The clumsy elephant
Subject(s): Elephants, Lunchboxes, Political parties--Platforms, Presidents--Election, Republican elephant (Symbolic character)
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The “G.O.P.” elephant laments a broken pail labeled “Full Dinner Pail” on the ground before him. The U.S. Capitol building is in the background. Caption: “Gosh! How am I to get that pail in shape for next fall’s campaign?”
Comments and Context
As it looked ahead to the 1908 presidential campaign, and the plausible economic insecurity among voters in the aftermath of the October 1907 Wall Street Panic, Puck magazine able simultaneously to tweak its traditional opponent, the Republican Party, and its crosstown rival Judge magazine.
It was the Republican Judge that was founded by Republicans as a virtual clone of Puck in terms of format and style. One of its founders was a renegade from Puck, James Albert Wales; and when it was revivified in 1886 (with more Republican investment) two more Puck stars, Bernhard Gilliam and Eugene Zimmerman, also defected.
Its own quality, and its political affiliation, resulted in Judge rivaling Puck in circulation and influence too. At no time was this more evident than in 1896 when the magazine’s Grant Hamilton created the cartoon icon of the “Full Dinner Pail.” As the country emerged from a Depression, and easily could be frightened by the economic ideas of Populist/Democratic candidate William Jennings Bryan, The Full Dinner Pail — in uncountable political cartoons and party campaign materials — was enormously effective. The party revived its use in 1900, when prosperity indeed had arrived. Factory workers, who carried their home-cooked meals to their jobs in tin dinner pails, generally were satisfied.
In 1908, because of the recent Panic, Puck raised the partisan specter of the Dinner Pail being empty and out of use.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1908-03-11
Creator(s)
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909
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:
The clumsy elephant. [March 11, 1908]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o286058. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909. The clumsy elephant. [11 Mar. 1908]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. February 26, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o286058.
APA:
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909., [1908, March 11]. The clumsy elephant.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o286058.
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. February 26, 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.
