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A “Workingman” is bent under the weight of an enormous dinner pail labeled “Tariff for Graft Only.”
Puck and its owner and chief cartoonist Udo J. Keppler, aimed at two birds, at least, with one cartoon in this cover drawing.
Two men, one labeled “Political Boss” and the other labeled “Special Privilege,” with copies of “Blank Injunctions” in his pocket, help a diminutive judge write a “Dictated Decision.” In the background, Justice is partially obscured by a note that states “Remember Thy Creator.” Caption: Does a protest against this type of justice assail “the integrity of the courts”?
The reform impulses in American politics — finally coalescing in electoral reform, political revolts, Muckraking literature, regulatory action, and the growth of insurgents and progressives in both political parties — finally reached the courts by 1908.
A gigantic man labeled “National Resource Grafter” sits in a wilderness setting, passing sheets of paper to a group of men labeled “Land Office Official, Kept Judge, Congressman, Politician, [and] Senator” who are reading their “Oath of Office” on the papers given them which states “Franchises, Special Privileges, Land Patents, Mineral Rights, Tax Exemption, [and] Timber Grants.” In an insert, Benedict Arnold passes papers labeled “Plans of American Fortifications” to a British military officer. Caption: He betrayed his country then; they betray their country now.
It is interesting that in mid-Summer of a presidential campaign season, as the nominating conventions are meeting and public interest in partisanship would be intense, that Puck directs many of its cartoons to general issues and not to partisan attacks or defenses — that is, party politics. J. S. Pughe’s cartoon, for instance, focused on the increasing tendency toward — or increasingly exposed — corruption in the government’s land-use policies.
A group of men identified as “Land Grafter, Politician, Special Privilege, Timber Grafter, Mineral Grafter, Public Utilities, Corporation Lawyer, [and] Tariff Grafter” sit around a table getting Uncle Sam drunk on “Stand Pat Dope” mixed with a drink from a large punch bowl labeled “Our Natural Resources.” They are smoking “Vanity Perfectos” and two men, “Land Grafter” and “Timber Grafter,” are working together to pick Uncle Sam’s watch from his pocket. In the lower left corner, Joseph Gurney Cannon and Nelson W. Aldrich are pouring the “Stand Pat Dope” into his drink. Caption: “For he’s a jolly good fellow!”
Almost week after week, in the pages of his magazine Puck, Udo J. Keppler proved himself as one of the great political cartoonists of his time. As Puck was aging and gradually losing circulation, his influence waned, yet that neither diminished the brilliance or force of his cartoons, nor the value of his work to future researchers.
The value of political cartoon is often weighed by what it “says” but does not picture — the difficult construction of subtexts and implied statements — as much as what is obvious, and made more obvious with labels, captions, and tags.
Theodore Roosevelt appears as “Mikado Roosevelt” with a large cast of characters standing behind him: “Pish Tush Root,” “Landis,” “Pooh Bah Taft,” “Burroughs,” “Heney,” “Cortelyou,” “Steffens,” “La Follette,” “Folk,” “Garfield,” “Riis,” “Loeb,” and “Koko Bonaparte,” who is holding a large sword labeled “Department of Justice.” John D. Rockefeller labeled “Flim-Flam Business,” and Edward Henry Harriman labeled “Flim Flam Finance,” are kneeling on the stage awaiting execution. Caption: “My object all sublime / I shall achieve in time — / To let the punishment fit the crime — / The punishment fit the crime. — / And make each prisoner pent / Unwillingly represent / A source of infinite merriment, / Of infinite merriment.”
Cartoonists in Puck and rival magazine like Judge and Life, as well as newspaper political cartoonists, frequently turned to operas, mythology, and Shakespeare for metaphorical and allegorical setting for their cartoons. Despite their current popularity, the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan seldom inspired the cartoonists to parody.
Theodore Roosevelt, as “Siegfried,” stands at the edge of a ring of fire around a female figure (Brünnhilde) labeled “Justice” in a deep sleep. Among the flames are the words “Public Indifference, Graft, Conservatism, Special Privilege, [and] Political Expediency.”
Through the decades of its existence Puck magazine relied on Biblical and dramatic themes, as well as mythology and opera on which to set allegorical motifs for modern political commentary. The elder Joseph Keppler, founder of the magazine and a supporter of the German opera in New York City, had been on the stage in his native Vienna as he simultaneously pursued art and politics.
