Cost and standard of living

A man labeled “Consumer,” tied to a bed with cords labeled “Graft Tariff,” watches as a pendulum labeled “Cost of Living” with a sharp blade affixed to the bottom swings over his body, coming closer to cutting him in half. Caption: “The pit and the pendulum,” by Edgar Allan Poe, tells of a victim of the Spanish Inquisition doomed to watch a knife-like pendulum that swung nearer and nearer to his heart.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The father of cartoonist Udo J. Keppler (Joseph Keppler, founder of Puck) borrowed from a memorable work of Edgar Allan Poe in 1889 — The Raven. In that famous cartoonist, a diminutive President Benjamin Harrison shrank at his desk in a darkened office as the ominous “raven,” his political rival James Gillespie Blaine, hovered overhead, uttering “Nevermore” about Harrison’s chances of renomination.

lllustration shows an oversized man labeled “capital,” sitting on a throne, holding a large cake labeled “Tariff Graft;” a smaller man labeled “Labor” is standing next to him, holding a loaf of bread labeled “Wages.” Caption: “If they take away my cake, I’ll take away your bread.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The allegory drawn by Puck‘s chief political cartoonist Udo J. Keppler stated well the soft form of blackmail — at least in terms of oft-repeated predictions — by big business to the pressure of middle-class citizens and workers that import tariffs be lowered. Business argued that high tariffs were insulation against foreign goods, and that American factories and farms could thrive thereby. A growing chorus of reformers complained that the policy allowed business freedom to set prices arbitrarily — usually higher at consumer levels — and stifled the “unseen hand of the market” where supply and demand would bring justice to prices and wages.

Vignettes depict a craze for marathon running. One scene shows a consumer shackled to a “Graft Tariff” ball losing a race to a fabricated figure labeled “Cost of Living.” Another scene shows Charles W. Fairbanks losing to a shrouded figure labeled “Oblivion.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The modern Olympic games, reviving athletic competitions of ancient Greece, commenced in 1896. In the first of the modern “Summer Games,” held in Athens, 12 nations were represented by 240 athletes competing in 43 events. All were amateurs and independents except for a Hungarian national team.

President McKinley stands at center holding an “Inexhaustible Prosperity Hat” and surrounded by vignettes showing his accomplishments since taking office. Caption: A few of the wonders performed by magician McKinley, since his inauguration.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1897-10-06

A group of dejected young women sit at the beach with a mannequin labeled “Cost of Living.” The mannequin is dressed in the symbols of a lady’s needs, including white gloves, a fan, and the tools of home-making, as well as two tags labeled “Rent” and “Taxes.” Young men are standing nearby, pondering the group of women, but fearing the chaperone. Caption: “If you haven’t any money, you needn’t come around.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1909-07-21

A large fountain has four basins labeled from top down, “Millionaire,” “Well-to-do,” “Middle Class,” and “Laboring Class.” The fountain stands on a platform labeled “Tax System.” The water, cascading down through each basin, is labeled “Burden of Taxation.” Caption: Eventually the bottom basin gets it.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The bottom basin in Udo J. Keppler’s odd cartoon without figures, features an off-putting octopus, surely keeping people from the fountain.

A woman moors an airship to her chimney by the light of a full moon. On board the airship are “American Goods Bought in England” that are being smuggled into the U.S. because of high tariffs that make the products too expensive. Caption: Let him invest in an airship and smuggle his necessities.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Except for the sarcastic aspect of an airship used for smuggling, the Puck cover cartoon by Frank A. Nankivell predates by a neat one hundred years the advent of another airship whose household applications, including shopping, are commencing — the drone.

Four men dance gleefully in front of gigantic figures of “Columbia” and “Europa” who are holding hands across a body of water. At the feet of the figures are suffering, poverty-stricken peoples, with silent factories behind them. The four men are Benjamin Harrison, pointing to himself, John Sherman with a sign that states “The Sherman Bill Did It!”, William McKinley holding a sign that states “The McKinley Bill Did It!”, and Thomas B. Reed pointing to McKinley. Caption: Chorus of Republican Leaders–Hooray! We’ll make all the political capital we can of this – it’ll help the Grand Old Party!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1894-01-17

An “Honest Laborer,” with a “Savings Book” in his coat pocket, sits with his family around a table at dinner. An agitator tries to incite him to adopt the violent practices of anarchy. The laborer looks a bit like Abraham Lincoln, and hanging on the wall in the background is a portrait of George Washington. Caption: Honest Laborer (to Anarchistic Agitator)–Help you to destroy law and order? – not much! – and your stories that we are starving are all false!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1893-09-06

Members of the upper class are making efforts to cut back during the business panic of 1893. Vignettes show a clothing auction of dresses worn by socialites, former streetcar-horses finding a second life as polo ponies, club men drinking from the “growler,” and theatergoers abandoning the orchestra pit for upper-level boxes. Others depict the upper class opening up their yachts for “sailing parties of the plain people” and hopping freight cars in the absence of “local express trains.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1893-08-30

Queen Victoria holds up an infant labeled “Little New Duke of York. Christening Robe Cost £300.” She presents the baby to John Bull who is holding a paper that states “Heavy Expense Account – Royal Family.” In the background is a castle labeled “Royal Nursery.” The baby is probably Edward VIII, later the Duke of Windsor.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1894-07-25

