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

“Captains of industry”

Leaders in the areas of business and finance, as military officers labeled “Morgan, Dresser, Perkins, Schwab, Frick, Nixon, [and] Gates,” ride on horseback through the snow of a bitter winter and financial downturn in the shipping industry. To the far right are foot soldiers carrying the flag of the “Army of Stock Holders.”

Comments and Context

Cartoonist Pughe made an oblique acknowledgment to “a well known painting” after his own signature, yet he might have credited the French academician Messonier’s Retreat From Moscow. Instead of Napoleon, we see the disconsolate and leonine face of J. P. Morgan. Excepting the faces of the business titan and his lieutenants, this Puck cartoon virtually is a line-for-line recreation of the painting so famous at the time.

The trust promoter’s nightmare

A man labelled “Trust Promoter” wakes up from a nightmare that shows a criminal labeled “Miller” and “520 per cent” breaking stones in a prison.

Comments and Context

Anticipating the “pyramid scheme” of Carlo Ponzi that attracted investors by promising windfall dividends — but urged investors to roll over their “profits” and only made payments from new investments — the Franklin Syndicate of William F. Miller of Brooklyn began when a gullible man invested ten dollars. In months Miller raked in thousands of dollars a day, witnesses noting piles of cash in closets and desks of his offices.

The vacant plate

The British Lion, the Russian Bear, a cat labeled Austria, and three dogs labeled “France, Italy, [and] Germany” gather around a table for Thanksgiving dinner. The British Lion is holding a large knife labeled “Dismemberment of Turkey,” but the platter is empty. Looking in from the left is a turkey wearing a fez labeled “Turkey.” Caption: Turkey — Ha! Ha! How disappointed they look! Now I have lots to be thankful for.

Comments and Context

In cartoonist Pughe’s drawing the only thing that the symbol of Turkey, the turkey in the doorway, can really be happy about is the frustration on the faces of those neighboring powers who were prepared to gobble it up. The once-mighty Ottoman Empire, reduced to the country of Turkey but slowly chipped away, province by province, people by people, tribe by tribe, for more than a century.

In unions there is strength!

A man labeled “Employer’s Union” and a man labeled “Workingman’s Union” drink a toast while sitting on the back of a man sprawled on the ground, clutching papers labeled “Bribes” and “Broken Contracts.” His hat nearby is labeled “Walking Delegate.” There are factories in the background.

Comments and Context

Several employers unions and associations established themselves in the first years of the new century. They were logical and legitimate responses to the growth of labor unions in numbers of members and contract recognition. Except for such associations’ descendants as the National Association of Manufacturers — groups that eventually focused more on trade and regulations than labor negotiations — they never evolved as cartoonist Pughe envisioned.

More rough riding

President Roosevelt as a “Rough Rider” carries a pike labeled “Fearlessness” and rides an elephant labeled “Administration.” He has chased many men labeled “Dishonest Official” and “Corruption” from the “Post Office” Department. There are mail bags labeled “Corruption, Scandal, [and] Bribery” and letters labeled “Bribe, Scandal, [and] Bribery” flying in the rush of wind as corrupt officials flee Roosevelt and the rampaging elephant.

Comments and Context

When Theodore Roosevelt became president, there were few Americans in or out of his Republican Party, or the nation as a whole, who thought that he would mend his ways as a reformer. Reform was an aspect of every position he held, from the New York Assembly, to party councils beginning with the 1884 presidential convention, to “civilizing” efforts in the Western prairies, to the national Civil Service Commission, to the New York City Police Department, to the Department of the Navy and the War Department around the Spanish-American War, to the Governor’s office in Albany. The Republican Old Guard famous feared his approach to the presidency in the case of William McKinley’s death (“Don’t you realize,” cried Senator Mark Hanna, “there’s only one bullet between that madman and the president of the United States?”) — and scarcely were assured when McKinley was assassinated, by Roosevelt’s promise to “continue, absolutely unbroken, the policies of the [McKinley] administration.

Dumping their Jonah

A ship labeled “Labor” sails into dark clouds labeled “Employers’ Disclosures” on a sea labeled “Oblivion.” Laborers on board the ship are pushing over the side a man labeled “Walking Delegate” who has papers in his pockets labeled “Bribe, Graft, [and] Blackmail.”

Comments and Context

The iconic symbol of the Walking Delegate — roving labor organizer and representative, and sometime provocateur — was a staple in political cartoons dating back to the first Joseph Keppler, founder of Puck Magazine; and Thomas Nast of Harper’s Weekly. He was identified with selfish goals, graft, and instigator.

A rank foozler

William Jennings Bryan, as a golfer holding a club labeled “Spite,” is stuck in a sand trap trying to hit a golf ball labeled “Cleveland” and showing his likeness. Shafts of broken clubs lie in the sand, labeled “Envy, Jealousy, Malice, [and] Cussedness.” A hat labeled “Bryan” lies in the grass and there is a marker in the background labeled “16 to 1.”

