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An “Absentee Millionaire” stands on land labeled “Europe” spraying money from a hose connected to an “American Hydrant source of income,” suggesting that wealthy Americans spend more money in Europe than in their own country.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1901-08-28
An old man labeled “Progressive Republican” tries to pull an aged and battered elephant labeled “G.O.P.” from where it kneels before a golden idol with a “$” on its chest, sitting on a pedestal labeled “High Protection Idol.” The elephant has wrapped its trunk around a bar attached to the “High Tariff Altar.” In the background, the U.S. Capitol beams “Fair Trade.”
Interesting aspects of this cartoon relate to the term “Progressive” being attached to the anti-Protectionist Republican. One is Puck‘s positive characterization of free-trade advocates. More interesting is the adjective “progressive” — a term not in general use in 1901. In five years or so, reformist Republicans were called “Insurgents” and after a decade or so, “Progressive” was a term applied to Republicans, then Democrats, who favored a program of political, economic, and social reforms. Thus this cartoon was, perhaps unintentionally, prophetic.