Shall women vote?
Subject(s): Child labor, Children--Employment, Corruption, Politicians, Voting, Women--Suffrage
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A man labeled “Graft Politics” pays, with his left hand, a tramp labeled “Floater” at the end of a line of tramps outside a polling place, while with his right hand he attempts to keep a woman from listening to “women’s suffrage talk” because her “place is in the home, caring for the children.” Vignettes show women and children working in sweatshops and factories, living in tenement housing, and children taking care of younger children and being arrested. Caption: “No; they might disturb the existing order of things.”
Comments and Context
A full dozen years before women would be able to vote in presidential elections (some states already had equal-rights statutes), Puck went on the record for women’s suffrage. It was not the first time the magazine endorsed the concept, but S. D. Ehrhart’s cartoon was simple and forceful.
Cartoon signs and symbols were replete: vignettes showed women in subservient positions in society; an iconic chain surrounded the image of a beleaguered mother in a tenement; a chain of disreputable men accepted bribes outside a polling place; the man representing “graft politics” looked, on first glance, respectable. Moreover, images depicted men in unsavory activities.
In 1915 Puck (under different ownership and management) published a notable and impactful special issue on women’s suffrage, with guest contributions from notable female celebrities.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1909-03-31
Creator(s)
Ehrhart, S. D. (Samuel D.), approximately 1862-1937
Period
African Safari (March 1909-1910)
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:
Shall women vote?. [March 31, 1909]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o291176. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Ehrhart, S. D. (Samuel D.), approximately 1862-1937. Shall women vote?. [31 Mar. 1909]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. August 3, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o291176.
APA:
Ehrhart, S. D. (Samuel D.), approximately 1862-1937., [1909, March 31]. Shall women vote?.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o291176.
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.
