A woman labeled “Democracy,” carrying a satchel with papers labeled “Free Trade,” is lamenting being turned out of her home into a shower of torn paper labeled “Protection Sentiment.” The door of “Meh own home” is labeled “Southern Senator.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Instead of Shakespeare or the Bible, Puck turned for a cartoon inspiration to contemporary, cheap stage melodramas in this cartoon by Udo J. Keppler. The over-dramatic daughter, turned away from her family home in the midst of a paper-blizzard, bemoans her fate.

Behind the allegory was the political situation. The Democratic Party, for more than a generation the party of low tariffs and free trade, somewhat unexpectedly, as debates for a new tariff bill began in the sixty-first Congress, faced defections from its traditional orthodoxy.

In fact, changes in the American economy, and world trade, made for strange bedfellows in debates on the tariff, government regulations, and even the banking system. For instance, American industries traditionally demanded “protective” tariffs against cheaper foreign goods. But at the time of this cartoon, the United States had become a net exporter, the world’s largest supplier of industrial and agricultural products.

Debates on the tariff, therefore, and many other issues of this era and into the Progressive Era, obliged a reassessment of traditional views and policies. It was a dramatic change of circumstances, if not quite as dramatic as the second act down at the village opera house.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1909-06-16

Creator(s)

Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956

Language

English

Period

African Safari (March 1909-1910)

Page Count

1

Record Type

Image

Resource Type

Cartoon

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:

“Turned out of meh own home!”. [June 16, 1909]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o291514. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.

MLA:

Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956. “Turned out of meh own home!”. [16 Jun. 1909]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 26, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o291514.

APA:

Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956., [1909, June 16]. “Turned out of meh own home!”.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o291514.

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 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.