Comments and Context

When William Jennings Bryan broke upon the national political scene with his “Cross of Gold” speech at the 1896 Democrat convention and his subsequent years of party domination and three presidential runs, his populist critique was a veiled attack on Grover Cleveland as president and Democratic party leader. Conservative Democrats like Cleveland, who were loyal to sound money, the Gold Standard, and such policies, were the enemy of Bryanism, although the populist scarcely ever attacked the former president by name.

A timely warning

The Republican elephant, wearing a hat labeled “G.O.P.” and “High Protective Tariff” and a swimsuit labeled “Tariff-Protected Trusts,” wades offshore toward huge waves labeled “Public Patience.” President Theodore Roosevelt is standing closer to shore with one hand on a “Reciprocity Life Line” and the other hand raised, as he calls out a warning about going too far. The U.S. Capitol is visible in the background. Caption: Roosevelt–Don’t go beyond your depth!

Comments and Context

Pughe’s cartoon is a straightforward statement of the political situation — the policies of the new president, Theodore Roosevelt, recommending lower international tariffs and an acceptance of reciprocal trade agreements with foreign partners (policies toward which President William McKinley was warming at the time of his death). The illustration of current events is as logical as an elephant in women’s beach costume is not. But political cartoonists are masters of all they survey.

“Sacre bleu!”

A Frenchman stands outside the U.S. Treasury building, holding in one hand a newspaper that states “Colombia Rejects Canal Treaty” and in the other hand a paper labeled “40,000,000 for France if Treaty is Ratified.” It appears that he was about to cash in a promissory note for $40 million, only to discover at the last moment that it is worthless.

Comments and Context

The disappointed Frenchman in Pughe’s cartoon reflected the angrier (if possible) reaction of President Roosevelt, Secretary of State John Hay, Senator John Spooner (R-WI), and other American proponents of a canal through the Panamanian region of Colombia. A treaty, with all business and financial arrangements, had been negotiated, only to be rejected by the Colombian senate.

The power behind the scare-crow

A scarecrow in a corn field, labeled “Nomination,” is fashioned out of pieces of cloth labeled with the names of several states: “Indiana, Illinois, Mass., Mich., Georgia, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Hampshire, West Virginia, [and] New Jersey.” It wears a sash labeled “Repudiation.” Standing in the background is a farmer wearing a hat labeled “Democracy” and carrying a rifle labeled “Nat’l. Convention.” A crow labeled “Bryan,” with the face of William Jennings Bryan, is sitting on a fence, eyeing the corn field. Caption: The Democratic Farmer — If that doesn’t keep him out, I’ve got something here that’ll fix him.

Comments and Context

Pughe’s clever cartoon (and brilliant caricature) proved prescient, less than a year before the 1904 Democrat presidential nominating convention. The party (labeled “Democracy”) is depicted, in rare form, by a farmer rather than a donkey or animal form. His weapon to keep the crow Bryan from his field — if the ragtag scarecrow-of-states failed to repel the crow, is a shotgun labeled “National Convention.”

A tidy job; but–

New York City mayor Seth Low, as a lion tamer holding a whip, stands next to the Tammany Tiger which is bound in ribbons labeled “Civic Honesty, Fusion, Decent Government, Municipal Reforms, [and] Local Improvements.” Standing in the background is Charles F. Murphy, Tammany Hall boss, holding a large pair of scissors labeled “Election 1903.” Later in the year, Low would lose the election for mayor to George B. McClellan Jr.

Comments and Context

Seth Low was identified with reform and efficient administration his whole career, as mayor of Brooklyn, mayor New York City (Brooklyn and the City merged in 1897 as “Greater New York”), and as president of Columbia University. His political activities were allied with the Republican Party and various reform groups like the Fusion Party and the Citizens Union.

By the grace of “Justice”

Samuel Parks, recently released from prison on extortion charges, and still wearing his prison stripes, cracks a whip over the heads of two diminutive figures, one labeled “Capital” and the other labeled “Labor.” Sam Parks was a union walking delegate, a mediator of sorts between laborer and employer.

Comments and Context

Once again Puck attacks the contemporary figure, and phenomenon, of the Walking Delegate and his role in the labor movement, growth of unions, and workers’ rights in the United States. Frequent cases of corruption, extortion, bribery, and even incitements to strike and riot, were associated with Walking Delegates. They usually were freelances, insinuating themselves in situations of labor strife, but sometimes represented large unions seeking to organize locals.

Liberty?

A caricature of the Statue of Liberty replaces Liberty with a labor union “Walking Delegate.” His torch is labeled “Lawlessness” and he holds a tablet labeled “Tyranny.” At the base are crowds of immigrants disembarking from boats, as other boats stream across the sea from a location marked with a sign that states “To the Land of the Free.”

Comments and Context

A generation earlier, the concept of this cartoonist might have featured only a different label or two. The caricature of the Statue of Liberty might have represented an urban political boss and municipal corruption. Instead, here, the arriving immigrants, depicted in their various native outfits, are confounded by the tyranny of the crooked labor boss, the “Walking Delegate” union organizer, and advocate of violence. At this point in time, this is how many American citizens, not only immigrants, saw a large part of the labor movement.

