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

William Jennings Bryan holds a large bellows labeled “Bryanism,” which he is using to fan the flames of a small campfire labeled “Imperialism.” On the left side of the fire is Carl Schurz and on the right, kneeling on the ground, is Adlai E. Stevenson. They blow on the fire as well, to no effect.

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Published days before the 1900 presidential election, this cartoon depicts the frustration of Democratic candidate Bryan, his running mate Adlai Stevenson, and the prominent German-American reformer Carl Schurz. At first glance, per the label, they might be thought to attempt a revival of imperialism, but imperialism fails to catch fire as a hot issue. In fact the opposition to the new territorial possessions of the United States, after the Spanish-American War, was the only important new plank in Bryan’s platform since 1896. And the public proved either indifferent to the objections… or quite in favor of America’s new place in the world.

Uncle Sam and Columbia dance in a line with figures representing “Cuba, Porto Rico, Labor, Capital, Farmer, Philippines, [and] Hawaii” at the entrance to the grounds of the U.S. Capitol, visible in the background. Puck is at center in the foreground.

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The meaning of this cartoon is found in its date: the first issue that Puck‘s cartoonists and editorial writers could absorb the results of the 1900 presidential election, and share reactions with readers. Without exulting in the election of any particular candidates, Puck simply celebrated the fact that another contentious campaign was ended. For the first time in the history of the United States, icons besides Uncle Sam and Columbia, capital and labor, were joined by the (rather awkwardly depicted) symbols of new territories from around the world. 

At a meeting in a Chinese mission, a collection is being taken up, “Contributions received here to save the foreign devils.” Five accompanying vignettes show how the United States is viewed by the Chinese, including “Kentucky feuds,” “Burning Negros at the stake,” “Labor riots,” “Anti-Chinese riots,” and “New York City government” where the Tammany Tiger is shaking down a citizen. A sign on a wall in the mission states, “Help the Heathen.”

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In addition to criticizing American bigotry and religious hypocrisy, which Puck frequently did in its cartoons, Pughe’s cartoon here has particular relevance because the Boxer Rebellion was in the news, a matter of much curiosity and concern. The Chinese anti-foreigner insurrection was directed at Christian missionaries, no less than at any other group. Puck saw particular irony in that fact.

Puck stands on a stage speaking to wealthy philanthropists. From left: an empty seat “reserved for Russell Sage,” Mrs. Leland Stanford, Miss [Helen Miller?] Gould, John D Rockefeller Jr., Andrew Carnegie, Vanderbilt [William K., by resemblance], [and] J. P. Morgan.” Puck is displaying a “Plan for model tenement” and pointing to a view of current tenement housing conditions projected on a magic-lantern screen on the stage. In the “Christmas sermon,” Puck is entreating that when these generous millionaires are performing their philanthropy, they not only endow schools and libraries, which benefit “those that already have much,” but also “give something to those who have less than nothing.”

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Around the time of this cartoon, Puck, always a magazine of reform through its cartoons and editorials, joined the ranks of periodicals urging social justice activism and attention to urban ills in the movement called Naturalism. Having rejected the prescriptions of Bryanism, it welcomed and paralleled the reform agenda of Theodore Roosevelt. By 1910 its stances were vaguely Socialist.

A bulldog labeled “Jingoism” stands in a ditch labeled “Nicaragua Canal” confronting animals representing European countries: the British Lion holding a pick labeled “England,” a boar labeled “Germany,” the Russian Bear leaning on a shovel, a donkey labeled “Spain,” a rooster labeled “France,” and a monkey labeled “Italy.” Each wants a piece of the construction of the canal.

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This cartoon represents a rare editorial stance for Puck magazine, ascribing American proprietary attitudes toward a trans-oceanic canal not to the Monroe Doctrine of commercial advantages, but to Jingoism — overheated nationalistic patriotism. While United States advocates of a canal debated Nicaragua and the Panamanian region of Colombia as likely sites, world powers desired their own participation.

A diminutive soldier labeled “France” stands next to a large Russian bear gesturing with a sword toward John Bull standing opposite, while a battle rages in the background labeled “Transvaal” (the South African lands of the Republic and the Orange Free State). Caption: France–You may be able to whip the Boers, but I dare you to tackle the Russian Bear!

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Through the 19th century, France and Russia formed several alliances — some secret, some quite public; some to counter potential German or British aggression. Around 1900, the two nations considered Great Britain a threat, especially as London formed an alliance with Japan (1902) that emboldened Japan as it threatened Russia in the Pacific. That situation led to the Russo-Japanese War, which was ultimately meditated by Theodore Roosevelt. Also at this time, the Kaiser became belligerent against France when it denied German trade access to Morocco — a situation also diffused by Roosevelt’s mediation — with Russia and Britain both nervously looking on. At the time of this cartoon, the Franco-Russian alliance still viewed Great Britain as a potential common enemy.

William Jennings Bryan, standing in the “Presidential Sea,” pulls on a rope tied to a shipwreck labeled “Democracy” which was “Stranded 1896” on rocks labeled “16 to 1,” “Bryanism,” and “Bourbonism,” while a bearded old man labeled “Populist,” wearing overalls, is trying to help, using a large hook to pull the ship off the rocks.