A squid labeled “Special Privilege” bears arms labeled “Railroad Greed, Grafting Public Utilities, Venal Press, Graft Tariff, Predatory Trusts, Bribed Legislatures, Stock Juggling, [and] Public Land Thieves.” The squid has clouded the water with a large ink cloud labeled “Teddy Did It, Don’t Hurt Business, Don’t Destroy Confidence, [and] Don’t Alarm Capital.” In the lower right are two seahorses labeled “You” and “Me.” Caption: When attacked, it clouds the issue by discharging an inky fluid.
Puck‘s chief cartoonist Udo J. Keppler made a political point — and a ringing defense of President Roosevelt’s economic, regulatory, and reform policies — in this unorthodox analogy. He did not visit the worlds of history nor opera nor mythology nor literature, but marine biology.
A throng of petty criminals in a prison point to a small cell labeled “For the Incorporated Law Breaker,” insisting that white-collar crime goes unpunished. Caption: The cry of the small crook.
In this powerful double-page cartoon, the great Art Young speaks for the small fry, not excusing them but painting a contrast, versus the “big fish” in the American justice system.
A man labeled “Stock Manipulation,” wearing top hat and tuxedo, rests one hand on a deck of “Marked Cards” and the other on a stack of gambling chips next to “Loaded Dice” and a wheel labeled “Brace Roulette.” The playing table is labeled “Wall Str[eet].” Behind him are money bags and papers labeled “Fiduciary Funds, Treasury Deposits, Other Peoples’ Money, Bank Loans, [and] Pools.” Standing in the foreground and looking up at the man is a diminutive man holding his “Savings” behind his back.
As Puck Magazine evolved or matured, it grew more radical. This generally was within the drift of the major parties and the public, as reflected in political platforms and editorial opinion. A component of its commentaries were rejection of the corruption and malign political influence of big business, monopolies, and those whom President Roosevelt called the “malefactors of great wealth” with inordinate influence on politics and the economy.
A woman labeled “Corrupt Corporations” stands in a bell tower, hanging onto the clapper of a bell labeled “Third Term” which bears the countenance of Theodore Roosevelt.
“Curfew Shall Not Ring Tonight” is one of those occasional lines from a poem that is otherwise obscure by a poet who is known for nothing else. The same situation sometimes attends songs and hymns. In the case of this cartoon’s theme and caption (which correctly should be “Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight”), a poem by a 16-year-old girl from a small Michigan town, traded for a subscription to a Detroit newspaper, gained a semblance of immortality.
A police officer labeled “Graft Tariff” prevents a working class family from having a picnic on the grass while a group of men labeled “Beef Trust, Coal Trust, Steel Trust, Lumber Trust, [and] Clothing Trust,” with two servants, one labeled “A.P.T.L.,” are having a picnic on the lawn labeled “Prosperity.”
This cartoon by Udo J. Keppler was published just as the Wall Street Panic of 1907 was threatening to turn into a crash or depression, yet seemed to ignore the burning issue of the day. Of course the generic “us versus them” cliche might have been pertinent once again, except for the fact and the public perception that big business was as much a potential victim as a real perpetrator of events.
A well-dressed businessman, wearing top hat and coat and a button that states “Don’t Knock, Boost,” sits atop a pile of account ledgers labeled “How to Evade the Law, Juggled Books, Secret Rebate Account, [and] Bribery Stubs,” money bags labeled “Yellow Dog Fund, Private Graft, Other People’s Money, [and] Public Service Graft,” boxes labeled “Stock Gambling Acc., Syndicate Profits, [and] Fees,” and other items labeled “Fees” and “Worthless Collateral.” A notice attached to the pile states “Destroy if Investigated.”
Subtexts, just below the surface, animate this cartoon by Udo J. Keppler. The button, “Don’t Knock — Boost” had gained currency then, and found a counterpart in the Republican Party’s national slogan in 1906 mid-term elections, “Stand Pat — Leave Well Enough Alone.” In truth it was a subtle plea, not to reject Democrat candidates, but to ask Republicans to put the brakes to reform. “Don’t Knock — Boost” became a sort of Rotary Club cheery attitude assumed by characters like salesmen in Ring Lardner stories: optimistic glad-handers. The phrase gained more currency in the ‘teens and especially Warren Harding’s “Normalcy” 1920s.
