Violence

John H. Murphy sends three articles to President Roosevelt regarding violence committed as a result of the labor disputes in Colorado. These include “Died in Fear of Guards, Bullpen” about a mine owner who supported unions who committed suicide because he was afraid of being arrested; “Taken on Street and Sent Away” about a union official, Thomas Nelson, who was forced to leave his home; and “Men Beaten and Turned Loose” about men who were deported from their home and were beaten when they returned despite the fact they had special permission to do so.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-07

A man labeled “‘Independent’ Labor,” tied to a post labeled “Organized Tyranny,” is being whipped by a man labeled “Professional Entertainer.” In the background, a factory is burning.

Comments and Context

This is a strange cartoon, a bit out of character for Puck and this cartoonist, S. D. Ehrhart. It is more radical other Puck cartoons of the era; Ehrhart seldom drew political cartoons, and virtually none of those as harsh as this.

The concept evidently grew from labor troubles over salaries, working conditions, and hours, between theater owners of the Great White Way, and behind-the-scenes workers and performers on Broadway shows. There had been, and were, threats of strikes, work stoppages, and appeals to the public. Actors Equity, the first real and powerful union of actors and stagehands, was formed in 1913.

Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks, as Don Quixote, sits in a chair, reading, with a sword in raised right hand, with visions of former (and current) presidents, as well as some of the social ills that he hopes to correct. Caption: Our esteemed Vice-President takes his candidacy seriously.

Comments and Context

Charles W. Fairbanks was a politician usually depicted by cartoonists (as by Keppler, here, in Puck) as icy and aloof. He was, in brief, the antithesis of a Theodore Roosevelt.

President Roosevelt had neither chosen nor recommended the Indiana senator to be his running mate in 1904. And in fact President Roosevelt scarcely communicated or consulted with Fairbanks in his second term. Fairbanks was “available” to be the Republican nominee for president in 1908, but he seldom evinced much desire or ambition.

John Mitchell and Samuel Gompers, representing the United Mine Workers and the American Federation of Labor, are witches stirring a “dangerous brew” of labor violence in a cauldron labeled “Unionism” over flames labeled “Anti-Injunction Bill.” Steam rising from the pot is filled with threatening human figures and the words “Boycott, Mob Violence, Intimidation, Dynamite-Persuasion, Riot, Lawlessness, Anarchy, Parkism, Graft, [and] Incendiary Press.”

Comments and Context

Samuel Gompers, founder and president of the American Federation of Labor (AFofL), and John Mitchell, president of the United Mine Workers of America (the union was a constituent member of the AFofL), are portrayed in this famous cartoon by Samuel Ehrhart in Puck as fomenting union strikes and labor violence.

The immediate context was the labor movement’s concerted effort to oppose methods used by employers and compliant courts to end strikes by issuing injunctions. In 1904 the AFofL planned a campaign to persuade the public and lobby the federal government; in 1906 there would be important meetings with President Roosevelt, cabinet members, senators, and representatives on the issue.

President Roosevelt stands at a flag-draped podium on the right, pointing to two men on the left, each with a foot on a female figure labeled “Law” lying on the ground. One man has papers labeled “Dishonest Corporations” and the other has papers labeled “Union Tyranny” and notes extending from his pockets labeled “Bribe” and “Graft.” On the front of the podium at which Roosevelt stands is a quotation: “If alive to their true interests, rich and poor alike will set their faces like flint against the spirit which seeks personal advantage by overriding the laws, without regard to whether this spirit shows itself in the form of bodily violence by one set of men or in the form of vulpine cunning by another set of men.” – President Roosevelt’s Speech, Sept. 7.

Comments and Context

Theodore Roosevelt, before during, and after his presidency was consistent on issues of the day — remarkably so, in that without citation of time and place, historians can be challenged to attribute many of his pronouncements as being from his twenties or then end of his life.

The remarks quoted in Keppler’s cartoon can have no truer application of this considerate of Roosevelt’s policies. He opposed unfair dominance in society at large, or in local controversies, by either labor or capital from their status alone. He consistently held that favor to, say, the middle class, implied prejudice against other strata in society. Roosevelt frequently stated that the sin of envy is as sinful as that of greed.

Three men labeled “Riot, Lynching, [and] Violence” burn a female figure labeled “Law and Order” at the stake. She is bound to the stake with ribbons labeled “Prejudice” and “Defiance.”

