Reform movement

The gigantic figure of Bluebeard labeled “Protected Monopolies” holds a set of keys identified as the “Keys to Rate Regulation, Meat Inspection, Pure Food and Anti-Trust Laws.” He is speaking to Theodore Roosevelt, dressed as “Fatima,” and pointing to a room labeled “Tariff Revision.” Caption: Blue-Beard — With these keys, my dear, you may go as far as you like, but don’t let me catch you in that room!

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Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1906-08-15

Sereno E. Payne, in the role of British Major John Pitcairn, commander of an occupying troop of British soldiers in Massachusetts in 1775, stands before a group of Patriots under the banner “Mass. Tariff Revisionists.” Caption: Major Sereno Payne Pitcairn (of the Stand Pat Lobsterbacks) — Disperse, ye villains! Ye rebels, disperse! Damn you, why don’t you disperse?

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Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1906-04-18

A large group of politicians and journalists appear as knights on a crusade against graft and corruption. Many carry large pens like a lance. Periodicals mentioned are “Colliers, Harper’s Weekly, Life, Puck, [and] McClure’s” Magazine. Caption: Marching embattled ‘gainst the Saracens of Graft.

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Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1906-02-21

A group of football players, labeled “Steel Trust, Tool Trust, Tobacco Trust, Clothing Trust, Leather Trust, Oil Trust, Coal Trust, [and] Beef Trust” tackle a “Consumer” with a football labeled “Tariff Revision” during a football game at a stadium labeled “Stand Pat A.C.”

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Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1905-09-27

A group of children play on the lawn in front of the “Home for Infant Industries.” They are labeled “Sugar Trust (eating “Dingley Baby Food”), Clothing Trust, Tobacco Trust, Steel Trust, Beef Trust, Paper Trust, [and] Coal Trust.” Some are playing in a rough manner with dolls labeled “Small Dealer, The Public, Independent Producer, [and] Consumer.” Another doll, “Cattle Raiser,” has been tossed aside. In the background on the left, a woman labeled “Dingley Tariff” is sitting in a chair with a child on her lap. In the left foreground, Joseph Cannon is speaking to Theodore Roosevelt, who holds a paper labeled “Tariff Revision.” Caption: Uncle Joe Cannon — Oh, Sir, you would not turn these helpless, half-grown babes out into a cruel world, would you?

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Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1905-08-23

Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks, as Don Quixote, sits in a chair, reading, with a sword in raised right hand, with visions of former (and current) presidents, as well as some of the social ills that he hopes to correct. Caption: Our esteemed Vice-President takes his candidacy seriously.

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Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1905-05-24

The newly elected Democratic governor of Massachusetts, William L. Douglas, appears as a gladiator holding a sword labeled “Popular Approval” and a shield showing the Seal of the State of Massachusetts. In the arena, he faces a dragon with the head of a bull and fashioned out of industrial parts labeled “Leather Trust, Flour Trust, Beet Trust, Steel Trust, Cotton Trust, Tobacco Trust, Oil Trust, Woolen Goods, Iron, Copper, Steel, [and] Glass.” The dragon’s back and tail are labeled “Monopoly” and “High Protective Tariff.” On the ground between its front legs is a woman labeled “Fair Trade.” Standing in the audience are Republicans O. H. Platt, Henry C. Lodge, Nelson W. Aldrich, Nathan B. Scott, John C. Spooner, and Redfield Proctor.

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Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1904-12-14

Judge Alton B. Parker pulls a donkey to safety across a bridge constructed of planks labeled “Conservatism, Sanity, Tariff Reform, [and] Anti-Trust.” Falling into the chasm are William Jennings Bryan, hanging onto the “Financial Plank,” and David B. Hill. The donkey’s bridle is labeled “Telegram.”

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Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1904-07-27

An elderly woman labeled “Tariff Revision” angrily shakes her umbrella after being left standing on the railroad station platform as the “Republican Special” departs in a cloud of dust. Two men standing on the back of the last car are laughing at her.

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Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1904-07-06

Two cameo scenes are separated by a telegraph pole labeled “Western Union.” On the left is a civic meeting claiming that “We must uphold our Public Morals and Civic Decency” where seated on a stage are businessmen labeled “Flagler, Schiff, Jessup [sic], Depew, Rockefeller, Hyde, Morgan [and] Sage.” On the right are the same men sitting in a room where they are straining to hear the report of the “Annual Statement” regarding “Sundry other profits from our Subterranean wires increase this total applicable to dividends by $5,000,000” over the din of coins spilling from a cornucopia connected to a telegraph pole and overflowing a barrel labeled “Western Union Pool Room Receipts.” Visible through a window are many buildings labeled “Pool Room.”

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Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1904-06-01

An ostrich labeled “Republican Party” tucks its head in a hole labeled “‘Stand Pat’ Policy” as a tornado advances from behind with dark clouds labeled “Tariff Reform.”

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Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1904-01-06

New York Mayor Seth Low directs the bombardment of a Tammany Hall bunker flying a flag labeled “Tammany Graft.” Several men, among them former President Grover Cleveland, and Charles V. Fornes, pass shells labeled “Clean record, Capable administration, [and] Just return for taxes” for an “Anti-Tammany” howitzer. They are behind a sand-bag bunker labeled “Honest Government” and are flying the flag of “Municipal Reform.” Caption: “That ammunition fits our gun only.”

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Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1903-10-21

New York City mayor Seth Low, as a lion tamer holding a whip, stands next to the Tammany Tiger which is bound in ribbons labeled “Civic Honesty, Fusion, Decent Government, Municipal Reforms, [and] Local Improvements.” Standing in the background is Charles F. Murphy, Tammany Hall boss, holding a large pair of scissors labeled “Election 1903.” Later in the year, Low would lose the election for mayor to George B. McClellan Jr.

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Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1903-09-30

The “Republican Party” elephant walks on “Senate” and “House” stilts, on a path covered with eggs labeled “Monopoly, High Tariff Excuses, ‘Bad Trusts,’ Labor Question, Post Office Scandal, [and] Protected Trusts.” A paper attached to the elephant’s tail states “Tariff Reform.” A sign in the background points “To Washington 1904.”

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Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1903-06-10

An elephant labeled G.O.P. holds a double-barrel shotgun in its trunk, pointed toward itself. The barrels are labeled “Trust Issue Tariff Reform” and “1904.”

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Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1903-05-06

Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia, kneels on one knee before a pillow on which rests a scroll of papers labeled “Ukase civil and religious reforms.” Rays of light labeled “Enlightenment” beam down illuminating Nicholas II.

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Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1903-04-01

A man labeled “Republican Party” picks up the clothing of a man labeled “Democratic Party” who is swimming in the “Democratic Issue Pond” which is labeled “Socialism, Bryanism, Populism, Free Silver, Anti-Expansion, [and] Jeffersonian Simplicity.” At the upper right is a scene twenty years earlier, in which a man labeled “Democrat” picks up the clothing of a “Republican” swimming in the “Republican Corruption Water.”

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Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1902-11-19

Seth Low, possibly as Odysseus, raises a sword labeled “Nonpartisanship” to strike a sea monster labeled “Misrule,” as a woman labeled “Greater New York,” standing on rocks and chained to a rock labeled “Tammany,” tries to get away from the monster.

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Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1901-10-30

Theodore Roosevelt writes to Caroline F. Fairchild, telling her that there are many reforms that he would like to support but it is impossible for him to do so without overextending himself.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-14

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Theodore Roosevelt agrees with Judge Ransom that if the conservatives were wise, they would realize that the time to solve problems is when they have power and when the movement can be under their lead.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1915-03-02

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919