The safer choice
William Jennings Bryan and William H. Taft stand aboard a ship applying for the job of “First Mate” to “Captain” Uncle Sam. Bryan has a pocketful of “Promises,” whereas Taft has “Records” of his world travels to prove his experience. Caption: Captain Sam — Yes, I’ll be wanting a First Mate, and a good one. I’m off for a rough, hard v’yage, and the man who’s had experience is the Mate for me.
Comments and Context
“The Safer Choice” might be one of the softest endorsements in American political history, perhaps second only to the reluctant editorial about Theodore Roosevelt on the eve of the 1904 presidential election, simply: “Theodore, with all thy faults…”
Puck, owned by its chief political cartoonist, Udo J. Keppler, was traditionally a Democratic journal. Yet it was in general sympathy with Theodore Roosevelt during his seven and a half years as president. And since 1896 it had scorned or tolerated William Jennings Bryan as a crank who had captured a portion of the Democratic Party.