Comments and Context

 This powerful double-page spread by Joseph Keppler, Junior, in Puck is more than an argument against labor violence (was was indeed a public concern in the years following the turn of the century) or racial animosity (lynchings actually spiked in these years as well) but the general breakdown of law and order.

The strong statement mirrors the policies of forward-looking leaders of the time, whether editorialists like the writers and cartoonists of Puck, or politicians like President Theodore Roosevelt. A new paradigm was needed as American politics shook out; the appeal to law and order was (and often is) regarded as a conservative impulse, and commitment of social justice seen as liberal. But Roosevelt (quoting Lincoln’s appeal to “sane reform”) and Keppler, and their confreres saw no contradictions. Eventually their visions and fusion of ideals coalesced as movements called Insurgency and varieties of Progressivism.

A large, angry female figure representing Justice draws a sword labeled “Law and Order” as she strides toward striking union laborers who, taking the law into their own hands, are beating a “non union” worker and burning another tied to a tree. A factory is in flames in the background.

Comments and Context

Largely forgotten today is the labor strife of the 1890s until World War I in America. A few famous clashes populate the history books: Homestead, the Pullman Strike, the Ludlow (Colorado) Massacre, in industries from mines to textile factories, and a radicalized labor movement, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) at the extreme, but there many local strikes and confrontations. Many of these resulted in deaths and injuries.

Puck represented the type of sincere reform element, like President Roosevelt, conscious of workplace injustice, child labor, onerous hours, unsafe conditions but, however, repelled by labor violence. Initial, and sometimes long-term, reactions are represented by Keppler’s powerful cartoon.

A mob of labor union laborers charge up the steps of the U.S. Capitol. One man carries a flag that states “The (Labor) Union forever! The man who works when we won’t, is a traitor – Kill Him! Unions first, wives and children afterward. All men are equal and the man with brains must be kept down.” The man with the flag is fearfully pointing toward Columbia, who is standing defiant with a sword at her side, the “Declaration of Independence” in one hand, and the American Flag behind her. Caption: The Flag of Freedom will never be displaced by the Flag of Slavery.

Comments and Context

Between 1886 and 1921, the United States experienced labor violence worse than any other time in its history, and more severe than in any other country during that period. In 1886 there were violents strikes and protests, and the founding the the Knights of Labor. Through the Haymarket Riot in Chicago that year (anarchists and union organizers, resulting in deaths of police and protesters), the Pullman and anthracite strikes, the rise of figures like Samuel Gompers and Big Bill Haywood, and Communist infiltration of unions in the years after World War I, there was much turmoil. The public’s early and earnest anxieties are reflected in Keppler’s cartoon, which made no attempt at nuance. It is reported that between 1902 (one of the high-water marks of labor violence) and 1904, there were at least 198 deaths and almost 2000 injuries from labor strife nationwide. The main industries that were struck included coal mines; various mining operations in Colorado; teamster crews, especially in San Francisco and Chicago; railroad and rail car manufacturing like the bloody Pullman strike; urban streetcar operations; and the textile and garment industries, as per the Patterson NJ silk workers’ strike. It is arguable that the violent history of this period has somewhat receded from history because the reform measures and pro-worker advocacies of Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Movement defused many of the complaints against conditions and the system.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

An angry mob of strikers with clubs, guns, and bricks pursues a man labeled “Independent Labor” who has fallen near his wife and child in front of the statue of Justice. Justice is bound with red tape labeled “Politics.” Her scales and fasces lie on the ground next to her feet.

Comments and Context

Sixteen years previous in 1886, another year of labor strife, cartoonist Keppler’s father Joseph Senior drew a similar double-page cartoon of a worker being pummeled by strikers. In that cartoon, titled “Between Slavery and Starvation,” the worker was also a “scab” (someone who agreed to work despite strikers boycotting the factories and shops) and in that cartoon the radical Catholic priest and labor agitator father Edward McGlynn gave his blessing to the violence. In this powerful cartoon, drawn in 1902, another year labor strife, Keppler Junior alludes to the “scab,” not critically but otherwise using a term of approbation. And the fettered figure of Justice implicates merely a violated principle but the system comprised of the courts and the larger political establishment. Especially with the Anthracite Coal strike settlement of that year, and President Theodore Roosevelt’s enlistment of presidential influence, labor saw the pendulum begin to swing its way.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

A female figure labeled “Arbitration” stands between a soldier labeled “Law & Order” and a laborer labeled “Strike” who is holding a bomb and about to throw a brick, with the words “Riot” and “Arson” appearing in the smoke billowing from a fire behind him.