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.
Uncle Sam walks down a street in an unsavory neighborhood, with signs for such establishments as “Railroad Pool Parlor $1000.00 an Hour,” “Flim-Flam Bar,” “Impure Food Café ‘Coaltar & Glucose prop. Regular Adulterated Dinner 25 cents’,” “Harriman’s Place ‘All 5¢ Drinks 10 cents’,” “Rockefeller’s Rest ‘Free Hot Guff All Day’,” and even a sign for “Chop Suey.” Caption: His New Year resolution.
Surely one of Frank A. Nankivell’s best-drawn cartoons for Puck, this arresting cover drawing, with eye-catching perspective and a personality-intense Uncle Sam, is as much about the previous several years in America as it is about a “New Year Resolution.”
Theodore Roosevelt examines the campaigning of President William H. Taft and the endorsements Taft has received from prominent newspapers, such as the Chicago Evening Post, the National Republican Party, and voters across the country. Roosevelt questions the President’s credibility, his means of obtaining voters’ support, and the truthfulness of his record.
1912-07
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.
Theodore Roosevelt, holding upright a big stick that is almost as tall as he is, stands next to an enormous stick labeled “Party Expediency” with the club-end resting on a paper labeled “Tariff Reform.” A hand labeled “Tariff Graft” holds the larger stick by the handle.
Puck magazine, as was its wont in the years that led to and included the political era of reform, was a happy warrior but frequently skeptical about progress. As it celebrated, and supported, President Roosevelt, it sometimes was wary of substantial change in the American economy, political system, and labor relations. As a child burned by a hot stove is wary, so the Muckraking cartoon weekly proceeded cautiously.
A man labeled “Corporate Corruption” and a baby boy labeled “Rail Road Scandal” lie sick in bed. Another young child labeled “Life Insurance Scandal” is trying to climb into the bed. Hanging on the wall above the bed is a portrait labeled “E.H.H.” A man departing the room carries a doctor’s bag labeled “Interstate Commerce Com. M.D.” On a table in the foreground is a bank for “Other People’s Pennies” and a bottle of “Legislation Drops.”
The point of Udo J. Keppler’s cover cartoon can be summed up as observing that the insurgent-Muckraking era’s reforms, especially those enacted in bloody battles of 1906, would not enforce themselves.
A four-headed, eight-armed monster, formed out of the upper torsos of James J. Hill, Edward Henry Harriman, J. Pierpont Morgan, and George Jay Gould, juggles New York State and municipal services and federal influence in Congress, while stepping on a red liberty cap. Three diminutive figures stand in the left foreground: the center figure represents Theodore Roosevelt, the one on the left is labeled “You,” and the one on the right is labeled “Me.” Caption: Messrs. Hill, Harriman, Morgan and Gould, sole managers and proprietors.
Udo J. Keppler’s center-spread drawing in Puck is a rare example of the magazine presenting a political cartoon not on a specific issue or policy debate. As a generic observation of the “current situation,” it speaks to history as an iconic representation of the truth, and not merely a cartoonist’s truth.
An elderly man labeled “The Law,” with a long beard and holding a broken gun labeled “Fines,” peers at a group of bloated criminals standing and sitting on the porch of “The Jolly Grafter’s Inn, Successor to Ye Stern Justice” who are laughing at the old man before them. Those on the porch are labeled “Big Offender, Respectable Crook, Handy Judge [with a glass of] Judicial Favors, Corporate Lawyer [with mugs of] Legal Aid, Tax Dodger, Special Privilege, Insurance Grafter, Corrupt Business, Rail Road Merger, [and the] Oil, Coal, [and] Beef Trust[s].” On a table is a newspaper labeled “The Daily Graft,” and growling at the man is a dog labeled “Subsidized Press.”
Puck had fought cheek-to-jowl with reform politicians, Muckraking journals, and President Roosevelt over most of the recent years, week after week. In this crowded center-spread cartoon, J. S. Pughe expressed the utmost cynicism about laws and regulations that were hard-fought and hard-won in 1906.