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An angry mob of bankers, brokers, and financiers threaten Santa Claus who is hanging off the statue of George Washington outside Federal Hall in Manhattan, New York City, New York. Caption: Chorus of Bankers and Brokers — Just say Christmas to us this year, that’s all! We dare you!
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1913-12-10
Print shows a jousting tournament between an oversized knight riding horse-shaped armor labeled “Monopoly” over a locomotive, with a long plume labeled “Arrogance,” and carrying a shield labeled “Corruption of the Legislature” and a lance labeled “Subsidized Press,” and a barefoot man labeled “Labor” riding an emaciated horse labeled “Poverty,”, and carrying a sledgehammer labeled “Strike.” On the left is seating “Reserved for Capitalists” where Cyrus W. Field, William H. Vanderbilt, John Roach, Jay Gould, and Russell Sage are sitting. On the right, behind the labor section, are telegraph lines flying monopoly banners that are labeled “Wall St., W.U.T. Co., [and] N.Y.C. RR.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1883-08-01
Jay Gould and William H. Vanderbilt, wearing Roman togas, laugh between themselves as they “gobble” up telegraph and railroad companies to add to their monopolies. Caption: (We do not wish to suggest an analogy to the subject of a famous picture representing two Roman augurs laughing over the Imposition they are practising on the Public).
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1885-08-12
Print shows the Republican and monopolist allies raising a flag that states “Down with the Workingman and Up with the Tariff” in an artillery battery where they are aiming a cannon toward “Fort Labor” which is flying the flag of the “Workingmans Party”. In the allies camp are Roscoe Conkling, Jay Gould, Alonzo B. Cornell, William D. Kelley, William H. Vanderbilt, Ulysses S. Grant, John Sherman, George F. Hoar, John Roach, “Hastings”, and Whitelaw Reid.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1883-08-08
A man labeled “Workman” is tied to a stake labeled “Monopoly” and sits on a flaming pile of logs with the faces of Jay Gould, William H. Vanderbilt, Russell Sage, Roscoe Conkling, Cyrus W. Field, Whitelaw Reid who breathes flames labeled “Monopoly Press,” and Chauncey M. Depew who breathes flames labeled “Depew.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1883-08-15
Print shows three “advertising” sideshows, on the left, the “Great Northern Pacific R.R. Show Patronized by the European Aristocracy” with Henry Villard as the barker and Carl Schurz playing a drum. Includes portraits hanging on the side of the tent showing a “Famous German Painter engaged at a cost of $15,000!!!”, a “Celebrated German Author, A Live German Baron!!, British Interests Member of Parliament, A Genuine English Lord, the real article, Bavarian General, [and] English Aristocrat.” On the right is the “Great Yellowstone Park Show” with “Uncle Rufus Hatch” as barker and Charles A. Dana playing the trombone; includes portraits hanging on the side of the tent showing a “Scout, Arthur’s Cabinet [Robert Todd Lincoln], Little “Phil” Sheridan, Great American General, [and] President Arthur” fishing. At center, in the background, is the “Western Union Show” with Jay Gould sitting in front of a tent labeled “Happy Family Inside.” Between the sideshows are several well-dressed, serious-minded men, one labeled “Investor”, considering the merits of each show before investing. Caption: Showman Villard “Step up and invest! Here you have English lords, German barons, foreign authors, bankers, poets – all imported expressly for this show, at enormous expense!” / Uncle Rufus “Here you are! This is the only genuine patriotic American show. Put your money here!”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1883-09-05
An angel draws a curtain over the figure of J. P. Morgan sitting in a chair next to a ticker tape machine, signifying his passing from life. With the other hand, she uses a torch to illuminate a bust sculpture of Morgan in an alcove of a museum gallery. Caption: The Financier. The Patron of Art.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1913-04-23
Theodore Roosevelt as a maid, washing the hair of a boy, “Flim-Flam Finance,” with “Honesty Soap.” Caption at bottom right reads: “(Regards to Pears’ Soap.)” Published in Puck magazine, 1907.
Joseph Gurney Cannon stands on a small platform labeled “Wall Street” at the end of a long two-handled accordion-like folding extension device manipulated by J. Pierpont Morgan who is standing in New York and using the tool to transport Cannon to the “Chicago Convention.”
Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon of Illinois served longer than almost any other Speaker, and ruled with an iron hand, or fist as his opponents including fellow Republicans might say. He far surpassed the imperious actions of Republican Speaker “Czar” Thomas B. Reed of Maine. In Cannon’s time the Speaker had the power to name committee chairmen and committee members — so he had influence over careers, patronage, and legislation.
A wagon drawn by a single donkey labeled “American Consumer” chases a carrot labeled “Promised Tariff Reform” dangling from a stick held by the wagon driver labeled “Republican Congress.” The wagon is transporting a bunch of bloated old men, each representing a “Trust” and labeled “Steel, Copper, Lumber, Sugar, Beef, Coal, Tobacco, Clothing, Watch, Leather, [and] Paper.” They are members of the “Stand Pat Club,” some waving “Stand Pat” pennants. One man holds a drum that states, “The tariff will be revised when public welfare demands it.”
There had not been a major revision of tariff schedules since the Dingley Act of 1897 as American politics approached the 1908 presidential campaign. A decade seemed like a long time to many people — especially to businesses and trusts who benefited from “protection.” High duties on imported products contributed to general revenue, but also enabled American manufacturers and farmers to compete against foreign competition.
At bottom, in a dark and gloomy landscape, the police have imposed martial law conditions on the laboring class and punish violators with impunity, while at top, those responsible for the deplorable working and living conditions stand on a cloud labeled “Immunity,” above the law and the lawlessness.
In the middle years of the century’s first decade, Puck gradually had been growing more radical; sometimes its pendulum swung, and sometimes the issue or a personality flavored their slow evolution. This was generally the case with many journals during the Muckrake era, but Puck‘s editorial shift was finally determined by mid-1907, and resulted in its publication of some of the most brilliant social protest and commentary cartoons of the period.
J. Pierpont Morgan labeled “Flim-Flam Journalism,” John D. Rockefeller labeled “Flim-Flam Business,” and Edward Henry Harriman labeled “Flim-Flam Politics” gather around a table watching a toy of Theodore Roosevelt sitting on an egg-shaped base labeled “Personal Popularity” rocking back and forth.
The Wobble, a child’s toy of amusement and not skill, was patented in 1906 and was popular when this cartoon was drawn. They were made of tin or wood or paper mache (especially its clone, the Roly Poly) and children were frustrated or amused when the figures proved impossible to fall.
A stone wall labeled “Rotten Finance” is constructed with stones showing the faces of many businessmen and financiers, including John D. Rockefeller, J. Pierpont Morgan, and Edward Henry Harriman. On the ground, in front of the wall, is a broken egg labeled “Confidence.” Caption: Humpty-Dumpty sat on a wall; / Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall. / All the Street’s horses and all the Street’s men / Can’t put Humpty back again.
Almost two months into the financial crisis known as the Wall Street Panic in 1907, Puck magazine addressed the situation. It was late, but with trenchant commentary that compensated. Indeed, during the crisis that was precipitated by the unsuccessful takeover of a copper company, a web of under-capitalized and over-extended companies, trusts, and banks became evident.
In a boardroom, the appearance of a ghost labeled “Spirit of Honesty” has frightened the men conducting business, labeled “Corporation Lawyer, Fake Promoter, Secret Rebater [hiding under the table], Lobbyist, Public Service Grafter, Public Exploiter, Hypocrite, Employed Perjurer, Speculating Trust Co, [and the] Yellow Dog Keeper.” Also shown are the “Yellow Dog” and several sheets of “Watered Stock.” Hanging on the wall is a sign that states “Dont Knock – Boost.”
Despite the skin-of-their-teeth machinations of J. P. Morgan and ultimately President Roosevelt that kept the 1907 Wall Street Panic from becoming a major national economic depression, the public at large generally was not relieved to know that Wall Street righted itself.
Theodore Roosevelt, as an old washer-woman, scrubs a young boy labeled “Flim-Flam Finance” with soapy water from a pot labeled “Honesty Soap.” Three faces are visible in the puddles forming on the ground: Edward Henry Harriman, John D. Rockefeller, and possibly Henry Huttleston Rogers, a key Standard Oil figure. Caption: (Regards to Pears’ Soap).