“I wonder if it’s loaded!”

An elephant labeled G.O.P. holds a double-barrel shotgun in its trunk, pointed toward itself. The barrels are labeled “Trust Issue Tariff Reform” and “1904.”

Comments and Context

Likely without knowing it, Puck and cartoonist J. S. Pughe exactly pictured the conscious policy of President Theodore Roosevelt. For a generation, the political parties had tinkered with the tariff and import duties. Seeking to please various segments of industry, or farming interests, or interest groups with their own agendas, the tariff had become a bugaboo that often turned and “bit” the parties passing new laws and rates.

Looking for help

An old woman labeled “Democratic Party” stands in the “Democratic Intelligence Bureau” managed by “J.K. Jones” who is sitting behind a desk. She is “looking for help” and taking a good look at several prospective candidates, from left: David B. Hill “No objection to dirty work,” William Jennings Bryan “Used to waiting,” Richard Olney “Old but regular,” Edward M. Shepard “Will do anything,” Alton B. Parker “Neat and quiet,” and Arthur P. Gorman “Willing and obliging.”

Comments and Context

A common theme of the time among political cartoonists, even Democrat cartoonists, is the weak field of national candidates. In Pughe’s variation, this Puck cartoon pictures the old-maid Democrat lady looking for household help — a presidential candidate for the following year.

Bryan’s hobby

William Jennings Bryan, as a horse racing jockey, sits on a rocking horse trying to catch Grover Cleveland, who is walking away from him on the right. Caption: “I’ll run that man down, if I have to kill the horse.”

Comments and Context

Former President Grover Cleveland never admired and scarcely supported William Jennings Bryan. While still president and after Bryan was nominated for the presidency by the Democrat and Populist parties, Cleveland supported the “Gold Democrat” candidate Palmer in 1896. As Bryan never surrendered his radical principles, Cleveland never wavered from his essential conservative beliefs. Who was titular head of the party?

Picking his way

The “Republican Party” elephant walks on “Senate” and “House” stilts, on a path covered with eggs labeled “Monopoly, High Tariff Excuses, ‘Bad Trusts,’ Labor Question, Post Office Scandal, [and] Protected Trusts.” A paper attached to the elephant’s tail states “Tariff Reform.” A sign in the background points “To Washington 1904.”

Comments and Context

The Republican elephant, drawn by Puck‘s go-to animal cartoonist J. S. Pughe, is the focal point of this cartoon that is frankly a generic concept, rare for Puck, rather than an accurate portrayal of events or analysis of issues. The cartoon’s implication is that the party in June of 1903 and a year from the national presidential convention, avoids dealing with a myriad of issues. In fact, except for plainly viewing the tariff as an issue with no urgency to address, the eggs are labelled with issues, positions, and accomplishments that President Roosevelt and the Republican Party were quite willing to discuss with voters.

In the court of public opinion

A police officer holding a hat labeled “Law and Order” stands in a courtroom with a labor union “Walking Delegate” who has papers showing in his pocket labeled “Bribes” and “Broken Contract.” They are standing before Uncle Sam who is wearing the judicial robes of the judge. Caption: The Justice — You’ve distrubed the peace long enough and I’ve a mind to sentence you to hard labor – a most severe sentence in your case.

Comments and Context

Just at the time when President Roosevelt’s intervention in the Anthracite Coal Strike the previous year indicated a thaw in the perception of labor unions and strikes in the minds of the public and the government, there was an uptick in labor violence and major union-related public disruptions. At the center of many workers’ actions were “Walking Delegates,” originally regarded as mere representatives of national labor organizations. Then, their roles changed and they were often regarded as agents provocateurs. Cartoonists often depicted them as bloated leeches, taking advantage of workers through onerous union dues. Finally they were seen — and sometimes were — plotters of violence during strikes, andb attacks on “scabs,” worker who crossed strike-lines.

Skilled labor

A labor union “Walking Delegate” with one hand pulls money from the pocket of a diminutive figure labeled “Employer” and with the other hand pulls money from the pocket of another diminutive figure labeled “Working Man.”

Comments and Context

This cartoon is one many that Puck published criticizing “Walking Delegates,” the title given to union organizers, labor representatives, negotiators, and, sometimes, advocates of strikes and everything in between. Their roles in the rise of organized labor in America are therefore varied.

Will the lion allow himself to be shorn of his strength?

Joseph Chamberlain holds a pair of shears labeled “Protection” and is about to trim the mane labeled “Free Trade” of the British Lion.

Comments and Context

The subtext of this cartoon is the policy altercations occurring within the British government of the day. Joseph Chamberlain was one of the most consequential British politicians who never became Prime Minister. His peregrinations from party to party — Liberal, Unionist, Conservative — effectively realigned Westminster twice. He played an important role in advancing the Boer War, and he upset Britain’s long-standing policy (once considered sacrosanct) of free trade with the world.