“Keb, Lady?”
Subject(s): Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925, Carriages and carts, Cleveland, Grover, 1837-1908, Clothing and dress, Dame Democracy (Symbolic character), Gorman, Arthur P. (Arthur Pue), 1839-1906, Johnson, Tom Loftin, 1854-1911, Olney, Richard, 1835-1917, Parker, Alton B. (Alton Brooks), 1852-1926, Presidents--Election, Shepard, Edward Morse, 1850-1911, Watterson, Henry, 1840-1921, Women
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An elderly woman labeled “Democracy” stands next to a trunk labeled “Old Issues” and with a tag that states “To the White House.” Standing at the curb are several cab drivers labeled “Parker, Olney, Johnson, Shepard, Gorman, [and] Watterson” hoping to pick up a fare, and two other drivers labeled “Cleveland” and “Bryan” sitting on their carriages. Cleveland does not appear interested, though Bryan, on his cab labeled “16 to 1,” holding up his hat, calls out above the others.
Comments and Context
Political cartoons, when well designed, not only present issues and events clearly, but also convey subtexts, background information, and nuances that speak to readers of their time, and to subsequent students of history.
Puck‘s cartoons frequently checked all those boxes. This double-spread by Pughe can be read as a portrayal of the fact that several Democrats vied for the attention of the national party, and jockeyed for the presidential nomination in 1904. Just so.
But for Puck, routinely regarded as a Democrat journal, to delineate the Democrat Party as an old spinster, and her sole piece baggage as “old issues,” indicates Puck‘s regard… and suggests the fact that the incumbent president, was widely popular.
Similarly the subtle aspects of the applicant speaks much. All but two — former President Grover Cleveland and Judge Alton B. Parker (the eventual, conservative, nominee) are a ragtag bunch. The reasons for the cartoon’s specific caricatural treatments follow:
Tom Johnson, mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, holds a sign advertising a three-penny fare. As a disciple of free-trade theorist and single-tax advocate Henry George, Johnson indeed advocated low street-car fares; municipal ownership of utilities; and other progressive policies. His stewardship of the city is regarded as efficient and honest, but he never advanced to higher office.
Arthur Pue Gorman of Maryland was on his third incarnation as a party leader, his second term as senator, and his last quest for the presidency. Richard Olney once was respected as Cleveland Secretary of State, but had slid in public esteem because of his inconsistent and perhaps opportunistic rejection and embrace of Bryanism.
Henry Watterson, longtime editor of the Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal, was a perennial voice of party policies, and perennially hopeful that a presidential nomination would fall his way. Edward Morse Shepard was a political chameleon who had supported the national “Gold Democrat” ticket against Bryan in 1896; supported the Republican Fusion mayoral candidate in New York City, Seth Low, against Tammany Hall; later was a Tammany candidate for mayor himself. He never was elected to a major office, much less recipient of a presidential nomination.
William Jennings Bryan, atop one coach and about as frowzy as most of the others, was virtually “old news” after almost a decade — and two failed presidential runs — before the public.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1903-12-09
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:
“Keb, Lady?”. [December 9, 1903]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277677. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909. “Keb, Lady?”. [9 Dec. 1903]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 12, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277677.
APA:
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909., [1903, December 9]. “Keb, Lady?”.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277677.
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.
