Punishment

Isaac W. Heysinger sends Theodore Roosevelt an excerpt from The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Vol. XXXVI: Popular Tribunals, Vol. I describing a case of judicial recall that occurred in Oregon in 1852. The excerpt includes direct quotes from the book as well as portions summarized by Heysinger. The case involved the fight of two miners, Spenger and Sims, over the rights to a mining claim following an accident that left Sprenger crippled. After Justice Rogers ruled in favor of Sims, a popular tribunal was convened, reopening the case and charging Rogers with malfeasance. The people decided that Sprenger’s rights would be reinstated, and Rogers would have to resign.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-01-06

Alton B. Parker hides underneath a bed and says, “I will speak.” “Miss Democracy” watches him as she knits. Caption: Miss Democracy—(After punishing her candidate for his anti-imperialistic language), No Alton, you must stay where you are. Silence in your case is indeed golden.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-18

President Roosevelt asks Attorney General Bonaparte, about the case of Holton, which was brought to him by Post Office Inspector James E. Stuart. Stuart believes that Holton has served a sufficient time, and says that Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis and District Attorney Edwin Walter Sims concur in this and have recommended Holton’s pardon. Roosevelt asks Bonaparte to take up the case and report to him about it soon.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-19

Theodore Roosevelt says that if George von Lengerke Meyer is willing, Meyer can ride out with him. Roosevelt thinks the situation is a bad joke on him, as he “unwittingly increased the punishment for desertion” while he was President.

Collection

Massachusetts Historical Society

Creation Date

1911-02-07

Theodore Roosevelt writes to Secretary of the Navy Meyer regarding a young man about whom they have exchanged letters earlier, who has since taken Roosevelt’s advice and turned himself in. Roosevelt feels strongly that the Army and Navy deal too harshly with desertion in times of peace and that the severity of punishment contributes to the number of desertions. Major-General Edward Hamilton of the British Army found that it was better to show leniency. Roosevelt invites Meyer and his wife to visit him when Meyer attends the Lincoln dinner.

Collection

Massachusetts Historical Society

Creation Date

1911-01-20

Scenes of Hastings H. Hart, penologist, consultant in delinquency and penology for the Russell Sage Foundation, and recipient of the 1930 Roosevelt Medal for Distinguished Service for the promotion of social justice. Opening scene of Hart greeting two guard officers at what appears to be a prison building in New York State; long shot of Hart posing with group of inmates and guards; and medium view of Hart talking with an unidentified inmate in a jail cell.

Collection

Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound

Creation Date

1930

Print shows Justice sitting, blindfolded and holding her scales at her side, with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Standing at her feet is Puck holding a list of names that includes “Esterhazy, Paty de Clam, Mercier, Billot, Zurlinden, Boisdeffre, Gonse, Pellieux, Delagorgue, Perivier, Tezenas” and others. Caption: Puck (to French Justice) So far, so good, Madame! You have vindicated Dreyfus; but you must punish these criminals who persecuted him, before your work is done.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-06-28

Prisoners engage in various recreations while incarcerated at Sing Sing for white collar crime. Caption: For the benefit of our grafting financiers whose health breaks down from exposure.

Comments and Context

This cartoon by J. S. Pughe was not inspired by the coddling of prisoners, a putative situation that is charged, or confirmed, in cycles. Sing Sing Prison was a periodic site that, perhaps due to its 40-mile proximity up the Hudson River from the media center New York City, was alternately scorned or praised by reformers for its conditions.

Rather, the inspiration for Puck’s center-spread was the great number of business titans who were running afoul of the law at this time. There were “high visibility” exposes, investigations, scandals, arrests, divorces, and even murders among high society, politicians, and especially leaders of the corporate world, politics, and the labor movement.

A man dreams about enforcing the blue laws by punishing young men for playing baseball, a young woman for playing golf, even a young girl for picking flowers. He imagines them imploring him to allow them their particular Sunday pursuits.

Comments and Context

Since its inception in 1876, Puck Magazine was consistently skeptical on matters of faith and the practices of organized religion. Cartoons that addressed the general subjects included questions of science and evolution; putative hypocrisy of clerics; corruption among the clergy; financial, sex and other scandals of prominent divines; and churches’ support of “blue laws,” Prohibition, and Sunday closings.

