Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909 | - Theodore Roosevelt Center

Will it hatch?

Alton B. Parker is pictured as a chicken sitting on a large egg labeled “Parker Boom.”

Comments and Context

The “Parker Boom” was a largely contrived effort of conservative Democrats to find an alternative presidential candidate to William Jennings Bryan in 1904. The radical Populist Bryan had lost two presidential campaigns, badly, in 1896 and 1900. “Bourbon” Democrats yearned for power again, and “Gold Democrats” like former president Grover Cleveland wanted the party to return to sane policies as they saw them.

Kite time

President Roosevelt sits on a fence on a hill, flying a kite labeled “Popularity.” Below are several potential Democratic presidential candidates, all of whom are having difficulty flying their kites. From left to right are William Jennings Bryan labeled “W.J.B.” holding a bellows labeled “Moral Issue” and blowing on his tattered kite labeled “1896” and “1900” with ribbons on the tail labeled “Free Silver, Populism, Anti-imperialism, [and] Free Riot.” Next is David B. Hill holding a kite labeled “Parker Boom,” then Charles Francis Murphy holding a kite under his arm labeled “McClellan Boom,” followed by Grover Cleveland, then Richard Olney holding the string to a kite labeled “Past Record” lying on the ground, with ribbons labeled “1884” and “1892,” “Tariff Reform, Independent Vote, [and] Personal Popularity,” and then Arthur P. Gorman whose kite is tangled on a tree branch labeled “Panama Blunder.” In the center is a little yellow child labeled “Willie” who is all tangled up in his own kite string. The kite, lying on the ground, is labeled “Yellow Journalism” and the string spells “McKinley Slanders.”

Comments and Context

This cartoon is a simple and accurate portrayal of the political situation as the United States entered the presidential campaign of 1904. The Democratic field was divided among several weak candidates, and harbored a fear that a third nomination of William Jennings Bryan would result in a third substantial defeat at the polls. And President Roosevelt, as the incumbent, seemed sure of victory as enjoyed widespread popularity in the country and could boast of many policy victories.

Another air-ship failure

The wreck of an airship labeled “High Finance” appears at the leading edge of storm clouds labeled “Investigation [and] Merger Decision Law.” The crash has ruined the blades that lifted or propelled the airship, labeled “Over Capitalization, Manipulation, Ship Building Trust, Steel Trust, [and] Northern Securities,” and has brought down six men (“Morgan, Schwab, M’Cook, Harriman, Schiff, [and] Hill”) with the wreckage and two men (“Dresser [and] Nixon”) in a swamp labeled “Ship Trust Receivership.” A lightning bolt labeled “Publicity” flashes from the clouds.

Comments and Context

There is a specific context of this cartoon.

The democratic microbes

Puck, as a professor, shows a slide of the germs infecting the Democratic Party. Shown are William Jennings Bryan labeled “Bryanism,” William Randolph Hearst who is labeled “Yellow Journalism,” a man labeled “Anarchism” and an old man labeled “Populism,” and a firebrand labeled “Platforms” with flames labeled “Chicago” and “Kansas City.” “Free Riot” and “Free Silver” also appear among the germs on the slide. Caption: Puck — Gentlemen, we have here the most dangerous germs in the body politic.

Comments and Context

Puck prided itself on being independent, but had generally supported Democrats since its founding in 1876. Around the time of this cartoon, with the 1904 Democratic presidential nominating convention weeks away, the magazine proved its partisan bona fides — at this time a conservative streak of democracy — by offering avuncular advice by a magic-lantern lecture.

A chance at last

Alton B. Parker, David B. Hill, John Sharp Williams, Arthur P. Groman, Richard Olney, and Grover Cleveland ride on a camel labeled “Reorganization” crossing the “Desert of Bryanism.” William Jennings Bryan tries to hold back the camel by the tail, and William Randolph Hearst tries to prevent Bryan from being pulled along toward an “Oasis” labeled “Sane Democracy.”

