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CHAPTER XVII
The Unanimous Endorsement of His Party

" DELIGHTED! "
(Senator   Hanna,    himself   an   aspirant   for   Presidential   honors,   reluctantly   handing  to   President   Roosevelt   the   endorsement  of   the   Ohio  convention.)—From the Herald (New York)

M
R. ROOSEVELT had been having the sort of strenuous experiences as President that were in every way congenial to him, and the American public had undoubtedly approved of his policies and actions in most essential respects.   It was not to be expected, however, that his renomina-tion could come without opposition.
'POSSUM OR CHICKEN? (Capturing the colored vote!) From the Herald  (Baltimore)
Senator Hanna, of Ohio, chairman of the National Republican Committee, and close friend of the late President McKinley, had become the most masterful personage in the Senate, not excepting Mr. Aldrich. Senator Hanna had broadened his interests. He espoused the cause of organized labor. He accounted himself responsible more than any one else for the practical steps that were making the Panama Canal a realized
fact.    In short, he was a candidate for the Presidency, and  was  effecting  a  powerful

96

A Cartoon History of Roosevelt's Career

 

TAKING THE BULL BY THE HORNS (This cartoon refers to the action of the President in bringing    suit    against    the    Northern    Securities    Company.)
From the Journal (Minneapolis)

SOME TROUBLE WITH THE TARIFF TEAM
Prom the Eagle (Brooklyn, New York) (Ohio, led by Hanna, had adopted a " stand-pat " high tariff platform, and Iowa had accepted Cummins' planks on reciprocity and revision.)

BLOCKING THE WAY
(Senator Aldrich's financial reforms in that session of 1902-3 were blocked by the mass of business in the House of Representatives.)
From the Times (Minneapolis)

DNCLE   SAM'S   NEED   OF   AN   ELASTIC   CURRENCY
president roosevelt : " You see, those galluses ought to have rubber in them, so that when Uncle Sam stoops to move the sheaf there won't be much strain on the buttons."
From the Pioneer Press  (St. Paul)

The Unanimous Endorsement of His Party

97

organization of politicians throughout the country in his own behalf.
A good many States as early as 1902 had endorsed Roosevelt. The question arose whether the Ohio convention of 1903 would speak favorably of his administration. Mr. Roosevelt, who was hunting in the West, sent a famous message that resulted in Ohio's recognition of him in its platform. There was tariff agitation in the air, with Senator Hanna as the champion of the high-tariff " stand-pat " policy,—to use his own
uncle sam : " Xow let's see you punch the bag."	phrase,	while  the  West-
From the neraia (Xew York)	ern leaders like Governor
Cummins, of Iowa, were demanding revision.    A great financial discussion was pending, moreover, having to do with the need of a different banking and currency system.

. UK LAUGHS BEST WHO LAUGHS LAST the demochatic donkey :  " Ha, ha !  the cat is out of the bag."
the  strenuous republican boy :  " Yes,  but  it will soon be a dead cat."
From the Journal  (Minneapolis)
THE FOREMAN GIVES ORDERS FOR RUSH
WORK From the Times  (Minneapolis)
Mr. Roosevelt's tone was progressive, but his attitude was expectant rather than positive touching such questions. Those were matters for Congress rather than for the executive. But when serious scandals were current regarding the administration of the business of the postal system, Mr. Roosevelt was in no doubt as to his responsibility.

DRIVE THE KNIFE IN TJP TO THE  HILT!      From Judge, December 12, 1903 (President  Roosevelt  vigorously  prosecuting  corrupt   corporations,  as  well  as  grafters  and  others,  as a result of the thorough investigation of the Postal frauds   made   by   Fourth   Assistant   Postmaster-General Bristow,  who  later became a United  States  Senator from   Kansas.)

The Unanimous Endorsement of His Party

99

He took hold of the work of postal investigation with such vigor that he left no opportunity for the Democrats to make capital in the approaching campaign out of abuses which otherwise might have led to Republican defeat.
As the time for the choosing of delegates for the 1904 convention approached, the movement for Mr. Hanna's nomination disintegrated, partly because of the great strength of President Roosevelt with the people, and also partly because of the serious breakdown of Mr. Hanna's health. One after another of the great States, in their local conventions, instructed their delegates to support President Roosevelt. Ohio itself fell in with the general movement and sent a delegation instructed for the President.
'A   BIRD   IN   THE   HAND   IS   WORTH   TWO   IN
THE BUSH " From the Press  (Cleveland)
The convention at Chicago turned out to be a great spontaneous demonstration in favor of the man who had acceptably served out three and a half years of Mr. McKinley's unexpired second term. If President Mc-Kinley had lived Vice-President Roosevelt would have been a candidate for the nomination in 1904. But he would not have been personally identified with the many stirring

ONLY COMPETENT NAVIGATORS NEED APPLY From the Post (Cincinnati)

THE SNOW MAN AND THE HOT SUN Prom the Press (Cleveland)

100

A Cartoon History of Roosevelt's Career

THE VALUE  OF THE BINDER IN HARVEST-TIME
(Apropos of the pledging 01  "binding" of various State  delegations to support Mr. Roosevelt in the nominating  convention.) From the Brooklyn Eagle (New York)
matters, both foreign and domestic, that had been crowded into the busy period from 1901 to 1904; and no one can make even a sagacious guess as to what would have happened. Senator Fairbanks, of Indiana, was nominated for Vice-President. Under other circumstances, Mr. Fairbanks would have been a formidable candidate for the Presidency. His friends had declared that he was the natural successor of Mr. McKinley, and that it had been Mr. McKinley's hope and wish, if he had lived, that Mr. Fairbanks should succeed him. But the bluff, powerful Hanna had intervened, and with the disintegration of the Roosevelt opposition which had centered around the chairman of the National Com-

The Unanimous Endorsement of His Party

101

SOME PROMINENT FEATURES  OF  THE  CHICAGO   CONVENTION By Cartoonist Briggs, of the American (New York)

frank S. black : " I come not to bury Caesar, but to praise him,"

(Gov. Black, who had been refused a second-term nomination for Governor in 1808, when Roosevelt took his place, made the nominating speech at Chicago in 1904.)
From the World   (New  York)

THE CHORUS OP ROOSEVELT HARMONY AT CHICAGO
Prom the Post  (Cincinnati)

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A Cartoon History of Roosevelt's Career

-o
TO CHICAGO

roosevelt's   i^ast   instructions   to   the   republican   elephant:   "Whoop   'er   up!'
From the World  (New York)

mittee, it was quite impossible to rally around any other man's standard the various leaders and groups who did not like Roosevelt.
Mr. Root, Mr. Beveridge, ex-Governor Black, of New York, and others, made eloquent Roosevelt speeches in the convention, and there was incomparably more enthusiasm over Roosevelt's nomination in 1904 than there had been at Philadelphia over Mr. McKinley's re-nomination, or the placing of Roosevelt on the ticket as candidate for Vice-President. For years Roosevelt's friends had hoped to nominate him for the Presidency in the year 1904, and now they had
...	.     .	THE  CONVENTION HAS  ARRIVED
actually accomplished their purpose.
From the Herald  (New York)