Glackens, L. M. (Louis M.), 1866-1933

Theodore Roosevelt and William H. Taft stand in the center of a gathering of Roosevelt’s “officers.” Most are dressed as colonial army officers, with Charles J. Bonaparte dressed as Napoleon and John Burroughs as a frontiersman. All but Roosevelt are crying. Caption: Repetition, one year hence, of a famous scene in Fraunce’s Tavern.

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Cartoonist Louis M. Glackens drew this prophetic cartoon in March of 1908, interesting for what it does not outright say, and significant for who it does and does not show, in the group gathered around President Roosevelt.

A woman labeled “Corrupt Corporations” stands in a bell tower, hanging onto the clapper of a bell labeled “Third Term” which bears the countenance of Theodore Roosevelt.

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“Curfew Shall Not Ring Tonight” is one of those occasional lines from a poem that is otherwise obscure by a poet who is known for nothing else. The same situation sometimes attends songs and hymns. In the case of this cartoon’s theme and caption (which correctly should be “Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight”), a poem by a 16-year-old girl from a small Michigan town, traded for a subscription to a Detroit newspaper, gained a semblance of immortality.

Theodore Roosevelt stands in a mountain of mail, mostly postcards from William H. Taft, showing places “Bill” has visited during his worldly travels. Caption: T.R. (in despair) — I might have known that Bill would get the habit.

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Approximately once a month Puck gave its center-spread to humor — social or topical commentary — and took a vacation from politics. This cartoon by L. M. Glackens employs President Roosevelt and Secretary of War William H. Taft; and from behind, presidential secretary William Loeb, but only in humorous fantasy.

Theodore Roosevelt, wearing a military uniform with the Japanese Imperial seal on the hat and holding a rifle, stands behind the “Park Row Earth Works,” as two rolled-up newspapers labeled “Sun” and “World” with rifles charge the earthworks. The background shows the war flag of the Japanese Imperial Army. Caption: “The war talk is due entirely to newspapers, which seek to increase their sales, and which for political reasons attack the Government.”–Taft at Tokio.

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A week after spectacular Wall Street panic, Puck commented instead, for the second week in a row, on diplomatic friction between the United States and Japan. The wall Street situation was news, however, a rolling crisis and rather complicated, so perhaps it was safer to address international matters.

A throng of people on Wall Street rush to purchase stocks from trading houses that offer various amounts of green or pink trading stamps.

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One month after the initial Panic on Wall Street — and a delay of commentary likely due to the fluid situation, complicated responses, and somewhat obscured machinations of government and trust managers — Puck finally comments on the financial crisis, and it is more humorous than incisive.

Theodore Roosevelt wields an ax and is about to chop the head off a turkey labeled “Flim-Flam Finance” on the chopping block. The turkey’s feathers are labeled “Worthless Collateral, Wild Cat Bank, Fake Bonds, Worthless Securities, [and] Fake Stocks.” A diminutive man labeled “Small Investor” is standing in front of the chopping block, also holding an axe. Caption: For what he is about to receive, let us be truly thankful.

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“Flim Flam” was not a new term in 1907, but it might have been Puck magazine’s attempt to add a term to the political lexicon, perhaps a cartoon and commentary journal’s version of “Frenzied Finance,” the title of Thomas W. Lawson’s muckraking expose of the upper echelons of corporate America. Puck repeatedly used the term in cartoons and editorials, but it not stick.

At center, Andrew Carnegie donates an “inland sea” as a place to send the Navy. Surrounding vignettes include other options where it could be sent: the “North Pole,” the “Saragossa [sic] Sea,” the “Saharra [sic] Desert,” or “Salt Creek” – where the “Salt Creek Reception Committee,” comprised of such figures as “D.B. Hill, Alton B. Parker, Croker, Burton, Jerome, [and] Seth Low,” awaits its arrival. Caption: Some places to send it without giving offense.

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The American Navy was in the news when this cartoon appeared, as it was at least once a year during President Roosevelt’s administration — during the annual message, today called the State of the Union address.

