Puck, v. 64, no. 1639

A bloated bull dog, wearing a collar labeled “Monopoly,” controls a food trough as five emaciated dogs wait for an opportunity to eat. An insert labeled “The Mania for Monopoly” reprinted “(from Puck, October 10, 1883)” shows “Business as it once was” where all dogs ate from the trough at the same time, “As it is” when it became a dog-eat-dog business environment, and “As it will be if something is not done pretty soon” where one dog controls access to the trough or business market. Caption: Something wasn’t done.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The point of J. S. Pughe’s cartoon in Puck, “Twenty-Five Years After,” is that some cartoon ideas retained their pertinence through the years because issues went unresolved. More than once the magazine made a reference to, or actually reproduced, an earlier commentary, as here, to illustrate the French saying “Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose” — the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Joseph Gurney Cannon hands a shoe labeled “Stand Pat” to J. S. Sherman, who is shining shoes labeled “Conservatism, Reactionary, Special Privileges, [and] Vested Interests.” Senator Nelson W. Aldrich, peers through an open door.

Comments and Context

During the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, immense shifts of public opinion occurred throughout America. On myriad issues — trusts, corruption, reform, foreign policy — their were titanic changes in all classes and all parts of the country. It was a time of major changes in the economy, in immigration, in socialization, in manners and morals, and whether Roosevelt managed the fluid attitudes of America, or was propelled by them himself, is a question whose answer likely is “a combination of both,” yet the president was proud that he anticipated aspects of potential social unrest and acted in ways that prevented them from becoming crises.

Society might have changed in may ways, but in corners of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives, Roosevelt dealt with limits to his persuasion. “Reactionaries” and “Stand-Patters” stood their ground on matters like high tariffs and conservation, only reluctantly yielding to Roosevelt’s reforms. Their numbers were decreasing, as “insurgents” in the House and rebellious reformers in the Senate grew in numbers.