Your TR Source
Ambassador Anderson describes an anti-American act to the flag at the American Consul in Amoy, China, as a result of the movement to boycott American goods. Anderson describes the meetings, leadership, and overall agitation in detail as well.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-07-25
William Woodville Rockhill explains the situation in China surrounding the boycott of American goods. He also includes communication between him and the Consul Generals regarding the uprising.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-07-25
Commissioner of Corporations Garfield writes to President Roosevelt about investigations he conducted of the meat-packing and petroleum industries. Garfield discusses the positive negotiation process with Standard Oil branches in Kansas. Garfield also discusses the difficulties of working with the meat-packing industry and with cattle raisers.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-04-22
J. W. Midgley writes to President Roosevelt outlining Midgley’s attempt to bring down the meatpacking transportation trust. Midgley offers his services to President Roosevelt and also asks for a visit to the White House.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-10-15
Nicholas Murry Butler discusses an article which contains an offensive bluff. He also mentions Judge Parker and Standard Oil.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-04
President Roosevelt tells Lawrence F. Abbott of The Outlook that he is not at all concerned about reports that the magazine is controlled by the Standard Oil Company. Roosevelt also recalls his friendship with Lyman Abbott, and he lambasts William M. Laffan of the New York Sun whom Roosevelt believes started the story about The Outlook and Standard Oil.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
1908-11-14
Newspaper clipping of cartoon showing William H. Taft cutting firewood. Behind a cord of cut firewood is Theodore Roosevelt holding a big stick and in front of the cordwood is an African American stereotype labeled “Southern Delegation” holding a kettle labeled “Standard Oil.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1909-1913
Hugh Gordon Miller, former special assistant to Attorney General George W. Wickersham, strayed from his speech at the New York Credit Men’s Association’s dinner to “take a few flings” at an unnamed public official, generally assumed to be Wickersham. An excerpt from Miller’s speech is included.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-10-27
A circled article from the Hamilton Evening Journal notes that an unpublished manuscript criticizing Theodore Roosevelt was found in the recently-deceased Mark Twain’s belongings. The writer points out that Twain was close friends with some owners of the Standard Oil trust, and suggests he had a reason to dislike Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-06
This excerpt from C. E. Perkins’s Ode for the Fourth of July discusses how life in America has changed since George Washington with political bosses and industrial trusts. The ode closes with praise for President Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905
A federal grand jury is investigating the General Electric Company and subsidiaries, and some evidence points to the companies being controlled by the “Electric Trust.” The investigation is believed to have been ordered by President Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-09-19
President Roosevelt congratulates Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte for his speech at Chicago, which showed his fair enforcement of the law. His attackers use the press and their wealth to recruit powerful people, like college presidents and corrupt judges, to their side at the cost of the “plain people.” These attackers know that developments like the Hepburn Rate Law, the Sherman Anti-Trust Law, the Pure Food and Drug Act, and protections for workers have been effective against moneyed interests and criminals, but they are often lawyers or editors who answer to the corporations. The individual men to whom he refers are, however, merely puppets, and the true issue should be taken with the offenders who stand behind them and control enormous wealth. He and Bonaparte are not responsible for the economic panic, but are striving for the right “in the spirit of Abraham Lincoln.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-12-23
Various men hold up resolutions. John D. Rockefeller holds a can of “Standard Oil” can and a paper that reads “Resolved that I’ll still do business in Missouri. John D.” President Roosevelt holds his big stick and a paper that reads “Resolved that I’ll abandon the Ananias Club.” President-elect William H. Taft reads a “my policies” pamphlet. Caption: Taft might forget Roosevelt. Herbert S. Hadley sits on top of a goblet with “the lid” and holds a paper that reads “Resolved that I will take off the lid. Hadley.” Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon smokes a “gag rule” cigar. Caption: Cannon must swear off using the same old brand. Andrew Carnegie holds a paper that reads, “Resolved that I’ll refuse to reveal any more secrets of the steel trust. Carnegie.” Arthur N. Sager holds a paper that reads, “Resolved that I’ll absolutely refuse to run for mayor.”
Edward McBride’s cartoon in the reliably, and highly partisan Democrat, newspaper the St. Louis Republic features seven prominent figures referring to major news stories, disputes, and scandals. Rather than attacking the figures or seeking to persuade readers, the cartoon’s publication date reveals that it simply was a humorous treatment of New Year’s resolutions.
It then was common, and to an extent still is among political commentators and cartoonists to exploit holidays for their thematic preoccupations– in fact, sorts of holidays for themselves. The humorous New Year’s resolutions (or, sometimes, “the Millennium has come!”) presented an opportunity to show prominent figures doing things opposite of their normal pursuits.
