Your TR Source
President Roosevelt is on the hunt as a bear, a sheep labeled “the weakling,” and a rhinoceros labeled “new finance” run away while an octopus wrapped in a tree and a bull stay out of the way. In the background is a “muck rake” and a goat labeled “E.H.H.” on a mountain, “reserved for scape-goats.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-05-25
President Roosevelt throws a “message” that explodes underneath a “Standard Oil” company octopus that holds a “never touched me!” paper. The explosion sends several bears and two lambs flying. “Stocks” bulls look over “The Street” wall to see what is happening. Commissioner of Corporations at the Department of Commerce and Labor James Rudolph Garfield also watches around a corner of the wall.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-05-07
President Roosevelt jousts with a “trust” octopus as he holds a dove in his right hand. “San Juan Hill” is in the background.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-09-02
A Russian man stands on a rowboat, using an axe labeled “Nat’l Assembly” to battle an octopus labeled “Bureaucracy.” The octopus wears a crown and royal robe, and its tentacles are labeled “Graft, Exile, Oppressive Taxation, Despotism, Religious Intolerance, Cossackism, Incompetence, [and] Greed.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1905-06-21
A “Standard Oil” storage tank appears as an octopus with many tentacles. It is wrapped around the steel, copper, and shipping industries, as well as a state house and the U.S. Capitol, and one tentacle is reaching for the White House.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1904-09-07
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”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1901-10-23
An octopus with the head of a French military officer (which may represent General Boisdeffre or General Gonse), wearing a plumed hat labeled “Militarism,” has settled over Paris, France, with its tentacles extending in all directions. The tentacles are labeled “Deception, Dishonor, Forgery, Assassination, Corruption, Falsehood, [and] Blackmail.” Caught in their grasp are military officers Georges “Picquart” and Alfred “Dreyfus,” two female figures labeled “Honor” and “Justice,” and the author Émile “Zola” holding a quill pen labeled “J’Accuse.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1898-10-26
President Wilson is about to shoot a harpoon into an octopus labeled “Interlocking Directorates” that has a grip on his boat labeled “Business Freedom.” Uncle Sam is sitting at the back of the boat with a long pole.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1914-01-31
In a four panel cartoon, four Puck cartoonists each take a panel in an effort to solve the issue of Mormonism. Clockwise from bottom left, captioned, “I imagine it must be a perfect paradise–Keppler,” Joseph Keppler places himself at the center of a harem, smoking a hookah signed “J.K.” and surrounded by beautiful women, one bringing a bottle of “G.H. Mumm” champagne. At top left, captioned, “I think one wife is enough–Gillam,” Bernhard Gillam shows a domestic scene at his home where he, labeled “Small Income,” his coattails in the clutches of his wife, attempts to avoid being struck by her with a fireplace scoop, while “My Wife’s Relations” stand behind her. At top right, captioned, “How long will this destructive monster be allowed to live?–Opper,” Frederick Opper is shown gesturing toward a large octopus labeled “Mormonism” that has caught in its tentacles “S.J.T., Uncle Sam, Public Opinion, Y.M.C.A., Public School System, Justice, Independent New Party, W.H.V., Field, Gould, Kelly, [a] New York Dive, [and the] Catholic Church,” as well as Benjamin Butler, the U.S. Capitol, and reaching all the way to “Ireland.” On the bottom right, captioned, “What is the use of Mormonism, when a man can change his wife whenever he likes?–Graetz,” Friedrich Graetz stands in the foreground gesturing toward hordes of men rushing to get divorced on “Saturday. Divorce day in Chicago,” and at places advertising “Divorces without publicity, Divorces procured without delay. Liberal charges, [and] Divorces obtained for $5.00.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-02-13