Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909

William Jennings Bryan carries a “Cross of Gold,” a “Crown of Thorns,” and a carpetbag labeled “W.J.B. Speeches” as he walks along railroad tracks headed in the opposite direction of Washington, D.C. Walking with him are newspaper editors Edwin Lawrence Godkin carrying papers labeled “Anti-American Editorials,” Joseph Pulitzer, Edward Atkinson, Carl Schurz carrying a drum on his back labeled “Anti-Expansion Band,” and Oswald Ottendorfer carrying a small bag labeled “Staats Zeitung.” In the background, William McKinley is riding on a railroad car labeled “Expansion Train” that is racing along railroad tracks, headed for Washington, D.C.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-12-20

Print shows William Jennings Bryan as the Democratic Donkey with the bit end of a bridle in his mouth, trying to climb out of a hole constructed of blocks labeled “Aguinaldoism, Anti-Trust, Anti-Imperialism, Free Riots, Anti-Expansion, Free Silver, Populism, Calamity Cry, [and] Chicago Platform,” with the U.S. Capitol nearby.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-12-27

Print shows a procession of animals riding bicycles and driving automobiles; at the center is a weeping horse being driven “To The Museum of Natural History,” his services as a mode of transportation and as a draft animal have been usurped by the automobile.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-02-22

Print shows a scene in a courtroom with a Chinese man labeled “Chinese Question” sitting in a chair in front of three men identified as “France,” “Germany” (William II), and “Russia.” “Judge” John Bull is standing at the judge’s bench and is introducing Uncle Sam labeled “Protector of the Philippines” as an “Associate Judge.”

Caption: Judge John Bull–Gentlemen, let me present the new Associate Judge. The trial of this Chinese case will now proceed.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Print shows a large monument constructed “A.D. 1898,” showing statues of President William McKinley labeled “Administration,” General William R. Shafter labeled “Army,” and Admiral George Dewey labeled “Navy,” and a plaque that states “To Commemorate the Spanish-American War which has raised the United States Army and Navy to a proud position not only in the eyes of Americans but in the eyes of the World.” Also, a gang of “Old Women” with ropes are shown trying to pull down the statues. Among the identified women are “Schurz, Boutelle, Hoar, N.Y. World [Pulitzer], Cockran, Tillman, Caffery, Gorman, Vest, Jones, Hale, Bryan, Godkin [turning a crank for the] Evening Post, Sherman, Ottendorfer, [and] Edmunds”.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-03-22

Print shows an American soldier carrying a rifle and bag labeled “U.S.V.” walking in a tropical location. Diminutive figures labeled “Bryan, Ottendorfer, Pulitzer, Atkinson, [and] Godkin” are attempting to hold him back, while George Frisbie Hoar, left behind, stands with his right arm raised in the background.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-05-24

Print shows William Jennings Bryan, John P. Jones, and Arthur P. Gorman mesmerized by a large menacing genie carrying a sword labeled “Free Silver” that has emerged from an oversized urn. George G. Vest has his ear to the ground and is unaware of the presence of the genie.

Caption: “At the appearance of this huge monster, the fisherman wished to run away; but his fear was so great he was unable to move.” The Arabian Nights Entertainments.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Print shows Uncle Sam, John Bull, and a crowd of spectators looking at seven French military officers standing and sitting in stocks. The latter are labeled “Zurlinden, Du Paty de Clam, Gonse, Roget, Mercier, Boisdeffre, [and] Esterhazy.” These officers were responsible for the conviction, and re-conviction, of Alfred Dreyfus for the charge of treason (he was ultimately exonerated).

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-10-18

Print shows a female figure labeled “Cuba” on one knee appealing to Uncle Sam for a continued American presence in Cuba, as a means to prevent “Famine, Pestilence, War, [and] Revolt” and for providing “Prosperity” and “Peace,” and trade in such products as “Tobacco, Cigars, Sugar, Coffee, [and] Fruit.”

Caption: Cuba–If you leave me to myself it will mean the old troubles. With your help I can have peace and prosperity. Do not desert me!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Print shows Uncle Sam standing behind the counter at “Uncle Sam’s Department Store” where there is a “Great Sale Now Going On Inside.” The store is filled with representatives of “Germany, England, France, Russia, Italy, Mexico, Japan, China, Austria” and Turkey, who are anxious to purchase such commodities as “Steel Rails, Machinery, Provisions, Agricultural Implements, Clothing, Scientific Instruments, Chemicals, Grain, [and] Tools”, as well as battleships, railroad bridges, and locomotives. Uncle Sam is doing a brisk business.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-11-29

Print shows Uncle Sam holding a “Trade Treaty with China”, standing on a “Map of China” in the midst of foreign rulers labeled “Germany, Italy, England, Austria, Russia [and] France.” Depicted are William II, Umberto I, John Bull, Franz Joseph I sharpening scissors at a grinding stone in the background, Uncle Sam, Nicholas II, and Emile Loubet, each with large scissors, intent on cutting up the map.

