One of the primary political controversies during Theodore Roosevelt's administration was the prevalence of "trusts," which are groups made up of large corporations collaborating to unfairly prevent competition. Roosevelt's administration sued forty-five companies under the Sherman Antitrust Act in an attempt to break up their monopolies, leading to Roosevelt being hailed as a "trust buster." In this Clifford Berryman cartoon, Roosevelt is portrayed trying to guide his way through a Mississippi River filled with logs bearing the names of various trusts obstructing his way. The cartoon illustrates the difficulty Roosevelt faced navigating his presidency through a political landscape filled with trusts.
Clifford Berryman, Life on the Mississippi, October 2, 1907. U.S. Senate Collection, Center for Legislative Archives, National Archives.