Cartoonist Udo J. Keppler borrowed from a popular Pear’s Soap advertisement, as cartoonists frequently did of the popular soap’s clever campaigns through the years — and portrayed the exact situation of the federal government and the major trusts and corporations, at least as President Roosevelt saw it. Muckraking journalists and much of the public saw things this way, too.
Roosevelt’s “trust busting” was actually milder than prescriptions of some writers and radical politicians. Basically, when there wrongs in high finance and big business — and there were many, as exposed almost weekly in these days by crusading newspapers, magazines, and books — Roosevelt advocated a general policy of having the government as a monitor, a referee, and except in rare cases a regulator. Obvious examples of blatant restraint of trade, in his view, would require devolutions. What today is called “transparency,” then “publicity,” was his prescription for saving American capitalism.
The battle of Pelusium is depicted, with the Persians identified as having “Vested Interests” belonging to a “Wall Street Syndicate” or a “Railroad Trust,” throwing cats labeled “Small Stock Holder, Small Investor, Widow, Little Stock Holder, [and] Orphan” at the bewildered Egyptians who are outside a building labeled “Administration” and flying a banner labeled “Federal Prosecution.” Caption: At the battle of Pelusium, between Egypt and Persia, the Persians armed themselves with cats, the sacred animals of Egypt. The disconcerted Egyptians dared not shoot their arrows, for fear of hitting holy cats.
Reduced to basic elements and message, this double-page cartoon by L. M. Glackens in Puck basically depicts a public-relations counterattack by trusts and financial interests after frequent drubbing by the Muckraking press and a raft of reform legislation and regulations, all coming to a head in 1906.
Theodore Roosevelt, as a hayseed from “Oyster Bay,” is being greeted by Edward H. Harriman, as J. Pierpont Morgan and James J. Hill look on from around a doorway in the background. Caption: “Well, if this ain’t Uncle Ted Roosevelt! How’s all the folks at dear old Oyster Bay?”
If not for the caption (“They take him for…”) and the winking expression and false beard of the out-of-town hayseed “Uncle Ted” Roosevelt, one might think Udo J. Keppler’s cartoon suggested that President Roosevelt was naive and susceptible in the hands of the nation’s most powerful magnates Edward H. Harriman, James J. Hill, and J. P. Morgan.
Andrew Carnegie, as a Scottish dove with a bagpipe and wearing a kilt, is standing on a cracked platform labeled “Tested at Sandy Hook.” In the background is a dovecote labeled “Carnegie Hall.” Caption: The Skibo dove of peace.
In its early years Puck magazine published occasional full-page caricatures of prominent people, usually as supplements, and usually drawn by founder Joseph Keppler Senior. Mark Twain, Alexander Stephens (the surviving vice president of the Confederacy), and others make a gallery of luminaries of the last quarter of the nineteenth century.
Theodore Roosevelt stands on a hill in the background, as two large bears labeled “Interstate Commerce Commission” and “Federal Courts” break up a crowd of Wall Street capitalists and stock market manipulators, causing them to scatter in all directions. The men include Charles S. Mellen, William K. Vanderbilt, Henry Huttleston Rogers, J. Pierpont Morgan, James J. Hill, George Jay Gould, John D. Rockefeller, James McCrea, William H. Newman, Edward Henry Harriman, and Joseph Benson Foraker.
Cartoonist Udo J. Keppler, and Puck magazine, editorially, stretched theology, or at least the province of Biblical allusions, in this cartoon “Elisha Roosevelt.” The brief passage from II Kings 2:23-24 recounts the story of Israelite prophet Elisha, having succeeded Elijah and seeing him bodily taken into the clouds, is unsure of his ability to be God’s anointed prophet.
A crowd of capitalists on Wall Street flees a volcano labeled “Common Honesty” erupting in the background. They are carrying packages labeled “Secret Rate Schedules, Rebate Agreements, Watered Stocks, [and] Frenzied Accounts.”
Udo J. Keppler’s apocalyptic cartoon was inspired the perennially popular Last Days of Pompeii, the 1834 novel by Edward Buler-Lytton. Public interested frequently was revived by every new excavation and discovery in the ancient city in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius. In 1908 an Italian film, and a longer Italian spectacle in 1913, thrilled international audiences.