Ehrhart, S. D. (Samuel D.), approximately 1862-1937

A well-dressed, imperious woman is seated in a chair, with her feet on a cushion, holding a scepter and a paper that states, “Fashion’s Decrees for Summer Resorts.” Among the rules are the following: “Ladies must wear at least three costumes a day,” and “Good form requires every lady to have a maid and every gentleman a valet.” After listing the rules, it ends with “Style First, Comfort Afterwards.” On the left are idle workers at an empty “American Summer Hotel,” and on the right, crowds of travelers pass through terminals to board steamships headed “To Europe.” Caption: Dame fashion’s foolish and expensive rules are responsible for the increasing exodus to Europe and the empty summer hotels in America.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-07-17

A man and a woman wearing knickers and bloomers stand with a bicycle between them, shaking hands. To the right and left are examples of nineteenth century fashion.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-08-07

William II, the German Emperor, wearing a crown and a regal robe with a ribbon that states “Sons of Cold Water,” sits at a table with other military figures. Count Leo von Caprivi pours a glass of “Ice Water” for William to drink. The others are drinking wine or champagne. Caption: His actions are praiseworthy, but his speeches at banquets indicate his great need of a strict adherence to cold water when he dines out.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1894-10-03

An Irish American woman labeled “Walking Delegate” displays the “By-Laws of the Help Lady’s Union” during a dinner party hosted by an elderly woman sitting at a table with her guests. Women domestics are seen removing their aprons, as a man in the background orders the “Walking Delegate” to leave.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-02-08

At center, “America’s Real Order of the Descendants of Kings” shows an African American laborer, a woman domestic, and an Irish hod carrier. The surrounding vignettes depict family members discussing their ancestral heritage, or lack of it, as well as shysters offering to provide ancestors to those lacking proper pedigree.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1898-03-16

At the upper left a line of men stands at a pay window labeled “Notice Bachelors’ Tax. Taxes must be paid on or before 1st of fiscal year under penalty of fine. Males under 21 year[s] exemp[t].” On the lower right is a line of mostly elderly men at a pay window labeled “Notice Bonus to Married Men paid here. Marriage certificates must be accompanied with affidavit.” Caption: Why not force the non-combatants to help pay the expenses of those brave men who have enlisted in the war of matrimony?

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1898-07-13

A young woman wearing a waistcoat, vest, and pantaloons, stands with her hands in her pockets. Her mother looks on. Caption: Mrs. Newgurl (to Daughter)–Goodness me, Kitty! Don’t stand there with your hands in your pockets, that way; – you don’t know how ungentlemanly it looks!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-04-17

This vignette cartoon portrays the aspirations for social life among the well-to-do. At center, “The Will-o’-the-Wisp of Social Aspirations” shows a crowd of rich people chasing after “Social Ambition,” a wraith-like female figure floating just beyond the edge of a cliff who entices them to follow her. Among the vignettes are women promenading while “Displaying Gowns at the Summer Resort” and “Kow-towing to Royalty,” “Coaching in the Highlands” and spending “All Day on the Golf-Links,” “Cruising in the Mediterranean” and “Being ‘Sporty’ at Monte Carlo.” This sort of rake’s progress “among the ‘Smart Set'” ends with a final vignette labeled “What It Leads To” that shows a long line of well-dressed men and women leading to the judge’s bench where he hands out documents labeled “Divorce.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-08-09

At left, two fashionably dressed, healthy young women escort a young man ill-suited for military service, carrying a valise, on his departure from a seaside resort. At right, two hearty young men, a soldier and a sailor, return home from military service during the Spanish-American War.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1898-09-21

A young man and a young woman are sitting on a love seat. He holds her hand and appears ready to propose to her, while behind them question marks labeled “Tariff Question, Chinese Question, Armenian Question, Silver Question, Cuban Question, Venezuelan Question, Boundary Line, Mafia Question, [and] Bering Sea Question” hover in the air. Caption: “Questions” may come, and “questions” may go; but, thank goodness, this “question” goes on for ever!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-03-04

A fashionably dressed, healthy young woman hangs on the arm of an injured football player. In the background, two hearty young men, a soldier and a sailor, home from military service during the Spanish-American War, and a young man, ill-suited for military service, are standing on the sidelines, no longer favored by the young woman.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1898-11-23

