The thread of life

The Greek mythological figures of fate are represented in the form of a man (representing Lachesis) labeled “Commercial Lawlessness,” sitting with a pile of money on his lap and handing money labeled “Bribery” to a man (representing Atropos) wearing a uniform labeled “Crooked Inspection.” The latter holds a pair of scissors labeled “Disaster,” and is about to cut a thread that extends from the businessman to the figure of Clotho labeled “Human Life” standing between them. At their feet, on the left, are railroad and steamship accidents, a building fire, and dead bodies, and, on the right, is a ticker tape machine.

Comments and Context

The Muckraking era, once enlivened with spirits of zeal and righteousness, focused on corrupt areas of American life that were not inevitable curses. Institutional corruption — bribery, lax enforcement of laws, and favoritism — had cancerous effects on American life despite laws and reform. In his career, for instance, Theodore Roosevelt encountered overcrowded and unsanitary tenements were cigars were made, when he was a crusading Assemblyman in the 1880s, and “arrangements” between policemen and saloon owners when he was a crusading police commissioner in the 1890s. Rules and regulations could be irrelevant on the street.

The smells of disaster were in the nostrils of reformers and muckraking cartoonists alike when Udo J. Keppler drew this striking cartoon about the unholy alliance between inspectors and “interests.” Only a few years previous, two of America’s most horrible disasters occurred — both of which could have been avoided by safety measures, reasonably enforced: the sinking of the General Slocum excursion boat and the Iroquois Theater fire.

And what probably immediately inspired Keppler’s cartoon was the horrible sinking, in frozen waters, of the Larchmont off Rhode Island. There were no apparent safety violations (it sank after collision, not a fire), but the death toll was an approximate 150 — unspecified because the ship seemed to exceed its passenger capacity — and floating debris suggested that it was overloaded with cargo it was not meant to carry. In both cases, lax enforcement led to disaster.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1907-03-13

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