Reining in Big Business
This 1904 cartoon from Puck shows Theodore Roosevelt as a tiny figure with a sword marked “public service,” taking on railroad developer Jay Gould, financier John Pierpont Morgan, and other Wall Street titans. The figure at the top right is oil magnate John D. Rockefeller. In its reference to the folktale “Jack the Giant Killer,” the cartoon suggests how difficult it will be for the president to limit the power of globally connected bankers and financiers. Library of Congress.