Puck, v. 56, no. 1450 | - Theodore Roosevelt Center

The girl of the hour

A fashionably-dressed young woman ice skates on a pond in a park. She is being admired by several men and boys standing on the left, while on the right four women, a golfer, an automobile driver, a party-goer, and a hunter, trudge through the snow to await the arrival of summer. Old Man Winter blows a frigid blast over the scene from the top.

Comments and Context

The girl of the hour in Ehrhart’s cover cartoon would seem to have the emphasis on the word “hour” — that winter sports, and ice skating assisted by Old Man Winter, is enjoying its portion of the social and sporting calendar.

An unexpected challenge

The newly elected Democratic governor of Massachusetts, William L. Douglas, appears as a gladiator holding a sword labeled “Popular Approval” and a shield showing the Seal of the State of Massachusetts. In the arena, he faces a dragon with the head of a bull and fashioned out of industrial parts labeled “Leather Trust, Flour Trust, Beet Trust, Steel Trust, Cotton Trust, Tobacco Trust, Oil Trust, Woolen Goods, Iron, Copper, Steel, [and] Glass.” The dragon’s back and tail are labeled “Monopoly” and “High Protective Tariff.” On the ground between its front legs is a woman labeled “Fair Trade.” Standing in the audience are Republicans O. H. Platt, Henry C. Lodge, Nelson W. Aldrich, Nathan B. Scott, John C. Spooner, and Redfield Proctor.

Comments and Context

An interesting figure in American politics was William Lewis Douglas. He was a prominent shoe manufacturer in Massachusetts, a state known for that product. He was friendly to unions (but a foe of socialism); a staunch opponent of monopolies (as depicted in Pughe’s cartoon, where he challenges the Trust Monster); and an advocate of free trade with Canada (if for no other reason that his business bought hides and coal from the neighbors to the north). He pioneered the concept of manufacturer-owned retails outlets, growing W. L. Douglas Shoe Stores to 60 across America at their busiest.