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A man labeled “Bossism” carries weapons labeled “False Count,” “Fraudulent Registration,” “Intimidation,” and “Deals.” Behind him are two policemen labeled “Independent Democrat” and “Independent Republican,” who are keeping an eye on him. They each carry a billy club labeled “Votes.” Caption: “Dere ain’t no more show for me, since dem two big policemen come on de beat!”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1893-12-20
The “Rev. Dr. N. Dorser” sits at a table writing testimonials about the quality of various products, such as the “magnificent House Cleaning number” of a magazine, and “Before Using” and “After Using” portraits that illustrate the benefits of taking “Gold Brick Pills.” Caption: Obliging and “disinter[…] endorsement, at the service of every advertiser who applies to him.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1897-04-28
A fireworks display is being prepared. An “Anarchist” and John Peter “Altgeld” are lighting a rocket labeled “Altgeld Anarchistic Boom,” and several men identified as “Bland, Crisp, Teller, Waite, Blackburn, Wolcott, Morgan, [and] Stewart” are lighting rockets around a large medallion labeled “Free Silver Coinage Craze” with a silver coin labeled “In 16 to 1 We Trust.” Blackburn is holding a rocket labeled “Silver Speech” and on the ground are fireworks labeled “Snap Silver Resolutions.” At a table on the right, labeled “Coin’s Financial Hocus Pocus Game,” is William H. Harvey operating a shell game, and behind him is William A. Peffer, the “Windy Man from Kansas.” Caption: They are making great preparations for their Populistic Pyrotechnical display; but it will be only another fizzle.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1895-07-03
A man wearing a sash labeled “Harvey,” with a horn attached, stands on a platform with stacks of books, pointing to a board that states, “Coin’s Financial School – Declare fifty cents Silver to be Worth One Dollar in Gold and You will Make Two Dollars of One Dollar, therefore Silver has Twice the Purchasing Power of Gold. Figures Never Lie. If You Don’t Believe This, Buy My Book and Be Convinced! (Only 50 cents a copy).” Standing in front of the platform are several hayseed farmers.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1895-06-12
A very old soldier labeled “Pensioner War of 1812” walks with a much younger woman wearing her wedding dress, on their way to the church in the background to get married. Between them they hold a “Pension Certificate ‘And in Case of My Death Pay to My Widow’.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1898-02-09
Émile Zola, as a bullfighter holding a cape labeled “La Vérité” and a quill pen labeled “Zola,” faces a charging bull that is wearing a phrygian cap labeled “France” and has been stabbed in the back of the neck with a banderilla labeled “La Débâcle.” After a military investigation and trial acquitted Ferdinand Esterhazy of treason, placing the guilt on Alfred Dreyfus, Zola published an open letter to the president of France demanding that the truth be made known and that the miscarriage of justice, “La Débâcle,” that has come to be known as the Dreyfus Affair, be corrected.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1898-02-16
An octopus with the head of a French military officer (which may represent General Boisdeffre or General Gonse), wearing a plumed hat labeled “Militarism,” has settled over Paris, France, with its tentacles extending in all directions. The tentacles are labeled “Deception, Dishonor, Forgery, Assassination, Corruption, Falsehood, [and] Blackmail.” Caught in their grasp are military officers Georges “Picquart” and Alfred “Dreyfus,” two female figures labeled “Honor” and “Justice,” and the author Émile “Zola” holding a quill pen labeled “J’Accuse.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1898-10-26
Print shows Puck talking to a veteran of the Grand Army of the Republic and gesturing toward a shark in the background wearing a military uniform, holding a gaff, and standing on the steps of the “Pension Agency” where a sign hangs that states “Pensions for Everybody. Apply Early. War Record Immaterial.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1899-08-09
Print shows a lawyer taking papers that state “Fake Lawsuit for Damages” from a bag labeled “A Shyster” in a courtroom. As he turns toward the bench, he sees the judge point to a paper hanging from the bench that states, “Notice: To insure against the bringing of frivolous or blackmailing suits, lawyers will hereafter be held responsible for the costs of all the suits brought by them.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1899-07-19
A group of boxers stands behind a large boxer who is giving Arctic explorer Robert E. Peary a jeweled belt labeled “Championship.” Papers, probably from Peary’s lectures, extend from a pocket of his fur coat. They state “Cook’s a faker,” “I’ll show him up,” and “Bluff.” (Cartoon probably refers to boxers being known for their pre-fight taunting bluster.)
