Puck’s inventions
Subject(s): Cleaning, Clergy, Coins, Machinery, Rockefeller, John D. (John Davison), 1839-1937
Click on image to zoom in
John D. Rockefeller stands on a ladder, dumping coins into a “Patent Disinfector,” as a member of the clergy opens a slot and coins pour into a bucket labeled “Purified Cash for Missions.” An open trunk labeled “Contributions,” full of money bags, is at the base of the ladder. Caption: The cash purification plant.
Comments and Context
S. D. Ehrhart’s modest cover cartoon appears to comment on the growing trend of American moguls donating portions of their fortunes to charities. The most prominent of the day might have been Andrew Carnegie’s stated intention to give away his fortune to causes like Carnegie Hall, Carnegie Free Libraries, and what became Carnegie-Mellon University. For every Carnegie there have been multitudes of Morgans, Vanderbilts, and Rockefellers.
Whether the beneficence of moguls was heartfelt or the result of guilty consciences, the situation depicted by Ehrhart says as much about the public’s perceptions as the munificence of the wealthy — the situation falling somewhere between irony and hypocrisy. The cartoonists’ usual depictions of Old Man Rockefeller as a wizened ogre changed when the far-flung family started endowing foundations with the same oil profits. Even today, corporate executives in industries such as oil are excoriated by citizens and cartoonists, but seldom are the richest men in America, like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, no matter the prices of their products, if their views harmonize with the public’s.
But it has never been the cartoonist’s function to be fair: only to expose and depict. The clergyman as “holy veneer” in this picture thus represented the thousand words of an editorial.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1905-04-12
Creator(s)
Ehrhart, S. D. (Samuel D.), approximately 1862-1937
Period
U.S. President – 2nd Term (March 1905-February 1909)
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:
Puck’s inventions. [April 12, 1905]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278092. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Ehrhart, S. D. (Samuel D.), approximately 1862-1937. Puck’s inventions. [12 Apr. 1905]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. August 3, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278092.
APA:
Ehrhart, S. D. (Samuel D.), approximately 1862-1937., [1905, April 12]. Puck’s inventions.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278092.
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. August 3, 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.