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In a cartoon that was about as sympathetic to Williams Jennings Bryan as Puck could muster, “the Commoner’s” plight is depicted abstractly, except for the silent irony that one of the rocks on which the Democratix Party foundered in the previous campaign was “Bryanism” itself. In fact, the situation pictured in J. S. Pughe’s cartoon was prophetic. The renominated candidate was trounced by President McKinley and the Republicans.

William Jennings Bryan, with a huge smile, sits on the Democratic donkey labeled “Democracy” with a long, sad face. Bryan is gleefully waving his hat in the direction of a violent riot involving street railroads and an angry mob, with gunshots and explosions as the crowd overturns a streetcar.

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On the very week that the Democratic Party met in Kansas City to nominate a presidential ticket, Puck tweaked the party (“Democracy”) and its predicted candidate William Jennings Bryan over the logical extension of its previous national platform (Chicago convention, 1896) — labor strife. Over the summer of 1900, a violent streetcar workers’ strike smoldered in St Louis, at the other end of the state. By the time it ended, 14 people had been killed and more than 200 injured. Bryan’s views on labor and unions were indicted in Pughe’s cartoon.

William Jennings Bryan is a large snake labeled “Populist Party” entwined around a donkey labeled “Democratic Party.” The snake is about to swallow the donkey.

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Despite the Populist Party being a shadow of its once-disruptive self in 1900, and no longer an influence on American party politics, largely the result of its own success, principally the dominance of its ally William Jennings Bryan, Puck strongly makes the point that Populist principles had subsumed the traditional identity and positions of the Democratic Party.

Tammany Hall boss Richard Croker, inflated like a hot air balloon, wears a medallion showing the Tammany Tiger and a laurel wreath with a ribbon labeled “Kansas City Convention.” Running up behind him is David B. Hill carrying a spear labeled “N.Y. State Democracy.” The title is a quotation from the Bible: “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18).

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For many decades, following the Civil War, the Democratic Party in New York State was split into factions — usually two, sometimes more. Copperheads (Southern sympathizers) and Union Democrats, Tammany Hall grafters and honest Upstate Democrats, city (New York) vs. rural. Occasional Reform Democrats (Samuel J. Tilden, Grover Cleveland, Abram S. Hewitt) vs. Tammany Hall and/or David B. Hill, governor and Presidential aspirant. In 1900, the reformer and radical William Jennings Bryan was renominated for the Presidency by the Democrats and cast his lot with the Tammany faction in New York instead of the bloc led by Hill, who was by then a former governor and former senator. But, as this cartoon suggests, Hill was as much concerned with New York inter-party rivalries as he was the national campaign.

At a table set for a meal, President William McKinley, on the left, and William Jennings Bryan, on the right, each offer up a steaming plate of bloated male figures labeled “Commercial Trusts,” to a much larger man sitting between them. The man wears a napkin tied around his neck labeled “Labor Trust” and holds a knife and fork. Caption: Both candidates promise to serve up the little trusts to the big one.

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This cartoon shows a familiar scenario in American politics at the mid-point in presidential elections. The issues and figures change, but rivals often make appeals to — or pander to — the same potential voting groups. Laborers, the rising middle class in 1900, represented a sizable portion of the electorate, even if individual or industries had influences in their spheres. 

A huge Uncle Sam gets a new outfit made at the “McKinley and Company National Tailors” with President William McKinley taking the measurements. Carl Schurz, Joseph Pulitzer, and Oswald Ottendorfer stand inside the entrance to the shop and Schurz is offering Uncle Sam a spoonful of “Anti-Expansion Policy” medicine, a bottle of which each is carrying. On the right are bolts of cloth labeled “Enlightened Foreign Policy” and “Rational Expansion.” The strips on Uncle Sam’s trousers are labeled “Texas, Louisiana Purchase, Alaska, Florida, California, Hawaii, [and] Porto Rico.” Caption: The Antis. — Here, take a dose of this anti-fat and get slim again! Uncle Sam. — No, Sonny!, I never did take any of that stuff, and I’m too old to begin!

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Lose weight or be measured for new clothes? The three men offering Uncle Sam reducing serums are Carl Schurz, a liberal Republican who moved to the United States in 1848, was named a Union General by Lincoln, and supported Horace Greeley, Grover Cleveland, and other reformers; Oswald Ottendorfer of the German-language New York Staats-Zeitung newspaper and head of the Anti-Imperialist League, and Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of the New York World.

William Jennings Bryan stands in front of a tree labeled “Business,” looking up at three men, labeled “Manufacturing Trust,” “Labor Trust,” and “Farmer Trust,” on a limb labeled “Combination” that they are cutting off with a saw labeled “Agitation.” The “Manufacturing Trust” is furthest out on the limb, but both the “Labor Trust” and the “Farmer Trust” are also on the side of the limb being cut off. Caption: Bryan–Hurry up with the saw and give that fellow a fall!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1900-01-24

Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna grabs Uncle Sam by the coat collar and gestures toward a building labeled “Ship Builders’ Trust.” Ex-Senator George F. Edmunds hides behind its door. Protruding from Hanna’s coat pocket are papers labeled “Hanna Payne Subsidy Bill,” formerly introduced by Senator George F. Edmunds.