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1909-10-06
An old hag sits on a large ticker tape machine, on Wall Street, spewing “Inside Information,” “False Financial News,” and rumors that ensnare large groups of investors. Caption: The witch of Wall Street.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1909-09-08
A parade includes “Workers” who work hard at swindling honest working people of their hard earned money, as well as many gullible people easily duped while looking for an easy path to riches. Caption: Parade of the real “workers” of America.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1909-09-01
At left, on the sidewalk outside a gambling room labeled “Monopoly Club Shades,” James G. Blaine and Benjamin F. Butler corner a “Workingman” and try to steer him into the gaming room. On the right, sitting around a table with playing cards, are Russell Sage, William Walter Phelps, George M. Robeson, Jay Gould, and John Roach, and standing is Cyrus W. Field. On a shelf is a bust of William H. Vanderbilt beneath a sign that states “The Public Be D–” and notices that state “No Straight Flushes in this House” and “This is a Bluff Game – No Limit.” On either side of the bust are boxes of “Brag Chips” and “Bluster Cards.” Caption: Hungry Ben – “How are you, Mr. Workingman? What! – don’t you remember me? Why, I’m your old friend! Say – just you let me put you onto a nice little scheme-” Workingman “No, sirree! I’ve been there before.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-08-20
Jay Gould is drowning in “Watered Stocks” certificates, some labeled “Watered W.U.T.” and “Watered Wabash,” at the bottom of the steps to Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City. William H. Vanderbilt sits at the top of the steps, on a large bag labeled “$40,000,000 U.S. Bonds” and “Vanderbilt.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1884-06-04
Puck carries a “Petition – To the 48th Congress” at the head of a long procession of well-dressed businessmen who want Congress to enact a “Good Bankruptcy Law” that would identify fraudulent conveyances to a “Preferred Creditor” and hold swindlers accountable. They march down “Relations Row” past buildings that are labeled “Grandfather Preferred, Brother Preferred, 19th Cousin Preferred, Uncle Preferred, Sister Preferred, [and] Brother in Law.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1883-11-14
At a royal wedding, the groom is enclosed in packaging labeled “Guaranteed Under the Pure Prince Act” and stamped “Serial Number 606.” An elderly man behind the resigned bride is examining the princely groom who is supported from behind by a gentleman.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1913-10-22
A large, possibly conjoined figure labeled “Meat Trust” sits on a building labeled “Packing House.” The more benevolent half, facing left, is offering advice to a man labeled “Farmer,” and the more mean-spirited half, facing right, is telling the same farmer, now with cattle in tow, that he has no option but to accept the price offered for his cattle. Caption: Before. The Meat Trust (to a small farmer) — “My friend, why don’t you raise a few cattle each year? The price of beef is high. You will make good money.” After. The Meat Trust (to same small farmer) — “The price I offer for your cattle is low, is it? Well, you may take it or leave it, my friend. There is nobody else for you to sell to.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1913-10-15
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.
Another point of Keppler is seen in the lone antagonist — not a particular robber baron; no vague resemblance; but a blanket indictment of virtually all successful businessmen. All of villain needed to be featured in this cartoon was a prosperous suit and an angelic expression. Puck seldom was demagogic, but in cartoons like this cover drawing, it came close.
A man labeled “Land Grafter” chops down a tree in a forest where other trees have been cut down. Scattered on the ground are doll-like figures labeled “Dummy Homesteader.”
One of the side-effects of the Roosevelt Administration’s reforms and the package of progressive legislation passed in 1906 was a rapid, and rapacious, interest in Western lands by railroads and “associated” industries and powers.
Especially as President Roosevelt designated more acreage until federal protection, railroads such as Edward Henry Harriman’s Union Pacific gobbled up claims while they were available. These vestiges of land giveaways from days when Washington desired that the West be settled, and railroads be encouraged to expand, had evolved to the point where railroads schemed to claim lands rich in lumber, minerals, and other resources. This led to friction between the administration and railroad barons who acted on behalf of those who would exploit.
Governor Roosevelt addresses General Johnson’s inquiry regarding fraud and the canals of New York, and defends himself of criticism he has received by Democrats and for his association with Senator Thomas Collier Platt. Roosevelt feels that his previous two years of public service speak for themselves, but that he is unsure of his political future other than the only position he absolutely does not desire is the Vice Presidency. Lastly, Roosevelt comments on the Boer War and the British handling of the situation.
1900-02-26