Caption: Uncle Sam (to the Powers)–Gentlemen, you may cut up this map as much as you like; but remember that I’m here to stay, and that you can’t divide me up into spheres of influence!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Print shows a man labeled “Organized Labor” climbing the steps to a building labeled “Law, Prosperity, [and] Order,” when a bomb labeled “Dynamite Argument” explodes in his face.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-08-30

Print shows John P. Jones as a barker at a circus sideshow that features “The Gold Bug, The Money Devil, The Injunction Evil [labeled] U.S. Supreme Court, The Boy Wonder [William Jennings Bryan], Educated Wild Hogg of Texas [James S. Hogg], The Great Fire-eater, [and] The Trust Octopus.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-09-06

William Jennings Bryan and William H. Taft debate from the rear of a railroad car while whistle-stop campaigning. Vignettes show them working shifts shaking hands, kissing babies, “Awarding Prizes at County Fairs,” exercising by tossing a medicine ball labeled “My Policies,” associating themselves with Theodore Roosevelt, and showing “Affection for the Filipino.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

In another midsummer cartoon that addresses current political event and avoiding issues and partisanship, Puck‘s J. S. Pughe contributes a group of fantasy drawings based on the two Williams, rivals for the presidency in the aftermath of the Republican and Democratic conventions.

A black and white political cartoon showing politicians from Nebraska, New York (Theodore Roosevelt), Ohio (William H. Taft), Indiana, and Illinois as snowmen.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site

Creation Date

1908-01-08

Animals march in front of Theodore Roosevelt in a long line. A bear holds a sign that reads “Let us alone.” Roosevelt appears shocked and is dropping his rifle.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site

Creation Date

Unknown

A wagon drawn by a single donkey labeled “American Consumer” chases a carrot labeled “Promised Tariff Reform” dangling from a stick held by the wagon driver labeled “Republican Congress.” The wagon is transporting a bunch of bloated old men, each representing a “Trust” and labeled “Steel, Copper, Lumber, Sugar, Beef, Coal, Tobacco, Clothing, Watch, Leather, [and] Paper.” They are members of the “Stand Pat Club,” some waving “Stand Pat” pennants. One man holds a drum that states, “The tariff will be revised when public welfare demands it.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

There had not been a major revision of tariff schedules since the Dingley Act of 1897 as American politics approached the 1908 presidential campaign. A decade seemed like a long time to many people — especially to businesses and trusts who benefited from “protection.” High duties on imported products contributed to general revenue, but also enabled American manufacturers and farmers to compete against foreign competition.

A large crow labeled “Bryan” perches on a branch labeled “Denver Convention,” holding a slip of paper labeled “Nomination” in its beak. Sitting on the ground below is a fox labeled “Eastern Democracy.” Caption: A cleverer crow than the bird of Aesop’s fable.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The story of the Fox and the Crow is one of the most popular of Aesop’s many fables, and appears to have predated Aesop by centuries. many cultures have variations of the tale and its lesson, and variations or re-tellings are famous, at the hands of La Fontaine, Martin Luther, and even DC Comics.

A gigantic man labeled “National Resource Grafter” sits in a wilderness setting, passing sheets of paper to a group of men labeled “Land Office Official, Kept Judge, Congressman, Politician, [and] Senator” who are reading their “Oath of Office” on the papers given them which states “Franchises, Special Privileges, Land Patents, Mineral Rights, Tax Exemption, [and] Timber Grants.” In an insert, Benedict Arnold passes papers labeled “Plans of American Fortifications” to a British military officer. Caption: He betrayed his country then; they betray their country now.

comments and context

Comments and Context

It is interesting that in mid-Summer of a presidential campaign season, as the nominating conventions are meeting and public interest in partisanship would be intense, that Puck directs many of its cartoons to general issues and not to partisan attacks or defenses — that is, party politics. J. S. Pughe’s cartoon, for instance, focused on the increasing tendency toward — or increasingly exposed — corruption in the government’s land-use policies.

Theodore Roosevelt appears as “Mikado Roosevelt” with a large cast of characters standing behind him: “Pish Tush Root,” “Landis,” “Pooh Bah Taft,” “Burroughs,” “Heney,” “Cortelyou,” “Steffens,” “La Follette,” “Folk,” “Garfield,” “Riis,” “Loeb,” and “Koko Bonaparte,” who is holding a large sword labeled “Department of Justice.” John D. Rockefeller labeled “Flim-Flam Business,” and Edward Henry Harriman labeled “Flim Flam Finance,” are kneeling on the stage awaiting execution. Caption: “My object all sublime / I shall achieve in time — / To let the punishment fit the crime — / The punishment fit the crime. — / And make each prisoner pent / Unwillingly represent / A source of infinite merriment, / Of infinite merriment.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Cartoonists in Puck and rival magazine like Judge and Life, as well as newspaper political cartoonists, frequently turned to operas, mythology, and Shakespeare for metaphorical and allegorical setting for their cartoons. Despite their current popularity, the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan seldom inspired the cartoonists to parody.