The fool pied piper
Subject(s): Cheers, Criminals, Emigration and immigration, Law, Pied Piper of Hamelin (Legendary character), Rats, Uncle Sam (Symbolic character)
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Uncle Sam, as the “Pied Piper,” plays a pipe labeled “Lax Immigration Laws” and leads a horde of rats labeled “Jail Bird, Murderer, Thief, Criminal, Crook, Kidnapper, Incendiary, Assassin, Convict, Bandit, Fire Brand, White Slaver, [and] Degenerate.” Some of the rats carry signs that read “Black Hand” showing a black hand print. In the background, rulers from “France, Russia, Germany, Italy, Hungary/Austria, Turkey, [and] Greece,” along with citizens of these countries, are cheering the fleeing rats.
Comments and Context
The decade between 1900 and 1910 saw the largest numbers of immigrants to the United States, surpassing the times of Irish Potato Famine, the German Liberal Revolution of 1848, America’s Industrial Revolution, and the Land Rushes of free farmland in the American heartland.
Cartoonist S. D. Ehrhart took note of the influx, and called “foolish” the policy that allowed immigrants with health and legal challenges to seemingly be unvetted. Such was not the case, and neither was nativism the reason for old American stock and second-generation citizens to raise objections.
Indeed a large percentage of these immigrants were from southern and central Europe, Poland, and Russia, but they tended to congregate in urban areas, with publicized incidents of disease and crime. The Black Hand groups of extortionists, believed to have originated in Naples and Sicily, arose at this time, terrorizing established neighborhoods and Italian ghettos equally.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1909-06-02
Creator(s)
Ehrhart, S. D. (Samuel D.), approximately 1862-1937
Language
English
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:
The fool pied piper. [June 2, 1909]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o291497. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Ehrhart, S. D. (Samuel D.), approximately 1862-1937. The fool pied piper. [2 Jun. 1909]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 12, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o291497.
APA:
Ehrhart, S. D. (Samuel D.), approximately 1862-1937., [1909, June 2]. The fool pied piper.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o291497.
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. March 12, 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.
