Skip to main content

Primary sourcePainting20 January 1899

The Canal in Sight!

Homer Davenport · 20 January 1899

An 1899 political cartoon by Homer Davenport showing Rockefeller involved in a scheme connected to a Nicaragua Canal syndicate.

Rockefeller is depicted receiving instructions in a suspected canal-building business scheme.

Ask John D. Rockefeller about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Ink political cartoon by Homer Davenport. An old bearded man in a long coat, seated on a barrel labeled 'Plans to Submit' with a stars-and-stripes cap, hands papers to a younger man in plaid shirt and sash reading 'J.D. Rockefeller' who peers out a door marked 'Nicaragua Canal Swindlecate'. Caption below reads 'J. D. Rockefeller to Uncle Sam: The Syndicate Is Busy. You Will Have to State Your Business in Writing.' Signed Davenport.
Homer Davenport, 'The Canal in Sight!', 20 January 1899.

About this source

What it is

This ink cartoon by Homer Davenport, dated 20 January 1899, shows an older bearded man handing papers to a younger man labeled J.D. Rockefeller, who peers from a door marked 'Nicaragua Canal Swindlecate'. A caption has the figure addressing 'Uncle Sam' about a business syndicate.

Why it matters

The cartoon reflects contemporary suspicion about Rockefeller's business dealings and his possible involvement in canal-building schemes, a major topic of public debate in the late 1890s as the United States considered building a canal through Central America.

Look closer

  • What does the label 'Swindlecate' suggest about the cartoonist's opinion of this deal?
  • Why might Rockefeller be shown receiving instructions rather than giving them?
  • What does this cartoon suggest about public trust in big business during this period?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of John D. Rockefeller on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More John D. Rockefeller sources

Meet the AI John D. Rockefeller →
Title page of 'The History of the Standard Oil Company' by Ida M. Tarbell, Volume One, published by McClure, Phillips & Co., New York, MCMV. Includes a red publisher's emblem with an anchor and the initials McC P & Co.Book

Secondary source

The History of the Standard Oil Company

Ida Tarbell · 1904

Handwritten enrolled manuscript of the Act of July 2, 1890, headed 'Fifty-first Congress of the United States of America; At the First Session' with the title 'An Act to protect trade and commerce against unlawful restraints and monopolies,' and the opening sections written in long-hand script.Document

Primary source

Sherman Anti-Trust Act

2 July 1890

Political cartoon from the magazine Puck titled 'The Bosses of the Senate.' Large caricatured trust figures in top hats and frock coats, labeled with trust names like Steel Beam, Copper, and Standard Oil, fill the gallery above a Senate chamber of seated lawmakers at desks. A sign reads 'This is Senate of the Monopolists, by the Monopolists, for the Monopolists.' Signed by J. Keppler.Painting

Primary source

The Bosses of the Senate

Joseph Keppler · 23 January 1889

Oval black-and-white portrait of a young man with short dark hair, wearing a dark suit jacket, white shirt, and dark bow tie, shown from the chest up against a light background.Photograph

Primary source

John D. Rockefeller at 22

Unknown · c. 1861

Handwritten manuscript page of the Act to Regulate Commerce, headed Forty-Ninth Congress of the United States of America, At the Second Session, with the text of the act in ink below, bordered in red ink, on aged paper.Document

Primary source

Interstate Commerce Act

4 February 1887

Ready when you are

Start chatting with John D. Rockefeller now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions