Looking for help
Subject(s): Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925, Clothing and dress, Democratic Party (U.S.), Gorman, Arthur P. (Arthur Pue), 1839-1906, Hill, David B. (David Bennett), 1843-1910, Jones, James K. (James Kimbrough), 1839-1908, Older people, Olney, Richard, 1835-1917, Parker, Alton B. (Alton Brooks), 1852-1926, Presidents--Election, Shepard, Edward Morse, 1850-1911, Women
Click on image to zoom in
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.
The employment bureau is presided over by James Kimbrough Jones, chairman of the party; and the cartoonist is sarcastic in varying degrees about the politicians-as-housemaids, as per their resumes. William Jennings Bryan had failed twice before; Former New York governor and senator David Bennett Hill’s taint of machine politics is noted; Richard Olney, Secretary of State in President Grover Cleveland’s second administration, is a “regular” Gold Democrat, but had no experience as a politician; Edward M. Shepard was a New York gadfly, sometime reformer, sometime Bryan supporter; and Maryland’s Arthur Pue Gorman, in his second stint as senator, was a perennial presidential aspirant, and still “willing.”
The other figure is the eventual Democrat nominee, yet a virtual nonentity on the national stage but for the publicity accorded by Puck and other journals: Judge Alton Brooks Parker, Chief Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals. His caricatures in Puck uniformly depict him as of a noble portrait — either a comment on his probity, or because cartoonists had very little reference material.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1903-05-20
Creator(s)
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909
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:
Looking for help. [May 20, 1903]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277280. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909. Looking for help. [20 May. 1903]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. February 26, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277280.
APA:
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909., [1903, May 20]. Looking for help.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277280.
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. February 26, 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.
