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Charles Evans “Hughes” appears as a sphinx labeled “Senate” and “Assembly” in a desert at night, with a donkey and an elephant standing in the foreground. Several presidential candidates stand on the left, including Joseph Gurney Cannon, William H. Taft, and Charles W. Fairbanks. They are straining to hear some words from the sphinx.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1908-01-01
Theodore Roosevelt, as “Siegfried,” stands at the edge of a ring of fire around a female figure (Brünnhilde) labeled “Justice” in a deep sleep. Among the flames are the words “Public Indifference, Graft, Conservatism, Special Privilege, [and] Political Expediency.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1908-01-15
A live electrical wire spelling “Vice Presidency” drips red drops as it dangles between potential candidates in the upcoming presidential election: Charles Evans Hughes, Philander C. Knox, Joseph Benson Foraker, George B. Cortelyou, William H. Taft, Joseph Gurney Cannon, and Charles W. Fairbanks. Caption: If you touch it, you’re a dead one.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1908-01-22
A squid labeled “Special Privilege” bears arms labeled “Railroad Greed, Grafting Public Utilities, Venal Press, Graft Tariff, Predatory Trusts, Bribed Legislatures, Stock Juggling, [and] Public Land Thieves.” The squid has clouded the water with a large ink cloud labeled “Teddy Did It, Don’t Hurt Business, Don’t Destroy Confidence, [and] Don’t Alarm Capital.” In the lower right are two seahorses labeled “You” and “Me.” Caption: When attacked, it clouds the issue by discharging an inky fluid.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1908-01-29
William Jennings Bryan, as Narcissus, sits on a rock beside a pool of water labeled “Democratic Sentiment,” staring at his reflection.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1908-02-05
A gigantic boar, wearing a crown with “$” and a shawl labeled “Plutocratic Greed,” holds the U.S. Capitol dome labeled “Special Privilege,” inverted to form a bucket from which it is sowing seeds labeled “Abuse of Power, Arrogance, [and] Contempt of Law” onto a field sprouting “Socialist votes.” It is stepping on an American flag and a Liberty cap.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1908-02-12
“Miss Democracy” lies on a donkey-skin rug before a fireplace in her boudoir or bedroom, as William Jennings Bryan, carrying a bouquet, enters through curtains in the background.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1908-02-26
Moses, holding the Ten Commandments, is confronted by an angry mob of capitalists, businessmen, and politicians, some shaking their fists at him. Caption: Chorus of “Conservatives” – Dangerous, socialistic, un-American doctrines!
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1908-03-11
A hand labeled “Protective Tariff League” sprinkles salt from a bag labeled “Sophistry Salt” onto the tail feathers of a red, white, and blue bird labeled “First Voter” in an effort to capture the bird. Reproduced in the upper left corner is a card, “Circular no. 216,” addressed to “Dear Sir” and instructing him to provide the name and home address of a “person who will cast his first vote” in the 1908 election. The Protective Tariff League, the issuer of the cards, would like to be able to forward information “on the Subject of Protection.” It is signed “Yours truly, American Protective Tariff League, 339 Broadway, New York.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1908-03-18
Theodore Roosevelt appears as Naomi and William H. Taft as Ruth from the biblical story of loyalty. Caption: Ruth Taft. — Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy policies shall be my policies.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1908-03-25
A man labeled “The Railroad,” with “Land Grants” and “Franchises” in his pockets, reads a ticker tape from a device labeled “Speculation,” while walking next to Uncle Sam who is bent under the weight of several large bundles labeled “Operating Expenses, Taxes, Fines, Corruption Fund, Overcapitalization, Water for Stocks, High Tariff Rails, Cost of Construction, [and] Rate Discrimination.” Caption: The people remembered that they were at least silent partners in the railroad business by reason of the franchises they had granted and the investments they had made in the railroad properties themselves.–Attorney-General Hadley on the railroad as a common carrier.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1908-04-01
A man labeled “Stock Manipulation,” wearing top hat and tuxedo, rests one hand on a deck of “Marked Cards” and the other on a stack of gambling chips next to “Loaded Dice” and a wheel labeled “Brace Roulette.” The playing table is labeled “Wall Str[eet].” Behind him are money bags and papers labeled “Fiduciary Funds, Treasury Deposits, Other Peoples’ Money, Bank Loans, [and] Pools.” Standing in the foreground and looking up at the man is a diminutive man holding his “Savings” behind his back.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1908-04-08
Edward Henry Harriman, in the Scottish Highlands, stands with arms and sword raised next to a diamond-shaped rock labeled “Flim-Flam Finance” balancing on a pointed base. Harriman is confronting Theodore Roosevelt and his band of Scotsmen, William H. Taft, Charles J. Bonaparte, Frank B. Kellogg, James Rudolph Garfield, and Milton Dwight Purdy. Caption: Fitzjames Harriman (to Teddy Dhu) — Come one, come all! This rock shall fly from its firm base as soon as I!
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1907-09-11
William Jennings Bryan, in full-length portrait, appears as the eternally hopeful Mr. Micawber from the Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield. Caption: “Waiting for something to turn up.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1907-09-25
Fagin from the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist, labeled “Corporation Lawyer,” watches as his protégé, Oliver Twist, labeled “Public Service Corporation,” picks the pocket of Uncle Sam on a city sidewalk. Caption: Instructor in the art of stealing and getting away with it.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1907-10-02
J. Pierpont Morgan labeled “Flim-Flam Journalism,” John D. Rockefeller labeled “Flim-Flam Business,” and Edward Henry Harriman labeled “Flim-Flam Politics” gather around a table watching a toy of Theodore Roosevelt sitting on an egg-shaped base labeled “Personal Popularity” rocking back and forth.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1907-10-09
Wild animals and birds crash through sugarcane, fleeing from an unseen threat. Caption: (From a painting just presented to the Louisiana Historical Society.)
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1907-10-16
A police officer labeled “Graft Tariff” prevents a working class family from having a picnic on the grass while a group of men labeled “Beef Trust, Coal Trust, Steel Trust, Lumber Trust, [and] Clothing Trust,” with two servants, one labeled “A.P.T.L.,” are having a picnic on the lawn labeled “Prosperity.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1907-10-23
Theodore Roosevelt, as Hamlet, sits in a chair, holding a paper labeled “My Private Opinion.” Caption: “Thus the tariff does make cowards of us all.”–Hamlet, Act III, Scene I, (Revised).
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1907-10-30
John D. Rockefeller clings to a cross-shaped statue labeled “Clerical Apologist for Standard Oil” standing on a rock labeled “Hypocrisy” in rough seas labeled “Sea of Public Censure.” The statue is illuminated by rays labeled “Standard Oil Cash” beaming through dark clouds.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1907-11-06