It can pay to read the newspaper. In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt was invited by the governor of Mississippi to come bear hunting in his state. During the hunt, several of the other members of the party had bagged bears, but Roosevelt had not. A suite of Roosevelt's attendants, led by Holt Collier, cornered, clubbed, and tied an American Black Bear to a willow tree after a long exhausting chase with hounds. They called Roosevelt to the site and suggested that he should shoot it. Roosevelt refused to shoot the bear, deeming this unsportsmanlike, but instructed that the bear be killed to put it out of its misery. The incident inspired a cartoon in the Washington Post in November of 1902.

A Russian Jewish immigrant in New York City, Morris Michtom, who was running a candy store and making stuffed animals with his wife at night saw the cartoon and got an idea.

He used the picture in the cartoon to sew together a toy stuffed bear that he offered for sale in his shop.

(actual photo of Michtom's first bear)

And what else could Michtom call this bear, except a "Teddy" bear, the nickname that people called the President when he was not within earshot. (TR refused to let any of his friends call him that. As a child, Roosevelt's family nicknamed him "Teedie")

                The toy bear was a smash hit and quickly made Michtom a rich man.

He used the money from sales of the bear to start his own toy company which he called 

So, watch those newspaper cartoons. You just might strike it rich yourself.