“Don’t yer ever git enough, yer durn hog?”

Uncle Sam, as a pig farmer, holds a bucket labeled “Ship Subsidy” that he is about to pour into an overflowing trough labeled “Dingley Tariff” for a large hog labeled “Organized Greed.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Udo J. Keppler’s mastery of caricature grew stronger through the years, even for imaginary characters like Uncle Sam. The frustration and disgust of the iconic Uncle Sam is so distorted that many readers probably were inclined to share the negative emotion before studying the labels.

Almost lost to history is the complicated and long-running matter of ship subsidies. It touched politics, economics, trade, and rivalries between the trusts. During his presidency, President Roosevelt fought hard, year after year, to have Congress increase Naval appropriations and have to settle, eventually and on average for only two major Naval ships per year.

The issue of ship subsidies, as per the focus of Keppler’s cartoon, revolved around merchant ships and some passenger liners. As America was becoming the world’s largest economy, ships were needed to carry the products of factories and farms and to import foreign goods. American business did not want to surrender and be at the mercy of foreign rivals, particularly England and Germany, in the building and operation of this sea traffic.

The scale of operations and the nature of this construction prompted steelmakers and shipbuilders to secure subsidies from the federal government. To a greater extent than disagreements between other corporations and trusts, shipbuilding crossed state and regional lines (mining and smelting), geographic prerogatives of exporters, labor’s desire to promote certain coastal ports, and the “seats at the table” of railroads and other transportation players.

Even J. P. Morgan, having recently consolidated his hold on the American steel industry (thanks to buying out Andrew Carnegie, and then cruelly saying that he would have paid even more money), and, somewhat coincidentally acquiring a taste for yachts and transatlantic cruise lines, got sick of Uncle Sam getting sick of it all. The “Dingley Tariff,” its rates in place since 1897, no longer satisfied the need of shipbuilders — or, as Keppler called them, “organized greed,” and cast his eyes over the horizon to England.

Morgan acquired British steel mills and even the White Star Line, one of whose ships, The Titanic, famously sank a few years later. It is a sure indication of how momentous and tangled the “ship subsidy” tangle was, when even J. P. Morgan could not muscle his allies, competitors, and politicians to do his bidding.

Another note about Uncle Sam: Keppler’s father, Joseph Keppler, Senior, legendarily is the cartoonist who affixed chin whiskers to the traditional character who represented the United States.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1907-02-20

Creator(s)

Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956

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

Cartoon

Rights

These images are presented through a cooperative effort between the Library of Congress and Dickinson State University. No known restrictions on publication.

Citation