President Roosevelt holds his big stick and runs toward Joseph Pulitzer and Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker who hold morning star clubs labeled “Panama” and “Brownsville” respectively.
This cartoon was drawn by the Tulsa World‘s obscure cartoonist surnamed Allen, surely not Clarence Allen, the paper’s later and longtime political cartoonist, who would have been about ten years old at this time. (Yet, his father worked for the World…) Its date suggests that President Roosevelt was about to do battle with two threatening foes, publisher Joseph Pulitzer and Senator Benson Joseph Foraker (Republican of Ohio).
President Roosevelt pushes off the “big stick” and says, “Don’t flinch; don’t foul” as he leans on Timothy L. Woodruff who leans on George Rumsey Sheldon who leans on Secretary of State Elihu Root who leans on J. S. Sherman who leans on Frank H. Hitchcock who ultimately leans on William H. Taft who is fighting against William Jennings Bryan. On the other side William Randolph Hearst pours a “Standard Oil” can and says, “I’ll make ’em slip.” Meanwhile, Norman Edward Mack leans against Herman Ridder who leans against William James Conners who leans against Charles Francis Murphy who leans against John Worth Kern who leans against Bryan. Uncle Sam referees.
It was impressive cartoon that readers of the Brooklyn Eagle beheld in the Election Day edition of the paper. It was, properly, not partisan or biased toward a candidate or party, published as it was on Election Day when political argumentation traditionally ceased.
President Roosevelt sits at a desk labeled “Associate Editor” and filled with papers. On the ground is a bear skin rug and two papers: “Onward Standard Soldiers” and “The Science of Rebating.” There are three other offices: “Mr. Rogers, Managing Editor,” “Mr. Rockefeller, Editor and General Manager,” and “Mr. Archbold, Stenographer.” Rogers says, “Tell Teddy to put a four line head on that story defending our rebates!” Rockefeller says, “Tell Teddy to write an editorial on the persecution of the trusts!” On the wall is a picture of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis and a sign that reads, “In oil we trust.” Roosevelt’s big stick is in the corner.
Two weeks after the presidential election of 1908, political cartoonist Camillus Kessler of the extreme anti-Republican Women’s National Daily returned to attacking President Roosevelt, who still had approximately four more months to serve in the White House.
John D. Rockefeller sits in a rocking chair and talks to a group of children–President Roosevelt, Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte, Ida M. Tarbell, Frank B. Kellogg, Thomas William Lawson, and a “muck rake” cat. A “Standard Oil” lamp lights the room. Caption: “Now, children, I’ll tell you the story of my life.”
“Spin Doctors” and the machinery of public-relations campaigns are not new to the twenty-first century. John D. Rockefeller had become well known and well off — reportedly the world’s richest man — since discovering oil in western Pennsylvania as a young man. He then discovered, as did others, what could done with oil, gas, gasoline, petroleum, and many byproducts. On his path to wealth, he controlled and often monopolized other businesses, in “vertical” and “horizontal” means; as well as people, banks, and politicians.
President Roosevelt roasts William Jennings Bryan over a fire made of “Bryan’s letters to Roosevelt” and “Standard Oil correspondence.” Off to the side is a container of “Standard Oil” with the tag, “kindness of Gov. Haskell.”
Once again — as had become common in the 1908 presidential campaign — a commentator characterized the contest as between Democrat William Jennings Bryan and not Republican William H. Taft, but Bryan and the policies and person of President Roosevelt. And relatively early in his career, the Des Moines Register and Leader cartoonist Jay N. “Ding” Darling was among the most prescient of commentators.
Newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst is depicted as “the big can” with the spout labeled “Standard Oil disclosures” dancing beside “the big stick,” which features President Roosevelt’s face.
Somewhat obscured by the passage of time is the biggest issue in the 1908 presidential election, certainly the major controversy of the campaign: the Archbold Letters. Not the tariff, not government regulation, not conservation, America’s battleship program, the Panama Canal, nor the recent stock-market panic.
William Jennings Bryan attempts to ride a bucking donkey that has a “Standard” oil can attached to its tail. In the background, President Roosevelt and William Randolph Hearst cheer.
Albert Turner Reid was one of the breed of cartoonists whose signatures routinely were more elaborate than their drawings. From his home base in Kansas he drew for several publications throughout his career; and was widely reprinted. He had a handsome style and a flair for caricature, if not for accurate animal locomotion.