Registers of births, etc.

President Roosevelt shakes a stork’s hand and says, “De-lighted! You’re a grand old bird!” He holds a paper in his hand that reads, “Births in 1906 in greater New York 111.772 an increase over 1905 of 8.000.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The motif of cartoonist Felix Mahoney’s drawing in the Washington Star is one of Theodore Roosevelt’s peripheral crusades, but one of fierce advocacy, “race suicide.” He believed that hardy races in world history advanced in numbers and territory, as well as cultural achievements; and he was alarmed at falling birth rates among European and American populations.

Walter M. Dressel offers to send Theodore Roosevelt a copy of the New Harlem Register, a 1903 genealogy book by Henry Pennington Toler documenting the descendants of New Harlem’s original patentees. He offers to send Roosevelt the book if interested.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-09-08

Charles H. Battey “heartily approves” Theodore Roosevelt’s article “Race Decadence.” He believes race suicide reflects the greater focus on ease, haste, material selfishness, and overall feeling of societal disillusionment.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-04-09

Puck, as the attending physician to the birth of Uncle Sam’s child, emerges from the birthing room. Caption: Uncle Sam — Well? / Dr. Puck — It’s a boy, and his name is Bill.

comments and context

Comments and Context

There was a week to go before election day, and Puck cleverly dealt with the perennial (or quadrennial) intersection of the advance deadlines of weekly magazines and election-day returns. The father of cartoonist Udo J. Keppler, Puck‘s founder Joseph Keppler, drew complicated and clever compositions showing the figures representing parties shaking hands “over the bloody chasm”, hiding caricatures of several politicians within trees and jagged mountains; a Judge Magazine cartoonist once drew an elaborate election-day subject, leaving the face of the victor blank until the last minute, printing presses awaiting.