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A gladiator labeled “Sound Money,” holding a sword labeled “Currency Reform,” stands over a fallen gladiator labeled “Free Silver” who appeals to the crowd for mercy, but instead receives the thumbs-down gesture.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1898-12-07
A hand labeled “Republican Party” pours champagne from a bottle labeled “Tariff Revision” into a glass held by another hand labeled “Protected Interests.” Two hands labeled “Consumer” are holding an empty glass.
The theme of Udo J. Keppler’s cartoon — that tariffs imposed and maintained for purposes of revenue or protection of fledgling industries against cheaper foreign imports were chimeras — was as old as the American Industrial Revolution. In the critiques of low-tariff and free-trade proponents, imports saddled with tariff duties should have resulted in lower prices of domestically produced goods.
A streetcar labeled “Republican Protection Line” and “Congress 47” rounds a curve with a crowd of men standing on the rear platform. Among them is the conductor labeled “Keifer” and Frank Hiscock. Uncle Sam, holding a basket with papers labeled “Silver Problem, Pension Reform, Our Navy, Civil Service, [and] Int. Revenue Reform,” stands beside the tracks, shaking his umbrella at the passing car as Keifer tells him to “take the next car.” With Uncle Sam are a young child labeled “Anti-Monopoly” and a young woman holding an infant labeled “Tariff Reform.” The next car on the tracks is labeled “Democratic Puzzle-Line” and “48,” which is being pulled by a tired-looking donkey.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1883-03-07
Joseph Gurney Cannon hands a shoe labeled “Stand Pat” to J. S. Sherman, who is shining shoes labeled “Conservatism, Reactionary, Special Privileges, [and] Vested Interests.” Senator Nelson W. Aldrich, peers through an open door.
During the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, immense shifts of public opinion occurred throughout America. On myriad issues — trusts, corruption, reform, foreign policy — their were titanic changes in all classes and all parts of the country. It was a time of major changes in the economy, in immigration, in socialization, in manners and morals, and whether Roosevelt managed the fluid attitudes of America, or was propelled by them himself, is a question whose answer likely is “a combination of both,” yet the president was proud that he anticipated aspects of potential social unrest and acted in ways that prevented them from becoming crises.
Society might have changed in may ways, but in corners of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives, Roosevelt dealt with limits to his persuasion. “Reactionaries” and “Stand-Patters” stood their ground on matters like high tariffs and conservation, only reluctantly yielding to Roosevelt’s reforms. Their numbers were decreasing, as “insurgents” in the House and rebellious reformers in the Senate grew in numbers.
Several Republicans with presidential aspirations and/or delegates to the Republican National Convention in Chicago, and a young boy holding a pillow labeled “Stand-Pat Press,” stand around “Stand-Pat” King Canute on the seashore with cliffs at their back, as he commands the rising tide of “Tariff Revision.”
Samuel Ehrhart returned to Puck’s political-cartoon pages with a standard use of the King Canute legend, frequently employed by cartoonists; it was a misuse, actually, because the real story of Canute is not that the king tried to command the waves to recede, but to illustrate to his court that his powers were not unlimited.
Uncle Sam tries to get the attention of Joseph Gurney Cannon who is talking with Sereno E. Payne in the House chamber, as a large hand labeled “The Big Interests” wearing “Stand Pat” cufflinks, appears from above with its thumb extended as though to squash Cannon. Caption: He can’t get the speaker’s eye.
Udo J. Keppler’s cartoon is a brutal indictment of Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon. The chamber is mostly empty but for a few members lounging or in lassitude; and the Speaker merely chatting at the chair, not conducting the people’s business.
A wagon drawn by a single donkey labeled “American Consumer” chases a carrot labeled “Promised Tariff Reform” dangling from a stick held by the wagon driver labeled “Republican Congress.” The wagon is transporting a bunch of bloated old men, each representing a “Trust” and labeled “Steel, Copper, Lumber, Sugar, Beef, Coal, Tobacco, Clothing, Watch, Leather, [and] Paper.” They are members of the “Stand Pat Club,” some waving “Stand Pat” pennants. One man holds a drum that states, “The tariff will be revised when public welfare demands it.”
There had not been a major revision of tariff schedules since the Dingley Act of 1897 as American politics approached the 1908 presidential campaign. A decade seemed like a long time to many people — especially to businesses and trusts who benefited from “protection.” High duties on imported products contributed to general revenue, but also enabled American manufacturers and farmers to compete against foreign competition.
Partial page of The Commercial Advertiser with three articles about charges against Governor Odell, the potential for a presidential election with both candidates from New York, and an anecdote about Mayor Low and reform.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-12-10
Arthur Hamilton Lee thanks President Roosevelt for writing concerning his appointment as Civil Lord of the Admiralty for the Royal Navy. Lee discusses the resolution of the Alaskan boundary dispute, Joseph Chamberlain and the Tariff Reform movement, recently appointed Ambassador H. Mortimer Durand, and protectionism.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-11-22