The phrase was taken up by the press, and the verb to muck"rake`, in the above sense, and the noun muck"rak`er (&?;), to designate one so engaged, were speedily coined and obtained wide currency
On April 14, 1906, President Roosevelt delivered a speech on "The Man with the Muck Rake," in which he deprecated sweeping and unjust charges of corruption against public men and corporations
The original allusion was to a character in Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" so intent on raking up muck that he could not see a celestial crown held above him