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CHAPTER XI
Named for the Vice-Presidency
F
OR American politicians, the issues of a Presidential year overshadow all other affairs of a public nature.    The year 1900 was one of much political excitement.    We had acquired the Philippines as one result of the war with Spain.    Mr. Bryan and the Democrats were attacking the McKinley administration on the new issue of imperialism. Many people besides the Democrats were criticising the administration because of Secretary Alger's unpopular management of the War Department.    Governor  Roosevelt was stoutly defending the expansion policy, and our acquisitions in the Atlantic and Pacific, but he was well known to be critical of the War  Department.    The   State   Department  had blundered frightfully with the original Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, and Roosevelt had openly denounced it and helped to prevent its ratification.
The administration in turn was not devotedly attached to  Governor  Roosevelt,  and Secretary Alger had failed to show appreciation of the war record of the gallant colonel

 

A  PAGE   FROM  ROOSEVELT'S   " CROMWELL "
(Governor Roosevelt's hardest personal fight had to do with the removal of Louis F. Payn, a well-known politician, as State Superintendent of Insurance.)
executioner platt  (to Teddy the Leveler) : " I pray  thee,  remember  1904.    Thine intended  victim [Payn] is somewhat of a leveler himself." From the Verflict (New York)

THE TWO TEDDY ROOSEVELTS
("To be independent of Platt, he wasn't afraid-I To punish canal thieves,
[To refuse the Vice-Presidency;
!"Hc hasn't been independent of Platt, but! He let the thieves get away,
I And he's breaking his neck for the Vice-Presi-L     dency ;
BECAUSE HE'S AFKAID OF PLATT
From the Verdict (New York)

56

A Cartoon History of Roosevelt's Career

"HERB,   HERE,   WHAT'S   THIS?"
(Mr.   Platt  conferring  with  Roosevelt  about  the  Presidential   nomination   for   1900.     President   McKinley, himself a  candidate for reuomination,  appears  as  an   interested   listener.)
From the World (New York)
of the Rough Riders. It was supposed that the Secretary was endeavoring to keep Mr. Roosevelt's name off the list of those to whom Congress was voting medals of honor.
No President ever approaches the time of his renomination without discovering that there are numerous people who would prefer to try a new candidate. Many critics of the administration were proposing to deprive McKinley of a second term, and to nominate Roosevelt at Philadelphia in 1900. The more practical party managers, however, saw that the logic of the situation called for a second McKinley term.
The friends and admirers of Mr.  Roosevelt were planning to elect him in the fall of

Named for the Vice-Presidency

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" THE     LIGHT     AND     SHADOW     OF 1900 "
(Roosevelt is represented as the rising sun of 1900, while Alger and the army scandals throw a shadow over President McKinley.)
From the Herald (New York)

 

TROUBLE   WITH   THE   PHILIPPINE   BRONCHO uncle sam : " Say, Mr.  McKinley, why don't you get a professional  like  Roosevelt   to  ride  that  broncho?"— From the Herald (New York)

secbetaby aloeb : " You're one of the round-robins; you   don't get a medal."
(Colonel Roosevelt with other officers in Cuba had sent a " round-robin " letter to the War Department protesting against bad commissary supplies and retention of sick in service, and this had been regarded as a breach of military discipline.)—From the Herald (New York)

58

A Cartoon History of Roosevelt's Career

THE   VICE-PRESIDENCY
roosevelt:  "What!    Me?    Never!    I'll be the whole show or nothin'!" From the Herald (New York)

THE ROUGH  RIDER'S  EYES  ON THE WHITE   HOUSE From the Herald (New York)

Named for the Vice-Presidency

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IS  HE  SETTING  THE  SWITCH  FOR  THE ROOSEVELT FLYER?
From the Tribune  (New York)
1900 to a second term as governor, and to bring him forward as their Presidential candidate in 1904. Mr. Roosevelt's enemies, however, had a different program. The Vice-Presidency had always been regarded as a somewhat empty honor and as a place for disposing of men who were not wanted in active politics. The corporations that had opposed the franchise tax, and that were very close to the Republican boss, Senator Platt, were determined to have some other man for governor. Roosevelt was too strong to be defeated in a direct fight. The only plan they could devise was to have him run for Vice-President on the ticket with Mr. McKinley.-

" NAY,  NAY ! "
From the World (New York)

THE MAN ON HORSEBACK From the World (New York)

60

A Cartoon History of Roosevelt's Career

•• what ails you, Willie? " Look at that campaign
Teddy has painted!"

