Schwab, Charles M., 1862-1939

President Theodore Roosevelt stands on a reviewing stand, holding hat in raised right hand as a large group of capitalists, industrialists, and financiers wearing the tattered clothing of tramps, march past the stand. Some carry placards with such statements as: “Irrigate the Trusts,” “No place to go but the Waldorf,” “We want the earth,” “Free quick lunches,” “Pity the poor banker,” “Dividends or we perish.” At the front of the group, J. P. Morgan carries a wooden bucket labeled “The full water pail.” Caption: “Aggregated wealth largely represented among Parker’s Supporters”–New York Tribune.

comments and context

Comments and Context

It might be said now, as it was in 1904, that the Republican Party is the home of the wealthy class, industrialists, and plutocrats. And then as now, cartoonists have fed that stereotype. Also then as now, major figures of Wall Street have supported the Democratic Party in great numbers, whether from agreement on social and political issues or frank self-interest.

The wreck of an airship labeled “High Finance” appears at the leading edge of storm clouds labeled “Investigation [and] Merger Decision Law.” The crash has ruined the blades that lifted or propelled the airship, labeled “Over Capitalization, Manipulation, Ship Building Trust, Steel Trust, [and] Northern Securities,” and has brought down six men (“Morgan, Schwab, M’Cook, Harriman, Schiff, [and] Hill”) with the wreckage and two men (“Dresser [and] Nixon”) in a swamp labeled “Ship Trust Receivership.” A lightning bolt labeled “Publicity” flashes from the clouds.

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Comments and Context

There is a specific context of this cartoon.

At center a group of six men, including John D. Rockefeller and E. B. Thomas, warm themselves by a stove labeled “Standard Oil.” At bottom left Andrew Carnegie burns “U.S. Steel Bonds” and Charles Schwab attempts to burn “Steel Common” stocks. On the right Chauncey Depew burns speeches. On the middle left a tramp rests against a haystack in the warm sun. On the right William Jennings Bryan generates hot air while speaking to a group of farmers. On the top left a family burns the furniture in a fireplace. On the right E. B. Thomas sits in front of a fireplace where a lump of “Radium” is warming the room.

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Comments and Context

Eben B. Thomas had risen from telegraph operator to the presidency of the Erie Railroad (and eventually the Lehigh Valley Railroad). He was very successful at consolidating rail lines and their efficiency, and maintaining labor harmony in an era of conflict. In his position he became a useful ally of J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie, especially in his geographic “domain” of central Pennsylvania, land of oil, coal, and steel mills.

Charles M. Schwab, as Napoleon, sits on a rock in the middle of the ocean, looking back at the setting sun labeled “Business Reputation.” He is holding in his right hand papers labeled “Investigation Ship Building Scandal,” and other papers labeled “Steel Trust” are in his coat pocket.

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Comments and Context

The depiction of Charles M. Schwab as an exiled Napoleon represents a troubled period in the career of an otherwise colorful success story of an American business icon. The steel executive who had worked for Andrew Carnegie and J. P. Morgan became a steel-industry entrepreneur with the acquisition of Bethlehem Steel.

Leaders in the areas of business and finance, as military officers labeled “Morgan, Dresser, Perkins, Schwab, Frick, Nixon, [and] Gates,” ride on horseback through the snow of a bitter winter and financial downturn in the shipping industry. To the far right are foot soldiers carrying the flag of the “Army of Stock Holders.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Cartoonist Pughe made an oblique acknowledgment to “a well known painting” after his own signature, yet he might have credited the French academician Messonier’s Retreat From Moscow. Instead of Napoleon, we see the disconsolate and leonine face of J. P. Morgan. Excepting the faces of the business titan and his lieutenants, this Puck cartoon virtually is a line-for-line recreation of the painting so famous at the time.

A schoolboy stands outside a “Public School.” On the left is Charles M. Schwab sitting atop a large money bag labeled “Manager of Steel Trust $1,000,000 yearly salary,” resting on a steel factory; and on the right is Chief Justice Melville Weston Fuller holding a balance scale in one hand and a tiny money bag with the label “Chief Justice of U.S. $10,500 yearly salary,” sitting on a large book labeled “Law and Constitution.” Caption: “Shall I be wise and great, or rich and powerful?”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1901-06-12

Charles M. Schwab, holding a moneybag labeled “Schwab,” stands next to Andrew Carnegie who is sitting on the ground, holding a moneybag labeled “Carnegie” and with a basket labeled “$10,000,000 for Scotch Universities” overflowing with money next to him. Schwab gestures toward factories on the left as he addresses Carnegie. In the background, on the right, is a line of old men wearing caps and gowns and carrying “Diplomas” under their arms, emerging from a building labeled “University.” Caption: Schwab (to Carnegie). — This is the school most people must go to, and the one that has always turned out the biggest men. That other school is for the few and is already turning out too many doctors, ministers, lawyers and clerks. Don’t you think we ought to improve conditions in our school rather than in that other one?

comments and context

Comments and Context

Of interest in this Puck cartoon is the manner of Pughe’s caricatures of the titans of finance. At one time, Puck and other reform periodicals cast critical eyes on men of extreme wealth, the implication being that their fortunes were gained as the result of market manipulation or crushing of competitors. When the wealthy became philanthropists, in effect recycling their gains, they were portrayed more kindly, as in this cartoon. 

Nathan T. Folwell invites Theodore Roosevelt to a dinner put on by the Manufacturers’ Club of Philadelphia in honor of Charles M. Schwab. Folwell hopes Roosevelt will attend and give an address, suggesting the topic of Constructive Legislation. Folwell also refers to Oscar W. Underwood’s assertion that the future of the textile industry depends on competition in the world’s markets, which Folwell vehemently refutes.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-18

William H. Taft has just returned from an extensive speaking tour in the West and reports to President Roosevelt that on the whole he thinks it went over very well. He is intending not to campaign, but mostly to drum up enthusiasm and excitement. Taft also discusses at length the political situation in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. He intends to travel next through the South, stopping in Washington, D.C. before returning to Ohio. Taft is optimistic about the campaign and feels that Roosevelt’s letters to William Jennings Bryan have helped immensely.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-10-09

Ambassador Meyer informs President Roosevelt about the unsatisfactory conditions of the Caucasus and Poland. He also tells the President that Russia suffers from poor government administration, roads, and lack of preparation of the army for the war as examples. There is talk about building ships for the Imperial Navy, but nothing concrete as of yet.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-05-05

Scrapbook containing an array of newspaper clippings of articles and photographs relating to the 1912 presidential campaign of Theodore Roosevelt.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site

Creation Date

1912