On a stage with a large table, many actors and actresses are engaged in various activities. On the far left is a Christmas tree with decorations based on the characters from the Harriet Beecher Stowe novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin: an angel labeled “Haley,” a playing card spade labeled “Marks,” a black doll labeled “Simon Legree,” a champagne bottle labeled “Mrs. Ophelia,” a bottle of “face powder” labeled “Topsey,” a dog labeled “Eliza,” and a whip labeled “Uncle Tom.” On the floor next to the tree is a jug labeled “Eagle Hotel Main Street.” The rest of the scene is comprised of blacks and whites playing dice games, drinking, and one woman feeding four dogs. An angel can be seen in the background. Caption: The Uncle Tommers’ Christmas dinner on the road.

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This is a remarkable drawing, one that comes to us through the years speaking in way unconsciously and unintended. As a Christmas / seasonal cartoon, not designed for commentary or political statements, cartoonist L. M. Glackens has conjured a fantasy — what do road actors of those innumerable theatrical troupes that criss-crossed America, do on their rare nights off, for instance at Christmastime?

Theodore Roosevelt stands at an open window, greeting a group of men singing Christmas carols. The carolers are John D. Rockefeller, Joseph Benson Foraker, Henry H. Rogers, Edward Henry Harriman, David J. Brewer, and James Roscoe Day.

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Cartoonist L. M. Glacken’s Christmas Day cover drawing in Puck featured a frequent theme of the day — a frequent practice, now largely moribund, of carolers singing hymns and Christmas songs house to house. The “Outs,” they sometimes were called, especially when not invited indoors for warmth and refreshments.

Two men labeled “Georgia” and “Maine” hold bottles, “Orange Phosphate” and “Cold Tea,” respectively, which contain alcohol. Their pockets are filled with such bottles, their method of subverting prohibition.

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Puck and cartoonist L. M. Glackens were letting their cynicism show — or, rather, emblazoning it on its colorful cover — about the Prohibition movement in America, generally; and in Georgia, specifically.

A large, mean-looking hen, wearing a large black bonnet, stands over her brood: fully-mature men and women hatching from eggs who seem intent on meeting each other.

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Easter came early in 1907 — March 31 — but Puck was on time with its traditional secular theme in text, verse, and cartoons: the end of Lent. The period of self-restricted piety, at least diminished socializing and courting, as was the custom of the day, meant that dating and social engagements could commence anew. The cycle was a custom decreasingly observed, yet cartoonists like L. M. Glackens could draw uncountable inspirations from it, as in this cover drawing.

The battle of Pelusium is depicted, with the Persians identified as having “Vested Interests” belonging to a “Wall Street Syndicate” or a “Railroad Trust,” throwing cats labeled “Small Stock Holder, Small Investor, Widow, Little Stock Holder, [and] Orphan” at the bewildered Egyptians who are outside a building labeled “Administration” and flying a banner labeled “Federal Prosecution.” Caption: At the battle of Pelusium, between Egypt and Persia, the Persians armed themselves with cats, the sacred animals of Egypt. The disconcerted Egyptians dared not shoot their arrows, for fear of hitting holy cats.

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Reduced to basic elements and message, this double-page cartoon by L. M. Glackens in Puck basically depicts a public-relations counterattack by trusts and financial interests after frequent drubbing by the Muckraking press and a raft of reform legislation and regulations, all coming to a head in 1906.

A woman labeled “Wall Street,” appearing as Little Bo Peep, has pulled all the petals, labeled “Tight Money” and “Easy Money,” off a paper flower. The center of the flower, on the ground among the petals, shows a medallion that states “In Cortelyou We Trust.” Her bodice is labeled “Stock Exchange.” George B. Cortelyou, dressed as an Elizabethan suitor, is standing behind her. They are embracing as he holds aloft a diamond ring labeled “Treasury Aid.”

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There had been little doubt (except, evidently, in Puck‘s editorial eyes) that President Roosevelt’s nominee for Secretary of the Treasury, George B. Cortelyou, would follow, completely unbroken, the policies of his predecessor Leslie M. Shaw. In politics, anything can change; and at least in Wall Street’s view Roosevelt was wildly unpredictable. However, Shaw’s stewardship of the economy oversaw unprecedented prosperity, so there seemed little reason to rock the boat.

