The scab’s appeal to Justice
Subject(s): Fasces, Justice, Labor supply, Mobs, Strikebreakers, Strikes and lockouts, Violence
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An angry mob of strikers with clubs, guns, and bricks pursues a man labeled “Independent Labor” who has fallen near his wife and child in front of the statue of Justice. Justice is bound with red tape labeled “Politics.” Her scales and fasces lie on the ground next to her feet.
Comments and Context
Sixteen years previous in 1886, another year of labor strife, cartoonist Keppler’s father Joseph Senior drew a similar double-page cartoon of a worker being pummeled by strikers. In that cartoon, titled “Between Slavery and Starvation,” the worker was also a “scab” (someone who agreed to work despite strikers boycotting the factories and shops) and in that cartoon the radical Catholic priest and labor agitator father Edward McGlynn gave his blessing to the violence. In this powerful cartoon, drawn in 1902, another year labor strife, Keppler Junior alludes to the “scab,” not critically but otherwise using a term of approbation. And the fettered figure of Justice implicates merely a violated principle but the system comprised of the courts and the larger political establishment. Especially with the Anthracite Coal strike settlement of that year, and President Theodore Roosevelt’s enlistment of presidential influence, labor saw the pendulum begin to swing its way.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1902-10-01
Creator(s)
Period
U.S. President – 1st Term (September 1901-February 1905)
Repository
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Page Count
1
Record Type
Image
Resource Type
Rights
These images are presented through a cooperative effort between the Library of Congress and Dickinson State University. No known restrictions on publication.
Citation
Cite this Record
Chicago:
The scab’s appeal to Justice. [October 1, 1902]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o276267. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956. The scab’s appeal to Justice. [1 Oct. 1902]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 12, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o276267.
APA:
Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956., [1902, October 1]. The scab’s appeal to Justice.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o276267.
Cite this Collection
Chicago:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 12, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs.
APA:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs.
