Bedlam!
“Hot air” comes out of the “Rep. National Committee” as a bright sun in the shape of President Roosevelt’s face shines. A Republican elephant with “Standard Oil exposure” tied to its tail and “my policies” tied to one leg kicks Senator Joseph Benson Foraker. Foraker says, “I got mine, boys.” On the side is a “steamroller” and Frank H. Hitchcock, who has a “big can” tied to his suit, running away and saying, “I’m the original fall guy.” J. S. Sherman uses a net to attempt to capture a “vice presidency” bug and says, “I’ve got it!” while Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon stands on a stump, holding a “gag rule” gavel and a “Speech in Kansas,” and says, “And no one can boss me, d—n it.” Finally, William H. Taft rides Roosevelt’s big stick in circles and says, “I’m the heir to the Roosevelt policies and the best friend labor ever had.”
Comments and Context
In a genre drawing that might have made Breughel, or Bosch, seem modest, political cartoonist Edward McBride dipped his pen in venom as well as ink, and indicted a panoply of Republicans during the campaign of 1908. There is more malice than logic in the representations, and many characters are depicted engaged in pursuits that seem ad hominem.
President Roosevelt, for instance, is the sun warming the whole scene, and (presumably) cursing despite his toothy grin. Most of the drawings are self-explanatory, but a couple notes might be helpful. Senator Joseph Foraker of Ohio had recently been scorched by revelations from purloined letters in the Standard Oil files of corruption between the senator and the corporation. The exposure damaged his campaign for reelection.
