Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956

A sword labeled “Nomination” is stuck deeply into a tree, where Theodore Roosevelt and Jacob A. Riis are resting on a large branch. Roosevelt is grinning like the Cheshire cat. On the far right are Albert Baird Cummins and Charles Evans Hughes, and on the left are several other potential candidates for the upcoming presidential election, including Philander C. Knox, Joseph Benson Foraker, Charles W. Fairbanks, Joseph Gurney Cannon, William H. Taft, Albert J. Beveridge, and George B. Cortelyou. Caption: Who is the hero with the strength to draw it out?

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1907-06-12

A spider labeled “Interstate Commerce Commission” has caught in its web labeled “The Law” a large fly labeled “Harriman.”

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1907-06-19

At a Fourth of July celebration, a man stands on a large podium reading the “Declaration of Independence” before a cheering crowd. He is sandwiched between two large figures wearing robes and crowns labeled “Predatory Wealth” and “Predatory Labor.”

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1907-06-26

Theodore Roosevelt speaks at a meeting of the “Inter-State Weather Commission.” Attending are the “North, East, West, [and] South” winds, “Rain,” two ghouls labeled “Low Pressure” and “High Pressure,” and the sun and moon. Caption: “There must be vested in the Federal Government a full power of supervision and control over weather doing interstate business.”

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1907-07-10

Theodore Roosevelt, holding upright a big stick that is almost as tall as he is, stands next to an enormous stick labeled “Party Expediency” with the club-end resting on a paper labeled “Tariff Reform.” A hand labeled “Tariff Graft” holds the larger stick by the handle.

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1907-07-17

A group of men make a surprise nighttime visit to Theodore Roosevelt, wearing pajamas, at Oyster Bay. Edward Henry Harriman carries a basket of lemons, James Roscoe Day carries a basket of “More Lemons,” Bellamy Storer carries a cake labeled “From Dear Maria” (his wife Maria Longworth Storer), Benjamin R. Tillman carries a watermelon, Chester I. Long carries a platter of “Welsh Rabbit” (possibly a reference to Herbert Welsh), and Joseph W. Bailey carries a bunch of bananas. Joseph Benson Foraker stands in the background, tipping his hat to Roosevelt.

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1907-07-24

A hand labeled “Collections” holds a pin, about to pop a big red balloon labeled “Big Business Orders.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1907-07-31

Creator(s)

Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956

John D. Rockefeller appears as Uriah Heep from the Dickens novel David Copperfield. Two logbooks on the floor at his feet are titled “Competitor Business” and “Rebate Schedules,” and hanging on the wall is a paper that states “The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth.” Caption: “Men, I want to tell you that systematic saving and self-denial, with a good deal of hard work, form the foundation for every large fortune. That has been my experience.”–John D. Rockefeller

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1907-08-07

A cat wearing a hat labeled “American Labor” reaches for a toy labeled “Tariff Benefits” that is very close to a fire labeled “Politics.” Sitting to the right of the fireplace, in the background, is a large ape wearing a crown shaped like a money bag labeled “Protected Monopoly.” Next to it are many bags of money. Caption: Isn’t it about time that the American workingman got wise?

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-09-18

Creator(s)

Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956

A large bull labeled “Lincoln,” with the head of Abraham Lincoln, stands among the reeds of a swamp where a puffed-up frog labeled “Roosevelt” is standing on a piece of driftwood labeled “Progressivism” in a pool of water labeled “Practical Politics.” Caption: The frog who wanted to be as big as the bull.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-09-25

Creator(s)

Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956

President Taft climbs a mountain labeled “White House Glacier” with members of his campaign committee hanging from ropes attached to his waist. On the left are “Crane, Penrose,” and the Republican elephant, and on the right are “Sherman, Barnes, [and] Root,” who is driving a piece of heavy machinery. Caption: What can Taft do? They are his guides and he is tied to them.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-10-02

Creator(s)

Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956

A good samaritan labeled “Wilson” offers a fallen “Consumer” a drink from a bottle labeled “Tariff Reform” and dresses his wound with “Direct Relief.” A donkey stands to the right. Two men, one labeled “Roosevelt” and the other labeled “Taft,” have passed by, not bothering to stop and offer any assistance. Caption: And the two that passed by on the other side.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-10-09

Creator(s)

Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956

A figure composed of corn and corn stalks labeled “Record Breaking Crops” walks through a dark wood at night with a diminutive Uncle Sam, who is frightened by scary-looking trees labeled “Johnson, Taft, Sherman, Roosevelt, Wilson, [and] Debs.” Caption: “Don’t be frightened, Sammy. They can’t hurt you while I am with you.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-10-16

Creator(s)

Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956

The ghost of the Republican elephant rises from behind a tombstone that states “Sacred to the memory of a united Republican Party.” President “Taft” and “Teddy” Roosevelt believe that it is coming after them and are fleeing in fear. Caption: A graveyard is no place to be on Hallowe’en.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-10-30

Creator(s)

Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956

Uncle Sam wakes up in bed, hung over, with everything in his room caught up in a whirlwind of bottles of alcohol labeled “Stand Pat Booze, Bull Moose Bitters, [and] That’s All Wilson,” a pitcher of “Debs Dope,” a ballot box, playing cards, chips, cigars, and furniture. Within the whirlwind is another whirlwind with the Democratic Donkey, Republican Elephant, and a Bull Moose buzzing around his head.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-11-06

Creator(s)

Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956

Birds of prey wearing crowns labeled “Germany, Austria, Italy, England, France, [and] Russia” perch on the sides of cliffs, awaiting the outcome of a fight between two men with swords labeled “Turkey” and “The Balkans” (the first Balkan war).

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-11-13

Creator(s)

Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956

On the left is a pile of over-sized items that are used to fill leisure time, such as golf clubs, a shotgun, a football, a riding crop, a theater mask, and a horn, and also a large turkey, celery, cranberries, and a pumpkin. On the right, in the shadow of these material goods, is a diminutive church, dark and possibly empty.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-11-20

Creator(s)

Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956

Woodrow Wilson, as a farm-hand on Uncle Sam’s farm, drives a horse team labeled “Democratic Senate” and “Democratic House” toward a plow labeled “Tariff Reform Pledges.” Uncle Sam is leaning on a fence, talking to Wilson. Caption: “At last, by Crackey, we got a team that’ll pull together, so the sooner we get to plowin’ the sooner we’ll get through.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-11-27

Creator(s)

Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956

A city sidewalk is crowded with women who are denied entry to upscale shops. An old woman labeled “Necessity” creates a maelstrom that drives many of the women to seek shelter where they can, which happens to be a brightly illuminated building topped with a “$” where the Devil is sitting, waiting for them. Caption: It is not inclination, but necessity, that drives the underpaid shop-girl to the Devil.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-12-11

Creator(s)

Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956

Santa Claus climbs out a window, leaving behind a large sack of Christmas presents in front of a large fireplace where stockings labeled “Montenegro, Servia, Italy, England, Bulgaria, Germany, Austria, Russia, Greece, [and] France” are hanging. Leaders from the countries mentioned are fighting among themselves to get to the presents first. Caption: Santa Claus — Here’s where I beat it. Somebody else can have the job of dividing presents among that bunch!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-12-18

Creator(s)

Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956