Oxnard, H. T. (Henry Thomas), 1860-1922

Cartoon shows Theodore Roosevelt and Republican House Majority Leader Sereno Elisha Payne tightening a knot in a cord “Tariff Law 1897 [paragraph] 209 16 Dutch” around the waist of a man “Cuba” holding a “cane knife.” On the right, the cord is cut into money by the head of the American Sugar Refining Company, Henry O. Havemeyer. The money falls into bags labeled “Sugar Trust Profits.” On the left, the head of American Crystal Sugar Company, Henry Thomas Oxnard pulls on Roosevelt’s coat tails. A sugar beet protrudes from the back of Oxnard. A legend at the bottom provides quotes concerning the Roosevelt administration, sugar growing and refining interests, Congress and Cuban industrialists related to reciprocity, Cuban annexation and trade.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1902

Cartoon shows an unidentified man, possibly Attorney General Philander Knox, on the left holding sheet “Remove Dutch standard technicality 209 Tariff Law 1897” and H. T. Oxnard on the right holding a sheet “Remove 12 1/2 [cent] per. 100 lbs. on refined.” They stand on either side of a billboard, “57th Congress. Solutions wanted. Reward offered. Prevent Cuba’s annexation? Protect American beet sugars? Protect Louisiana cane sugars? Break sugar refiner monopolies? Preserve Republican harmony? Help Cuban sugar planters? Protect Puerto Rico sugars? Explanation 209 Tariff Law 1897. April 18, ’02.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1903

Cartoon shows President Roosevelt sitting in front of the U.S. Capitol reciting his June 13, 1902 message to Congress. On the left is a Cuban cannon firing a shot through a rolled sheet of paper, “Cuban reciprocity proposition except light colored sugar” as the head of the American Crystal Sugar Company, H. T. Oxnard, labeled “Beet sugar,” flees. On the right is a San Domingo cannon firing a shot through a rolled sheet of paper, “Dominican reciprocity offer, % reduction no exceptions” as a man “Sugar Trust” sends a telegram that fires the Cuban cannon.

Comments and Context

 

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

The writer discusses the current political situation in California. He believes the state of California will largely vote Republican for the Congressional races.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-09-02

A diminutive President Roosevelt stands on Wall Street, holding a large sword labeled “Public Service” before giant capitalist ogres labeled “J. J. Hill” holding a club labeled “Merger,” “Morgan” holding a club labeled “High Finance,” and “Rockefeller, Oxnard, [and] Gould.”

Comments and Context

Cavernous Wall Street, with Trinity Church at its western end, and the statue of George Washington marking the spot where the first president took his first oath of office, is pictured in realistic proportions in Joseph Keppler’s cartoon. But then the prerogatives of a cartoonist: the financial titans of Wall Street are oversized, and the President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, is diminutive.

As the context of Puck‘s other cartoons and commentary prove, the influential magazine was neither criticizing Roosevelt nor being unduly deferential to the trust magnates. Keppler conceptualized the relatives positions of government and corporate capitalism in 1904 — not at all as Roosevelt the “Trust-Buster” saw things; perhaps hyperbolic in the eyes of the general public; and eminently proper in the view of Wall Street’s titans.

President Roosevelt hopes Senator Payne can push an amendment to the present Philippine bill in the House reducing the tariff to fifty percent. Roosevelt reminds Payne this is a compromise, as Secretary of War William H. Taft wants it to be reduced to twenty-five percent. New York Senator Thomas Collier Platt and beet sugar manufacturer H. T. Oxnard are both willing to accept fifty percent.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-24