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William Loeb suggests President Roosevelt ask for a meeting with Representative Sulzer. Unlike Representative J. W. Babcock, Sulzer has voiced his support for Roosevelt’s policies on the “Philippine tariff.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-01-08
President Roosevelt looks at three men from the “lens of public opinion.” William Jennings Bryan says, “The president is carrying out all my ideas.” Representative William Sulzer says, “The president has taken up my policies.” William Alfred Peffer says, “The president is going in the right direction.”
Cartoonist Joseph Harry Cunningham depicts President Roosevelt and three maverick politicians sizing each other up. The optics — literally, an absurd use of chart-graphics as might be found in textbooks — are rather absurd, and hardly relevant to the point of the drawing. Relevance to medical breakthroughs in optometry did not serve to elucidate the cartoon’s theme.
William Jennings Bryan stands in the stirrups of his mount, a donkey labeled “Democracy,” directing the honor guard led by Adlai E. Stevenson, and including Henry R. Towne, Joseph Pulitzer, and Carl Schurz carrying a large flag with a portrait of Emilio Aguinaldo under the heading “The George Washington of the Philippines.” Also included are Oswald Ottendorfer, Edwin Lawrence Godkin, William Bourke Cockran, John Peter Altgeld, and William Sulzer.
Emilio Aguinaldo’s revolutionary campaigns for Filipino independence from Spain began in the 1890s, variously as a guerilla and conventional armed insurrection, through the Spanish-American War, ultimately with and against the victorious American liberators. As a rebel leader his forces sustained and committed atrocities. He was captured and then released by President Theodore Roosevelt as part of the United States’ general amnesty, a putative end of hostilities. Aguinaldo became a hero to his countrymen and a symbol for the cause of American anti-imperialists. Of William Jennings Bryan’s ragtag “army” on this political issue, their professions provide a hint of the American movement’s constituents: Stevenson was Bryan’s running mate, committed to the Democrat party plank; Pulitzer, Schurz, Ottendorfer, and Godkin were editors and publishers; Towne was an industrialst (Yale locks); Bouke Cochran a politician and orator of unorthodox consistency; Altgeld the radical Governor of Illinois (famous for partiality to the Haymarket bombers); Sulzer a New York politcian who eventually became Governor, only to be impeached. Cartoonist Pughe clearly considered the leadership of Bryan (on an undersized donkey) and the number and prowess of the “guard” to be targets of ridicule.
Dwight B. Heard’s letter about the Republican National Convention was the best that Theodore Roosevelt received. Charles Evans Hughes has weaknesses as a presidential candidate, particularly a lack of experience in international relations, but he was the best Republican candidate available. The Progressive Party has failed in the South as it could not attract enough Democrats. The only Progressive success was in Louisiana and that was mostly due to the popularity of John Milliken Parker. The party has become a small, derelict political organization. Roosevelt regrets that the people are not “advanced” enough to follow the Progressive lead.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1916-07-03
William T. Hornaday writes that the situation with Attorney General Gregory is “intolerable” and deserving of a congressional investigation. He also encourages Theodore Roosevelt to chastise Edward William Nelson and Charles Sheldon about the proposed sale of big game in Alaska. Hornaday believes that Roosevelt’s ear will recover, as his own did in 1906.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1918-03-08
A statement authored by William T. Hornaday criticizes the Sulzer bill which would allow for the sale of moose, caribou, and white mountain sheep meat in Northern Alaska. Hornaday reports that he and several prominent game conservation associations were shocked to discover that the legal sale of big game in Alaska had been occurring for some time.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1918-03-04
The Jewish Morning Journal states their regretful opinion of the Jewish passport question where Theodore Roosevelt consulted the matter with Oscar S. Straus and believes people who actually understand the matter should have been consulted. The journal recommends the American Jewish Committee as a competent body and individuals such as Louis Marshal, Henry Mayer Goldfogle, William Sulzer, and Elihu Root.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-10-23
John Robert Greene tells the story of Frederick Morgan Davenport of New York state, whose political affiliations would move from the Republican party to the Progressive party, back to the Republicans, and would end with him as a supporter of the New Deal working for Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman. Greene covers Davenport’s early career as a minister and teacher with an interest in the history of American revivals. He details his entry into New York politics and discusses his interest in adoption of the direct primary which led him to seek the support of Theodore Roosevelt. Greene examines the warfare in the Republican party between 1912 and 1916, and he notes Davenport’s work for Syracuse University in the 1920s. Davenport’s support of President Herbert Hoover and his work on behalf of tariff reform are covered as is Davenport’s gradual embrace of the New Deal while heading two agencies dealing with government personnel matters. Greene notes that Davenport was awarded the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal in 1951.
Two of Davenport’s campaign posters, a photograph of the 1912 Progressive Party convention in Chicago, and a political cartoon from the 1912 campaign illustrate the article.
Several congressmen labeled “Gardner, Champ Clark, De Armond, Sulzer, Goldfogle, Ollie James, Fitzgerald, [and] Burton Harrison” and others are engaged in a brawl on the floor of the House of Representatives. In the background, Sereno E. Payne is addressing the Speaker of the House, Joseph Gurney Cannon.
