“Fill that cell!”
Subject(s): Big business, Corruption, Criminals, Prisoners, Prisons
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A throng of petty criminals in a prison point to a small cell labeled “For the Incorporated Law Breaker,” insisting that white-collar crime goes unpunished. Caption: The cry of the small crook.
Comments and Context
In this powerful double-page cartoon, the great Art Young speaks for the small fry, not excusing them but painting a contrast, versus the “big fish” in the American justice system.
Young, increasingly in his cartoons (in 1911 he would help found the socialist magazine The Masses) he spoke for the downtrodden and, often, those he depicted as falsely accused. In this Puck cartoon, however, he seeks to contrast, even in bold coloring, the mass of petty lawbreakers with trust magnates and titans of industry who were — as per articles in newspaper and magazine, books, public confessions, Congressional hearings,and publicized lawsuits — miscreants and criminals too, but never sentences to prisons.
Some of the biggest names in American finance, over the recent few years, were proven to have broken laws, cheated, stolen, and colluded. There were proceedings, followed by a rapt public, that exposed insurance executives, politicians, bankers, oil executives, railroad managers, miners, and union officials of an array of misdeeds. Some paid fines and some disappeared overseas; none went to prison.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1908-02-19
Creator(s)
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:
“Fill that cell!”. [February 19, 1908]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o286052. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Young, Art, 1866-1943. “Fill that cell!”. [19 Feb. 1908]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. August 3, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o286052.
APA:
Young, Art, 1866-1943., [1908, February 19]. “Fill that cell!”.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o286052.
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.
