is presently “a good deal of dissatisfaction” over President Roosevelt there. Weighing the factors at play, though, Thornton predicts that New York will go to Roosevelt, and when he returns from Europe, Thornton will be “ready to take off my coat” to campaign for him. As for the gubernatorial election, he believes that Governor Benjamin B. Odell is right in stepping down and believes the Republican candidate should be Cornelius Newton Bliss because of his business standing, party loyalty, and great friendship with President William McKinley.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-04-25

Creator(s)

Thornton, Amasa Pierce, 1854-1917

Letter from Nicholas Murray Butler to Theodore Roosevelt

Nicholas Murray Butler discusses the articles of Lincoln Steffens that discuss President Roosevelt’s reelection. He writes that he is unsure of Steffens’s political aims but believes he is writing his article about Roosevelt merely for success as a journalist.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-03-02

Creator(s)

Butler, Nicholas Murray, 1862-1947

Looking around

There is growing evidence that the “Wall Street contingent” is searching for an alternate candidate to support in opposition to President Roosevelt. An initial favorite was Senator Hanna and current gossip reports growing support for Senator Quay. The first choice of the people remains Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-01-16

Creator(s)

Unknown

What Wall Street would have you believe

Black ink cartoon featuring President Roosevelt pouring something from a bottle into a cup and smoking a cigarette. Roosevelt is surrounded by empty bottles and lit cigarettes on the floor.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site

Creation Date

1908-04-22

Creator(s)

Glackens, L. M. (Louis M.), 1866-1933

Dame rumor

An old hag sits on a large ticker tape machine, on Wall Street, spewing “Inside Information,” “False Financial News,” and rumors that ensnare large groups of investors. Caption: The witch of Wall Street.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1909-09-08

Creator(s)

Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956

The moths and the candle

Print shows Cyrus W. Field and Jay Gould as parts of a candle holder labeled “Wall Street” with a candle burning the flame of “Speculation.” The candle draws moths with their savings to the light, and as the moths get too close to the flame, they die and drop their savings into the “Wall Street” candle holder.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-04-26

Creator(s)

Graetz, F. (Friedrich), approximately 1840-approximately 1913

Jay Gould’s private bowling alley

Print shows Jay Gould bowling on Wall Street using bowling balls labeled “Private Press, General Unscrupulousness, False Reports, [and] Trickery” to knock down pins labeled “Banker, Small Operator, Speculator, Stock Dabbler, Broker, Inexperienced Investor, Capitalist, [and] Curb Stone Broker.” At the right is a slate showing Gould’s holdings in various railroads, “Western Union, Missouri Pacific, Manhattan ‘L’, Wabash, New York Metr. ‘L’, [and] Wabash Preferred” totaling “53,000,000.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-03-29

Creator(s)

Opper, Frederick Burr, 1857-1937

The “Little Napoleon of Wall Street” in exile

Ferdinand Ward, as Napoleon I, sits on a pile of stones labeled “Ludlow St. St. Helena” in the middle of a river with the New York City skyline behind him. Some of the signs on buildings state “I don’t know Ferdinand Ward,” “His name is familiar, but I can’t place him,” “I never had anything to do with Ward,” and “Never heard of Ward.” Caption: The friends of his “flush” days don’t care to know him now.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-10-21

Creator(s)

Opper, Frederick Burr, 1857-1937

Santa Claus in Wall Street

An angry mob of bankers, brokers, and financiers threaten Santa Claus who is hanging off the statue of George Washington outside Federal Hall in Manhattan, New York City, New York. Caption: Chorus of Bankers and Brokers — Just say Christmas to us this year, that’s all! We dare you!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1913-12-10

Creator(s)

Ehrhart, S. D. (Samuel D.), approximately 1862-1937

Wall Street and the nouveau poor

In a bird’s-eye view of Wall Street, an innocent lamb is standing in the middle of the deserted financial district. The surrounding vignettes show a society matron serving a banquet of hot dogs; a man buying eggs cheap, then trying to sell them to a stockbroker for 50 cents a dozen; an elderly man drinking wine with a beautiful young woman “Before the War,” “And Now” disgruntled and at home with his wife; and three businessmen sitting on steps outside Federal Hall, quaffing lunch from a “full dinner pail.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1914-11-07

Creator(s)

Mayer, Henry, 1868-1954

Cut-throat business in Wall Street. How the inexperienced lose their heads

Print shows William H. Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, Russell Sage and James R. Keene checking ticker tape connected to a large straight-edge razor labeled “Wade in & Butcher’em” and “This Indicator Rises & Falls with Stocks” with a bear and a bull and several money bags labeled “$” balanced on the back of the blade; below, draped over the handle are many investors reaching for bundles of “Pacific Mail, Western Union, [and] Erie” stocks, the blade is poised to drop. In the background another group of investors labeled “The Lambs Brigade” are headed into the “N.Y. Stock Exchange”.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1881-09-07

Creator(s)

Keppler, Joseph Ferdinand, 1838-1894