Comments and Context

This cartoon reflected the growing incidents of labor strife, some of them violent, as organized labor attempted to assert itself as a bargaining force in the American economy. Specifically the cartoon foreshadows a major confrontation that occurred later in the year, known as the U. S. Steel Recognition Strike. As J. P. Morgan consolidated his steel and tin holdings under the new trust, the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers (The AA) feared that their bargaining positions would be diminished or denied (as it turns, out, they were, by secret vote of the U. S. Steel board). The AA had tenuous agreements with one of the few surviving independent steel makers, Sheet Steel, but lost ground as it suffered from competition by Morgan. In 1903 it was swallowed by U. S. Steel, and Morgan’s corporation asserted itself as a closed shop that did not allow union organization.

At a meeting in a Chinese mission, a collection is being taken up, “Contributions received here to save the foreign devils.” Five accompanying vignettes show how the United States is viewed by the Chinese, including “Kentucky feuds,” “Burning Negros at the stake,” “Labor riots,” “Anti-Chinese riots,” and “New York City government” where the Tammany Tiger is shaking down a citizen. A sign on a wall in the mission states, “Help the Heathen.”

Comments and Context

In addition to criticizing American bigotry and religious hypocrisy, which Puck frequently did in its cartoons, Pughe’s cartoon here has particular relevance because the Boxer Rebellion was in the news, a matter of much curiosity and concern. The Chinese anti-foreigner insurrection was directed at Christian missionaries, no less than at any other group. Puck saw particular irony in that fact.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Theodore Roosevelt encloses a letter from Bishop Currier as well as a copy of his reply. Roosevelt thinks every objection obtained in recognizing Victoriano Huerta when Woodrow Wilson came into office now obtains with ten-fold greater force against recognizing Venustiano Carranza. The good that would have come of recognizing Huerta will not be achieved by recognizing Carranza. Roosevelt thinks if Wilson is right in his action now, he should have taken the action two years and a half ago, which would have saved two years and a half of “pointless bloodshed.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1915-10-25

President Roosevelt approves of the way Captain Harry O. Williard handled the conflict on the Navajo Reservation in a response to Commissioner of Indian Affairs Leupp.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-12-06

President Roosevelt tells Governor Aycock that he wrote to Indiana Governor Durbin about mob violence and lynching because he thought writing to a northern governor would show that he was not looking at the matter from a sectional standpoint and his statement would be less likely to be misconstrued.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-08-29

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt shares with Maria E. Tobien that while those guilty of lawlessness in the West come from many nationalities, many are apt to be Native Americans. He speaks in general terms and allows for individual exceptions.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1897-09-28

As per President Roosevelt’s request, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Leupp encloses a letter that presents the facts about the conflict on a Navajo Reservation in New Mexico. Leupp wrote the letter in response to a complaint from Edward J. Wilcox about how the situation was handled by Captain Harry O. Williard and William T. Shelton, the Superintendent of the San Juan Indian Agency. He knows that Roosevelt feels similarly that there are times “when it is necessary to enforce some salutary lesson by painful methods.” Leupp defends Williard’s and Shelton’s character and their actions in the conflict.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-12-05

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Leupp responds to a letter that Edward J. Wilcox sent to President Roosevelt criticizing the way that Captain Harry O. Williard handled a conflict on a Navajo Reservation. Leupp provides context for the situation and argues that Captain Williard was justified in his actions, adding that other Navajo on the Reservation are pleased with the outcome.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-12-03

Captain Williard writes to Commissioner of Indian Affairs Leupp about an issue that came to his attention recently. Father Anselm Weber notified him that the Indian Rights Association was protesting about Leupp and Superintendent William T. Shelton about their actions against Navajos that resulted in several being killed. Williard explains that he has become involved because he believes that he is responsible for the matter, and he defends the choices he made that resulted in the deaths.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-29

Attorney General Moody will send the Assistant Attorney General to Colorado and Idaho to ascertains facts and make a full report to President Roosevelt in preparation for the possibility that the State of Idaho might ask the United States for help dealing with domestic violence.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-03-27

J. J. Huckett urges President Roosevelt, on behalf of the Industrial Council of Kansas City, Missouri, to take action against the harsh policies of Colorado Governor James Hamilton Peabody and General Sherman Bell in the labor dispute in Colorado.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-06-12