Trusts, Industrial

Tariff revision at last!

President Roosevelt holds a “Roosevelt Speller revised edition” and crosses off the second “f” in “the tariff” on the chalkboard. Andrew Carnegie says, “That wasn’t on my list!” while Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon tries to pull Roosevelt back. Secretary of the Treasury Leslie M. Shaw says, “The unkindest cut of all.” Pennsylvania Representative John Dalzell lies flat on the floor while a “steel trust” and Rhode Island Senator Nelson W. Aldrich cover their faces.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09-01

Aren’t you glad Bryan wasn’t elected?

A “meat packer” and a “beef trust” man sit outside of the White House covered in bandages. The “meat packer” asks, “Aren’t you glad Bryan wasn’t elected?”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-06-12

Wouldn’t it be funny?

President Roosevelt sits at a desk with two pens—one “for pure food bill” with a tag of “souvenir for meat trust” and one “for railroad rate bill” with a tag of “souvenir for railroad trusts.” Caption: President Roosevelt signed the statehood bill with two pens, using a gold pen to write the name “Theodore” and an eagle quill for “Roosevelt.” The pens will be placed in the archives of the Oklahoma Historical Society as souvenirs of the event.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-06-20

Not a winner

A “beef trust” pumps “rotten ram” air into a “packers meat inspection bill” hot air balloon. New York Representative James Wolcott Wadsworth sits in an “immunity bath” basket. President Roosevelt looks on. Caption: Resident of the White House: “I tell you your flying machine can’t get through. . .”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-06-16

Or standing pat!

President Roosevelt wears a “rate bill” outfit and holds a “big stick” and a pitchfork as he stands in front of a “trust” man. Caption: Sic semper tyrannis.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-05-09

Fortissimo

President Roosevelt is surrounded by a number of percussion instruments: “railroad rates” cymbals, a “sugar trust” bass drum, “beef trust” and “standard oil” timpani, a “race suicide” rope tension snare drum, a “muckrakers” triangle instrument, and a “drug trust” drum.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-05-12

Wouldn’t it make you mad–

In the top half of the cartoon, President Roosevelt grabs a man holding a rake by the neck. Caption: 1. After you had made a thrilling attack on the Man of the Muck Rake, and you had swatted and lambasted him in the most merciless manner— In the second half of the cartoon, “the common people” point Roosevelt to the “national muck heap” and ask, “Why don’t you get busy about that?” A number of individuals are in the pile: “R.R. rebater,” “official bribe taker,” “official grafter,” “U.S. senator owned by railroads,” “trust-owned U.S. senator,” New York Senator Thomas Collier Platt, Chauncy M. Depew, Pennsylvania Senator Philander C. Knox, Chair of the Republican National Committee George B. Cortelyou, and Rhode Island Senator Nelson W. Aldrich. Caption: 2. If you suddenly learned that you ought to have attacked the Muck Heap instead of the Muck Rake. Wouldn’t it DEE-PRESS you?

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04

A branch of law they didn’t quite understand

President Roosevelt and Commissioner of Corporations at the Department of Commerce and Labor James Rudolph Garfield use an “immunity” crosscut saw to cut off the “prosecution of the trusts” branch from a tree outside of the United States Capitol building.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-03-25

Give him a chance

President Roosevelt sits at his desk and looks at three papers: “Panama Canal,” “Philippine Tariff,” and “Railroad Rate Legislation.” There is a picture of Abraham Lincoln on the wall. Uncle Sam directs several men, including a “R. R. trust” and a “obstructionist,” away.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-01-11

The whole show, and the ring-master, too

President Roosevelt participates in a variety of events at the circus, including taming “political lions” to riding “trust” bulls to flying on a trapeze to juggling to directing the Republican elephant.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-12

It can’t miss him

President Roosevelt holds his “big stick” as he is trapped below the “feathered bed of private life.” Meanwhile, Uncle Sam sits on him and holds up a “candidacy lightning rod” with multiple prongs on it: “peace of Portsmouth,” “rate legislation,” “Panama Canal,” “beef trust,” “post office cleansing,” “coal strike,” “railroad merger,” “New Orleans,” and “departmental investigations.” Lightning from the “Republican nomination 1908” storm cloud hits this rod. Three other men—Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker, Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks, and Leslie M. Shaw—hold up much smaller lightning rods with no success.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905

Teddy, the buster

This poem details the events of President Roosevelt’s life and presidency, calling him “buster in war and buster in peace.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-10-26

Too much heavy work

A “railroads” football player jumps on a “small snipper” who holds a “railroad rate regulation” football. President Roosevelt rushes toward them with his “big stick” as the “beef trust” and another trust look on and laugh.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-10-15

Back from a strenuous vacation

President Roosevelt holds the “big stick” and “peace” papers as he looks towards the United States Capitol building. A number of papers fall out of his briefcase: “cotton scandal airing,” “magazine article written,” “investigation of Castro,” “beef trust jostle,” “a submarine trip,” “cabinet changes,” “speeches made,” and “sermon preached.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-10-01

Getting ready for action

President Roosevelt prepares a cannon labeled “the message” as the “House,” “Senate,” and “trusts” run away. He stands beside a “square deal” flag.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09-28

He’ll soon come off

A “trusts” man with a “R.R. Rebates interests” paper in his back pocket rides Uncle Sam. President Roosevelt throws a “legislation” lasso toward the man.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09-25

“Yum, yum! But I does love watahmilyun!”

A caricatured, dark-skinned President Roosevelt takes several bites out of a “strenuous politics” watermelon outside of the United States Capitol building. There are a variety of phrases on the watermelon: “peace terms for Russia & Japan,” “no war taxes in times of peace,” “square deals,” “honesty in politics,” “uniting the North & South,” “ousting the political grafters,” and “anti-trust crusade.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09-02

Isn’t the load getting pretty heavy?

President Roosevelt tries to push Secretary of War William H. Taft onto an already overloaded Republican elephant, which carries a lot of baggage: “Philippine scandal,” “Panama Canal supplies,” “tariff reduction,” “Loomis Rex. Whitewash,” “Morton Railroad Rebate scandal,” “Anti-trust fiasco,” and “wood Manila.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09

St. Rooseveltius

President Roosevelt jousts with a “trust” octopus as he holds a dove in his right hand. “San Juan Hill” is in the background.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09-02

Come back, my wandering boy

“The trusts” man holds “the big stick” and rides an elephant that attempts to straggle President Roosevelt. The elephant walks away from the “$acred tariff wall” and steps on a “Panama” man as it heads toward the “markets of the world.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-05-21