Privileges and immunities

Attorney General Bonaparte acknowledges receipt of William Loeb’s letter regarding enforcement of the law regarding alcohol sales in Indian Territory. Bonaparte also lists his thoughts regarding the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company immunity. If the action is deferred until after a decision in the court of appeals, it would cause a delay of many months. Bonaparte informs President Roosevelt that he is willing to read the entire testimony if Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis assembles it. At the end, Bonaparte includes a copy of a telegram he received about another instance of a request for immunity.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-09-09

Leslie M. Shaw is glad that President Roosevelt will be meeting with a committee of railroad men. Shaw notes that “at least three-fourths of the accumulated wealth of the United States has been unearned,” referring to value increases of land and real property over time. The difficulty is in how to “adjust matters that every man who has contributed capital or effort toward the development of our country shall have his fair share of the results of American effort.” Shaw identifies the corporate evils in the railroad industry as rooted in granting rebates and special privileges, and corporate control of corporations.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-03-14

President Roosevelt holds a rifle and looks at a “notice” that reads, “Bears Immunity Bath–Don’t Shoot Mr. President,” as he watches several bears dive into the water.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Cartoonist Claude Maybell of the Brooklyn Eagle combines the contemporary themes of President Roosevelt’s black-bear hunt in the Louisiana canebrakes and another string of current events — not a putative third term, as some cartoonists seized upon as a theme; not the “Nature Fakir” controversy then attracting attention.

A bear points at “evidence” tracks that President Roosevelt and a “guide” are following to find him. Caption: The Bear: Hold up, Mr. President. Don’t shoot till you hear my argument. You have tracked me here on my own evidence voluntarily given. Now don’t that entitle me to an immunity bath?

comments and context

Comments and Context

Jay N. “Ding” Darling’s cartoon, with President Roosevelt’s two-week black bear hunt in Louisiana about to begin, might seem to be a comment on the famous “Nature Fakir” controversy of the time. A talking bear pleading for mercy, as would a lawyer?

President Roosevelt walks into a clearing of animals with his rifle where a snake, bear, cougar, and rabbit holding signs that read “Immune. I’m a ‘practical’ varmint,” “Immune. Grandfather of the teddy-bear,” “Immune. Testified against fakirs,” and “Immune. A friend of John Burroughs.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

W. A. Rogers, a nationally celebrated cartoonist of thirty years’ work, was not above falling back on tired themes. Theodore Roosevelt’s passion for hunting, the apparent contradiction of his fervent conservation work with that passion, and the comic possibilities inherent in anthropomorphic creatures made cartoons like this virtually inevitable, and frequent.

President Roosevelt walks into a clearing of animals with his rifle where a snake, bear, cougar, and rabbit holding signs that read “Immune. I’m a ‘practical’ varmint,” “Immune. Grandfather of the teddy-bear,” “Immune. Testified against fakirs,” and “Immune. A friend of John Burroughs.” Caption: Prepared.

comments and context

Comments and Context

President Roosevelt went on an extended bear hunt near Stamboul, Louisiana, between October 6 and October 19, a rather long vacation away from the public in the middle of an extended speaking tour. It was in a part of the country, the canebrakes stretching between Mississippi and Louisiana, where a bear hunt early in his presidency, where the incident leading to the legend of the teddy bear arose.

A troop of soldiers wearing red coats, some labeled “Clothing Trust, Franchise Grabber, Food Trust, [and] Land Trust,” march past Daniel Chester French’s sculpture, “The Minute Man.” Among the soldiers are Nelson W. Aldrich wearing a miter and carrying a flag decorated with an emblem of a crowned hand pointing thumb-down in a squashing gesture, John Dalzell, J. S. Sherman, and Sereno Elisha Payne. Joseph Gurney Cannon is pictured kissing the boot of a fat officer labeled “Privilege” riding on a horse. In the background, more red coats are ransacking “The American Home” and tearing down the American flag.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Udo J. Keppler’s Fourth of July cartoon was a scathing indictment of the American economy, 1909, and specifically a gallery of politicians and business leaders he portrayed as dismissive of patriots and patriotism.