These themes and criticisms by Puck‘s artists and editorial writers continued unabated through 1904, as in Ehrhart’s cartoon, which is not targeted at any particular clergyman. The sleeping cleric is not a caricature of any particular cleric, but the ink is mixed with standard venom attacking all.

Illustration showing an African American family on a small farm. In the background, a group of men, carrying rifles and a length of rope, are heading into a wooded area. Caption: Pete. — Am dis much bettah dan de ole slav’ry days, Uncle Tom? Uncle Tom. — I dunno, zac’ly. In dem times we wuz too valy’ble to be lynched!

Comments and Context

This cartoon is notable for several reasons. It is a powerful statement in a national humor magazine when opposition to lynching was controversial, even in many Northern areas. Moreover, the cartoonist Rose O’Neill, a pioneer female cartoonist, was chiefly known for humorous drawings of children and, eventually, her elfin “Kewpies,” cherubic beings who populated books and poems and strips, and spawned an industry of ceramic and plush toys — “Kewpie dolls.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

President Roosevelt is of the opinion that the punishment for desertions of a particular type is often too heavy, as it tends to punish enlisted men to a greater degree than officers. In the particular case he writes about, Roosevelt thinks that six months of punishment is all that should have been imposed, as the man turned himself in to stand trial. He asks for Secretary of the Navy Newberry’s opinion.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-06

President Roosevelt did not know that the telegraphs that he sent to Charles William Eliot, the president of Harvard College, would be made public, and now sends him a letter so that if the matter comes up in the future Roosevelt’s position would not be misstated. Roosevelt feels that the the removal of Sidney W. Fish and Charles C. Morgan was too severe. While Roosevelt agrees with the idea of enforcing honor from Harvard’s college students, he feels that the action taken in this case has had the opposite effect.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-07-10

President Roosevelt has read the letter from Assistant Secretary of War Robert Shaw Oliver, as well as the letter from Judge Advocate General of the Army George B. Davis. In Roosevelt’s opinion, the court-martials of Lieutenants John J. Moller and Claire R. Bennett were “an outrageous miscarriage of justice.” Roosevelt wishes he had the legal power to change the action of the court-martial and, barring that, informs Secretary of War Wright that he would like to punish them in any way that he can for as long as he is president for the damage they have done to the reputation of the army. (Moller and Bennett were tried on charges of allowing torture of Filipino prisoners to try to extort information from them)

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-07-06

President Roosevelt asks George B. Davis, Judge Advocate General of the Army, for advice concerning the case of William Buwalda. Roosevelt does not currently want to change the sentence, as he feels that Buwalda must be punished, but thinks that the term of punishment is too long and is considering shortening the sentence. (Buwalda was court-martialed for shaking anarchist Emma Goldman’s hand.)

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-06-24

President Roosevelt informs Daniel Arthur that the statement of Jesse B. Roote was false, and that he misrepresented the actions of his client who was, in fact, selling erotica.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-03-11

President Roosevelt will look into the case Bishop Gailor mentioned. The current financial difficulties highlight the need for appropriate punishment of those who breach the trust of financial institutions. Roosevelt believes sympathy for penitent criminals or their familial interest cannot outweigh those of the public or justice. While he will consider any paper Gailor sends, he does not feel inclined towards mercy. In a postscript, Roosevelt apologizes for appearing unsympathetic.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-16

President Roosevelt tells Thomas G. Knight that he would understand the situation differently were he in Roosevelt’s position. The president notes that there is a difference between having the moral conviction that the responsible party should be criminally punished and the ability to find evidence of such for use in court. Roosevelt asks that Knight regard the letter as a private matter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-08

President Roosevelt has received Attorney General Moody’s letter regarding the guilty plea of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad to the charge of issuing rebates. While he is glad about the fine that was imposed, Roosevelt believes that court should be able to imprison people in addition to fining them, and asks what the possibility of getting such a change through Congress would be.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-20

President Roosevelt asks Secretary of the Navy Morton to look into the cases of three boys convicted. For one of the boys, Roosevelt believes it is “a grave miscarriage of justice that the boy should be forever barred from being in the United States Navy.” He asks if it would be possible for him to commute the punishment to dropping the boy from the class for a year. If not, Roosevelt believes a new trial with a less excessive punishment is a better option.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-31

President Roosevelt believes that Lieutenant Sinclair should be punished and suggests “some hard and undesirable duty as a mark of displeasure.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-03-04