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An automobile driven by a chauffeur speeds down a road, surrounded by newspaper clippings with headlines about numerous traffic accidents involving pedestrians struck by automobiles, including one where a chauffeur was charged with first-degree murder in the death of a 13-year-old boy.
Comments and Context
The original artwork for Udo J. Keppler’s double-page cartoon featured actual newspaper clippings pasted to the drawing — twenty-two actual accounts of automobile accidents and fatalities of recent vintage.
For all of the fascination with new “horseless carriages,” and the exciting promises they held for average citizens, automobile safety was of prominent concern. Few cities and fewer suburban towns, and fewer still rural areas, had paved roads. Dust and dirt, stray animals and careless children were all challenges. Speed limits were difficult to establish and harder still to enforce.
Those factors, rather than aspects of open roads and carefree leisure, were the concerns of Keppler in this cartoon. He added an element of class warfare. The title “Privileged Sport” identified the leisure class as an enemy of comity; and he made sure to depict a hired chauffeur as the chariot-driver, with the idle rich — replete with lorgnette — on comfortable back seats.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1909-06-09
Creator(s)
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. See the Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library Terms of Use for further copyright information.
Citation
Cite this Record
Chicago:
Privileged sport. [June 9, 1909]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o291499. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956. Privileged sport. [9 Jun. 1909]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. May 15, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o291499.
APA:
Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956., [1909, June 9]. Privileged sport.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o291499.
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. May 15, 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.
