Life, 1907-05-16 · page 11 of 36
Life — May 16, 1907 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine satirizes President Theodore Roosevelt's handling of labor unrest in Idaho's mining regions. The top cartoon, titled "The Teddyssey, Book IV," shows sirens (mythological temptresses) attempting to lure Roosevelt's ship of state ("Columbia") onto rocks—a classical reference suggesting labor agitators pose dangerous threats to the nation. The article "Undesirable Citizens" criticizes Roosevelt for allegedly calling Western Federation of Miners leaders murderers without evidence, then refusing to retract the statement. The text argues Roosevelt's intemperate language and published letters have unfairly damaged these men's reputations. The accompanying caricatured figure (left) appears to represent a labor agitator or miner, illustrating the "undesirable citizens" being discussed.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE TEDDYSSEY. BCOK IV THE SIRENS TRY TO LURE TEDDYSSES TO THE “ROCKS,” BUT HAVING BOUND HIMSELF TO THE SHIP OF STATE, COLUMBIA STEERS HIM THROUGH Undesirable Citizens OYER and Haywood, officers of the Western Federation of Miners, are about to be tried in Idaho for instigating and bringing about a long series of trade-union murders in the mining regions of that State, ending with theassassination of Governor Steunenberg. What can be proved against as them to the satisfaction of a SS jury remains to be seen, but they are in full possession and enjoyment of the reputation of being two of the most danger- ous persons alive. President Roosevelt lately alluded to them in a burst of candor provoked by discussion of the case of another man as “undesira- ble citizens.” Whether they are murderers or not, there is no doubt that they are undesirable citizens, but the Central Federated Union, which -has taken up their cause, was scandalized that the President should have called them so, and appointed a committee of three to go to Wash- ington and sce if the President would retract his statement. He wouldn’t. So long as the men were about to be tried, it was unfortunate that the President should have expresseu any opinion about them; but having said what he said, he has stuck to it with characteristic vehemence, and has written and published a letter which stands on its head the organization which has been formed to influence the administration of justice in Idaho in favor of the men ac- cused. The President is remarkably fortunate in the enemies he makes. Conversely, anybody who acquires notoriety by pitch- ing into him, even on just grounds, is likely to be dismayed by the qualities of the company he finds himself keeping. ( comicbooks.com