Comments and Context

Starting around 1902, Puck assayed the Democratic field of possible presidential candidates to run against the incumbent, President Roosevelt. The pack of conservative, “Bourbon,” and “Gold” Democrats — opponents of William Jennings Bryan and a third nomination by him or a follower (such as publisher William Randolph Hearst) — usually included the same faces, reflecting the national political machinations.

Woodman, spare that tree, touch not a single bough. Funds would be scarce if we should “run amuck” — just now

President Roosevelt stops Attorney General Philander C. Knox from cutting down a tree labeled “The Trusts” with an ax labeled “Anti-Trust Laws.” A chip of wood labeled “Merger Decision” lies on the ground at the base of the tree.

Comments and Context

Foreshadowing a theme of the upcoming presidential contest — as Puck shifted back toward its Democratic roots — President Roosevelt, the “Trust Buster,” is depicted in this cartoon as suddenly deciding to “go easy” on trust prosecution. Only months earlier, the Roosevelt administration won the Northern Securities anti-trust case in the Supreme Court (the “merger decision” chip on the ground), but, as the Democrats developed a campaign theme, the Republicans did not want to offend big business and its possible campaign contributions.

Wanted: an occupant

Several vignettes illustrate the difficulty of catching a vice presidential candidate, including offering some “Possible Premiums,” such as a “Cabinet Portfolio,” a “Carnegie Hero Pension,” use of the “Vice Pres’ yacht Tailenda,” and a “10 years lease for pedestal in the Hall of Fame.” Caption: What’s the matter with the Vice-Presidential Chair?

Comments and Context

As the presidential nominating conventions of the political parties approached in 1904, Puck asked a question regarding the vice presidency that was not only humorous but legitimate. The country had been without a vice president since Theodore Roosevelt succeeded the assassinated William McKinley in September of 1901.

Out of reach

William Jennings Bryan sits on a donkey on the “Democratic Merry-Go-Round.” He is holding up a yellow, diminutive William Randolph Hearst who has a small sword labeled with dollar signs ($) in his right hand, attempting to spear the “Nomination” hanging at the bottom of the canopy of the merry-go-round.

Comments and Context

William Randolph Hearst is depicted in Pughe’s cartoon as a plaything of William Jennings Bryan, but the actual situation — the political dynamic between Bryan and Hearst, and the politics of the moment — was different.

The last charge

In a battle scene, President Roosevelt is about to make a final charge on “Fort Democracy” labeled “Peace, Constitution, [and] Prosperity.” Performing various functions in Roosevelt’s camp are “Foraker,” “Morton” spying from a balloon, “Allison” raising a flag labeled “Up with the Trusts,” “Woodruff” attending to wounded T.C. “Platt,” “Higgins” and “Odell” with cans of money from a box labeled “Groceries N.Y. State,” “Cortelyou” sharpening a sword, “Shaw” with binoculars, “Bliss” and “Fairbanks” loading a small cannon labeled “National Committee Gun,” and “Rockefeller” with a hod full of money bags labeled “Standard Shot.”

Comments and Context

This cartoon by J. S. Pughe was the closing salvo, so to speak, in the campaign of Puck, a leading Democrat publication, in the 1904 presidential campaign. As such, it is surprisingly mild and generic. President Roosevelt is the only figure denigrated by caricature, and the cartoon shows neither the Democratic candidate, Judge Alton Brooks Parker, nor any real representation of his party’s substantive platform positions. Beyond the assertion that the Republican Party contained rich men devoted to using their wealth in an election, the crowded cartoon diverted its focus to smaller issues and controversies.

“Keb, Lady?”

