Dumping their Jonah
Subject(s): Corruption, Labor leaders, Labor unions
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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.
But there was no cartoonist who drew the generic figure more often or with more consistent features than J. S. Pughe. Overweight, ostentatious, wearing the ugly garb of a parvenu, Pughe’s Walking Delegate was on the verge of joining American cartooning’s gallery of shorthand graphic symbols.
In the first decade of the new century, however, a perfect storm of factors largely removed the Walking Delegate, and therefore Pughe’s iconic depictions, from conversations about the labor movement. In a sense union organizers like the Walking Delegate were too successful: organized and recognized unions were growing more sophisticated. Freelancers and wildcat advocates were replaced by professional representation. And the charges of corruption in their ranks, often true, led to their opprobrium by all sides — labor, management, and government.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1903-08-12
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:
Dumping their Jonah. [August 12, 1903]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277338. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909. Dumping their Jonah. [12 Aug. 1903]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 5, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277338.
APA:
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909., [1903, August 12]. Dumping their Jonah.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277338.
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 5, 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.
