HarpWeek | Elections | 1904 Large Cartoons

The Trusts and Fundraising

“Uncle Sam: Enough Head-Lines - Produce the Evidence!"

	Cartoonist: William Allen Rogers
	Source: Harper's Weekly
	Date: October 22, 1904, p. 1599

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Complete HarpWeek Explanation:
Since the summer, Democrats had been whispering that Republican National Committee Chairman George Cortelyou was blackmailing major corporate donors to the campaign fund of President Theodore Roosevelt. It was alleged that Cortelyou was promising them political favors, particularly the promise of the administration not suing them under federal antitrust laws. In September, newspapers began reporting the story, including The New York Times, which tended not to be sensational in its coverage and often supported Republican candidates. In October, Democratic presidential nominee Alton B. Parker undertook a brief, last-minute speaking tour in which he leveled the same, vague charges.

Harper’s Weekly was officially neutral in the 1904 presidential contest and was even considered leaning toward Democrat Parker; however, editor George Harvey and, here, cartoonist W. A. Rogers asserted that the rumors were an unsubstantiated partisan ploy on the part of Democrats to besmirch Republican Roosevelt. In this cartoon, Cortelyou is on the witness stand and Uncle Sam is the judge who demands that the newspapers produce evidence. The three journalists are (left-right): St. Clair McKelway, editor of the Brooklyn Eagle; Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of the New York World; and, Charles R. Miller, editor of The New York Times. Above Cortelyou is a portrait of President Roosevelt. No evidence was ever produced, and the story had little effect on voters.