An elderly woman labeled “Democracy” stands next to a trunk labeled “Old Issues” and with a tag that states “To the White House.” Standing at the curb are several cab drivers labeled “Parker, Olney, Johnson, Shepard, Gorman, [and] Watterson” hoping to pick up a fare, and two other drivers labeled “Cleveland” and “Bryan” sitting on their carriages. Cleveland does not appear interested, though Bryan, on his cab labeled “16 to 1,” holding up his hat, calls out above the others.

Comments and Context

Political cartoons, when well designed, not only present issues and events clearly, but also convey subtexts, background information, and nuances that speak to readers of their time, and to subsequent students of history.

The populist Paul Revere

William Jennings Bryan rides on a horse fashioned out of “The Commoner” newspapers, through a town, announcing that representatives of the reorganized Democratic Party were coming, drawing out old men brandishing weapons labeled “Populism, 16 to 1, Free Riot” and a drum labeled “Dead Issues.” An old man leans out a window waving a flag that states “Free Silver or Bust.” Includes verse based on “Paul Revere’s Ride.”

Comments and Context

In the weeks preceding the 1904 Democratic National Convention in St. Louis, the two-time presidential candidate, William Jennings Bryan, staged an all-out effort for another nomination, or, at the very least, to argue for the nomination of a candidate whose subscribed to Bryan’s perennial platform planks — free silver, anti-expansion, etc. He spoke across America and also used the columns of his popular newspaper The Commoner, edited by his brother Charles.

The modern Cincinnatus, who will not leave his plough

Former president Grover Cleveland, as “Cincinnatus,” is working a field with a plow labeled “Domesticity.” An elderly woman labeled “Democracy” is standing in the field, holding a paper which states “Cleveland’s letter of retirement ‘Unalterable and Conclusive’.” She is perplexed as Cleveland gestures with his right hand for her not to approach him.

Comments and Context

President Cleveland is depicted as Cincinnatus, the Roman citizen who yielded to pleas that he serve as leader during various crises, but always relinquished power and returned to his farm. George Washington is the American most frequently likened to Cincinnatus.

Protection

An ostrich labeled “Republican Party” tucks its head in a hole labeled “‘Stand Pat’ Policy” as a tornado advances from behind with dark clouds labeled “Tariff Reform.”

Comments and Context

The Republican Party’s attitude toward tariff reform is depicted in this cartoon by Pughe as one of foolish or willful neglect, with sure disaster as the price. Yet with President Roosevelt at the helm, it is generally the case that avoidance of dealing with the tariff issue was a calculated risk.

Harmless amusement

A little boy, wearing a military uniform and paper hat labeled “Colombia,” beats on a huge drum labeled “War” with drumsticks labeled “Bombast” and “Bluster.”

Comments and Context

This cartoon appeared two months after Panama seceded from Colombia (it was recognized by the United States as a republic a week later), and a month before the United States Senate ratified the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty that set terms for the United States’s purchase of rights and responsibilities regarding construction of a transoceanic canal. The nation of Colombia felt aggrieved over the sudden loss of its territory and its perpetual negotiations with countries and private investors for a canal through its land.

Still scolding

Senator George F. Hoar, as an old woman waving an umbrella, yells at Uncle Sam as he confidently walks away from her with a shovel on his shoulder and papers labeled “Canal Plans” under his arm. Two diminutive figures labeled “Colombia” and “Philippines” are standing next to Hoar.

Comments and Context

George Frisbie Hoar, Republican Senator from Massachusetts, was an old-line part loyalist for years, but a maverick on the issue of expansionism. He was consistent on this issue, to the extent of speaking out against the Spanish-American War; a leading opponent of territorial expansion and acquisition of defeated Spanish possessions, he never actually joined the American Anti-Imperialist League. The organization, founded by Mark Twain and whose members included former president Grover Cleveland, made prominent arguments in public debates but was short-lived.

The sands of time

Mars, the Roman god of war, waits for the establishment of protocols and the Japanese occupation of “Korea” to be completed before the sands in an hourglass shift from “Peace” to “War.” “China” sits quietly on the left. Caption: Mars–Just a little more, and I’ll give that Peace Congress a jolt!