A sculpture labeled “Pocahontas pleading for the life of John Smith” depicts Theodore Roosevelt labeled “The Great Father” holding a big stick over his head and standing over John Smith labeled “Railroads,” about to strike him, as Pocahontas labeled “Wall Street” tries to stop Roosevelt.

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The cover of Puck with L. M. Glackens’s distinctive but unusual cartoon requires familiarity with contemporary events and popular trends in 1907. Readers of the day would not have required more than rudimentary labels that were, actually, largely superfluous for them.

A maid sits on an overturned washtub with animated cleaning supplies standing around her.

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This humorous (rather than political) front-cover cartoon by L. M. Glackens in Puck would be in line for a Lenten theme; or for an Easter, or traditional “Mid-Summer” issue of the weekly, except for date and concept. Rather, it could be considered a “Spring Cleaning” issue by its cover drawing.

Uncle Sam and William Jennings Bryan, wearing caps and gowns, attend the graduation ceremonies at the “Electoral College.” Bryan is holding a book titled “Reveries of a Candidate.” Caption: Chairman Sam of the Board of Trustees — Why, hello, Bryan! I thought you graduated back in ’96. / Bryan — No; I was conditioned that year in Free Silver. / “Well, you went out in 1900, surely.” / “Nope; that year I was conditioned in Imperialism.” / “Gee whiz! Well, what are you doing here now?” / “I’m taking a special course in Government Ownership and the Initiative and Referendum.”

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The criticism of William Jennings Bryan or one of many “knocks” inside and outside the Democratic Party, as he prepared for a third presidential run, was that his ideas were old. They seemed revolutionary and, to some voters, dangerous in 1896, his first run. Indeed he incorporated planks of the Populist platform as a Democrat, and some of his proposals were as old as the Grange and other radical agrarian movements.

William H. Taft sits on the shore of a small fishing hole labeled “Nomination Pool,” holding a fishing pole with a jug of “White House Apple Jack” next to him. A sign on the right states “No Trespassing Under Penalty of the Square Deal,” and a sign on the left states “No Fishing Allowed Without a Permit. T. Roosevelt Owner.” Taft tells the viewer that he has a permit.

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In a cartoonist’s cynical view, Secretary of War William H. Taft might have been an ideal candidate and future president. With only slight exaggeration Taft could be relied upon to save a cartoonist from having to supply backgrounds, props, and possibly other figures. In truth, his girth eased caricaturist’s requirements to capture precise features, but Taft’s genial features made that an easier task anyway.

William H. Taft sits on a hammock with the “G.O.P.” elephant, wooing her with a box of “Ohio Bonbons.”

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Once again a Puck cartoonist, presumably on a slow news day during summer holidays, resorted to depicting the presumptive Republican presidential nominee (a year in the future), mostly to have fun at his expanse.

William Jennings Bryan, standing on the veranda of the “Hotel Jefferson,” attracts the attention of several women labeled “Penn Democracy, Illinois Democracy, Ohio Democracy, New York Democracy, Indiana Democracy, Georgia Democracy, VT Democracy, R.I. Democracy, Maine Democracy, Ark. Democracy, N.J. Democracy, Mass. Democracy” and “Mo. Dem.” The woman from Ohio is holding a book “Bryanecdotes.” Bryan’s vest is decorated with donkeys and a watch or key fob has the head of a donkey at the end.

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One of the cliches about social habits of the day was that urban families fled to farms and rural resorts in summer months, and that “eligible” women and young men looking for dates or wives flocked to seaside resorts. Uncountable cartoons and short stories in magazines from the 1880s onward found creative fodder in these social conventions.

A man labeled “Wilson” wearing rubber gloves labeled “Fearlessness” and “Common Sense” touches a live electric wire that spells out “The Tariff.” In the foreground, Theodore Roosevelt and William H. Taft flee in fear of getting electrocuted. Caption: The live wire and the man with the rubber gloves.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-10-02