Gambling

At center, a capitalist sits on money bags labeled “Insurance Money” and leans against several papers labeled “New Policy.” He is gambling with the Grim Reaper, while all around them disasters are happening. A panic-stricken crowd flees a burning theater, a hotel and a tenement building are on fire, a side-wheeler steam ship has exploded, an ocean liner sinks, and a railroad train has crashed. At each of these disasters is a notice that states “Heavily Insured.” Caption: Too Enterprising American Capitalist – Keep up the game! I can lose nothing – I’m heavily insured.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-01-24

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.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-08-20

A woman wearing a red dress, holding money, stands between the “Health Department Bureau of Licences and Inspection” and an opening in a wall labeled “Graft.” In a cut-away showing the scene behind the “Graft,” the man (probably a plainclothes officer) who collects the money through the opening in the wall is passing money to a uniformed officer, who in turn passes the money to a large hand (probably that of a politician) entering the frame from above. It is a wild scene with a woman lying on a table, the body of a man stabbed to death beneath the table, a man rolling dice, others drinking, and a shooting taking place in the background. While the woman in red hesitates, the implication is that she has no choice but to pay the graft. Caption: She is here. Man is responsible for her. His laws against her and her traffic but afford opportunity for police extortion. You know this. You may wince at the idea of “regulation,” but is not regulation preferable to the vilest forms of graft? Of two evils, must the greater be chosen?

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1913-01-15

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.

comments and context

Comments and Context

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.

On the left, anxious businessmen are gathered around a ticker tape machine, reading the ticker tape. On the right, anxious gamblers are gathered around a roulette wheel, awaiting the outcome. Caption: If it is legal to gamble in Wall Street, why isn’t it legal to gamble in the West Forties?

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-08-28

A woman labeled “Blue Law Enforcement” stands on the shore of the ocean, using a broom labeled “Raids on Gambling Houses” to sweep puddles labeled “Police Graft” and “Gambling House Profits” back into the ocean as a wave labeled “The Tendency of Man to Gamble” rolls toward shore. Caption: Municipal Reformer — I’ll push this ocean back if it takes me a thousand years!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-08-21

A jester pours dice in the shape of men and women from a cup labeled “The Rail Roads” onto a topographical map. “Travel number” is written in the lower-right corner.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1911-06-14

W. S. Coursey sends a report from Captain Titus of the Detective Bureau on Yick Nam Quan of New York City. Titus reports that Nam enthusiastically attempts to suppress gambling within the immigrant community of Chinatown but refuses to put himself on record.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-01-06