jan 1, 1904 - Bad Trusts

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Clifford Berryman
Washington, 1907

The Bad Trusts political cartoon depicts Theodore Roosevelt holding a hunting rifle while standing with one foot over a dead bear that has the words “Bad trusts” written on its body while a live bear with the words “Good trusts” written on it looks at him from a distance. Roosevelt is drawn to be significantly bigger than the bears, which is meant to indicate that the power of government (at least under the strong anti-trust leadership of Theodore Roosevelt) supersedes the power of big business. Roosevelt’s tough-looking appearance shows that he is not afraid to stand up to the monopolistic industries that were squandering competition – if anything, the bears seem to fear him. It also shows that Roosevelt didn’t go after all trusts, only the ones that were bad for competition and the American consumers.

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