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A dejected, well-dressed man labeled “The Corporation” sits next to an ice bucket filled with bottles labeled “Wall St. Brand, Privilege Brut, Immunity Fizz, [and] Stand Pat Sec,” while in the background William Jennings Bryan and William H. Taft are holding bottles of “Publicity Lithia.” The “Corporation” man misses those days when Mark Hanna was a driving force in presidential campaigns. Caption: The Wine Agent — Gee! When Mark was alive I opened a case a minute.
Comments and Context
It might seem odd that cartoonist Udo J. Keppler chose to delve almost five years in the past to invoke the name of a political boss who wined and dined corporate donors. Mark Hanna, senator and chairman of the Republican National Committee, was a confidant of President William McKinley, a presidential aspirant himself, and friend of the rich and famous, cultivated his party’s connections with policies favored by corporations and trusts.
Party officials of intervening years, and of both parties, played that role too: representing the desires of corporations, and enabling national policies to serve their growth. It was not a conspiracy of oligarchs, of course: expanding corporations created jobs and grew the economy as well.
For whatever reason Keppler invoked Hanna, the point of the cartoons was that politicians by 1908 had grown sensitive to appearing too compliant to the whims of corporations… and, to an extent with the advance in public exposure, vice versa.
Another subtext of the cartoon is the “Lithia Water” (a popular brand of mineral water) consumed, counter-intuitively, at the counter itself. Prohibitionists were making rapid inroads in counties and states at the time; even Georgia had become one hundred per cent “dry,” banning all alcohol. Prohibitionists questioned politicians closely about the drinking habits and whether they served hard spirits at functions.
The generic figure representing corporations is as lonely as he is confused in Keppler’s allegory.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1908-08-12
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:
Times have changed. [August 12, 1908]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o286927. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956. Times have changed. [12 Aug. 1908]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. August 3, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o286927.
APA:
Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956., [1908, August 12]. Times have changed.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o286927.
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.