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Shipbuilding subsidies in the time-period of this cartoon bridged several controversial and shifting issues in American politics. In the aftermath of the Spanish-American War there were increasing demands to upgrade and increase the United States’ naval arsenal. Theodore Roosevelt was a major proponent. There were serious debates in the Senate over whether it was more cost-effective and efficient to purchase warships from British or Norwegian shipbuilders. Patriotism and “protectionism” were parts of the debates. Protected monopolies (trusts) colored the motives of naval-expansionists. Marcus Hanna is depicted in this cartoon as a confidence man looking to swindle Uncle Sam. The presence of Edmunds provides a fuller background to the issues addressed. The Vermont Senator was a lion of the Senate stretching back to the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson (1868); and his reform record moved young Theodore Roosevelt to work for his Presidential nomination in the 1884 Republican convention. Edmunds retired in 1891 and became a lawyer and advocate of railroad and shipbuilding interests. Even as Puck Magazine’s interests favored a larger navy, the presence of monopolists in the debate was odious.

Illustration showing John Bull as Gulliver being tied to stakes with ribbons labeled with the names of battles from the Second Boer War. Some of the Lilliputians are identified as South African generals and presidents, such as “Botha,” “Joubert,” “Kruger,” “Cronje,” and “Steyn.” A broken sword, labeled “British Prestige” lies on the ground next to John Bull.

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Pughe’s cartoon, with the numerous battles and leaders labeled, reveals with what great interest Americans followed the Boers’ insurrection and the difficult suppression undertaken by the British.

Illustration showing two concerned citizens and Joseph Pulitzer imploring Uncle Sam, dressed as a U.S. policeman, to break up a fight taking place in the background labeled “South Africa” between John Bull and Paul Kruger.

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The concerned citizens in Pughe’s cartoon are meant to represent missionaries and clergymen, appealing for humanitarian intervention in the Second Boer War. Joseph Pulitzer, as Publisher of the New York World and de facto leader of the Democrat Party press, urged intervention as he had previously in Cuba. The fight between Great Britain and the Boers (“Farmers”) is depicted by John Bull, the traditional symbol of England, and “Oom” (Uncle) Paul Kruger, leader of the insurgent Transvaal (South African Republic) and the neighboring Orange Free State.

John Bull, the symbol of Great Britain, shovels British soldiers into the “British Empire Shute.” They end on the shoulders of “Oom” Paul Kruger who sits on a rock with a rifle across his lap, on soil labeled “Dutch Republic.” Overwhelmed by the soldiers, he has dropped his copy of the Bible that he was reading.

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By 1900 the notable failures of the British Empire to defeat the “Farmers” (Boers) in South Africa were reckoned to result in British defeat or an outright campaign of attrition. The latter strategy, recorded by Winston Churchill and others, was adopted with reasonable success despite much of world opinion on the side of the longtime Dutch settlers. Oom Paul was a beloved leader who rallied his followers in the South African Republic and the neighboring Orange Free State. Their language and identity was “Afrikaans,” closely related to Dutch. Paul Kruger and his followers were quite religious, and had support around the world from Christian and missionary groups, hence the Bible falling from his lap in this symbol-laden cartoon.

The British Lion runs on a path toward “Pretoria” while four figures representing Russia, France, Germany, and Italy hide. At the time of this cartoon, the British Empire stepped up its campaign to suppress rebellion of its colonial rule in South Africa.

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Pughe’s cartoon could illustrate the admonition against “fishing in troubled waters.” By 1900 most of the globe had been carved up by colonial powers or controlled by spheres of influence. South Africa was recalcitrant, a thorny problem for the British who regarded the Horn of Africa with special importance. Only 15 years before this cartoon’s publication, Germany had gobbled up lands, largely comprising the present Tanzania, and established German East Africa, and British colonial fears were heightened. The cartoon suggests that Great Britain simultaneously doubled its resolve to quash the Boer Rebellion, and kept rival powers from intervening themselves.

Illustration showing President Paul Kruger of the South African Republic as a frog attempting to make himself as big as the British John Bull, here actually shown as a bull. The cartoon makes light of the South African Republic, a small country, attempting to fight Great Britain in the South African War for independence.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1900-04-11

Illustration showing President William McKinley as a chicken labeled “Republican Party” cackling at a duck labeled “Expansion” swimming in a pond labeled “Free Trade.” The caption reads, “No use cackling – ducks will swim.”

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President McKinley’s name was synonymous with high tariffs after the 1890 McKinley Tariff substantially raised rates. This cartoon illustrates his opposition to any new American territories and possessions receiving free-trade benefits in the wake of the Spanish-American War. Some of them eventually did enjoy such economic favors, but Puck, traditionally a free-trade journal, posted warning signals such as this cartoon. It was published soon after a Presidential position paper was delivered on the subject.