Shipping bounties and subsidies

President Roosevelt addresses William Randolph Hearst as William Jennings Bryan looks at their marbles game, which includes marbles labeled “tariff revision,” “regulation of R.R.,” “popular election of Sen.,” “popular election of judges,” “ship subsidy,” and “public ownership.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

It is wholly inadequate to identify William Randolph Hearst by first invoking the motion picture Citizen Kane, yet for many people since his death in 1951, that character provides the touchstone, and it is a gross caricature. Hearst’s father George was a prospector who made a fortune from silver claims and other mineral and land opportunities in the West. He rose to attain a vast fortune and secured a seat in the United States Senate. When his son, “Willie,” was expelled from Harvard, George gifted him with the San Francisco Examiner, hoping that a newspaper career would keep him busy, and maybe out of mischief.

President Roosevelt, George F. Edmunds, and Secretary of State Elihu Root all hold boards behind their backs labeled “Ship Subsidy.” Meanwhile, a man labeled “Congress” walks toward them holding a book that reads, “O, long may it wave” and “My country ’tis of thee.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The federal government’s attitude toward the building of large ships — for military as well as maritime trade use — was a thorny subject at the time of Jack H. Smith’s cartoon.

President Roosevelt looks over a fence at a farmer labeled “Congress” chopping the roast off a pig: “salary increase.” The rest of the pig is labeled, “inheritance and income tax,” “big warships,” “Panama Canal legislation,” and “currency reports.” He smokes a pipe as he says, “I’ll take this roast home. The rest will go in the smokehouse.” In the background stands “The Congressional Smokehouse” with a sign, “The Long Cure Process Used.” Four cuts of meat are in there: “Philippines Tariff Bill,” “Ship Subsidy,” “Santo Domingo Treaty,” and “Immigration Bill.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The underlying point, or contemporary pertinence, of cartoonist Kirk L. Russell’s cartoon is in its title — “Planning a Raid On the Smokehouse” — despite not portraying President Roosevelt as anything but a casual observer over the fence.

President Roosevelt admits that his nomination of Thomas C. Munger to the judgeship was the result of the “overwhelming” number of recommendations he received. He also asks Paul Morton to look over a letter from Representative Ernest M. Pollard, who has been supporting the administration in the matter of shipping subsidies.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-02-28

Several members of Congress have spoken with President Roosevelt about the ship subsidy bill, which is evidently in the hands of Navigation Commissioner Eugene Tyler Chamberlain. Roosevelt asks Secretary of Commerce and Labor Metcalf to have a thorough conversation with Chamberlain about the matter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-03-17

William W. Bates requests Theodore Roosevelt’s endorsement of Bill H.R. 4660, which will go before Congress in December 1911. This bill addresses the “ship subsidy” of Merchant Marines, of which Bates claims Congress had no authority to legislate on in 1904 with the appointment of the Merchant Marine Commission.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-06-02

Henry Thompson sends Theodore Roosevelt a copy of a State Ship Subsidy bill he submitted to the California legislature. The bill is important for the expected traffic of the Panama Canal and “is brother to the Canal.” He asks Theodore Roosevelt to endorse the bill.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-25

Former Territorial Governor of Hawaii Carter reports to President Roosevelt that Walter Francis Frear’s inauguration as new governor went well. Carter writes Roosevelt personally about the application of the coastwise laws as it affects Hawaii differently than the United States mainland.  

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-08-16

After speaking with President Roosevelt about the American merchant marine, Secretary of the Treasury Shaw thought Roosevelt might want a copy of his speech on the subject, which he has given in many places in both the South and the North. Shaw calls it a “universally popular” subject that is getting a lot of attention.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-22

Ohio Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna stands on a “ship subsidy” and holds “my defence of labor” as he attempts to use the Republican elephant’s trunk as a phone, saying, “Central! Hello! Central!” The elephant looks at President Roosevelt who waves, bearing “stories,” “speeches,” “interviews,” and “specimens” and says, “Ah there, Teddy!”

Comments and Context

Luther Bradley’s cartoon refers to the publicized and futile efforts of Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna to make himself relevant to the broader Republican Party at this time, reaching beyond his base as a senator still identified with his ally, the late President William McKinley, and as chairman of the Republican National Committee. He was engaged in an ill-concealed and delicate campaign to wrest the 1904 presidential nomination from the incumbent, Theodore Roosevelt.

That ambition was being thwarted at the time of this cartoon’s publication, but Bradley correctly identified the gambits employed by Hanna. He was, for instance, heavily indebted to shipbuilding interests who potentially were campaign contributors (Ohio ports on Lake Erie were centers of steel manufacturing and ship construction). The cartoon’s acknowledgement of Hanna’s earnest attempts to prove himself a “friend of labor” is ironic since he largely lives in history by portrayals of another caricaturist, Homer Davenport. The Hearst cartoonist frequently pictured “Dollar Mark” Hanna as a bloated plutocrat with his foot on skull of “Labor.”