" Y'es, Willie, here is a nice little boy Nursie and I have found to play with you. Treat him kindly, as he is very timid and retiring."
"Goodness me, Willie, what ails you this time?"
" We're playing Republican Campaign Trip, and Teddy's	" Yes, Willie, Nursie has to suppress Teddy when his
making all the speeches from the rear platform, and he	rich uncle is visiting us. He says too many foolish
says I'm merely a brakeman."	things."
(These clever cartoons by Mr. Frederick B. Opper appeared in a series entitled "Willie and His Papa, and the Rest of the Family," published in the New York Evening Journal during the years 1900 and 1901. " Willie" referred to President McKinley, " Papa" was the Trusts, " Nursie" represented Mr. Banna, while the active little figure in the Rough Rider costume stood, of course, for the irrepressible " Teddy." Other prominent personalities, comprising the " Rest of the Family," were occasionally introduced by Mr. Opper into the drawings of the series.)

Named for the Vice-Presidency

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\/ i) S   If

COMPARISONS   ARE   ODIOUS
(Why Hanna does not want Teddy riding behind Mc-Kinley  in   1900.)
From the Verdict (New York), January 1, 1900
TEDDY  BESIEGED

With a liberal supply of gubernatorial mule meat, he may be able to hold out till 1904.
(Governor Roosevelt, being pressed by Platt and Quay to accept the Vice-Presidential nomination of 1900, in order to eliminate him from active politics.)
From the Verdict (New York), May 14, 1900

CUTTING OUT THE  YEARLING
teddy :   " I must get my own brand on this calf before he   gets   into   the   Trust   Herd."
(Referring to Mr. Roosevelt's aspirations for the Presidential  nomination   of   1904.)
From the Verdict  (New York), May 7, 1900
THE   TAIL   OF   THE   PRESIDENTIAL   KITE
(The "Rough Rider" tail to the McKinley kite of 1900.)
From the Verdict  (New York), July 9, 1900

62

A Cartoon History of Roosevelt's Career

GOVERNOR  ROOSEVELT  IN  THE  CONVENTION
(Senator Depew is on the extreme left, and the other three standing figures are Governor Roosevelt, Dr. Leslie D. Ward, and Hon. B. B. Odell, Jr. Senator Platt's face is partly shown in the lower right-hand corner. The illustration is from one of the remarkable convention photographs taken by the New York Tribune, by whose courtesy we use it.)
As early as February, Governor Roosevelt had issued a frank statement saying that under no circumstances would he accept a nomination to the Vice-Presidency, and declaring his desire to serve the people of New York in a second term as governor. He went to the Philadelphia convention as chairman of the delegates from New York. The street railroad magnates had arranged, through Senator Quay, to have Pennsylvania lead in the movement to make Roosevelt the Vice-Presidential candidate. Mr. McKinley and his manager, Senator Hanna, had other plans, but there was an insistent demand for Roosevelt from the Western States where Bryan was very strong. Many of these Western delegates asserted openly that they were prepared to abandon McKinley and make Roosevelt the head of the ticket. The pressure became irresistible and Mr. Roosevelt finally abandoned his preference.
Messrs. Platt, Quay, and the corporations had undoubtedly started the movement. They would not have prevailed, however, but for the genuine Roosevelt sentiment in the West. Roosevelt accepted the nomination for the Vice-Presidency not at the hands of his enemies, but at the hands of his friends. He felt that he was giving up his best chance for usefulness, as well as his probable future preferment. But it seemed to be his duty, and it was always Mr. Roosevelt's way to try to face the immediate emergency in honorable fashion and let the future take care of itself.

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ROOSEVELT  CANNOT  GET  AWAY  FROM  THIS   STAMPEDE,   LED   BY   PENNSYLVANIA
From  the Inquirer   (Philadelphia)
At almost every stage in his career he had illustrated the principle that the best way to save one's life is to seem to lose it at the call of duty. The New York political machine chuckled and sneered, and the enemies that Roosevelt had made through his honest and vigorous administration as governor thought that Samson was shorn of his locks. If Mr. Roosevelt's friends were a little disheartened, the governor himself was cheerful and buoyant. He had done his best, he was still young, and very much interested in the passing show, and he had never allowed himself to be the victim of ambition.

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ROUNDED   UP
(Expressing the belief that the bosses had captured Roosevelt) From the Journal (New York)