As the sixty-first Congress was seated in March 1909 the Democrat Party had reason to feel confident about their future in the House of Representatives. The party still was in the distinct minority, but a growing restlessness in the electorate presaged political changes; more and more Republican representatives declared themselves anti-Establishment Insurgents likely to resist the House’s Old Guard; and the popular Theodore Roosevelt would be abroad for more than a year, his Republican influence absent from politics.
Former President Roosevelt, dressed as Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, stands on a battlefield looking at a map of New York spread open on a table. Frederick Morgan Davenport holds a battle flag with a bull moose on it as cannons fire into the air, creating smoke bearing the names of former Governor Sulzer, Lieutenant-Governor Glynn, and District Attorney Whitman.
The midterm 1914 elections, the last stand of the Progressive Party, saw chaos in New York State’s gubernatorial contest. Governor Sulzer had been impeached after running afoul of the Democrat machine Tammany Hall; Glynn succeeded him as governor; and Republican Charles Whitman defeated the incumbent. Frederick M Davenport, the Progressive candidate, placed third, after Sulzer sought that party’s nomination.
Governor William Sulzer sits in a horse-drawn wagon labeled “Direct Primaries,” between William Randolph Hearst and President Roosevelt.
The context is a matter of “strange bedfellows” — the Progressive Roosevelt, New York Governor William Sulzer, and reformer publisher Hearst. The three were uneasy allies, especially as the radical United States Representative Sulzer was elected governor in 1912. One of his first initiatives was to strengthen New York’s weak direct Primary system by a ballot initiative in 1913 — the subject of Lambdin’s cartoon. The move was defeated, and due to Sulzer’s break with the corrupt Tammany Democrat organization, he was impeached on vague accusations and removed from office. In 1914 he sought the Progressive nomination for governor.
Theodore Roosevelt assures James Bronson Reynolds that he supports Charles Evans Hughes. Roosevelt gravely questions whether it is worth while to continue the Progressive Party in New York, as small derelict parties are the “cultural prey of corrupt schemers and sinister cranks.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1916-06-23
Theodore Roosevelt addresses the issue of machine party politics in New York. He touches on the gubernatorial race and various Senators in the state legislature, including Charles Francis Murphy and William Barnes. Roosevelt is campaigning for a non-machine politics candidate, “stalwart of good government, the unflinching fighter for real reform, Frederick M. Davenport.” Roosevelt continues to cover tariffs while mentioning the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act and the Revenue Act of 1913.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1914
William McKinley walks down a street in the neighborhood of “Anarchy Slum” with a tall, well-dressed female figure labeled “Gold Standard” on his arm and two policemen labeled “Palmer” and “Buckner” walking behind them. On the wall is a presidential campaign poster that states, “Vote for Bryan, Watson and Repudiation.” In the background, Mary E. Lease is standing at the corner of a building, and Benjamin R. Tillman and John Peter Altgeld are standing on a cobblestone street labeled “Populist Alley.” An unidentified man, possibly William Sulzer, is leaning against the wall of the building, between “Miss Gold Standard” and “Palmer.” Caption: Miss Gold Standard and her escort have a brace of strong policemen to see them through the slums of Popocracy.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1896-10-07
William Jennings Bryan, as a pirate on a ship labeled “Popocracy,” stands on a barrel, playing a violin, attempting to lure a nearby ship labeled “National Prosperity” close enough so that his band of pirates can board it. Among those pirates identified are “Tillman, Altgeld, Lease, St. John, Sewall, Watson, Peffer, Sulzer, Waite, Debs, Bland, Wm. Stewart, Hill, Blackburn, [and] Coxey.” The men are armed with guns, knives, and rifles. Blackburn has a patch labeled “1895” over his right eye. Caption: Trying to lure a rich prize, in good old buccaneer fashion.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1896-09-23
A large hand labeled “The Public” depresses a lever on a large bottle labeled “Sulzer” in which the face of William Sulzer appears. A stream of seltzer water labeled “Direct Primaries” splashes two diminutive figures labeled “Barnes” and “Murphy.” Caption: It requires only a little pressure to start something.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1913-06-11
Cameo portraits of “Clark, Saulsbury, Metz, Wells, Marshall, Gerard, Wilson, McAdoo, Sulzer, Bryan, Elkus, Hudspeth, Underwood, Harmon, [and] Daniels” form a cluster of comets in the night sky on election night, November 5, 1912. An elephant and a bull moose are frightened by the “celestial display.” Caption: A celestial display which may be seen to best advantage on the night of Tuesday, November 5. Elephants and Bull Moose should beware of comets and seek cyclone-cellars. Display will be especially dazzling at Oyster Bay, N.Y., and Beverly, Mass. Visible anywhere in the United States, however, shortly after sundown.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1912-10-23
A battered ironclad labeled “High Cost of Living” is being bombarded by several ironclads labeled “Berger, Shanks [sic], Sulzer, George, Jr., [and] Taft.” Their gun blasts are labeled, respectively, “Socialism, Municipal Market, Parcel Post, Single Tax, [and] Tariff Board,” and one unidentified “Monitor” with gun blast labeled “Free Trade.” Caption: The Civil War Merrimac was hard enough to whip, but this one may be harder.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1912-02-28