The father of an upwardly mobile family is forced to keep pace financially with his wife’s ambitions. The main vignette shows the father perspiring as he works harder, using a large pump labeled “Business” to pour more money into “Paterfamilias’ Pocket Book” to which a queue of tradesmen labeled “Caterer, Chef, Modiste, Carriage dealer, Milliner, Decorator, Furniture dealer, Florist, Jeweler, [and] Wine dealer” help themselves. The surrounding vignettes depict lavish parties, artwork on the walls, more frequent purchases of clothing for the children, his wife’s new understanding of the term “cottage,” and the increase in the size of the servant staff.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-08-21

“Marcus Aurelius Hanna” is at center wearing robes and a top hat with laurel wreath and ribbons labeled “Senatorship 1898,” standing next to a safe labeled “Hanna,” and holding a whip. Four men, two labeled “Boss Bushnell” and “Boss Foraker,” bow down before him on ground labeled “Ohio.” This vignette is captioned “happiness in Ohio” and “Hanna–‘God reigns and the Republican Party still lives.'” Surrounding vignettes show the working classes and merchants suffering the brunt of the “Reduction in Wages,” overcrowding on public transportation, and no customers. Exporters, “Trust Magnets,” and Tammany Hall’s “N.Y. Democratic Club” appear to benefit the most.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1898-02-09

Puck, holding a lithographic pen, stands next to a laborer who is reading a notice posted on a wall that states, “‘Reduction in Wages due to the Great Law of Supply and Demand.’ Explanation by Republican Party, under Republican Administration.” Caption: Puck–Doesn’t it ever seem strange to you, my friend, that the eternal and unvarying law of supply and demand should work only for the Republican Party?

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1898-02-02

An elderly physician sits in a chair in an office. Hanging on the wall is a fee schedule labeled, on the left, “Ailments for People of Moderate Means. Low Fees” and on the right, “Same Ailments for Rich Patients. Fees Accordingly.” For example, on the left “Colic $5.00” becomes, on the right, “Appendicitis $1000.00,” “Earache 5.00” becomes “Otitis Media 250.00,” “Indigestion 5.00” becomes “Acute Gastro-Enteretis 400.00,” and “That Tired Feeling 5.00” becomes “Neurasthenia 350.00.” A young messenger boy is delivering a message, and in the background, well-dressed patients are sitting in a waiting room. Caption: He has ordinary and inexpensive ailments for ordinary patients and high-sounding and costly maladies for the rich.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1897-12-22

Two men, one labeled “Producer,” use a pulley system labeled “U.S. Parcels Post” to ship a package labeled “Direct to Consumer” beyond the reach of a man labeled “Express Co.” straddling a “R. R.” station and a man labeled “Middleman” standing in front of a “Commission Market” to a man labeled “Consumer” and a woman standing at the other end of the pulley system. The consumer in turn sends payment for the goods received by the same system. Caption: What the parcels post would mean to them both.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1911-01-04

President Taft balances a cone of papers, labeled “Administration” and showing the Republican elephant, on his nose. Struggling to get in the cone is “Ballinger” while already inside are “Elkins, Hitchcock, Wickersham, C. Taft, Crane, Dalzell, Cannon, Payne (holding on to a large question mark labeled “Tariff”), Aldrich, [and] Sherman.” Rolled-up papers in the cone are labeled “Standpat Legislation” and “Cost of Living Investigation.” Also in the cone, a dog labeled “Regulars” and a cat labeled “Insurgents” are fighting.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-08-31

In the left background, “Mount Sam” is erupting, spewing lava labeled “Revolt Against Cannonism, Havens’ Victory in New York, Indiana Upheaval, Increased Cost of Living, Demand for Lower Tariff, Democratic Gains, Consumer’s Revolt, [and] Western Insurgency” which is flowing toward an area labeled “Republican Majority in Congress.” In the left foreground, Nelson W. Aldrich and Eugene Hale flee the scene, while Joseph G. Cannon stands firm as the “Foss Landslide in Massachusetts” races toward him. On the right, President Taft with “Lodge, Root, Depew, Crane, [and] Payne appeal to a shrine containing a diminutive “Saint Ted.” On the far right, James S. Sherman is praying. Caption: Appeals to a patron saint to stop its flow.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-05-11

Vignettes struggle to find humor in war. A “Metropolitan Opera Star” is greeted with applause by the enemy. A woman frets over the escalating cost of perfume. A young student finds it senseless to study “geography – It’s going to be changed anyhow!” A German man asks a French man “vat vould be a good Cherman name for Paris?” Two men suspect a dachshund of “German spying!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1914-10-17

Uncle Sam sits on a throne, reading a “Petition of the Railroads for Permission to Raise Rates” while diminutive representatives of railroad companies stand before him. The ghost of Cornelius Vanderbilt, aghast, appears behind Uncle Sam with a notice that states “The Public Be Damned! Vanderbilt.” Caption: Ghost of Former Magnate–I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see it with my own eyes! Asking permission!! Asking!!!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1914-03-07