Comments and Context

Largely forgotten by much of the world, under the dust of events like the Russo-Japanese War, Japanese aggression in the 1930s, and World War II’s “Pacific Theater,” is the subject of Pughe’s cartoon. Japan’s unrelenting ambitions to dominate Korea reached an important moment in 1904; a treaty between the two royal empires then on the agenda (in Korea’s hopes) at the Peace Conference then convened at the Hague. The treaty was prosaic in its language, Japan respecting, and by assurances, protecting Korea. Yet it was aggression without arms, blackmail, and the establishment of a de facto protectorate by Tokyo.

The national bench show

President Roosevelt appears as a dog in the “Republican Kennels,” with his trainer Mark “Hanna.” In the “Democratic Kennels,” an old woman labeled “Dem. Party” pats Alton B. “Parker” on the head and offers him a biscuit labeled “Political Sanity.” Other Democratic dogs George “Gray,” Richard “Olney,” David B. “Hill,” and Arthur P. “Gorman” labeled “Senatorial Leadership” and “Panama Issue” are kenneled nearby. Hanging on the wall is a picture of “Cleveland” with ribbons labeled “1884” and “1892,” and in the lower left is a cage labeled “Distemper” with William Jennings Bryan as a dog bandaged with “1896” and “1900” sitting inside before a small dish labeled “Free Silver.” In the center is a small dog labeled “Yellow Journalism Willie Hearst.”

Comments and Context

This cartoon appeared in Puck in the second week of February 1904 — five months before the actual Democrat Party presidential nominating convention. Pughe’s cartoon of a dog show mirrored Puck Magazine’s editorial desires, as per the depictions, dignified or mocking, of possibles candidates; and the nature of the labels. Also the expressions of the dogs in the kennel show reliably reflect the confidence of the various candidates. Further, the kind attentions to the otherwise obscure New York Judge Alton Brooks Parker — the eventual nominee, pushed by back-bench conservative Democrats — by the old spinster representing the Democratic Party, is prescient.

A chattering nuisance

William Jennings Bryan, as a parrot, chatters at an old woman labeled “Democratic Party.” He is perched on a stand labeled “Dead Issues” with a food dish labeled “Populism,” and squawking “The Moral Issue!! Free Silver!! Kansas City Platform!! [and] 16 to 1.”

Comments and Context

The clear message of this cartoon by Pughe, Puck‘s go-to animal artist in most cases, is that William Jennings Bryan, Populist firebrand who stormed the Democrat Party in 1896 and held it in thrall for eight years, had clearly worn out his welcome, especially after two failed presidential runs.

Flirtation under difficulties

Uncle Sam offers a bouquet of flowers labeled “Reciprocity” to a woman labeled “Canada.” Uncle Sam is being held back by a businessman labeled “Trusts” whose feet are planted against a rock labeled “High Protection” and is pulling on Sam’s coattails, while the woman is being held back by a military officer labeled “Toryism” pulling on her fur wrap.

Comments and Context

Canadian reciprocity — a phrase routinely invoked as more palatable than “free trade”; almost a euphemism in arguments against high protective tariffs — was a common theme of some politicians and many business through the years. A shared boundary between the United States and Canada was one logical reason, and traditional amity between two similar peoples was another.

The substance or the shadow?

John Bull crouches as a bulldog labeled “England” on a narrow bridge spanning a river. He has a large bone labeled “Free Trade” in his mouth and is looking over the side. In his reflection in the water, the bone is labeled “Protection.”

Comments and Context

Cartoonist Pughe, in this cover cartoon, encapsulates the issues surrounding the Free Trade debate in Great Britain. The country was considering a radical adjustment to its policy of international trade, the resolution of which would have great consequences for the United States and the rest of the world. As far as spheres of influence and commerce, “the sun never set” on the Empire when trade was concerned.