William II, the German Emperor, sits on horseback before an effigy mounted on a pole with a “Notice” that states, “All civilians must bow before those who wear the Kaiser’s coat.” A group of officers are gathered around him and a long line of citizens are bowing before them.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-12-16

Six policemen labeled “Chafin, Taft, Debs, Watson, Hisgen, [and] Bryan” gather around a young boy labeled “Reactionary Voter” standing on “Radical Ave.” The boy appears confused by all the political parties represented by the various candidates – Eugene W. Chafin of the Prohibition Party, William H. Taft of the Republican Party, Eugene V. Debs of the Socialist Party of America, Thomas E. Watson of the Populist Party, Thomas L. Hisgen of the United States Independent Party, and William Jennings Bryan of the Democratic Party. Caption: Chorus of Kindly Cops — Don’t you know where you belong, little boy? / The Waif — No-o-o! I’m a-all turned round. Boo-hoo!

comments and context

Comments and Context

“The Lost Child” is a curious cartoon in the Puck Magazine canon, and in its portrayal of the contemporary political situation. S. D. Ehrhart, who had been moonlighting or freelancing for a small radical publication The Square Deal, presents an unusual scenario in the double-page cartoon.

The employees of a commercial establishment take credit and responsibility for the success of a business. Those depicted are the “Office Boy,” the “Typewriter” secretary, a “Bookkeeper,” “Drummer,” “Freight Elevator” operator, a “Bill Collector,” “Foreman,” and an “Office-Cleaner.” At center, the business owner sits at a desk and prays to that “divine and merciful Providence which watches over fools.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1897-06-16

At the center, a group of working class individuals complain about the selfish accumulation of wealth by a small percentage of society. The surrounding vignettes illustrate the philanthropic deeds of the rich, such as a “Museum of Art” open to all, “Low-Rent Tenements,” “Free Milk for the Poor,” “Free Ice for the Poor,” “Fresh Air Excursion for Poor Mothers and Children,” “Free Kindergarten for Poor Children,” colleges endowed by wealthy citizens, health care centers, and “Free” libraries. Caption: Chorus of the Poor Man, the Socialist, the Dissatisfied Laborer, the Populist Farmer, the Demagogue, the Chronic Idler, and the Struggling Professional Man–“Down with Selfish, Grasping Capital!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1897-07-07

Print shows, on the left, a long line of recent graduates with their “Diploma,” some labeled “Doctor” and “Lawyer,” passing by a man with a sign that states, “Wanted Skilled Labor – Mechanics, Designers, Carvers, Electricians, Artisans, Practical Men.” They end up at the “Employment Agency” where a sign is posted that states, “Wanted Day Laborers, Street Sweepers, Waiters, Hod Carriers, Street Car Drivers, etc., etc.” The man looking for skilled labor on the left, is now on the right signing up foreign laborers, as they step off the ship, for the positions the graduates turned down. Caption: The professions turned loose; they scorn skilled labor – but many of them have to seek unskilled labor in the end – while the employer of skilled labor finally has to get it from abroad.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-06-28

Print shows Emile Loubet holding papers that state “La Constitution” and standing with a young female figure representing France; they are looking toward the sun labeled “Le Triomphe de la Vérité” in the background.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-03-15

Cupid writes notes that state “Two can live as cheaply as one.” Some are addressed to “Mr. Huggard,” “Mr. Younglove,” and “Mr. Spoony.” Watching him are a doctor, a nurse, a butcher, a grocer, a milkman, a maid, and a businessman.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-03-30

A parade includes “Workers” who work hard at swindling honest working people of their hard earned money, as well as many gullible people easily duped while looking for an easy path to riches. Caption: Parade of the real “workers” of America.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1909-09-01

Print shows a vignette cartoon with scenes of colonial men and women working at domestic and blue collar chores and jobs, leading to a scene with upper class women, each clutching an approved “Family Tree.” At center is a poem of four stanzas describing the pride that the upper class take in their ancestors, working men and women though they may have been. The final stanza encourages the “farmers’ wives who tend the Western garden rows” not to despair, because they may yet find themselves to be “some blue-bloods forebears, too.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-09-27